United Plankton Pictures, Inc.

Background
United Plankton Pictures, Inc. is the vanity card of Stephen Hillenburg, the creator of SpongeBob SquarePants. In 1998, Hillenburg formed United Plankton Pictures Inc., a television and film production company, but never used an actual logo until the first SpongeBob episode, "Help Wanted".

1st Logo (1997)
Nickname: "Early SpongeBob"

Logo: On a white background, there is a picture of SpongeBob drawn in the same style as the Plankton creatures in the next logo (and similar to that of the SpongeBob drawing seen on the show's title card), over a sand colored background with swirls in rows covering it. On top of him are the words "CREATED BY" in black and underneath is "STEPHEN HILLENBURG" in the same color and font.

FX/SFX: None.

Music/Sounds: The end theme of the pilot.

Availability: Near extinction. Only found on the original cut of the SpongeBob pilot, produced in 1997. This version never aired, and was only released to Nickelodeon employees on a VHS entitled "The Best of NickToons 1998". Copies of this original edit circulate online.

Editor’s Note: The style of this card is a preview of the more familiar logo below.

2nd Logo (May 1, 1999-)
Nicknames: "Friends of the Sea", "Holding Hands", "The Underwater Logo", "The Plankton Logo", "Plankton's Friends", "The SpongeBob Logo"

Logo: On a moving ocean background with a reflection of light (which is also seen on one part in the SpongeBob intro), we see some crudely drawn sea creatures, one of them being a less detailed drawing of the character Plankton, holding hands. The words "United Plankton" are above, with "Pictures inc." below, both written in the SpongeBob font.

Trivia: In the SpongeBob episode "Plankton's Army", Plankton's relatives visit the Chum Bucket and he enlists their help into taking over the Krusty Krab to steal the Krabby Patty formula. They are based off the characters in the logo.

Variants:
 * Starting in 2012, the logo is slightly redone for HD-produced episodes. The ocean background now has a greenish tint and there are two more creatures, in addition to them being drawn more smoothly.
 * From Nickelodeon's rebrand from 2009 until sometime in 2010, sometimes it will have a copyright notice (as recycled from the 2008-2009 Nickelodeon Productions "Lightbulb" logo cheaply added in).
 * On Kamp Koral: SpongeBob's Under Years and The Patrick Star Show, there is an alternative version of the widescreen logo, in which there is a comma separating the words "Pictures" and "Inc." while the creatures are smaller and further away from the camera.

FX/SFX: The ocean background moving.

Music/Sounds: Usually, the end theme of the show finishes over it. On MTV prints of certain shows, it's the sound of crashing waves and seagulls (sounding similar to the very tail end of the SpongeBob theme), which would extend onto the Nickelodeon logo that was used during the era.

Music/Sounds Variants:
 * On non-split-screen airings of the SpongeBob SquarePants episodes "Texas"/"Walking Small", cows (presumably from the episode's closing theme, which is Junior Brown performing the show's theme) are heard in the background.
 * On early SpongeBob video releases and The Patrick Star Show, it's silent.
 * Early split-screen versions had a foghorn sound.
 * On a November 2012 CBS airing of the SpongeBob SquarePants episode "It's a SpongeBob Christmas!", a generic theme is playing.

Availability: Extremely common. It's currently seen on SpongeBob SquarePants on Nickelodeon and sister channels including NickToons. Also seen on The Patrick Star Show and Kamp Koral: SpongeBob's Under Years.


 * Strangely, when the episode "Wet Painters"/"Krusty Krab Training Video" aired in 2002, due to an editing error on Nick's part, the Klasky-Csupo "Splaat" logo was shown in place of this on airings with split-screen credits.
 * On November 30, 2011, during an airing of the episode "Pest of the West", this was replaced with the Rainbow S.r.l logo. This was fixed in later airings.
 * The final episode to use the original version of the logo was "Hello Bikini Bottom!". The enhanced version was first seen at the end of the episode "It's a SpongeBob Christmas!", as well as all episodes beginning with "Extreme Spots"/"Squirrel Record".
 * The audio variant is extinct, as it was last seen when MTV aired the show in February 2016; instead of using the show's original credits, it used split-screen credits that Nickelodeon used from September 2009 until June 2012. It made surprise re-appearances on both a June 2018 Nickelodeon airing of the episode "The Hot Shot" and a November 2018 airing of the episode "Truth or Square", as Nickelodeon messed up the two episodes' credits and the split-screen credits template was used.
 * This logo is absent from all three films, as they use the next logo instead.

Editor's Note: This is a memorable logo for fans of SpongeBob and/or those who grew up watching the series.

3rd Logo (November 19, 2004-)
Logo: On the background of the opening of the film, we see:
 * The SpongeBob SquarePants Movie: "in association with United Plankton Pictures" in a black pirate/treasure map font.
 * The SpongeBob Movie: Sponge Out Of Water: "A UNITED PLANKTON PICTURES PRODUCTION" in.
 * The SpongeBob Movie: Sponge on the Run: Same as above, albeit in white and in Trajan.

FX/SFX: None, unless you count the fade in/fade out, as well as the live-action scenes, with the exception of the 3rd Custom logo.

Music/Sounds: The opening theme of the film.

Availability: Can be seen at the beginning of all three SpongeBob SquarePants films. Will likely appear on the upcoming fourth installment, Plankton, an untitled spin-off film, and Saving Bikini Bottom when it comes out.

Editor's Note: None.