SpongeBob SquarePants isn’t the brightest being in Bikini Bottom, but he can't compare to his best friend, Patrick Star, who is known for being very dumb – and here’s why he is like that. Created by marine science educator and animator Stephen Hillenburg, SpongeBob SquarePants debuted on Nickelodeon in 1999 and has since become the most successful Nicktoon, as well as one of the longest-running American animated series. SpongeBob SquarePants has also expanded to other media (most notably film and video games), and shows no signs of stopping soon.
SpongeBob SquarePants follows the daily adventures of the title character in the underwater city of Bikini Bottom alongside his best friends and a couple of enemies. Although SpongeBob makes friends everywhere (or, at least, that’s what he thinks), his best friend for life and who is often by his side through all his adventures and problems is Patrick Star, a pink starfish who is also SpongeBob and Squidward’s neighbor. SpongeBob and Patrick have known each other for years and share a lot of hobbies, but there are some big differences between them, and one of the biggest is that Patrick is pretty dumb.
Surely, SpongeBob isn’t a genius either, but he at least shows a bit more intelligence and common sense than good old Patrick. Like the rest of the characters from SpongeBob SquarePants, Patrick has changed a lot since season 1, and while his dim-witted nature was funny at first, it's not so much anymore. Still, unlike SpongeBob, who has also gotten dumber and dumber, making way for some theories about it, not being bright has always been part of Patrick, and there are a couple of explanations for that.
First off, and even though SpongeBob SquarePants is a cartoon aimed at a young audience, Hillenburg’s marine science background shines through many, many times. Starfish, for starters, don’t have a brain but have a complex nervous system, and that explains why Patrick is dumb. This was even referred to in the episode “Patrick SmartPants”, where he lost the top part of his head after falling off a cliff. SpongeBob grabbed something that looked like his head and screwed it back on, after which Patrick suddenly became (very) smart. It was later revealed that SpongeBob grabbed a piece of brain coral instead of Patrick’s head, which they then put back into Patrick’s body, thus reverting to his dumb self. In addition to that, there might be a visual joke in reference to Patrick’s dumbness, and it’s all about his house. Patrick literally lives under a rock and has been shown to be completely unaware of normal activities like snowball fights, bubbles, and even having a job.
Of course, there’s also the “bumbling sidekick” trope, which is an incompetent companion to a much more functional hero – surely, SpongeBob is not a genius, but at least he’s smarter than his best friend. Patrick’s dumbness has surely made SpongeBob SquarePants fans laugh, but it’s also a good example of Hillenburg’s attention to detail, as a starfish couldn’t be smart due to its lack of a brain.