Old Man Jenkins is one of Spongebob Squarepants' most elusive and enigmatic characters. The old fish pops up in Spongebob episodes every now and again, but he never quite looks the same. We've seen him looking fat, thin, green, blue, bearded and bespectacled. He's just so... mysterious.
ALL of these guys are Old Man Jenkins:
It's a recurring joke, but not one that everyone had noticed. As the token senior citizen of the show, Old Man Jenkins is in constant state of confusion, annoyance, or both. He hurls himself from cannons, throws curses at city folk and their flying machines, and stops people on the street after he's seen them on television.
Old Man Jenkins is a character who has long been shrouded in mystery because of his multiple personas, and Nickelodeon has finally revealed his true identity. The official Spongebob Squarepants page on Facebook uploaded a video titled "Have you ever wondered: Who is the REAL Old Man Jenkins?"
[[facebookwidget||https://www.facebook.com/spongebob/videos/10154757689311366/]]
While a lot of people dismissed the video, saying there are many other things on the show worth clarifying (WHO is Pearl's mother and someone tell me once and for all
what the heck is the secret formula for Krabby Patties?!), a lot of people have shown relief to finally learn more about Old Man Jenkins.
Die-hard fans are relieved that the apparently-on-purpose continuity error in the show had finally been addressed:
While others are lowkey gobsmacked that the true Old Man Jenkins ISN'T this guy:
But that the real Old Man Jenkins,
is him:
It doesn't seem like many fans thought
this would be the real Old Man Jenkins. Although he's not the people's choice, his presence is actually pretty crucial to Spongebob Squarepants' entire plot.
In the season five episode where this
Old Man Jenkins appears, viewers learn about Mr Krabs and Plankton's origins in a flashback. They used to be friends and opened a burger restaurant together in an old junkyard. Old Man Jenkins, who works in the junkyard, is offered to try their first burger.
He suddenly collapses – poisoned by the burger – causing Krabs and Plankton to fight over the patty, end their friendship, and part ways to pursue individual burger ventures. Thus, the rivalry between Krabby Patty and Chum Burger is born.
While SpongeBob SquarePants may have revealed the true identity of Old Man Jenkins, it seems to have initiated a flood of new questions too. It's still not explained why there are different Old Man Jenkins' who are never in the same episode. And why do they even exist when the original one was killed?
Rumours have flown that the group of characters identifying as Jenkinses are actually brothers, or that they come from a secret society of old fish men, a spy organisation, or the same fraternity group (that one's a bit of stretch). Or there's this:
Although Nickelodeon have cleared one thing up for everyone, it seems to have opened a whole new can of worms.
