Squidward Tentacles

Squidward Tentacles is a fictional character voiced by actor Rodger Bumpass in the American animated television series SpongeBob SquarePants. Squidward was created and designed by marine biologist and animator Stephen Hillenburg. He first appeared on television in the series' pilot episode "Help Wanted" on May 1, 1999.

Although his name has the word "squid" in it and he has six arms, Squidward is an anthropomorphic octopus. He lives in a moai between SpongeBob SquarePants' and Patrick Star's houses. The character is portrayed as ill-tempered, manipulative, pretentious, cynical and incredibly hostile, and he strongly despises his neighbors for their constant boisterous, noisy behavior. However, the pair are unaware of Squidward's antipathy towards them and see him as a friend (mainly SpongeBob, as Patrick is sometimes aware or at least suspects it, like in "SB-129"). Squidward works as a cashier at the Krusty Krab restaurant, a job that he is apathetic towards.

The character's critical reception from professionals and fans has been positive. Squidward has appeared in many SpongeBob SquarePants publications, toys, and other merchandise. He appears in the 2004 full-length feature film The SpongeBob SquarePants Movie and its sequel which was released in 2015.

Role in SpongeBob SquarePants
Squidward is depicted as a bitter, very unfortunate, desperate, somewhat depressed, curt, arrogant, occasionally selfish, turquoise octopus. He lives in the underwater city of Bikini Bottom in a moai situated between SpongeBob SquarePants' pineapple house and Patrick Star's rock. Squidward detests his neighbors for their perpetual laughter and boisterous behavior, though SpongeBob and Patrick are oblivious to Squidward's animosity towards them and regard him as a friend, though there are times when at least one of them is slightly aware of it, notably in the episode "SB-129" when Patrick voiced suspicion and was beginning to believe Squidward's hatred of them was real.

Squidward lives in a constant state of self-pity and misery; he is unhappy with his humdrum lifestyle and yearns for celebrity status, wealth, hair, and a glamorous and distinguished career as a musician or painter with a passion for art and playing the clarinet. However, he is left to endure the lowly status as a fast-food cashier at the Krusty Krab restaurant. Squidward resents his job and is irritated by his greedy employer Mr. Krabs and by having his own resented neighbor SpongeBob as a colleague.

Squidward longs for peace but his wishes remain unsatisfied. He believes he is talented and deserves a higher social status. The populace of Bikini Bottom do not consider him talented, and frequently boo him and walk out on his performances.

Creation and design
Stephen Hillenburg first became fascinated with the ocean and began developing his artistic abilities as a child. During college, he majored in marine biology and minored in art. After graduating in 1984, he joined the Ocean Institute, an ocean education organization, where he had the idea to create a comic book titled The Intertidal Zone, which led to the creation of SpongeBob SquarePants. In 1987, Hillenburg left the Institute to pursue a career in animation.

Several years after studying experimental animation at the California Institute of the Arts, Hillenburg met Joe Murray, creator of Rocko's Modern Life, at an animation festival. Murray offered Hillenburg a job as a director of the series. Martin Olson, one of the writers for Rocko's Modern Life, read The Intertidal Zone and encouraged Hillenburg to create a television series with a similar concept. At that point, Hillenburg had not considered creating his own series, but soon realized that this was his chance. Shortly after production on Rocko's Modern Life ended in 1996, Hillenburg began working on SpongeBob SquarePants.

Hillenburg used some character designs from his comic book. He designed "SpongeBob's grumpy next door neighbor" as an octopus because the species' large head; octopi, he said, "have such a large bulbous head and Squidward thinks he's an intellectual so of course, he's gonna have a large bulbous head." Hillenburg drew Squidward with six tentacles because "it was really just simpler for animation to draw him with six legs instead of eight". Show writer and storyboard artist Vincent Waller said: "Squidward is hard to draw—he has a very odd-shaped head. Fortunately, his emotions are pretty even, but to get a whole lot of big emoting out of him is a challenge. His nose splits everything in half, so it's always like, 'OK, how am I going to work this and still make it read?'" Hillenburg thought of making jokes with Squidward ejecting ink but retired it because, according to him, "it always looks like he's pooping his pants". However, it occurs in The SpongeBob Movie: Sponge Out of Water and the sixth season episode, "Giant Squidward".

Conflicting statements from Hillenburg and Nickelodeon's official website have led to some doubt over whether the character is an octopus or a squid. Hillenburg named him Squidward because the name Octoward—in the words of Squidward's voice actor Rodger Bumpass—"just didn't work". The sound of Squidward's footsteps is produced by rubbing hot water bottles. The footsteps, and those of the rest of the main characters, are recorded by the show's foley crew. Sound designer Jeff Hutchins said that footstep sounds "[help] tell which character it is and what surface they're stepping on". Bumpass inspired the idea of having Squidward ride a recumbent bicycle; Bumpass owns one of these bicycles, which he rides around Burbank, California. Bumpass described it as his "little inside joke".

Voice
Squidward's voice is provided by actor Rodger Bumpass, who voices several other SpongeBob SquarePants characters, including Squidward's mother. While creating the show and writing its pilot episode in 1997, Hillenburg and the show's then-creative director Derek Drymon were also conducting voice auditions. Mr. Lawrence, who had worked with Hillenburg and Drymon on Rocko's Modern Life, was Hillenburg's first choice for the role. Hillenburg had invited Lawrence to audition for all the show's characters. Instead of Squidward, Hillenburg decided to give Lawrence the part of Plankton, the series' villain.

According to Bumpass, Squidward was "a very nasally, monotone kind of guy". He said the character became interesting to perform because of "his sarcasm, and then his frustration, and then his apoplexy, and so he became a wide spectrum of emotions". Tom Kenny, the voice of SpongeBob, describes Bumpass recording his lines in the studio, saying, "I love watching Rodger ... He's right next to me". According to Kenny, when Bumpass "goes apoplectic" as Squidward while recording, his head turns red, "and you're afraid he's going to have an embolism".

Several of the show's crew praise Bumpass for his performance and similitude to the character. Kenny called Bumpass "brilliant" and said, "[he] is sort of like Squidward". Staff writer Kent Osborne said, "I remember thinking about how much Rodger talks and acts like Squidward. That's why it's such a good voice—he's so connected to it". However, Bumpass said, "I'm not him and he's not me, but what I'm required to do for him and what I am enabled to do for him is what makes it like me. It fits my particular talents and skills very well. So in that respect, yeah, he is me, but I am not the cranky, sarcastic, underachieving kind of guy that he is. He's easy to fall in, I will say that."

Squidward's voice has been compared to that of Jack Benny's. Kenny said, "To me, there's something just so funny about that Jack-Benny-loyal-to-nobody character that Rodger Bumpass does such a great job of playing [...] Squidward". Arthur Brown, author of Everything I Need to Know, I Learned from Cartoons!, said that Squidward "sounds a lot like Jack Benny". Bumpass repudiated the relationship, saying "Jack Benny, no. Although he does have this observational sarcasm he occasionally brought out."

Reception
Squidward has received positive reception from critics and fans. SpongeBob's voice actor Tom Kenny named Squidward his favorite character on the show. He said, "He has an extra dimension where SpongeBob and Patrick's capacity of play mystifies him, but he's also jealous of it. When he tries to participate, he just fails utterly because he doesn't believe in it." Staff writer Casey Alexander said, "Squidward is the character I relate to the most. In an exaggerated way, he's the most human character. If I knew a human like SpongeBob, I probably would react to him like Squidward does". American singer Pharrell Williams, who says he is a fan of the show, said that "Squidward is my favorite, though. If he was a human, I would hang out with him."

Bill Treadway of DVD Verdict said that Squidward is "a cross between Bert [of Sesame Street], Woody Allen, and Roger Addison [of Mr. Ed] ... but he has some heart, if you can find it". Treadway called him "the straight man for his neighbor's antics". Film critic A. O. Scott of The New York Times said, in his review of The SpongeBob SquarePants Movie, that Squidward is one of his favorite secondary characters on the show, along with Sandy Cheeks and Mrs. Puff. He wrote, "I was sorry to see [them] pushed to the margins". Also from the same publication, television critic Joyce Millman said that Squidward has "the nasal bitchiness of Paul Lynde and the artistic pretensions of Felix Unger." Millman further wrote, "Hmmm, Squidward is one gay squid, I think."

"Band Geeks", a second season episode that focuses on Squidward, is often considered by many critics and fans alike as one of the show's best episodes. Writing for The Washington Post, Michael Cavna ranked "Band Geeks" as the fifth best episode of SpongeBob SquarePants. In his review, Cavna said, "Squidward's mix of artistic aspiration in the face of goading, humiliation and unrelenting sub-mediocrity made this a kids' episode that adults can experience on a whole 'nother level." On a less positive note, Squidward was listed among Common Sense Media's "10 Worst TV Role Models of 2012". Author Sierra Filucci said that the character's selfishness is his "worst offense", called Squidward "the mean and nasty cashier at the Krusty Krab" and said that "[he] is nice only when he wants something".

At the 39th Daytime Emmy Awards in 2012, Bumpass was nominated for his vocal performance as Squidward in the Outstanding Performer in the Animated Program category—the first cast member to be nominated in this category. The award was won by June Foray of The Garfield Show. Bumpass has said he was proud of the certificate he received for the nomination, but "there wasn't really a competition because one of the other nominees was June Foray and she is royalty in the animation world ... There was no way any of the other three guys had a chance. In fact, if any of us had one, there would have been a riot in that studio [The Beverly Hilton]." He said he was "happy to lose to June Foray" and "very pleased and grateful to get a nomination".

In other media
Squidward has been included in various SpongeBob SquarePants-related merchandise, including board games, books, plush toys, and trading cards. Alongside the television series, Squidward appears in issues of SpongeBob Comics (which were first published in February 2011), in many SpongeBob SquarePants video games, and in various theme parks and theme park parades (including Sea World and Universal's Superstar Parade, respectively). In 2004, Squidward appeared in the first feature-length film adaptation of the show, The SpongeBob SquarePants Movie, which was released on November 19, 2004, and was financially successful, grossing over US$140 million worldwide. He also appears in the film's sequel, which was released in theaters on February 6, 2015.

Episode "The Sponge Who Could Fly" was adapted in 2009 as a stage musical at the Liverpool Empire Theatre, and later in South Africa. Actor Charles Brunton originated the role of Squidward, later recalling that he loved the character, and the "fun [of] trying to re-create a well established cartoon character into a live performance on stage." Brunton prepared for the role by buying nine DVDs of the series, acting out Squidward's part in each episode, in his bedroom. He said, "it took ages to perfect the voice and the way he used his arms". Brunton's performance and the musical were well received by most critics. A critic from The Public Reviews wrote, "Charles Brunton as Squidward really stole the show for us, his character was nailed to perfection, from his comic acting, voice and mannerisms this was a faultless performance". In his review for The Northern Echo, Viv Hardwick said, "Charles Brunton makes a convincing Squidward". The role was played by Chris van Rensburg in South Africa.

In 2012, Squidward became the center of a "creepypasta" (a term describing urban legends or scary stories that have become Internet phenomena) called "Squidward's Suicide", which alleged the existence of a lost episode of SpongeBob SquarePants in which Squidward commits suicide. It was originally uploaded to YouTube but was immediately removed. The alleged episode consists of "strange and upsetting noises in the background" and "quick flashes of dead children and gore". Show writer Casey Alexander debunked the actuality of the alleged lost episode, saying it is "100% hoax".