Environmental Storytelling - Spongebob Squarepants Analysis

In this series a lot of the environments could easily be interchangeable, but what i have noticed by looking at and paying close attention to the backgrounds is they are of a consistent style.
This helps as in any series to build a world around the characters with in it that could perhaps have its own set of rules/laws of physics to make it have a strong concept.
From there mythologies can develop and the rules that govern that world can be compared and played upon for comedic effect, for example the idea of having a beach under water - Blue Lagoon, I feel ideas like this really start to give the audience a mental map of the environment or how they imagine that environment to be.
The backgrounds that build up the environment are hand painted and are bound to a Hawaiian style of floral patterns and  bright colours, in some shots there is an effect that is overlaid over the environment that appears as what looks like light passing through waves, the sort you would find at the bottom of a paddling pool in the sun. It is little touches like these that add depth to the environment.