Squiddly Diddly is an anthropomorphic animated octopus created by Hanna-Barbera, who was featured in his own cartoon segment on The Atom Ant/Secret Squirrel Show beginning in 1965.[1][2]
Squiddly Diddly is an anthropomorphic animated octopus created by Hanna-Barbera, who was featured in his own cartoon segment on The Atom Ant/Secret Squirrel Show beginning in 1965.[1][2]
The round-headed, sailor-hatted Squiddly (who resembles an octopus—albeit with only six tentacles—rather than a squid) is kept captive in an aquatic park known as Bubbleland and resides in a pool with his name on it.[3] Squiddly Diddly is an aspiring musician and entertainer who makes many attempts to escape and attain musical stardom, but he is constantly foiled by Bubbleland's administrator Chief Winchley. In some episodes, Squiddly Diddly manages to escape, but chooses to return to Bubbleland after finding the outside world to be too harsh. Other times Squiddly and Chief Winchley would have to work together to solve problems in Bubbleland. The cartoons show people applauding Squiddly Diddly's musical talents, but often depict terrified people who mistakenly believed that octopuses are hostile.
| Nº | Ep | Title | Air date | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 1 | "Way Out Squiddly" | October 2, 1965 | |
| Two aliens kidnap Squiddly and take him for a wild ride in their spaceship. | ||||
| 2 | 2 | "Show Biz Squid" | October 9, 1965 | |
| Overshadowed by dolphins, Squiddly leaves to become a big star. | ||||
| 3 | 3 | "The Canvas Back Squid" | October 16, 1965 | |
| Squiddly is hired to fill in for a pro-wrestler. | ||||
| 4 | 4 | "Nervous Service" | October 23, 1965 | |
| Squiddly is enlisted into the Navy. | ||||
| 5 | 5 | "Westward Ha!" | October 30, 1965 | |
| Squiddly goes to the west to imitate his favorite western shows. | ||||
| 6 | 6 | "Sea Grunt" | November 6, 1965 | |
| Squiddly is cast in a TV show. | ||||
| 7 | 7 | "Chief Cook and Bottle Washer" | November 13, 1965 | |
| Squiddly has too many chores, so he runs away and joins the pirates. | ||||
| 8 | 8 | "Squid on the Skids" | November 20, 1965 | |
| Squiddly tries to woo a female squid. | ||||
| 9 | 9 | "Double Trouble" | November 27, 1965 | |
| Squiddly unexpectedly gets popular at a costume party. | ||||
| 10 | 10 | "Squid Kid" | December 4, 1965 | |
| A little boy takes Squiddly home with him. | ||||
| 11 | 11 | "Booty and the Beast" | December 11, 1965 | |
| Squiddly and Chief Winchley try to find buried treasure. | ||||
| 12 | 12 | "Clowning Around" | December 18, 1965 | |
| Squiddly runs away to join the circus. | ||||
| 13 | 13 | "Surprise Prize" | December 25, 1965 | |
| Squiddly and Winchley go to an island, where Squiddly is worshipped as a god. | ||||
| 14 | 14 | "Naughty Astronaut" | January 1, 1966 | |
| Squiddly is mistaken for an alien, and is chased by the army. | ||||
| 15 | 15 | "The Ghost Is Clear" | January 8, 1966 | |
| Squiddly Diddly babysits a young ghost named Wilbur. | ||||
| 16 | 16 | "Lucky Ducky" | January 15, 1966 | |
| A Tasmanian duck arrives in Bubbleland and tries to manipulate Squiddly into giving him his own tank. | ||||
| 17 | 17 | "Foxy Seal" | January 22, 1966 | |
| After being tricked into leaving Bubbleland by Slippery Seal, Squiddly helps protect a fox from being hunted. | ||||
| 18 | 18 | "Squiddly Double Diddly" | January 29, 1966 | |
| Squiddly has been replaced by a foreign spy to obtain the blueprints for Bubbleland. | ||||
| 19 | 19 | "Hollywood Folly" | February 5, 1966 | |
| Squiddly goes to Hollywood to become a star. | ||||
| 20 | 20 | "One Black Knight" | February 12, 1966 | |
| Squiddly is swindled into an inheritance of a castle haunted by the Black Knight's ghost -- the butler would have him believe so. | ||||
| Nº | Ep | Title | Air date | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 21 | 1 | "Yo Ho Ho" | September 10, 1966 | |
| Squiddly finds a time machine and travels back to Captain Kidney's pirate days. | ||||
| 22 | 2 | "Phoney Fish" | September 17, 1966 | |
| Two criminals named Knuckles and Tiny pose as snorkel fish in order to rob the Bubbleland box office. | ||||
| 23 | 3 | "Gnatman" | September 24, 1966 | |
| Squiddly Diddly and Chief Winchley each pose as the superhero Gnatman in order to fight crime. | ||||
| 24 | 4 | "Robot Squid" | October 1, 1966 | |
| Winchley replaces Squiddly with a robot version. | ||||
| 25 | 5 | "Jewel Finger" | October 8, 1966 | |
| Squiddly accidentally swallows a precious pearl necklace hidden by a thief in Bubbleland. | ||||
| 26 | 6 | "Baby Squidder" | October 15, 1966 | |
| Squiddly must keep a wandering boy safe. | ||||
On November 3, 2015, Warner Archive released The Secret Squirrel Show: The Complete Series on DVD in region 1 as part of their Hanna–Barbera Classics Collection. This release contains all the Squiddly Diddly shorts.
The episode "Way Out Squiddly" is also available on the DVD Saturday Morning Cartoons Vol. 1.
