Squidward Tentacles

SpongeBob SquarePants character
Squidward Tentacles
Gender	Male
species	Octopus
Age	30
Job	Head Cashier of The Krusty Krab, Fry Cook of The Krusty Krab (Pickles, Hooky, The Algae's Always Greener), Manager of The Krusty Krab 2 (The SpongeBob SquarePants Movie, replaced by SpongeBob SquarePants)
First appearance	Help Wanted
Major relatives	Father (unknown), mother (unknown),
"friends"	SpongeBob SquarePants, Patrick Star, Sandy Cheeks, Pearl Krabs
boss	Eugene Krabs
enemy	Sheldon J. Plankton

Squidward Johannsen Tentacles is a fictional character in the animated cartoon television show SpongeBob SquarePants. He is an octopus but has only 6 tentacles (it has been suggested as a cause for his attitude and because it is easier to animate). he uses two of them as arms and the other four as legs. He is believed to be born on October 23, 1975. The character is voiced by Rodger Bumpass.

Residence

Squidward lives in the Easter Island moai house between SpongeBob and Patrick. Despite his 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.

Occupation

Squidward works as the cashier at the Krusty Krab restaurant, along with SpongeBob. Generally, he despises his job and loves the thought of getting fired, though he only attempts to quit in one episode. He doesn't take his work very seriously, being the exact opposite of SpongeBob. In "Just One Bite", Squiward is revealed to never have eaten a Krabby Patty. He insists that they are disgusting, but after trying a bite of one, he falls in love with it.

Relation with SpongeBob and Patrick

SpongeBob and Patrick always encourage Squidward to participate in their games, but this only annoys him. In particular, SpongeBob and Patrick often ask him to go jellyfishing with them. 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 persona 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.

Leisure

An avid patron of the arts, Squidward has a strong affection for interpretive dance, sculpture, painting, and playing the clarinet, but shows no significant talent for any of them. 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.

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 cult following (with the exception of SpongeBob, who really looks up to Squidward) 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 horrible. His clarinet playing often gets him into trouble.

Annoyance

Squidward finds SpongeBob a complete annoyance. He tends to let everyone annoy him, especially those who want to be his friend, although at many times his fear of the loud and overbearing SpongeBob is quite justified. His best friend is his clarinet, whose name is Clary. 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 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.

Tentacle Acres

In one episode, he sees an ad on TV about a town called Tentacle Acres, also known as SquidVille, where millions of squids live in Easter island heads just like him. He decides to move there, and for a while things are spectacular. Eventually, though, he starts to miss SpongeBob's reef blower games and the city of Bikini Bottom. In Tantacle 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. Instead of obeying their wishes, he launches himseld into the air via reef blower, screaming, "Woohoo! FREEDOM!".

Rivalry

His rival is Squilliam Fancyson, who bears an uncanny resemblance to Squidward, but wears a robe and has a unibrow. Squilliam is a very rich squid, usually with many people behind him. 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.

Character

Squidward's character could be read as one who represents adults, while characters like SpongeBob and Patrick represent children, the target audience for the program. Squidward seems to have had high hopes for his life, and seems to hold himself to very adult standards (he keeps his home clean, cultivates a taste for "mature" things, craves peace and quiet), and the silliness of his neighbors annoys him greatly. His obsessions with greatness and failure seem to peg him as a grownup: in one episode, he's spotted trudging to a cemetery to lay flowers at a headstone that reads, "Here Lies Squidward's Hopes and Dreams." Secretly, however, he seems to yearn to "cut loose", but won't admit it. Although he is secretly scared of human resources (henchman), he also hates SpongeBob's crying more than his laughing, and in one episode laughed like SpongeBob because he broke his own laugh box.

Quotes

• (Sarcastically)"Jelly Fishing...I can't think of anything I'd want to more on my day off then go Jelly Fishing with my two best friends SpongeBob and Uh... (Patrick: "Patrick") Right... But I can't!"
• "Whaaatever.."

Trivia

• In the German version of the show, Squidward's name is "Thaddäus".
• In the Dutch version of the show, Squidward's name is "Octo".
• In the Hungarian version of the show, Squidward's name is "Tunyacsáp".
• In the Brazilian version of the show, Squidward's name is "Lulamolusco".
• Squidward once had his own astrology spin-off series that is still occasionally and (rarely) shown on Nicktoons TV.
• Squidward first began working at the Krusty Krab way back some time in the 1970's.
• In the episode "Your Shoe's Untied", Squidward mentions his blueish glow. This was an obvious in-joke, about Squidward's random color changes. In the very first episodes, Squidward actually does have a blueish glow, and almost looks blue in a few of them. In Season 4 episodes, he is completely green.
• In two episodes, Squidward takes SpongeBob's place as fry cook. Squidward usually burns the food like in "Pickles", but cooks them fine in episodes like "Bubble Buddy".
• Squidward enjoys playing with reef blowers, when SpongeBob and Patrick aren't looking.
• Squidward once ate a krabby patty.
• Squidward's favorite song is "Solitude in E Minor".
• Squidward lives in an Easter Island head. Tentacle Acres is made up of a community of squids who all live in Easter Island heads.
• Squidward's mother in the episode, Fools in April, said, "You stink!" to him.
• Squidward plays the clarinet.

See also

Astrology with Squidward