Skipper

Skipper is the leader of the Adélie penguins (despite their color-schemes not matching the real species) and is the main character in the TV show. He has dark, sapphire-blue eyes and his body is wider than those of the other three penguins. Like the rest of the penguins, he has no idea what is expected of the penguin species, other than to "smile and wave." At one point, Private used a bird biology book to tell the other penguins how to act, but since the penguins usually need the chimpanzees Phil and Mason to translate for them, it was unclear how either he or Private were able to read the biology book, which is presumably written in English.
In the first "Madagascar" movie, Skipper is the mastermind behind a plot to escape the confines of the zoo and leave for Antarctica. Kowalski, Rico, and Private are his accomplices in this plot. They dig under their enclosure until they reach Marty the zebra, thinking it to be the South Pole. Skipper explains to Marty that they are attempting to escape the zoo because penguins do not belong there in captivity. He then orders his accomplices to continue tunneling. Late that night, Skipper and the other penguins are caught by a SWAT team, as are six other animals found outside the zoo. The penguins are tranquilized and put into a crate to be transferred.
When they awake, Skipper is confused at the lettering on the crate where they are being held and orders Mason to read it; Mason's companion Phil reads it. According to the box, they are all bound for a wildlife preserve in Africa, despite the cold climate penguins need. Skipper orders Rico to pick the lock on the crate where they are held, whereupon the four penguins knock out the crew and take command of the ship, commandeering it to reach Antarctica. Skipper and his mates finally reach Antarctica and are sorely disappointed by the barren, desolate terrain (as evidenced by Private's exclamation, "Well, this sucks...") Skipper has the ship return quickly from the South Pole, where it crashes into the beaches of Madagascar and a much warmer climate. Upon arriving, he and the other three encounter Gloria and Melman, and see that Alex and Marty (whom they refer to as their "monochromatic friend") are gone. Skipper decides to help rescue Marty from the grim fate of being eaten by the native foossa (possibly as gratitude for Marty’s silence regarding the escape). It is Skipper who helps to distract the foossa while Marty is recovered, and also helps fight off a number of them.
Skipper notices later on that Alex is still hungry, not having been able to eat steak, and has Rico prepare sushi for Alex. Skipper then relinquishes control of the ship to Alex, as he no longer needs it, and proceeds to sunbathe on the tropical beaches in comfort. Skipper is asked by Private if they should tell Alex and his friends that the ship is out of gas. Skipper declines, telling his troupe to "Just smile and wave, boys. Smile and wave."
In Madagascar 2, Skipper and the penguins salvage a crashed airplane to fly back to New York. They fix the plane when it crashes in Africa with the help of "more thumbs" (Mason and Phil). At the end of the movie, he marries a bobble head. In The Penguins of Madagascar, the bobble head is nowhere to be seen.
In Madagascar 3, it is revealed that Skipper, Kowalski, Rico and Private, along with Mason and Phil, have been in Monte Carlo. With Phil dressed as the "King of Versailles," they are able to amass a fortune of jewels, diamonds and gold and plan to buy an aircraft to pick up the "hippies" (Alex, Marty, Gloria, and Melman) in Africa and return to New York. Things change when Alex and the others rush to Monte Casino, believing that the penguins have abandoned them. Skipper later uses the fortune to help the gang become part of a traveling circus.
Skipper is one of the four main characters of The Penguins of Madagascar. In the show, many things are revealed about him and it expands on his character from the movies. In multiple episodes it is shown that Skipper knows karate and is an exceptionally capable fighter. He's also very strong, as seen in "Launchtime." In "Crown Fools," he states that he had taken down an angry walrus with "a wing and a prayer and another wing". However, in "Needle Point", it is revealed that he has a fear of needles, so in later episodes if he's injured he's treated with medical cream or the like. Generally, he is a straight man, displaying a very stereotypical general personality when not in battle: he's been shown waking his men up early in the morning for training, has given them trials on being able to work without him a number of times, and has been shown to being very hard-boiled. He is, though, soft on his men at times, properly rewarding them and even showing fear and worry when he knows they're in danger. He becomes especially upset when he believes one of them to be dead. He often tries to hide this part, as he once told Private that he (Private) is always bait because he "is gullible and expendable," but later becomes upset when Private is eaten.
Although Skipper's plans and theories often serve as jokes, his most unorthodox theories are sometimes proven true; the Blowhole existence is the most extreme example of this. Doctor Blowhole is first mentioned in "Eclipsed", when Skipper brings up his plan to extinguish the sun; this is because the sun was covered by a solar eclipse and, before Mason, Phil, and Kowalski mentioned it, Skipper believed he finally succeeded. Skipper being paranoid often comes up due to his theories, and whether or not he's right depends on the episode. Often, those around him refuse to follow along, mostly Marlene because she believes Skipper overreacts. He often comes up with theories without basis on new arrivals, usually flying piranha or being a spy for Doctor Blowhole. According to him, there are actually 8 continents, since he counts Atlantis (and appears to believe it is off the coast of Brazil). He once tells Maurice that if he had Skipper's security clearance, he would believe it too. Skipper indicates that he believes that some new arrivals to the zoo could be flying piranha. In the episode "Launchtime," when he asks Kowalski to search for a place where nearly no lemurs can be found, he states that he cannot set foot in Denmark; when Private questions him on this, he replies by saying "Well, that's private, Private, between me and the Danes." It is later revealed that the incident in question was caused by Hans the Puffin, revolving around a fish fight and top secret documents that made them both public enemy number one.
Skipper has mentioned that there used to be two more penguins (Manfredi and Johnson, named for two ill-fated characters in the World War II prisoner-of-war saga Stalag 17) in addition to himself and the other three; this is unconfirmed, and these claims have never been adequately explained. When they're brought up, it's usually as a warning or an aside remark, as they died in the past during a mission. In "The Hidden", he mentions that they died during a mission when they were attacked by "flying piranhas" and that they had to "bury what was left of them with a tea spoon". In "A Kipper for Skipper," when Skipper states that "relatively few penguins get left behind", as the others point out that Manfredi, Johnson, and another penguin were. In "Roger Dodger," he tells Rico that he would take him out if he had to and tells him "just ask Manfredi and Johnson." In "An Elephant Never Forgets," he tells them that while he was training Private that Manfredi and Johnson "fell for the exploding elephant foot." They are also mentioned by Private, who claims that they mistook the hind end of a beluga whale for an escape tunnel. In "Maurice at Peace," it is implied that they were accidentally smothered by the others due to a misinterpretation of a message which actually said to smother them with affection. In "Smotherly Love," it is mentioned that they died a very relaxing death in a day spa.
In The Penguins of Madagascar, he uses some Italian words such as "Sempre all'erta" (in "Haunted Habitat"), "Bravissimo" (in "The Hidden"), "Attenzione" (in "Crown Fools"), "Eccellente" (in "Kingdom Come"), "Finito!" (in "Popcorn Panic") and "Perfetto" (in "An Elephant Never Forgets"). His Italian pronunciation is not perfect. In "The Falcon and the Snow Job," Skipper falls for a female Peregrine falcon named Kitka and they date for a while. Skipper breaks up with her after it is revealed that she had swallowed Fred the squirrel, and in subsequent episodes she wasn't heard from or mentioned.
Skipper shares a very strong friendship with Marlene, a female Asian Otter who lives across from the penguins and is a main character in the series. Despite their conflicting differences and clashes of personality, the two still remain very close and are able to keep their bond of friendship strong. Marlene is also considered "privileged" by Skipper, due to the fact that he thinks of her as a smart, which is rather unusual, considering his otherwise generally scornful opinion of mammals. He sometimes allows her to tag along on missions.
As the series The Penguins of Madagascar continues, Skipper starts to realize that Private is following in his footsteps in "Private and the Winky-Factory." Skipper also becomes less sensitive to his enemies Dr. Blowhole and Hans the Puffin. Over the course of the series he likes and trusts them less and less. In the Dr. Blowhole Special "Blowhole Strikes Back," Hans and Skipper are referred to as "frenemies." At the beginning of the episode, Hans surprises Skipper by meeting him in China, and refers to him as such.
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Category:Birds
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