Squidward Tentacles

Squidward Quincy Tentacles
SpongeBob SquarePants character
File:Squidward.png Squidward as of Hide And Then What Happens?
First appearance	"Help Wanted" (May 1, 1999)
Portrayed by	Rodger Bumpass Rokurō Naya (Japanese)
In-universe information
Species	Octopus
Occupation	Cashier
Relatives	Parents: Mr. and Mrs. Tentacles Grandfather:Grandpa Tentacles Grandmother: Grandma (mostly used when Squidward says it) Cousin: Squeeze Ancestors: Squog Squidley Hopalong

Squidward Quincy Tentacles is a fictional character on the television cartoon series SpongeBob SquarePants. He is voiced by Rodger Bumpass. The character is seen in most episodes of the show.

Role in SpongeBob SquarePants

Unlike most characters in the series, Squidward is generally grumpy, tactless, sarcastic, and narcissistic. He dislikes many things, including his consistently annoying neighbors SpongeBob and Patrick and his job at the Krusty Krab, and is constantly aloof towards the citizens of Bikini Bottom. However, Squidward enjoys abstract art, playing his clarinet (usually quite poorly), modern dance, relaxing, public radio, television programs, and just about anything else that he considers "fancy". He doesn't like anyone, except his mom. In Truth or Square, it was revealed that Squidward was a happy and laid back person with a secret garden, but it changes when a pineapple falls over him and his garden, and SpongeBob bought the "house". The years of irritation with SpongeBob have turned Squidward in the sarcastic and grumpy character that he is now.

Squidward was introduced in the series premiere of the show, as the cashier of the Krusty Krab restaurant. He has held this position for the entire series, and serves as the co-worker of SpongeBob, who is the establishment's fry cook. His home is a stone tiki head designed to look like the Moai found on Easter Island. The "eyes" of the tiki head consist of the house's only windows on the second floor. A running gag is that his house gets destroyed in nearly every episode that it has appeared in. He has sought more prestigious and lucrative careers in the arts but has largely failed, as his archrival, a similarly designed but much more successful octopus named "Squilliam Fancyson," regularly notes whenever he appears.

Character

Creation

The character of Squidward was designed with a large, bulbous head to emphasize the head shape of octopi.

The basis for SpongeBob SquarePants was envisioned by Stephen Hillenburg in 1984 while teaching and studying marine biology at the Ocean Institute in Dana Point, California, where he wrote the comic strip The Intertidal Zone, which starred various anthropomorphic forms of sea life, many of which would evolve into SpongeBob SquarePants characters. He left the institute to become an animator in 1987, and later attended the California Institute of Arts in 1992. In the institute, he made his thesis film Wormholes (1992), which led to his hiring as a director, writer, producer, storyboard artist, and executive producer of the series Rocko's Modern Life by creator Joe Murray. He started to develop the series in 1996 following Rocko's Modern Life's, and pitched the series to Nickelodeon in 1998 and was later greenlighted for a first season.

Creator Stephen Hillenburg designed Squidward with a large, bulbous head to emphasize the head shape of octopuses, as well as that of his rather large ego.

Name

Although the character is named Squidward, there is dispute over whether he is an octopus or a squid due to conflicting statements between the show creator and Nickelodeon's official website. Creator Stephen Hillenburg named him as such since the name Octoward failed to "sound catchy", and animated him with six tentacles as opposed to eight since he found the latter made the character's animation "look bulky". The name, Squidward, is derived from the English name, Edward.

Appearance

Squidward is a light teal colored humanoid cephalopod with yellow eyes and red pupils. He has six arms, four of which are used as legs, and each arm has several blue suction cups on the end. Squidward also has a distinctively large 'nose' and a round, bald head. He usually Has no pants, similar to Donald Duck not wearing pants. He appears with a green tongue in Atlantis Squarepantis. He Has A brown T-shirt.

Voice

The voice of Squidward is played by Rodger Bumpass. Squidward is known for his distinctive, repetitive laugh. Arthur Brown, author of Everything I Need to Know, I Learned from Cartoons!, has compared Squidward's voice to that of Jack Benny's.

Ancestry

Squidward's ancestry has been explored in several episodes; in the episode "Krab Borg" (season three, 2002), he mentions a father; said character later makes an appearance in the book Hooray for Dads!, where he is shown to possess a personality similar to his son.

References

• Banks, Steven (September 24, 2004). SpongeBob Exposed! The Insider's Guide to SpongeBob SquarePants. Gregg Schigiel(Illustrator). New York City, New York: Simon Spotlight/Nickelodeon. ISBN 978-0689868702. {{cite book}}: |access-date= requires |url= (help)
• Neuwirth, Allan (2003). Makin' Toons: Inside the Most Popular Animated TV Shows and Movies. Allworth Communications, Inc. pp. 50, 252–253. ISBN 1581152698.

See also

• List of SpongeBob SquarePants characters