It first aired on Nickelodeon in the United States on November 12, 2007, serving as the twelfth episode of the fifth season of the American animated television series SpongeBob SquarePants.

In the special, SpongeBob and Patrick discover a half of an ancient medallion that helps them and their friends get to the lost city of Atlantis.

After the end of the SpongeBob special, Patchy finds Encino shrunk to a tiny size and meets three aliens, which explains that their son, Norbluck 5, was playing with his shrink ray.

SpongeBob blows another bubble they can fit in, and they end up floating away in it to a cave, where they find a piece of a medallion to the lost city of Atlantis.

Unaware of what it is, they take it to the Bikini Bottom Museum and run into Squidward, who thinks they stole the other displayed half of the medallion.

They meet the Atlantean Emperor, Lord Royal Highness, inside Atlantis, who shows them a grand tour of the fortress.

As Mr. Krabs, Sandy, and Squidward relate their experiences to Lord Royal Highness, SpongeBob and Patrick attempt to conceal the bubble's destruction until they blurt it out.

SpongeBob and his friends leave for Bikini Bottom on the bus, as Lord Royal Highness takes the medallion and orders one of his guards to throw it away.

You don't picture David Bowie, the Thin White Duke, sitting on the couch in his pajamas eating Cheerios watching SpongeBob cartoons.

"[3] Jim Blake's music track "Food Fight" was used for promotional material such as the aforementioned special and the teaser trailer for the movie that aired on the American network.

[19][20] The film begun production in May 2006, and was delivered to Nickelodeon roughly a year later, allowing time for the network's marketers to promote it.

[24][25][26] Atlantis SquarePantis was broadcast on November 12, 2007 on Nickelodeon, and was preceded by an "Z-A" countdown of SpongeBob SquarePants episodes picked by viewers.

[29][30][31] Happily enough, Lord Royal Highness is voiced by David Bowie, the innovative rock star of yesteryear, and it sounds from his vocal aerobics as if he's having a lot of fun in the role.

Perhaps the writers and producers imagined they were cleverly spoofing traditional children's stories about magical kingdoms, but SquarePantis seems to be playing it unimaginatively straight.

She wrote "Kids will enjoy this, but adults, who love the crazy antics, tongue-in-cheek humor and naive blunderings of early SpongeBob will be disappointed.

"[34] Jerry Vonkramer of ToonZone gave the episode a score of 7/10 and wrote "Atlantis SquarePants [sic] is not a masterpiece, but neither does it deserve the awful reputation it seems to have.

In his review, Shales wrote that "the funniest thing about the film is its title" and "a typical episode has about as many laughs as this inflated version does."