DVDizzy Forum

Disney Duster wrote:There is a debate over whether Ursula is an octopus or a squid. Anyone know the definite answer? I had read the filmakers chose to make her an octopus when watching an octopus in a movie. I read on Wikipedia she is supposed to be an octopus but just with 6 tentacles.

Technically, she is an octopus because she’s got eight arms, including her two “human” ams.

Technically she's neither an octopus nor a squid. She's a cecaelia. Just like we don't say Ariel is a fish.

From what I have seen online, "cecaelia" is only a term made up for certain myths and media. No one at Disney called her a cecaelia. Also, no one at Disney has confirmed anything about her human arms being the rest of her eight octopus limbs. I am looking for official Disney confirmation.

TLM Series episode 'Heroes' gave the species a name 'Octopid'.

The race was expanded on in the TV series, specifically in the episode Heroes where Ursula revived a deceased Octopid army that she had formerly commanded. It also hinted that the reason for Ursula's exile was because she made dark tridents and tried to attack Atlantica. On a related note, this was also the first and only entry in the franchise that gave the race its name.

I wrote about that episode in the TLM Discussion thread when Sotiris posted about the new Ursula comic. I liked that episode only for seeing male characters that were half octopus, too. A shame it came in the last season of the show when the animation was extra bad though.

@DisneyJedi: They also animated her based on footage of octopi. It's been known she's half-octopus since the original film? I've never heard anyone call her a squid before, but Googling pictures of squid and octopi alone would tell you which one her lower body is based on. But I guess not everyone was inspired to do that from the film like I was. I actually wrote a report on octopi when I was in elementary school. It's fascinating how intelligent they are.

Unfortunately, I think this may be yet another case of the awful musical muddying the waters of everything with the unfunny "Squid Pro Quo" joke. EDIT: Reading this webpage, funnily enough there's actually a type of octopus named after Dumbo.

The “Ursula: is she an octopus or a squid debate” is a pedantic one and I’m team octopus. But if you asked Pat Carroll... well, see the Platinum Edition documentary at 30 min 40 sec: https://youtu.be/XdMMg6OSn1Q

Yes, but she was saying that technically the number of tentacles are six, but that's only because of budget limitations, most promotion artwork feature eight tentacles. And since tentacles are technically arms, you can include her human ones to fill the number. I know Musker has described that they went through several animals, but it was when they were looking at footage of an octopus that he decided that felt right for Ursula, because they moved so sinuously across the ocean floor. And that's why they used footage of the animal as reference for Ursula's movements.

Honestly, her character itself also thematically fits octopus, because squid travel more in schools, whereas octopi stay along the ocean floor among debris, hide in caves, and work alone. They are weak animals and wait for the proper moment to attack, which suits Ursula as well who bides her time to strike at Triton. (The funny thing is that what octopi most often eat are crustaceans, which makes Sebastian's extreme fear of Ursula more personal. ) I think the only argument for squid at all is that she only has six in the movie... But even on that point, we know that they intended eight, and had to cut them down for financial reasons. Besides, squid have ten tentacles anyway, not six... Their anatomy is also different than what Ursula is shown with; aside from being more thin and long, they have some kind of hook-like features at the end of their tentacles that octopi don't have. Although in fairness, I suppose some of the appeal of calling her squid by some people could come from the fact that she turns into a giant at the end, which may remind some of giant squid, Cthulu, the Kraken, or whatever. Still, she doesn't look like a squid and her lower portion is never referred to in that way.

I don't think there is a debate really. She is half octopus in the original film and has always been described that way these past thirty years. Then again, Ariel's not even red-haired anymore. Just make Ursula a swordfish and F&J lobsters at this point, since nothing really matters.

UmbrellaFish wrote:The “Ursula: is she an octopus or a squid debate” is a pedantic one and I’m team octopus. But if you asked Pat Carroll... well, see the Platinum Edition documentary at 30 min 40 sec: https://youtu.be/XdMMg6OSn1Q

Interesting.
Yeah honestly I don't think it matters that much, mainly to the filmmakers themselves. I don't think I ever heard them say anything on that matter, referring to her only as the sea witch.

Well, the only other thing they would refer to her by is Ursula... Those are her name and title.

Thanks for trying guys. I know there was a Disney Trivia children's deck that asked "What type of creature is Ursula?" and the answer was "an octopus". I think Disney just called her an octopus when really she is a half-human half-octopus. Yes, I know, that's a cecaelia like farerb said, but I don't want to use that term since Disney never calls her that and they call her and Octopid on the show so Disney isn't official on the matter themselves.

I wanna say, what Ursula is does matter, to me! And I'm sure others out there!

Little peak at Prince Eric’s ship! - https://twitter.com/TheDisInsider/statu ... 54624?s=20

UmbrellaFish wrote:Little peak at Prince Eric’s ship! - https://twitter.com/TheDisInsider/statu ... 54624?s=20

It says, "This Tweet is unavailable."

They just took down the tweet but the website link is working (for now): https://thedisinsider.com/2020/03/28/ab ... ssion=true

^ Thank you!

Thank you! That's very exciting!

Oh, it looks awesome.

Definitely sticking close to the original design. I figured Marshall would. He’s very good at honoring the subject material if anything. Hopefully that means we’re in store an adaptation that hues close to the original but expands on it.

I can't really judge anything by those pictures... Maybe it's just me. The little blurb about the music said that Ariel and her sisters would be featured... To go out of their way to mention them like that, I'm assuming one of the songs is of them all singing at the beginning and they explain how Ariel's mother died by humans.

nomad2010 wrote:Definitely sticking close to the original design. I figured Marshall would. He’s very good at honoring the subject material if anything.

While I don't agree it's turning out that way so far, that is what I thought about Marshall initially, too.

Test 1 & Test 2 for a certain Disney film before they went full CGI. This was a lot of fun, I did this around September time... Super stoked to have been involved with this process!

Source: https://www.instagram.com/p/B-VHzz-hdTq/

I like the first wig. But, um...Melissa McCarthy isn't old enough to have white hair! Would they age her with make-up? I would imagine that would be hard to make look good. Anyway, they are going full CGI with Ursula? Will she be a mo-cap performance?!!! Was that how the Genie was done?!!!