Here at Conventional Relations, we LOVE Nickelodeon. Unhealthily so. Anytime we go to conventions, we always look for Nickelodeon things.
Our collective all time favorite Nickelodeon show is “Drake & Josh” so when we found out Allison Scagliotti was going to be at Dragon Con, we were pumped.
She is our hero. Her character Mindy is smart, pretty, and has killer fashion sense.
Kinsey’s favorite line from the series even comes from Mindy “Do you like Apricots, Josh?”
Andrew and Kinsey are the real life version of Josh and Mindy minus the competitive streak. “AS LONG AS I GET TO BE THE BOYFRIEND!”
We also attended Allison’s panel on Sunday where she and Shannon Purser discussed women in the acting industry. It was an extremely crucial and wonderful conversation and more people should have attended.
We got to meet Jordan Calloway, aka Zack from the underrated Nick show “Unfabulous!”
Kinsey forgot he was going to be there and recognized him instantly! She was so excited!
Calloway also appears in another Conventional Relations favorite, “Riverdale,” as Chuck (who we really wished was the Gargoyle King, but alas…”)
He was so nice and our picture with him is the most liked picture on our Instagram to date!
Nickelodeon voice actors Rodger Bumpass and Lori Alan voice Squidward and Pearl on SpongeBob SquarePants.
The actors appeared for a special panel at Dragon Con, sponsored by the Kids track, to celebrate 20 years of SpongeBob.
Kids were given first priority for questions, but honestly, there had to be less than twenty kids in the whole room.
Young adults and parents filled the panel room to hear the two speak about their roles on the iconic television show. There was even a twenty-something year old who cosplayed as Squidward’s house. He had a blue trash can with a hole punched in the top for his head and he made the face out wrapping paper.
It never failed that when one of the actors spoke in their signature character voice, Kinsey would silently squeal like a child, since SpongeBob is one of her favorite shows.
Below are the highlights from the panel! Were you there too? What is your favorite SpongeBob moment from the show?! Let us know your favorites in the comments!
– The moderator kept the crowd occupied by leading a few sing-alongs of the theme song and “The F.U.N. Song.” Andrew wouldn’t have minded “Sweet Victory”, but I guess sometimes there’s just too many songs and not enough time.
– One fan asked the actors if they ever get recognized in public even though they’re voice actors. Bumpass remarked that because of DVD extras and interviews, people have started to put faces to the voices and they do get recognized occasionally.
– Since Bumpass and Alan physically appear in the SpongeBob 20th Birthday episode, one fan was curious what it was like for them acting in front of the camera for a SpongeBob episode. They said it was strange to be in costume filming after doing the show in a recording studio for 20 years. Bumpass compared the experience to an episode of “The Twilight Zone.”
– Despite the fact that this was a family friendly panel, it didn’t stop offbeat humor from working its way in from time to time. When asked how Squidward deals with how annoying SpongeBob and Patrick are, Bumpass simply responded by saying “Vodka.” He also recalled the recording of the episode “Sailor Mouth” where Clancy Brown was actually cursing in the booth, saying words that he never heard of.
– When asked about rumors of a potential spin off called Kamp Koral, the actors refrained from commenting since they didn’t know much about it. All that’s known is that it will be a prequel series.
– One fan was curious to know the actors thoughts on “SpongeBob SquarePants: The Broadway Musical”. Lori Alan considers herself a musical theatre junkie and was so excited to go to New York with the rest of the cast. She recalled Stephen Hillenburg being in so much joy to see it come to life. The actors applauded how much the stage looked and sounded like Bikini Bottom. They had an entire foley stage where artists made sounds to accompany the scenes.
– When asked if they got attached to their characters, both actors responded positively. Alan feels loud and girly like Pearl and noted how the longer you play a character, the more you start to finesse weird traits out of them like cries or laughs. Bumpass considers Squidward to be his alter ego and has reached a point where when he’s acting out the character, he relies less on what Squidward’s mindset would be and more on what his own would be.
– Alan teased an upcoming episode from Season 12 that the female voice actors pitched to the writing staff where Sandy, Ms. Puff, and Pearl go on a camping trip. She talked about how the upcoming season will feature a lot of interesting episodes and scenarios and already dubbed this episode to be one of her favorites.
– Since this panel was titled “20 Years of SpongeBob”, the question was raised of whether or not the actors expected the show to go on for this long. Bumpass and Alan spoke about how they remember thinking the show might not last past the third season because creator Stephen Hillenburg’s wife was ill with cancer and he had to put the show aside temporarily to take care of her.
– The actors spoke about how working on SpongeBob differs from other shows they’ve worked on. Nickelodeon sends them storyboards to the episodes before they record, which Alan said is highly uncommon for shows to do. Because they’re able to look at the artwork beforehand, they’re able to prepare their performances more thoroughly and make recording more efficient. The recording process is also different from a lot of shows in that the actors all record their parts together whereas it’s more common for voice actors to record parts individually.
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