Ten years ago, “SpongeBob SquarePants,” a popular animated series about a talking yellow sea sponge on Nickelodeon, was made into a movie that combined animation and live action. The sequel, “The SpongeBob Movie: Sponge out of Water,” which utilizes both animation and CGI (computer-generated imagery) effects, is set to premiere on Feb. 6.

Sophomore Mark Zhang is familiar with the TV series and has watched it throughout his childhood.

“(‘SpongeBob’) has always been an interesting show to me. The humor really connected with me, which is why I thought it was funny. And the characters are really likeable,” Zhang said. They’re entertaining, each and every one of them. It was always just nice to turn on the TV and watch a couple episodes when I felt like I needed a laugh.”

Junior Luke Obrique has seen every episode of the “SpongeBob” TV series and its first movie. According to Obrique, “SpongeBob” has garnered so much popularity over the past two decades due to the lack of entertainment kids his age had when they were younger. Adults, he said, much less kids, rarely used cell phones, tablets and computers, so watching TV entertained children like him.

“‘SpongeBob’ was pretty much the only thing I watched because it had been running for so long; they kept pumping out new episodes. I remember many of the jokes and gigs, and from time to time I still reminisce along with my friends, and it’s become inside jokes among us,” Obrique said.

The upcoming movie has some changes that will give it a modern feel. However, Zhang and Obrique both agree that the sudden introduction to CGI effects is too much.

“I think it might make it seem as though it’s not the real ‘SpongeBob’ anymore, but of course it’ll still be successful. It’s ‘SpongeBob’. Anyone and everyone is going to watch ‘SpongeBob,’” Obrique said.

Zhang said, “It’s definitely going to be different from all the episodes because it’s filmed in a different way. Using live actors and CGI effects now instead of just animation is definitely going to be a change. I’m kind of skeptical about how it’s going to turn out. It’s just such a dramatic shift from the usual production of this show.”

In the new “SpongeBob” movie, the voice actors remain the same: Tom Kenney as SpongeBob, Bill Fagerbakke as Patrick Star and Clancy Brown as Mr. Krabs.

“Obviously (keeping the same voice actors would help) because if they changed it, it’d be even a more dramatic change. For the voices, they’ve been around for so long. If they were to change it, it’d be too much. And the humor, from the trailer, has been constant,” Zhang said. “‘SpongeBob’ has always been kind of, even in animation—it’s been kind of crude humor—kind of satire humor. So the audience won’t change that much. I’m just saying that the views toward the way it’s filmed might have the larger effect.”

This movie, however, was largely unexpected for Zhang. “It was completely out of the blue,” he said. “I didn’t expect them to make a movie, let alone a movie that changes the way it’s filmed with CGI. It’s been a long time since the last one, too. ‘SpongeBob’ has still been making episodes, but not movies. It was surprising to see that trailer pop up on TV. It’s an old show, so it’s impressive that it’s still in production. If you think of other ‘90s shows, most of them have been discontinued.”

Despite the surprise, the upcoming movie is still exciting to older fans like Obrique. According to Obrique, technology’s rapid innovation has caused children these days to pull away from the TV as an entertainment source and instead turn to tablets and gaming consoles.

“Much of the older generation grew up with ‘SpongeBob,’ and they hold a special place in their childhood,” Obrique said. “I feel overall its popularity is slowly diminishing even, though there will always be a few who still appreciate their childhood, like myself, and won’t forget SpongeBob’s jokes and the memories the show gave us.”