Wormy (also known as Inchworm on his model sheet) is one of Sandy's pets who first appears in the episode "Wormy."
Quick Answers
What type of pet is Wormy in Spongebob Squarepants?
How does Wormy's design change when he transforms into a butterfly?
Why did the sea creatures in Spongebob Squarepants think Wormy was a monster?
In which episode does Wormy first appear in Spongebob Squarepants?
What is the significance of Wormy's redesign in 'Goons on the Moon'?
Description[]
Caterpillar[]
As a caterpillar, Wormy is a light shade of green with black eyes and white spots. His design resembles that of an inchworm.
Butterfly[]
As a butterfly, Wormy is dark orange with black stripes and black on the outermost parts of his wings; this design resembles that of a monarch butterfly. In "Wormy," all the sea creatures thought it was a monster.
In "Goons on the Moon," he was redesigned to have spots instead of stripes.
In "Squirrel Jelly" and "Escape from Beneath Glove World," his spots are red.
Biography[]
Wormy's model sheet.
At some point, Sandy bought or found him in Texas. Sometime later, she took Wormy to her home in Bikini Bottom.
He later turns into a butterfly overnight.
Role in series[]
"Wormy"[]
When SpongeBob and Patrick are pet sitting for Sandy, they and Wormy play games such as hide-and-seek and tag. However, overnight, Wormy quickly metamorphoses into a butterfly. SpongeBob and Patrick return but naively believe the butterfly is a monster and ate Wormy when in reality it was Wormy. To save the town, SpongeBob and Patrick cause mass panic throughout and spread the news about Wormy all over town, all because the fish have never seen a butterfly before.
After Sandy returns from her trip and captures Wormy in a jar, the Bikini Bottomites celebrate, prompting Sandy to believe it was just because they missed her that much and she should leave town more often.
"Goons on the Moon"[]
Wormy is seen flying in space among asteroids and other pieces of junk.
"Escape from Beneath Glove World"[]
Wormy appears from episode's opening where he sits on a megaphone, but the commentator's shout blows his away.
Role in SpongeBob: Bubble Pop[]
He appears in the bubbles as when a player pops a bubble that contains Wormy, he will go around popping random bubbles.
Trivia[]
Poster of Wormy in The SpongeBob Movie: Sponge Out of Water (lower middle).
- In The SpongeBob Movie: Sponge Out of Water, a poster of Wormy in his butterfly form can briefly be seen in Sandy's treedome. The image of Wormy on the poster looks very similar to the one seen on the "Beware" fliers made by SpongeBob and Patrick.
Horsefly close-ups in SpongeBob and Bill Nye the Science Guy
An image of the horsefly closeup shown in the episode "Wormy."
A real monarch butterfly face closeup for comparison.
- When Wormy's face is viewed as a close-up in butterfly form, a stock footage of a horse fly is used instead of an actual butterfly.
- This live-action insect footage used throughout the episode "Wormy" are all royalty-free, and owned by Oxford Scientific Films. All of the footage can be found on Getty Images.[1]
- The emerging butterfly footage was also used in Microsoft Encarta '95.[2]
- The infamous cleg fly close-up footage was also used in the Bill Nye the Science Guy episode "Insects."
- The live-action butterfly clips (i.e. when Wormy emerges and the news bulletin about the "monster" attacking) depict a female Monarch butterfly with thicker wing veins, compared to male Monarchs having thinner wing veins. This suggests Wormy may have actually been a female butterfly, as it is very hard to determine a Monarch caterpillar's gender until it metamorphoses into an adult butterfly (and thus Sandy assumed that the caterpillar was male).
- As mentioned above, when Wormy's face is viewed as a close-up in butterfly form, the wrong insect is shown. As Wormy is a butterfly, there are enormous, rainbow-colored, shimmering eyes and sharp mouthparts are seen, distinctive to that of a horsefly, instead of circular black eyes and a proboscis (tongue). Furthermore, butterflies do not make buzzing sounds, which (again) is a characteristic of flies.
- The episode "Wormy" was banned in some countries including Indonesia and Italy, due to Wormy's face being a cleg fly close-up frightening young viewers.[3]
- Wormy's close up became a popular internet meme and created a crossover video edits where other characters from other series reacting to Wormy.
- The word "wormy" means infested or eaten by worms.
An image of regular caterpillar shown in "Wormy."
A real Monarch Caterpillar close-up for a comparison.
- When Wormy is about to transform, he is depicted with a stock image of a caterpillar. The stock image of Wormy and the Chrysalis' were all edited to look green, in order to match the colors used for Wormy when he is animated.
References[]
| Worms (V • E) | |
|---|---|
| Alaskan Bull Worm • Baby worms • BlackJack's guard worm • Butcher • Cockney worm • Earworm • Fifi (A Place for Pets) • Fifi (Gary in Love) • Guard worm • Incidental F6's worm • JK • Junkyard worm • K-9 Unit • Mermaid Worm • Mipsey and Pipsey • Mr. Doodles • Mr. Krabs' worms • Mrs. Squiggles • Mrs. Wormsley • Nematodes • Peanut worms • Prickles • Rex • Spinner • Spotted glistening meadow worm • Tapey • Unnamed purple worm • Worm (Rock-a-Bye Bivalve) • Worm (SpongeBob in RandomLand) • Worm hogs • Worm King • Wormy | |