Skipper (Madagascar)

"Just smile and wave, boys. Smile and wave."

- Skipper

Skipper is the leader of the penguins and the comic relief from the Madagascar saga. He can be a little grouchy at times but in the inside, he has a heart of gold!

He is voiced by Dreamworks mainstay Tom McGrath (who also directed the movies).

Personality and Traits
Skipper is a hardened commando-type, and the leader of the squad of penguins. He often acts like a 'Nam veteran with regards to some kind of Post-Traumatic-Stress-Disorder, especially with regards to his raving paranoia (which even the other penguins sometimes consider as being over-the-top) and conflicting stories of past events. He believes that a friend is just an enemy who hasn't attacked you yet. Thanks to his training in commando skills, he seems to have absolutely no idea of how to act like a real penguin, with Private having to give him advice when he's under close observation by humans.

Skipper is very suspicious, and usually mistrusts those whom the other penguins have all fallen for. He is often proven correct. He can sometimes be a bit cold and often does things only because the other penguins, especially Private, want him to.

Of the four penguins, Skipper is the best at hand-to-hand combat, generally able to take down even their surprise attacks. However he has a tendency to overestimate his own abilities, taking on opponents many times his own size, and continuing the attack even when it's shown to be totally ineffective. He claims to not know the meaning of the word 'surrender' and always has trouble admitting fear of anything.

Skipper cannot stand hippies, as seen in Night and Dazed, It's About Time and Hello, Dollface, and would very much like to either beat them up or make them get jobs. He also has Trypanophobia (Fear of needles) as shown in Needle Point and Love Hurts. In King Me he wasn't able to knit because of this fear.

He's a 50's style male chauvinist, believing women are weak and need protecting. He's also rather xenophobic, with the opinion that any species other than avian (especially mammals) is inferior. All of this ties in with his raving paranoia, and the other penguins don't always back him up on these points. It has also been stated that he has a fragile ego. In Madgascar 3, Skipper buys dentures and gets them sprayed gold and eats an apple but realizes he hates the taste of apples meaning that penguins don't like apples.

Trivia

 * Skipper is the only penguin to have the same voice actor (Tom McGrath) throughout every Madagascar adaptation.
 * Tom McGrath did what was supposed to be a temporary voice track for Skipper. Robert Stack was originally cast in the role, but after his death, Co-director Eric Darnell decided to keep Tom's voice in because he liked it.