Sandy Cheeks

**Sandra** **Jennifer** "**Sandy**" **Cheeks** is the tritagonist of the *SpongeBob SquarePants* franchise. She is an American squirrel from the surface who wears a diving suit and lives in an air-filled glass treedome to survive underwater. She is voiced by June Foray (speaking) and Maria Bamford (singing).

Sandy is a thrill seeker who loves extreme sports and karate. Having come from the state of Texas, she has a Southern drawl and a love for rodeos. She works as a scientist and built both her treedome and air suit herself. She is also a member of the Gal Pals along with Karen, Mrs. Puff, and Pearl.

## Description

Sandy comes from the state of Texas, known from the episode of the same name, and exhibits many characteristics of a cowgirl character. She speaks with a heavy Southern accent and uses typical Southern slang words and phrases, such as "howdy" and "y'all."

Sandy is very fond of her homeland and its culture, as most notably seen in the episode "Texas," in which she was homesick and considers leaving Bikini Bottom to return to Texas. In that same episode, she takes great offense at SpongeBob and Patrick's negative insults about Texas and violently attacks them when they continue to make fun of it.

Along with The Octopus in the Beaver Hat, Plankton, and Karen, Sandy is one of the most intelligent and levelheaded characters on the show. She is a multi-talented scientist and inventor and originally came to Bikini Bottom to study sea creatures and their lifestyles. In "Chimps Ahoy," it is revealed that she is employed by a trio of chimpanzees from the surface, named Professor Percy, Dr. Marmalade, and Lord Reginald. As an inventor, Sandy is capable of creating extremely advanced devices with ease. Her inventions include a manned spaceship, a teleporter, a submarine that can shrink to microscopic size and go inside a person's body, a robot in "What Ever Happened to SpongeBob?," and even a Protogenerator 2000 cloning device in "Overbooked."

Sandy is also very athletic and physically fit. She and SpongeBob share a favorite hobby of karate, and frequently fight each other for fun.

The karate they use appears to be stylized to fit that of "play karate," as they both mainly fight with chops and kicks in a cartoon-like manner. There also appears to be some other forms of fighting in the series, most notably in "Karate Island," where three other fish demonstrate unique fighting styles, which looks more like stylized versions of kung fu rather than karate.

Sandy also enjoys extreme sports and thrill-seeking, which SpongeBob joins her in on occasion, most notably in "Prehibernation Week." Sandy possesses immense strength. She is often seen at Goo Lagoon, lifting weights with Larry the Lobster, of whom she is a good friend, and other muscular fish. In "MuscleBob BuffPants," she shows SpongeBob her immense biceps as well as an intense daily exercise routine. In the same episode, she wins the eighth annual Goo Lagoon Anchor Toss competition by tossing an enormous anchor 510 yards.

In various other episodes, such as "Karate Island," "Christmas Who?," and "Whelk Attack," Sandy usually tends to briefly, but prominently, display her muscular body. However, she is shown to be weak at some points, such as in "Bikini Bottom After Midnight" where she is tortured by The Octopus in the Beaver Hat and Mzeebo the vulture, and in "Surf N' Turf" where it's revealed that Mr. Krabs is stronger than her.

### Appearance

Sandy is most commonly seen wearing her suit for oxygen when she is outside of her treedome. The suit is white and has a yellow patch with an acorn on it. It also has two red, and a blue, ring(s) on each sleeve. The suit comes with a big glass helmet with a pink and yellow flower on it. She also wears grey boots with one red dot on each side of them.

When Sandy appears inside her treedome, she wears violet clothing, primarily a violet bikini top and a purple and green skirt-like bottom. In "Someone's in the Kitchen with Sandy," when her fur pelt is off, she wears a purple bra and purple panties.

When she is on her exercise hamster wheel, she can be seen wearing a white hoodie and blue workout sweats.

At night, she wears a nightgown. It changes color depending on the episode. In "Sandy's Rocket," she is first seen wearing a sky blue nightgown and is shown for a split second until the camera cut to her face. In "Karate Choppers," she wears a lavender nightgown while karate-chopping over the phone with SpongeBob. In "Survival of the Idiots," Sandy wears a pink nightgown throughout the episode. In "Overbooked," she wears a violet nightgown while giving a presentation to her colleagues.

Sandy sometimes appears without her fur, most noticeably in "Survival of the Idiots" and "Someone's in the Kitchen with Sandy."

She was dressed up like a goldfish in "Scaredy Pants," but only her head resembles one.

### Personality

Sandy is usually kind and caring for SpongeBob and is known to help him out when he's feeling lost, as seen in many newer episodes, such as "Lost in Bikini Bottom." However, in older episodes, she is shown to be much crazier. In "Prehibernation Week," she is shown to be crazier than ever when she forces SpongeBob to play dangerous games, thus leading to him running away. She then forces all Bikini Bottomites to search nonstop for days on end looking for him, to the point when they all run and hide from her just like SpongeBob did. In "To Save a Squirrel," she makes SpongeBob and Patrick almost eat each other just to see if they can survive out in the wild.

Sandy takes full pride in her Texan heritage and shown with her Texan accent. She had a lot of experience there and won't stand any insults of it, as shown in "Texas," where she cries several times throughout the episode because she missed her old homeland and even made a song dedicated to it. SpongeBob and Patrick then make fun of the state. She is offended by them mocking Texas, and thus she chases both of them down and brutally attacks Patrick.

She has also been shown to have a strong competitive streak and a high opinion of herself. In "Sandy, SpongeBob, and the Worm," she completely ignores SpongeBob's warnings about the Alaskan Bull Worm and tells him that she is "too Texas tough," only to discover the hard way that the Bull Worm is indeed too much for her to handle. In "Pressure," she continuously brags that land creatures are better than sea creatures and nearly drowns herself in an attempt to "prove" it. In "Squirrel Jokes," she almost kills SpongeBob just because he kept making jokes about her.

In "Survival of the Idiots," Sandy is shown during her hibernation as an obese, monstrous version of herself since before going into hibernation, animals must have tremendous amounts of body fat and energy reserves to survive the winter. SpongeBob and Patrick enter her snow-filled treedome and disturb her sleep, and the semi-conscious Sandy viciously attacks them, believing them to be Dirty Dan and Pinhead Larry, the two outlaws from her dreams.

She can be overly competitive, which is best seen in "Squirrel Jelly," where she even harms her friends due to her competitive nature. Also, in the same episode, she burnt Jellyfish Fields to capture all the Jellyfish with her super suit.

Despite her pride and competitive nature, she's still one of the most caring and levelheaded characters on the show, and often helps her friends and save them from danger.

## Abilities and talents

Sandy is smart, athletic, and talented, and therefore has many skills, such as:

* **Karate**: Out of all the characters in the show who practice karate, Sandy is the best at it; she has green karate gear.
* **Science**: Sandy has shown to have a vast knowledge of science: several episodes feature her doing experiments, beginning with Sandy's Rocket, which revealed that she is an astronaut. As the series progressed, she did more and more science.
* **Singing**: Sandy is a very good singer; the episode "Texas" marks the first time she is shown singing.
* **Guitar**: Sandy has played guitar while singing several times. Also, in the episode "Band Geeks," she is the lead guitarist of the band.
* **Saxophone**: Sandy is seen holding a saxophone in the episode Band Geeks. This indicates she may also be skilled in playing the instrument.
* **Lasso**: Sandy can throw a lasso very easily, such as in "Sandy, SpongeBob, and the Worm" and "The Gift of Gum." Also, in video games such as *Battle for Bikini Bottom*, she can throw her lasso to catch or even break things that are far away.
* **Gliding**: In *Battle for Bikini Bottom*, Sandy can use her lasso to glide.
* **Math**: Sandy is seen giving a math lesson to intelligent Patrick in "Patrick SmartPants."
* **Holding her breath**: Sandy has been seen holding her breath for long periods in many episodes. However, after a while, she has to find an air supply for herself.
* **Inventing**: In several episodes, such as "Chimps Ahoy " and "What Ever Happened to SpongeBob?," Sandy has created many useful inventions using her inventing skills.
* **Driving**: In the episode "To Save a Squirrel," Sandy is shown to drive a boatmobile with the style of a jeep.
* **Survival skills**: Sandy is shown to have good survival skills in "To Save a Squirrel."

* **Sandboarding**: In "Prehibernation Week," Sandy is sandboarding on Sand Mountain. Also, in "Mooncation," Sandy is "Moon-Crater Boarding."
* **Jellyfishing**: Sandy is fascinated by jellyfish. The *Employee of the Month* video game, "I Had an Accident," and "Squirrel Jelly" show her jellyfishing.
* **Bodybuilding and muscle growth**: In "MuscleBob BuffPants," "Christmas Who?," "Karate Island," and "Whelk Attack," Sandy is shown to have huge muscles, and seems to get bigger and huge each time they are displayed, and growing at almost pure will.
* **Cooking**: She is shown to make fantastic Nutty Butter. She is a stunt chef, with the ability to cook food rapidly. She was eventually hired by Mr. Krabs to perform tricks with SpongeBob.

## Biography

She was born a twin to her brother Randy Cheeks, to Ma and Pa Cheeks in Houston, Texas, USA.

Sandy's mother Mrs. Cheeks once told her to "karate them with kindness."

Although they first met in "Tea at the Treedome" as adults, *Kamp Koral, SpongeBob's Under Years* will contradict this event and instead have them meet at Camp Coral as children. Sandy's younger self will be shown wearing braces, which she got removed sometime during her adulthood.

When she was learning to drive, she took a driving course called, "Driving You Nuts!"

When she was an adult, she joined a company called Treedome Enterprises. This company sent her down to Bikini Bottom to study the undersea life.

In Bikini Bottom, she met SpongeBob SquarePants while she was fighting a giant clam. She also met Patrick Star the next day when he tried to save SpongeBob who was at Sandy's treedome for tea and SpongeBob was all dried up because there is no water in her treedome. She has also met many other sea creatures since she arrived at Bikini Bottom.

### Habitatedit | edit source

*Main article: Sandy's treedome*
Sandy lives in a huge polyurethane dome, which is known as the "treedome." It is an air-locked environment and contains no water, making the treedome the only place in Bikini Bottom where Sandy can survive and take oxygen without her suit. Its floor is covered in grass and it features a large tree, which contains Sandy's living quarters. The treedome also humorously includes a giant hamster wheel, among other backyard-like things. As seen in the episodes "Survival of the Idiots" and "Bubble Buddy," the dome produces snow during the winter, from which it can be assumed to simulate other weather patterns as well.

As seen in the episode "Wormy," Sandy has many pets residing in her treedome, including caterpillars, snakes, crickets, mice, and birds, among others.

The company that owns this and many other treedomes is the Tree Dome Enterprises Limited. Its board of directors, a group of chimps, came for inspection in "Chimps Ahoy." Her old habitat was back home in Texas.

## Family

* Ma Cheeks - Sandy's mother
* Pa Cheeks - Sandy's father. He is seen in the book *Hooray for Dads!*.
* Randy Cheeks - Sandy's twin brother who is first mentioned in "Rodeo Daze"
* Rosie Cheeks - Sandy's great aunt. She is seen in "Pest of the West."
* Sandy - Cousin of Sandy who is seen in "Stanley S. SquarePants."
* Earl Cheeks and other woodchuck cousins - Earl is one of at least 100 woodchuck cousins of Sandy.
* Rosy Cheeks - Sandy's older sister. Probably named after their great aunt. She is seen in "Sandy's Nutty Nieces."
* Macadamia, Pistachio and Hazelnut - Sandy's identical triplet nieces and the triplet daughters of Rosy. They are seen in "Sandy's Nutty Nieces."
* Dark Knight - Medieval ancestor of Sandy.
* Western Ancestor - An ancestor of Sandy who is seen in "Saloon Door Sorrows."

## Relationships

### SpongeBob SquarePants

Sandy first met SpongeBob when he saw her wrestling a giant clam and ran down to save her. Since then, Sandy has been one of SpongeBob's best friends, and she enjoys various activities with him such as karate. She also enjoys going to Goo Lagoon with him and lifting weights. Despite their tight friendship, Sandy has gotten annoyed by SpongeBob in various episodes, such as "Sandy's Rocket" and "Texas."
### Patrick Star

Patrick and Sandy have a close friendship. They usually get along very well though Sandy has frequently been annoyed by Patrick's utter stupidity no doubt due to her higher intellect. On occasion, Patrick has angered her to the point where she has threatened to attack him, as shown in the episodes "Texas" and "Survival of the Idiots." In "Patrick SmartPants," she gets along well with Patrick until he gets a little arrogant and thinking that she's dumb.

### Squidward Tentacles

Sandy and Squidward have had limited interactions. Squidward doesn't seem to know who she is on a few occasions. In "SpongeBob SquarePants vs. The Big One," Squidward asks "Who are you?" and in "Rodeo Daze," he mistakes her name for "Sally." However, Sandy is happy to help Squidward, such as in "Squidtastic Voyage" when she helps him revive his clarinet reed from his throat. Then in *The SpongeBob Movie: Sponge Out of Water*, she was seen carrying him to safety when he was almost crushed by skating humans and letting him ride on her back when they're chasing Burger Beard. At times like in the episode "Patrick! The Game," Sandy can easily get annoyed by Squidward's attitude towards things, like his attitude towards Patrick's game.
### Eugene H. Krabs

Sandy and Mr. Krabs generally do not talk to each other. However, there are a few episodes in which they do interact. When they do, they seem to be very nice to each other and they never really argue or fight. However, when they first met, he expressed a prejudice towards land mammals. At the end of the same episode he was impressed by her cooking skills and hired her to work with SpongeBob. In the episode "Surf N' Turf," Mr. Krabs, who's sent to help Sandy, constantly destroys any ship in the bottle she makes, he later then turns Sandy's treedome into a huge ship in a bottle and attempts to enter it into the contest, but fails in the end and Sandy forces him to restore her treedome.
### Karen Plankton

Sandy and Karen have become good friends, sharing an interest in science. The two meet in "Perfect Chemistry," and Sandy calls Karen beautiful. In "Frozen Face-Off," Sandy helps save Karen from being frozen. In "Salsa Imbecilicus," Sandy and Karen team up to create a university. In "Girls' Night Out," the two and Mrs. Puff spend a night out together, and the three refer to one another as "Gal Pals" throughout the episode.
### Sheldon J. Plankton

Although they barely interact, Sandy tends to dislike Plankton, such as in "Someone's In The Kitchen with Sandy" when he steals her fur to obtain the Krabby Patty secret formula. However, they do get along in "Perfect Chemistry," as she is impressed by his lab and knew that Plankton was planning to steal the Krabby Patty formula. They are also seen playing chess together in "Mimic Madness."
### Pearl Krabs

Sandy and Pearl have a stable relationship. In "Bubble Troubles," Pearl helps Sandy breathe air, saying "I guess us mammals have to stick together." Pearl goes to Sandy's birthday party in the episode "Feral Friends" and wants her to stay in Bikini Bottom in "Texas." As of "A Cabin in the Kelp," Pearl joins the Gal Pals with Karen, Sandy, and Mrs. Puff.
### Gary the Snail

Sandy and Gary barely interact with each other, but they do know each other. In "Culture Shock," Sandy says Gary has "such a way with words."

### Larry the Lobster

Sandy and Larry the Lobster seem to get along well. They have been seen hanging out together at Goo Lagoon in episodes such as "Ripped Pants" and "MuscleBob BuffPants."

## Video games

Sandy appears in a majority of the *SpongeBob* video games. She has been a playable character in several of them but usually appears as a non-playable character.

* *Operation Krabby Patty* - Sandy appears as a playable character in the right-side version of the jellyfishing level.
* *SuperSponge* - Sandy makes an appearance as a non-playable character.
* *Revenge of the Flying Dutchman* - In *Revenge of the Flying Dutchman*, she is a non-playable character who is seen in various parts of Bikini Bottom. First, SpongeBob does karate with her. Then, she needs help clogging up some holes in her treedome, and then she needs help getting a beehive out of her tree. In Downtown Bikini Bottom, she needs help to dispose of some garbage. She is later hypnotized by the Flying Dutchman and needs to be rescued along with Squidward, Patrick, Gary, and Mr. Krabs.
* *Battle for Bikini Bottom*/*Battle for Bikini Bottom - Rehydrated* - Sandy appears as one of the three playable characters, the other two being SpongeBob and Patrick. She is first played in Downtown Bikini Bottom. She also fights Robo-Patrick when SpongeBob and Squidward are frozen. She also defeats the Flying Dutchman alone when he refuses to give them a golden spatula. She is an extremely useful character, as she can do karate and use her lasso to glide after doing a double jump, swing from Texas trailer hitches, and tie up robots before they even get close.
* *Employee of the Month* - She helps SpongeBob and Patrick get to Neptune's Paradise with her rocket, but when it breaks down, they land in Bottoms Up and it is revealed that she has a friend named Cowfish Craig and knows about Oxygen Springs.
* *The SpongeBob SquarePants Movie* video game - Sandy can be seen working on a treadmill with a mind-control helmet in the level "Welcome to Planktopolis Minions."
* *Lights, Camera, Pants!* - Sandy appears as one of the six playable characters, the other five being SpongeBob, Patrick, Squidward, Mr. Krabs, and Plankton.
* *The Yellow Avenger* - Sandy makes a minor appearance.
* *Creature from the Krusty Krab* - Sandy can be seen in the level "Supersized Patty," waving to Plankton in her treedome.
* *SpongeBob's Atlantis SquarePantis* - Sandy appears as one of the seven playable characters, the other six being SpongeBob, Patrick, Squidward, Mr. Krabs, Plankton, and an Atlantean Guard. Her special ability is her lasso.
	+ She is a boss in the DS version.
* *SpongeBob's Truth or Square* - Sandy appears as a major non-playable character, one of the levels focuses on meeting Sandy in "Tea at the Treedome."
* *SpongeBob's Boating Bash* - Sandy is playable in this game as a starting driver. She is playable in each mode and has many vocal lines in both the DS and Wii version as well.
* *Plankton's Robotic Revenge* - Sandy is playable in this game.
* *SpongeBob HeroPants* - Sandy is one out of six playable characters in the game. In gameplay, she can temporarily turn into her super alter-ego once the red bar is filled.
* *Nicktoons Freeze Frame Frenzy* - Sandy is one of the out-of-place characters.
* *Nicktoons Unite!* - She helps guide the heroes through some of the first *SpongeBob* level. At the end of the level, she explains what has happened in Bikini Bottom. She also tells the heroes that they have an agent in Jellyfish Fields.
* *Nicktoons: Battle for Volcano Island* - Sandy appears as one of the playable Nicktoons, the others being SpongeBob, Danny Phantom, Patrick, Timmy Turner (along with Wanda and Cosmo), and Sam Manson. This is the only video game where Sandy's karate gear appears as an attack.
* *Nicktoons: Attack of the Toybots* - Sandy is seen in the GBA Version in the last level.
* *Nicktoons: Android Invasion* - Sandy is one of the characters who Zim captures. She is a non-playable character in this game.
* *Nicktoons MLB* - Sandy is one of five playable characters beside SpongeBob, Patrick, Larry, and the Flying Dutchman.
* *Nickelodeon Kart Racers* - Sandy is a playable racer in this game.
* *Nickelodeon Kart Racers 2: Grand Prix* - Sandy is a playable racer in this game.

## Development

### Voice

June Foray provides the speaking voice of Sandy Cheeks. Foray got the role after Stephen Hillenburg was informed by Paul Winchell that the audition tape he chose for the role was recorded by June Foray. She even helped out in writing duties for "Tea at the Treedome" and, later down the line, "I Had an Accident."

## Trivia

* Stephen Hillenburg stated in 2014 that he created Sandy as "a strong female character that could be a friend to SpongeBob but not a love interest."
	+ Tim Hill, who helped Hillenburg write his series pitch bible, supposedly wanted to introduce a romantic element to the show. This never ended up happening.
	+ In 2016, Foray even said this regarding the romance between SpongeBob and Sandy:
		- "If they ever go on to make SpongeBob and Sandy a couple, that's when I'm outta here."
* SpongeBob is seen imitating Sandy in "Gone," "Mimic Madness," and "Squirrel Jelly."
* Mrs. Puff has more episode appearances than Sandy in Seasons 3, 10 and 12.
* "Salsa Imbecilicus" and "Surf N' Turf" are the only episodes where Sandy plays a major role without SpongeBob *also* playing a major role.
* Sandy is called "Sandy Squirrel" for the first time in "SpongeBob's Last Stand." She would be called this again in the N.E.R.D song "Sandy Squirrel" from the music of *The SpongeBob Movie: Sponge Out of Water*.
* Although Sandy and Mrs. Puff only have two lines each in the 2004 movie, they are both billed under the "Main Cast" in the film's credits because they are main characters in the series.
* She was called "Arenita" in the Latin American dub of the series. "Arenita" means "Little Sand" in Spanish, making it a fairly accurate translation. She is still called this in the Spanish dub of the series.
* In the Finnish dub, she is called "Santa Sanna." "Santa" is one synonym for "hiekka" which means "Sand."
* Sandy was responsible for introducing Christmas to Bikini Bottom. This happens in the episode "Christmas Who?"
* In the episode "Stanley S. SquarePants," a Scottish relative of Sandy with the same name is shown.
* In the episode "To Save a Squirrel," Sandy is shown to have a Jeep-Mobile with the design of a Jeep.
* In Season 1, Sandy has three dots on her suit instead of an acorn symbol. From Season 2 onward, her symbol is an acorn. For her suit's appearances in "Wormy" and "Prehibernation Week," it is a black silhouette of an acorn, and from "Squirrel Jokes" onward it is a colored acorn.
	+ Also, in Season 1 episodes and "Wormy," Sandy's tail is not visible when she is wearing her suit in comparison to the later seasons.
	+ Sandy's fur is slightly darker in Season 1 than in the later seasons. Also, her face is a slightly different shape.
* Ironically, despite being re-established as a scientist in later seasons, Sandy is oblivious to the basic fact that sea creatures cannot survive without water in her first appearance.
* In the live-action puppet sequence in the episode "Pressure," Sandy is represented by a TY squirrel Beanie Baby and appears to be naked aside from her helmet.
* It is revealed in "Patrick SmartPants" that her full name is Sandra.
* In Croatian dub, her name is Luna Frnjau, which does not have any connection between her original name.
* Sandy appears on the Bikini Bottom Adventures DVD cover but does not appear in any of the episodes on this DVD.
* When Sandy cries, she flushes her helmet so that she will not drown. However, in "What Ever Happened to SpongeBob?," her helmet fills with tears, but she does not flush it.
* In the episode "Squirrel Record," it is revealed that Sandy has 100 woodchuck cousins, at least one of whom is named Earl.
* In "Karate Choppers," it is revealed that she can consume Volcano Sauce without any reaction to the spice.
* In most of her appearances, she has fur. However, in "Someone's in the Kitchen with Sandy," she wears a pelt.
* Brian Robbins, the current president of Nickelodeon, believes there is a possibility for a Sandy Cheeks spin-off show.
* The name "Sandy" is a diminutive form of Sandra, which in turn can be a diminutive form of the names Alexandra or Cassandra.
* In the book *SpongeBob SquarePants Ocean 3D: Facts & 3D Pics*, Sandy's full name is given as Sandra Olivia Cheeks. In the Broadway musical, her middle name is said to be Jennifer instead.
* Sandy was an experienced law enforcement officer.
* Later, she was recruited to be Miss Appear for The International Justice League of Super Acquaintances.