Captain's Log: Difference between revisions

{{quote|'''Zapp:''' Captain's Log, stardate... uhh...<br />

'''Kif:''' (sighs) April thirteenth!<br />

 

{{quote|"Captain's Log supplemental: Eh, [[Blah Blah Blah|beedoobeedoobeedoo]]. That's all."|[[Eddie Izzard]]}}

 

== [[Trope Namer]] ==

*** In Season 2, there was at least one case when the log was played when Kirk was captive (with hands up etc.) so they are recorded from memory.

*** This and other situations were due to the perceived need to recapitulate the events of the episode. When it deals with events Captain Kirk was not aware of at the time of recapitulation, Kirk would say "Captains Log, Supplemental", meaning that Kirk added these remarks after he found out what had happened.

 

== [[Comic Books]] ==

 

== [[Film]] ==

* ''[[Once Upon a Time In Mexico]]'' featured an FBI agent who was constantly giving a running commentary on what he was doing into a concealed tape recorder, presumably to be used as a record of what [[Unwitting Pawn|he thinks]] is a semi-legitimate investigation into a drug lord.

** If one assumes that he is the [[Hero of Another Story]] (as he is presented in the movie), then this could very well be the source of the narration if he ''were'' the star. As it is, he ends up spending much of the movie talking to himself and [[Lampshade Hanging|commenting on]] whatever foolish thing he is about to do.

* Various entries in the ''[[Terminator]]'' franchise use this plot device to justify Sarah Connor's voice-over narration.

 

== [[Literature]] ==

* Agent Cooper's dictaphone notes to Diane (his never-seen secretary) on ''[[Twin Peaks]]'' serve a similar function.

* Janeane Garofolo's character on ''[[Felicity]]'', as the never-seen therapist sending dictated comments serves as both [[An Aesop]] and a [[Captain's Log]] in reverse.

** One does wonder what they're going to think in 20 years, reading those elliptical, reference-filled sentences that won't make any sense at all to someone who hasn't just watched the episode. Also, wasn't Carrie supposedly writing her column rather than a journal?

* Early seasons of ''[[The X-Files]]'' had [[Agent Scully]] writing reports to her superiors at the end of many of the [[Monster of the Week]] episodes. In the final seasons, after David Duchovny left the show, Scully read her journal entries as letters to the missing Mulder.

* John-boy Walton of ''[[The Waltons]]'' kept a journal, and apparently couldn't write without moving his lips...

** And again, in later episodes [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D_0xaOQWg6I where a hologram from a hologramic ship "beams" aboard Starbug] and documents the surroundings into a Dictaphone, Lister whips out a cigarette packet and gives his own captians log. They both trade witty banter discussing each other until Lister mentions having a holo-whip capable of causing pain to holograms which ends the scene. ''He ate the cigarette...''

* On the pilot episode of ''[[Sliders]]'', Quinn Mallory keeps a videotaped log, so that the audience can follow along with what he's doing. Later, Wade's handwritten diary is used for the occasional introductory voiceover.

* ''[[Babylon 5]]'' uses this occasionally, with not only the [[Captain's Log]], but also Commander Ivanova and Dr. Franklin's personal logs.

* ''[[Quark]]'' parodies this, along with almost everything else from the original ''Star Trek''.

{{quote| '''Odo:''' Commence station security log, stardate 47282.5. At the request of Commander Sisko, I will hereafter be recording a daily log of law enforcement affairs. The reason for this exercise is beyond my comprehension, except perhaps that Humans have a compulsion to keep records and files — so many, in fact, that they have to invent new ways to store them microscopically. Otherwise their records would overrun all known civilization. My own very adequate memory not being good enough for Starfleet, I am pleased to put my voice into this official record of this day. Everything's under control. End log.}}

** ''[[Deep Space Nine]]'', however, tended to avoid this, leading to very few episodes having stardates.

* The earlier episodes of ''[[Roswell]]'' began this way.

** One episode had Darien narrating a flashback and starting it off with a quote, causing the listener to stop him ask him about his quoting.

* Sheldon keeps a log on ''[[The Big Bang Theory]]'', including stardate. With appropriately geeky attention to detail, the stardate is ''correct,'' working from 1987 (the first season of STTNG) as stardate 41000.

* ''[[Good Luck Charlie]]'': The titular baby's big sister Teddy is a recording a video diary with pearls of wisdom (mixed in with her own self-glorification) for her sister when Teddy (being a decade and a half older) is out on her own. It forms a substantial portion of the narrative.

* The "Dear Dad' episodes of ''[[MASH]]'' used Hawkeye's letters home for the same purpose. Letters by Fr. Mulcahy, Radar, Klinger and Col. Potter were also used. Major Winchester taped nearly all his correspondence to his family, creating an actual (rather than mental) vocal narrative.

* The title character's diary on ''[[Mr. Belvedere]]'' is the "end-of-the-episode" version.

* The captain's log becomes a plot point in Season 2 of ''[[Battlestar Galactica Reimagined]]''. After the ''Galactica'' encounters the ''Pegasus'' and [[General Ripper|Admiral Cain]] takes command of the fleet, she reorganizes the crews of both ships specifically in response to the picture of [[A Father to His Men|favoritism]] toward [[The Hero|Apollo]] and [[The Lancer|Starbuck]] painted by [[Team Dad|Commander Adama]]'s own words.

 

* The ''[[Neverwinter Nights 2]]'' module "Dark Waters" has a parody of this trope as a dialogue option at the end of the first chapter, with the player commenting that he didn't bang any [[Green-Skinned Space Babe|green skinned space babes]] on this particular voyage, and Daniel and Heather giving classic Spock/McCoy reactions.

* [[Original Generation|Kazuma Ardygun]] from ''[[Super Robot Wars W]]'' keeps a diary that he writes on at the beginning of each chapter. When he can't update it, his sister Mihiro takes over for him.

 

== [[Web Comics]] ==

* Both ''[[Sluggy Freelance]]'' and ''[[Starslip Crisis]]'' have modernised/spoofed this with the "Captain's '''B'''log".

* ''[[Darths and Droids]]'' gets a lot of mileage out of this trope in [http://www.darthsanddroids.net/episodes/0521.html Episode 521]; playing the trope dead straight while at the same time giving a [[Shout-Out]] to the [[Trope Namer]] and doing an in-character [[As You Know]]. And it wouldn't be ''Darths and Droids'' without the GM taking a dig at the players for going [[Off the Rails]].

* In ''[[Sinfest]]'', [http://www.sinfest.net/archive_page.php?comicID=3234 Crimney has a Beast Log about dealing with Tomey in the early days.]

== [[Web Original]] ==

* [http://dragongate.blog.com/ The Logs of the Starship "Sierra Nacho"] is [[Captain Obvious|obviously]] entirely told through the Captain's Log. And everybody else's logs as well.

'''Zapp:''' You! Aren't you getting this?<br />

'''Kif:''' (sighs) }}

*** Must be a [[Trope Namer]].

** A cut scene from ''Kif Gets Knocked Up a Notch'' was also to have featured Zapp's voice over to the Captain's log... a literal fallen tree that he found in the jungle.

* A short on ''[[I Am Weasel]]'' that featured Weasel and Baboon as a captain and first mate on a ship has Weasel doing the traditional approach with paper, and Baboon using an actual log.

* The ''[[Super Mario Bros Super Show]]!'' started every animated segment with Mario's "Plumber's Log", setting up the exposition.

* Skipper from ''[[The Penguins of Madagascar]]'' keeps his log on a handheld tape recorder.

 

{{reflist}}