SpongeBob SquarePants premiered on Nickelodeon in 1999, created by Stephen Hillenburg, and its bubble wipe became one of the show's most recognisable editing signatures. The effect mimics rising underwater bubbles to move between locations in Bikini Bottom, often paired with a short musical sting. As clips from the series spread on YouTube, TikTok and meme pages, editors began lifting the sound on its own to mark transitions in fan edits and parodies, where a few seconds of fizz instantly tells the audience a cartoon time jump has happened.