Horatio Peter McCallister, more known simply as the Sea Captain, is a resident of Springfield. He is always seen holding a corncob pipe and squinting: because he has at least one glass eye - though once he was seen tapping both of his eyes and says he has "two glass eyes." In addition to eye(s), he also has an artificial leg. Owing to his occupation as a sea captain, he also spoke with a Bristolian accent. He was created by the writer Conan O'Brien.
Contents
Captaining
Though he admitted he isn't a real captain, Captain McCallister has (incompetently) piloted several vessels. On one occasion, he wrecks a cargo ship full of hot pants (although in that particular case, it wasn't actually his fault: The lighthouse's light had been destroyed by a desperate Homer and when he saw the lighthouse light turn back on, he attempted to correct his course); on another, in a reference to the Exxon Valdez oil spill, he causes an oil spill by crashing his tanker while drunk.
He launches a river raft for Homer, only to have it sink immediately to the bottom. The captain's idea for Mr. Burns' casino involved three ships and fifty "stout men" who would "sail 'round the Horn and return with the finest spices and silk". On several occasions, he acknowledges his incompetence with a depressed, "Arr, I don't know what I'm doin'." Shortly before Mr. Burns blocked out the sun at 3:00 PM, he indicated that he had in fact seen the sun set once at that time while he was sailing in the arctic, but Mr. Burns interrupted him before proceeding to activate the Sun Blocker.
Personal Life
At one time, he tried selling his houseboat to Marge and Homer while they were looking for a new home, and in an obvious nod to Robert Shaw's character in Jaws starts grappling with a shark when it attacks through the floor. He was apparently a Christian, as he had his ship blessed by Reverand Lovejoy until he learned at least three months later that Lovejoy's blessing the ship didn't count as a blessing since during the three months, his minister license was expired.
In The Simpsons Comics 66- Crusin' For A Bruisin' we are introduced to his long-lost wife Tenille.
In "The Way We Weren't" he mentioned that he was the sailing instructor at Camp See-A-Tree and on movie nights he runs the projector. He sails a young Homer across the lake to see a young Marge who is staying at Camp Land-A-Man. In the past he was slimmer and wore a jacket and jeans with a belt instead of a captain’s coat and boots. He also implied that he did plundering as a hobby, although he often was forced to give up his loot to pay his taxes on April 15, causing him to bitterly wonder why he even bothers doing that hobby at all.[3]
He lives on a houseboat on land as seen in 'Scuse Me While I Miss the Sky.
Restaurant
As an entrepreneur, McCallister is equally incompetent. His restaurant, The Frying Dutchman, is a failing business venture that does not generate enough income to support its owner. He also once used Homer's bad review for his restaurant despite his hatred of it because it covers up the "D" from the health inspection agency nicely.[4] The captain once appeared as a penniless bum. When seeing Homer and Marge walking Homer's pet lobster at the beach, he approaches them and claims that he runs a "small academy for lobsters." However, when Marge refuses to send the lobster away to "some snobby boarding school," McCallister asks her for spare change instead [5].
Relationships
He has never been shown with a girlfriend and, while it's generally believed that he's not gay, he has hinted at the fact that he has engaged in "situational homosexuality" with his fellow sailors. However, McCallister once took a picture of Patty and Selma in the nude, a picture which he claims to need for "those lonely nights at sea"[6]. He supposedly has at least one son, whom he describes as "the catch of the day" .[7]
Conception
- The Sea Captain was created by former NBC "Late Night" host Conan O'Brien, while he was a writer for The Simpsons. Voiced by Hank Azaria, the character first appeared in 1992 in the episode "New Kid on the Block" episode as the owner of The Frying Dutchman all-you-can-eat seafood restaurant. In that episode, McCallister is sued by Homer for not letting him eat all he could eat. Homer Simpson's visit to the restaurant caused the captain to observe about him, "'Tis no man, 'tis a remorseless eatin' machine!"
Trivia
- The Sea Captain's squinty eye and pipe are based on Popeye
- The manner in which the Sea Captain speaks is a direct reference to Long John Silver.
- The Sea Captain's real name may be derived in part from Captain Horatio Hornblower, the title character of a series of sea-adventure novels by C. S. Forester, or from British naval hero Admiral Horatio Nelson.
- In the Simpsons Comics #134 - In the Swim, it's revealed that Agnes Skinner was the Sea Captain's third wife[8].
- His signature is a drawing of sailors crashing against the head of a gigantic whale (à la Moby Dick)
- He has a real estate license, and is an expert on house boats.
- He is neighbors with Bumblebee Man.[9][10]
- In The Simpsons: Tapped Out, his name is misspelled as McCallister.
- According to the "Are You A Patty Or A Selma" quiz, the Sea Captain is a Selma.
- According to the episode "And Maggie Makes Three", he has at least one child.
- According to the episode "In Marge We Trust", he used to own a Game Boy before he dropped it in the ocean.
Appearances
| The Simpsons: Season Four | ||||
| "Kamp Krusty": | "A Streetcar Named Marge": | "Homer the Heretic": | "Lisa the Beauty Queen": | "Treehouse of Horror III": |
| Absent | Absent | Absent | Absent | Absent |
| "Itchy & Scratchy: The Movie": | "Marge Gets a Job": | "New Kid on the Block": | "Mr. Plow": | "Lisa's First Word": |
| Absent | Absent | Major | Minor | Minor |
| "Homer's Triple Bypass": | "Marge vs. the Monorail": | "Selma's Choice": | "Brother from the Same Planet": | "I Love Lisa": |
| Absent | Minor | Absent | Absent | Absent |
| "Duffless": | "Last Exit to Springfield": | "So It's Come to This: A Simpsons Clip Show": | "The Front": | "Whacking Day": |
| Absent | Absent | Minor | Absent | Absent |
| "Marge in Chains": | "Krusty Gets Kancelled": | |||
| Absent | Absent | |||
| The Simpsons: Season Five | ||||
| "Homer's Barbershop Quartet": | "Cape Feare": | "Homer Goes to College": | "Rosebud": | "Treehouse of Horror IV": |
| Minor | Absent | Absent | Absent | Absent |
| "Marge on the Lam": | "Bart's Inner Child": | "Boy-Scoutz 'n the Hood": | "The Last Temptation of Homer": | "$pringfield (Or, How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love Legalized Gambling)": |
| Absent | Minor | Minor | Absent | Minor |
| "Homer the Vigilante": | "Bart Gets Famous": | "Homer and Apu": | "Lisa vs. Malibu Stacy": | "Deep Space Homer": |
| Minor | Absent | Absent | Absent | Absent |
| "Homer Loves Flanders": | "Bart Gets an Elephant": | "Burns' Heir": | "Sweet Seymour Skinner's Baadasssss Song": | "The Boy Who Knew Too Much": |
| Absent | Absent | Absent | Absent | Absent |
| "Lady Bouvier's Lover": | "Secrets of a Successful Marriage": | |||
| Absent | Cameo | |||
| The Simpsons: Season Six | ||||
| "Bart of Darkness": | "Lisa's Rival": | "Another Simpsons Clip Show": | "Itchy & Scratchy Land": | "Sideshow Bob Roberts": |
| Absent | Absent | Absent | Absent | Absent |
| "Treehouse of Horror V": | "Bart's Girlfriend": | "Lisa on Ice": | "Homer Badman": | "Grampa vs. Sexual Inadequacy": |
| Absent | Minor | Absent | Absent | Absent |
| "Fear of Flying": | "Homer the Great": | "And Maggie Makes Three": | "Bart's Comet": | "Homie the Clown": |
| Absent | Absent | Minor | Minor | Absent |
| "Bart vs. Australia": | "Homer vs. Patty and Selma": | "A Star is Burns": | "Lisa's Wedding": | "Two Dozen and One Greyhounds": |
| Absent | Absent | Absent | Absent | Absent |
| "The PTA Disbands": | "'Round Springfield": | "The Springfield Connection": | "Lemon of Troy": | "Who Shot Mr. Burns? (Part One)": |
| Absent | Absent | Absent | Absent | Minor |
| The Simpsons: Season Seven | ||||
| "Who Shot Mr. Burns? (Part Two)": | "Radioactive Man": | "Home Sweet Homediddly-Dum-Doodily": | "Bart Sells His Soul": | "Lisa the Vegetarian": |
| Cameo | Absent | Absent | Cameo | Absent |
| "Treehouse of Horror VI": | "King-Size Homer": | "Mother Simpson": | "Sideshow Bob's Last Gleaming": | "The Simpsons 138th Episode Spectacular": |
| Absent | Absent | Absent | Absent | Absent |
| "Marge Be Not Proud": | "Team Homer": | "Two Bad Neighbors": | "Scenes from the Class Struggle in Springfield": | "Bart the Fink": |
| Absent | Minor | Absent | Absent | Minor |
| "Lisa The Iconoclast": | "Homer The Smithers": | "The Day The Violence Died": | "A Fish Called Selma": | "Bart on the Road": |
| Absent | Absent | Absent | Absent | Absent |
| "22 Short Films About Springfield": | "Raging Abe Simpson and His Grumbling Grandson in "The Curse of the Flying Hellfish"": | "Much Apu About Nothing": | "Homerpalooza": | "Summer of 4 Ft. 2": |
| Minor | Absent | Cameo | Absent | Absent |
Gallery
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Citations
- ↑ Simpsons Comics 216
- ↑ Simpsons Comics 66
- ↑ The Trouble with Trillions
- ↑ "Guess Who's Coming to Criticize Dinner?"
- ↑ "Lisa Gets an "A""
- ↑ "Bart's Inner Child"
- ↑ "And Maggie Makes Three"
- ↑ Simspons Comics #134 - In the Swim
- ↑ The Simpsons Movie
- ↑ Robot Chicken couch gag
