Squidward Tentacles

Squidward Johnathan Tentacles

Squidward J. Tentacles is a fictional character in the Nickelodeon animated television series SpongeBob SquarePants. He is the grumpy cashier of the Krusty Krab. The character is voiced by Rodger Bumpass. He is the 3rd of 18 main characters. He is the most egotistical and arrogant character on the show, and had some antagonistic traits.

Quick Answers

Who is Squidward Tentacles?

Squidward J. Q. Tentacles is the tritagonist of the SpongeBob SquarePants franchise. He is an anthropomorphic octopus with light turquoise skin, purple suction cups at the end of his tentacles, and six limbs in total. He was born on October 9 and is best described as ill-tempered, pretentious, and cynical. He despises his neighbors for their noisy behavior but is still friends with SpongeBob and Patrick.

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Is Squidward Tentacles a squid or octopus?

Squidward Tentacles is an anthropomorphic octopus, as confirmed by the series creators, despite his name containing the word "squid" and him having six legs instead of eight.

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Why is Squidward an octopus if he has 6 legs?

Despite his name containing the word "squid" and him having six legs instead of eight, Squidward is an octopus according to the series creators. This is because series animators believe if he had 8 tentacles, he'll be too difficult to animate, and it was simpler for animation to draw him with six legs instead of eight. His species is still an octopus, however, and he has purple suction cups at the end of his six tentacles.

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What does the Q stand for in Squidward's name?

Squidward J. Q. Tentacles' middle initial "J" stands for Jeffrey and the "Q" stands for Quincy.

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Development

Although his name is Squidward, he is actually an octopus. This was stated in a 20 minute "behind the scenes" feature of The SpongeBob SquarePants Movie DVD with creator Stephen Hillenburg and a few voice actors. The following was quoted by Squidward's voice actor, Rodger Bumpass:

"I am Rodger Bumpass, and I play Squidward J. Tentacles. He's more of an adult, tries to be at least. He's an octopus, but they call him Squidward. I never understood. I guess Octoward just never worked for a name though."

Also, in another feature on the DVD, entitled "The Case of the SpongeBob," Stephen Hillenburg quotes the following:

"This is Squidward the octopus." Later in the feature, he quotes, "It was easier for animation to draw him with six legs instead of eight."

Squidward's name is a portmanteau of the word "squid" and the name "Edward"(Squilliam bears a similar combination of "squid" and the name "William").

Animation

Squidward's animation style has changed throughout the series. In the episode "Squid's Day Off", Squidward mentions his bluish glow. This was an obvious in-joke, about Squidward's random color changes. In the very first episodes, Squidward actually does have a bluish glow, and almost looks blue in a few of them. In Season 4 episodes, he is completely green. Squidward's color is affected by the water around him, for when SpongeBob accidentally sucked all the water in the ocean into his reef blower, Squidward appeared purple. This could mean that Squidward is actually colored purple but just looks different underwater. In the episode Squid's Day Off, when he goes insane, he appeared turquoise, and his eyes were flatter. When he was in the bathtub, underwater, he looked like an actual octopus, as opposed to his normal appearance of a squid.

Cultural References

Squidward looks and sounds similar to actor Ned Sparks (minus the cigar). Ironically Sparks was once caricatured as an underwater creature in a 1939 cartoon by Tex Avery. Squidward's vocal inflection is also very similar to famed Rat Packer Sammy Davis Jr.

Deaths

Squidward has had many presumed deaths, all of which are noncanonical. One example was, In "Dying for Pie", A death occurs to Squidward. A bomb pie lands into Squidwards Face, causing the Town to Flatten. However, right after the Explosion, Squidwaqrd manages to mutter out "Ow!!" This couldn't possibly happen, because the bomb, with Squidward dead center, would've immediately vaporized Squidward, unless his soul said "OW!!" Another example is the end of "Skill Crane", whereas Squidward got beat up by Construction workers, presumably to death. His lifeline was SpongeBob, but with the crane he was using, he only picked up a stuffed animal; SpongeBob rationalizes that he can "only pick up toys". Also, the big Alaskan Bull Worm had crushed him into bits at the ending.

Biography

Character

Squidward Tentacles' character is a bundle of adult failings and successes. He is annoyingly pretentious in his pursuit of the arts, unable to spot raw talent and creativity, even belittling it. He lauds "cultivated taste" and accepted standards. In the episode "Artist Unknown", he insists that his pupil SpongeBob "show his method", even when it's painfully clear that SpongeBob is creating works of artistic genius. In "Bubblestand", he belittles SpongeBob's brilliant bubble-blowing. Such episodes can be taken as a punch by the cartoonists at their pretentious but failed art-school classmates who, instead of being recognized masters, must now work at low, demeaning jobs. In "Best Day Ever", he had a concert where he played beautifully and received thunderous applause from the audience. SpongeBob was on the VIP list for it.

In certain ways, Squidward's life is portrayed as a failure.He was an ugly baby according to the episode "Goo Goo Gas".Her mother said he stinked in Fools in April. In "One Krab's Trash", he visits a cemetery to lay flowers at a headstone that reads, "Here Lies Squidward's Hopes and Dreams." Yet he has not sunk into despondency: he is tireless in his pursuit of music, his painting, his sculpture, oblivious to his lack of talent. (Season 4 implies that it's because his 7th Great Grandfather Squidley could not play the clarinet right, and cursed Squidward ten-fold, as seen in "Dunces and Dragons"). Squilliam Fancyson once noted that Squidward was voted "Most Likely to Suck Eggs" in high school ("Squilliam Returns"). He has tried several things to reach the fame he desires: hosting a talent show, starting his own astrology spin-off, forming a band, and so on, yet he can't seem to get much of a following. Mr. Krabs and Patrick also seem to like him, though it may be argued that Mr. Krabs only likes Squidward because of his allegiance with the Krusty Krab. Squidward considers himself the greatest and most unrecognized clarinet player of all time, though most undersea life that hear him play will argue that he is a mediocre clarinet player, and his clarinet playing often gets him into trouble (or injured in a comic and brutal fashion, such as SpongeBob launching an airborne marshmallow into his throat in an attempt to get him to stop playing). SpongeBob has told Squidward he doesn't play the clarinet well. It is amusing to note that Squidward once said that anyone can be a big shot in a hick-town like Bikini Bottom, but he can never make a name for himself. It is sort of ironic how the person in the town who probably tries most to make a name for himself can't, even though it doesn't seem too hard.

Outwardly, he in fact shows signs of modest success: he lives in a nice, well-tended house, with no signs of slothfulness, and finds plenty of time to lead an active, involved life. Not conscious of his failings, he acknowledges them subconsciously by his outsized sarcasm. All of his most famous and most quotable lines are sarcastic.

He is well-educated, knows his history, and has a strong anti-capitalist bent. At work, he is not only careless, sloppy and lazy, but even occasionally engages in Marxist, labor-party sloganeering. In the episode "Squid on Strike", he organizes a worker's strike at the Krusty Krab, replete with talk of "the proletariat", working-class oppression, protest techniques and organization. He even incites labor unrest, resulting in the destruction of the Krusty Krab.

In the end, Squidward finds a way of redeeming himself. He has various endearing traits, and, despite himself, often manages to keep an open mind. In the episode "Squidville", he moves to a town filled with his own peers, other octopuses who share his tastes and outlook on life. Here, he is forced to face how boring and oppressive his desired lifestyle really is, and he is able to ultimately break free of its bonds with a bit of inspired silliness.

Even though Squidward has tentacles, it is revealed in the episode "Once Bitten" that he has both fingers and toes. However, this could just be a sight gag. He also has toenails on each of his tentacles in "House Fancy"; during this episode, one of these toenails is ripped clean off due to SpongeBob's idiocy in moving his couch. Many fans criticized the fact that SpongeBob had made a scene with violentic movements and were annoyed with his lack of intelligence.

In "Mermaid Man and Barnacle Boy V," it is assumed that Squidward used to have a girlfriend when he remembered the good times he had at make-out reef. It is probably that the girlfriend got tired of his lack of social behavior and manners, or that they were splited up from a different college after the school they went to together.

When by himself, Squidward has a good heart, but with others, he has a gruff and sarcastic personality, possibly because of his failings, and he doesn't like the other main characters, because they're critical of him, or because they're just plain annoying, especially Spongebob.

Looks

Squidward Tentacles is a light green/blue color, and has purple suction cups at the end of his tentacles. He has six limbs in total, two being arms and four being legs. Whenever he walks, his suction cups stick to the floor, meaning that he walks with a distinct squelching noise. Squidward has a large bald head, a skinny body, big droopy nose, a wide mouth and yellow eyes with brown irises and red pupils. When he laughs, his nose appears to be deflate and go back to normal frequently. He wears a brown short-sleeved shirt, which is sometimes nautical brown-orange.

Occupation

Squidward Tentacles works as the cashier at the Krusty Krab restaurant, along with his co-worker, SpongeBob. Generally, he despises his job and loves the thought of getting fired, as he revealed in "As Seen on TV" when he told SpongeBob to keep the customers waiting, though he only attempts to quit in one episode. He wouldn't work there if he didn't need the money. He doesn't take his work very seriously, being the exact opposite of SpongeBob. In "Just One Bite", it was revealed that Squidward had never eaten a Krabby Patty. He insists that they are disgusting, but after trying a bite of one, he falls in love with it. Once, Squidward was fired because Mr. Krabs lost his dime and automatically assumed that he stole it, which was really in Krabs' pocket. He also was the manager of the Krusty Krab 2 for six days in The SpongeBob SquarePants Movie. His dream in "Sleepy Time" said that he played the clarinet for the king. In Selling Out, Squidward worked as the waiter for Krabby O'Mondays. Carl threatened him to be happy or Human Resources, a thug in the back of the place, would beat him up. He was also:

• The Art Department Filmmaker and Creator of the Mermaidman and Barnacleboy Movie's designing technology.
• A Wallet Snatcher Crimimnal (he was arrested for 10 years, but that's a little too long for him, isn't it?)
• The Krabby O' Mondays Waiter and Happy Birthday Singing Employee
• The Replacement Krabby Patty flipper
• Captain Magma(a superhero identity to save the Earth from E.V.I.L.)
• Snail-Sitter
• Orchestra Concert Composter and Clarinet Concert Player
• Art Lesson Teacher who instructs drawing only himself!
• A Dancing Competition Volunteer
• He wanted to be a construction worker to have fun controlling a crane. He had the job for about 63 seconds.

Leisure

An avid patron of the arts, Squidward has a strong affection for interpretive dance, sculpture, painting, and playing the clarinet, but seems to have almost no talent for any of them whatsoever, although he does play the clarinet beautifully at the end of the Christmas special, and at the end of the "Bubblestand" episode. He has often tried to impress the public with his artistic exhibitions, but is always either unrecognized, mocked by his audience, or upstaged by SpongeBob. Squidward always wants to be the center of attention but rarely ever is. In "Best Day Ever" he had a concert where he played beautifully and received thunderous applause from the audience, the reason being because SpongeBob replaced a part of the inside of his clarinet with one of his teeth. SpongeBob was on the VIP list for it, which is ironic, considering Squidward's intense hatred for him.

All his artwork, from sculptures to paintings, depicts himself in a way, even repainting done works to include his own face.

He has tried several things to reach the fame he desires: hosting a talent show, starting his own astrology spin-off, forming a band, and so on, yet he can't seem to get much of a following. Mr. Krabs and Patrick also seem to like him, though it may be argued that Mr. Krabs only likes Squidward because of his allegiance with the Krusty Krab. Squidward considers himself the greatest and most unrecognized clarinet player of all time, though most undersea life that hear him play will argue that he is a mediocre clarinet player (an animal hospital being called because his neighbors heard a "dying animal" in his house in "Band Geeks", and his clarinet playing often gets him into trouble (or injured in a comic and brutal fashion, such as SpongeBob launching an airborne marshmallow into his throat in an attempt to get him to stop playing). SpongeBob has told Squidward that he doesn't play the clarinet well. It is amusing to note that Squidward once said that anyone can be a big shot in a hick-town like Bikini Bottom, but he can never make a name for himself.

Annoyance

Squidward finds SpongeBob and Patrick as complete annoyances. He tends to let everyone annoy him, especially those who want to be his friend, although at many times his impatience of the loud and overbearing SpongeBob is quite justified with Spongbob usually being unable to take no for an answer. Incidences where SpongeBob and Patrick leave home for a few days are shown to make Squidward genuinely happy, as he will have a few days of peace and quiet while they're gone, and he relishes the thought of SpongeBob moving away. Often, Squidward's attempts to get away from SpongeBob and/or Patrick get him into trouble, such as being covered head-to-toe in wet cement and being mistaken for a member of an unknown species ("The Thing"), running a stop sign and being forced to go to Mrs. Puff's boating school alongside SpongeBob ("Boating Buddies"), and being forced to do a lifetime of community service every Sunday alongside SpongeBob and Patrick after his newly-installed security system goes haywire and destroys most of Bikini Bottom ("Good Neighbors").

Often, Squidward infers SpongeBob's simple-minded comments to be challenges, such as SpongeBob's comment of "Have fun inside" in "The Camping Episode". Proceeding this, he often goes out of his way to prove to SpongeBob that he can win the "challenge", often taking the whole thing entirely too seriously. His best friend is his clarinet, whose name is Clary (revealed in "I Was a Teenage Gary"). One of Squidward's greatest dreams and desires is to either have hair or to buy a wig. He seems to think he would look good with hair. Aside from his musical "talents", he enjoys painting several pictures of himself and hanging them up around his house. There are new paintings in his house in almost every episode, constantly changing and almost never the same.

In the episode "Artist Unknown", SpongeBob signs up for Squidward's art class and proves to be a better artist than Squidward. Eventually, SpongeBob creates an amazing statue that is beyond Squidward's capabilities as an artist. However, Squidward degrades SpongeBob's art and claims it is missing a very important element (a large nose similar to Squidward's), yet an art critic later points out that the nose is the only flaw.

In the episode "Squid's Day Off", Squidward assigns SpongeBob to man the cash register when Mr. Krabs is at the hospital getting his arms reattached. Meanwhile, Squidward leaves the Krusty Krab for a day of relaxation, but he foolishly had SpongeBob convinced that he was doing "very important boss-like errands."

Although Squidward openly despises SpongeBob and Patrick with a passion, they view him as a very close friend and cannot be convinced otherwise, even during some of his hostile actions towards them, such as chasing them down with a bulldozer ("Opposite Day"), rubbing it in SpongeBob's face that Santa didn't come ("Christmas Who?"), ridiculing SpongeBob's flubbed tan ("Sun Bleached"), stating that his wish for Mr. Krab's wishing well was, that SpongeBob and Patrick were stuck in a dark hole and away from him ("Wishing You Well"), literally kicking SpongeBob out of his house when he attempted to warn him of an invading biker gang ("Born to be Wild"), and referring to SpongeBob as "the bane of his existence" ("Boating Buddies").

In one episode, Squidward set up an electric fence in an attempt to keep SpongeBob and Patrick from sneaking into his bedroom every single morning to watch the sunrise, but ended up getting electrocuted in it and becoming a much happier and goofier person, as well as becoming more annoying than SpongeBob and Patrick combined. In the end, he was turned back to normal after a second electrocution, and SpongeBob and Patrick were also shocked, becoming just like him ("Breath of Fresh Squidward").

SpongeBob and Patrick always encourage Squidward to participate in their games, but this only annoys him. In particular, Patrick and SpongeBob often ask him to go jellyfishing with them. In "SB-129", while he was trying to avoid Patrick and SpongeBob, he froze in the Krusty Krab's freezer and landed two thousand years in the future, then went to the past. While in the past, he inadvertently invented jellyfishing, although SpongeBob originally invented it.

While seemingly the eternal pessimist, he occasionally tries to be like SpongeBob (often with hopes that doing so will stop SpongeBob from bugging him), but does not ever get the hang of it. In one episode, however, he finds himself putting a piece of paper on his nose and dancing a jig in insanity. When SpongeBob isn't looking, Squidward will start to act more like SpongeBob from time to time, especially in the earlier episodes like "Bubblestand" and "The Paper". Squidward's voice reveals a lot about his personality and attitude, much like SpongeBob's voice. In one episode, "Selling Out", he is forced to keep a smile glued to his face by the manager of Krabby O' Mondays which creates an interesting effect, as Squidward hardly ever smiles while showing his teeth.

Despite the fact that he often shows little more than animosity towards him, in many episodes Squidward shows feelings of sympathy and outright compassion towards SpongeBob, possibly meaning that he actually does like him deep down, but won't admit it, even to himself: In "Graveyard Shift", when the two believe that the Hash-Slinging Slasher is about to kill them, he says to SpongeBob, "No matter what I've said, I've always sort of liked you"; in "Dying for Pie", after thinking he allowed SpongeBob to eat a pie-shaped bomb, he felt truly guilty about it and spent the day playing many of SpongeBob's childish games in order to make SpongeBob's "final hours" the best of his life; in "Fools in April", in an attempt to apologize to SpongeBob for his cruel April Fool's Day prank in that same episode, he says "I like you...and everybody else I'm forced to socialize with"; in "Squidville", Squidward moves to Tentacle Acres after SpongeBob and Patrick accidentally blow up his house, and, after several weeks of the same routine, he grows tired of it, quickly saying SpongeBob's name in an eager way upon hearing a [[reef blower], possibly meaning that he just doesn't feel normal unless the two are around, hinting that he is used to the two constantly pestering him; and in "Skill Crane", when he loses control of the construction crane, he frantically yells out, "Look out, SpongeBob, I can't stop!"

Residence

Squidward's House.

Squidward lives in a house resembling an Easter Island moai, placed between SpongeBob and Patrick's houses at 122 Conch Street. It has been personified several times, such as in the episode The Secret Box, where it seems to be peeking at SpongeBob and Patrick's talk. Despite Squidward's wish for peace and quiet, his two neighbors, SpongeBob and Patrick, make it nearly impossible, due to their high level of childish immaturity and silliness. If Squidward had the choice, he would move. He did in "Squidville", but ultimately decided that he had moved somewhere even worse. Similarly in "Opposite Day", Squidward tried to move but SpongeBob had scared away the Real Estate agent and Squidward had to stay. He also moved in "Stanley S. SquarePants". Squidward does not live alone; Snellie, his snail from The Great Snail Race, is in residence with him.

In one "Squidville", after Squidward's house is destroyed by the Twosome (SpongeBob and Patrick,) he sees an ad on TV about a town called Tentacle Acres, where many octopuses live in Easter Island heads just like him. He decides to move there, and for a while life is spectacular, as he finds a large community of like-minded octopuses into which he fits perfectly. Eventually, though, he starts to miss SpongeBob's reef blower games and the city of Bikini Bottom. In Tentacle Acres, daily life is all one big routine that Squidward tires of after a week or so. He begins to wreak havoc throughout the overly structured civilization of Tentacle Acres with a reef blower. Angry citizens corner him in an alleyway and demand that he leave. He obeyed their wishes, except he did so by launching himself into the open water above him via reef blower, screaming, "Woohoo! FREEDOM!".

Rivalry

His rival is Squilliam Fancyson, from high school band class, who bears an uncanny resemblance to Squidward, but wears a robe and has a unibrow. He is living Squidward's dream (with a private island, a private heliport, a private lake, a private boat, a private mansion and even a private hot-air balloon/casino) and succeeded in everything Squidward failed in. He is a wealthy six-legged squid (or octopus, like Squidward is said to be at the beginning of this article), usually with many admirers following his presence. He constantly shows up to make fun of Squidward, however Squidward makes a jerk out of Squilliam when his ragtag band plays for the Bubble Bowl and turns out to be much better than he ever expected. At this sight, Squilliam has a heart attack and is taken to the hospital to recover.

Squilliam unintentionally gets back at Squidward in the episode "Squilliam Returns." Squid's plan to turn the Krusty Krab into a five star restaurant blows up in his face when SpongeBob (who, on Squidward's request, emptied his mind of everything "except fine dining and breathing") forgot his name and subsequently everything else, in addition to Mr. Krabs's "appetizer" coming to life.

His other rivals are Mr. Krabs, SpongeBob SquarePants, and Patrick Star, although in Help Wanted Squidward seemed to like Mr. Krabs a lot than he does in the later, more technical episodes.

List of Appearances

(main article: List of Squidward Tentacles' Appearances)

Footnotes

• In episode of "Mermaid Man and Barnacle Boy V", it is revealed that Squidward used to have a girlfriend, as he remembers having good times at Makeout Reef.
• In episode "Once Bitten", Squidward owns a collection of pet rocks.
• During October of 2007, Whenever a Nickelodeon show goes for a commercial, you can see that all the Nickelodeon characters had become as the famous monsters for Halloween. Squidward was dressed as Jack The Ripper or Phantom of the Opera. Although it was more than likely the Phantom of the Opera, because Jack the Ripper's graphic nature would not fit the family fun Nickelodeon is famous for.
• Squidward can also be seen dressed in a Santa costume during the Happy Ha Ha Holidays commercial.
• In the episode "The Two Faces of Squidward", he becomes handsome and cool and nice
• In Good Ol' Whatshisname, after stealing identity form What Zit Tooya, he is scentenced to 10 years in Jail.
• Whenever Squidward is alone from SpongeBob and Patrick for a long period of time, he begins to miss them. He may be trapped in a loop-hole or love-hate relationship.
• In the episode "Normal" Spongebob tells Squidward that he doesn't wear pants. But, in "The Lost Mattress", Squidward is seen putting a wooden spoon in a place where a back pocket would've been found.
• Squidward can be seen in Snafu Comics, in the Grim Tales section.When HIM was explainig to Grim JR. about his sister and some other people being immune to the 7 deadly sins, Squidward has done the sin Sloth.
• In the episode of "The Original Fry Cook" In a flash back, Squidward use to have long blond hair.
• In the episode "Who Bob, What Pants?" it is revealed that Squidward has a obsession of decorated eggs.

Quotes

• "Please tell me this isn't a joke!"
• "Stay back!I have garden tools!"
• Mumbling in his sleep "Grandma!"
• "S-Squidumms loves his mamaw!"
• "I didn't need to see that."
• " Why is it that whenever I have fun it's wrong?"
• "Will I ever win?"
• " April Fools, you little sausage!"
• "OW!!"
• "What are you stimpleheads doing?!? You're supposed to catch jellyfish, not torture yourself with them."