The fourth season of the American animated television series SpongeBob SquarePants, created by former marine biologist and animator Stephen Hillenburg, aired on Nickelodeon from May 6, 2005 to July 24, 2007, and contained 20 episodes, beginning with the episodes “Fear of a Krabby Patty” and “Shell of a Man”. The series chronicles the exploits and adventures of the title character and his various friends in the fictional underwater city of Bikini Bottom. The season was executive produced by series creator Hillenburg, while writer Paul Tibbitt acted as the showrunner. The show underwent a hiatus on television as Hillenburg halted the production in 2002 to work on the film adaptation of the series, The SpongeBob SquarePants Movie. Once the film was finalized and the previous season had completed broadcast on television, Hillenburg wanted to end the show, but the success of the series led to more episodes, so Tibbitt took over Hillenburg’s position as showrunner and began working on a fourth season for broadcast in 2005.