Seriously Geeky Sunday? Aye Aye Captain!

Hello dear readers and welcome to another Seriously Geeky Sunday. This week’s questions are all about Captains, and I’m thoroughly looking forward to chatting about some of my favourite Captains from various geeky universes, so why not join me to salute some of our fearless fictional leaders.

First up, a quick apology for missing last week’s Seriously Geeky Sunday! I was caught up with writing an article about Tekken 3 for the awesome Super Chart Island (if you missed it you can check it out here!), but now I’m back and hopefully I can do this week’s questions justice. As always, huge thanks to the wonderful Heather from Just Geeking By for organising Seriously Geeky Sundays, it really does act as an inspiration!

Right! Enough waffle, let’s get to the questions:

Who was the captain of your childhood?

Captain Jean-Luc Picard, Star Trek: The Next Generation

The only answer to this question for me is Captain Picard, and this is particularly appropriate since the ‘Captain’ prompt is intended to celebrate Captain Picard Day which falls on June 16th. Although the Captain himself was not a great fan of Captain Picard Day, it did interestingly highlight the Captain’s one big weakness – that he is terrible with children! Apart from that, Picard is more or less the perfect Captain, maintaining a clear head, having a great tactical mind, and understanding the needs and abilities of his crew so as to get the best out of them. To me he will always be the ultimate captain, even if he isn’t necessarily my all time favourite. “Tea, Earl Grey, Hot” anyone?

When you think about captains who is the first one to come to mind?

Captain Marika Kato, Bodacious Space Pirates

Captain Marika is a schoolgirl who inherits the captaincy of the space pirate ship Bentenmaru. She has to learn to captain a ship crewed by adult pirates whilst continuing with normal teen activities like going to school and hanging out with her friend who works at the maid cafe. These are difficult circumstances for Marika for sure, but her upbeat personality and unwavering determination mean that she absolutely smashes her new role. Her success in this unlikely situation is quite inspiring, and she is one of those characters who will make you smile every time you remember her.

Who is your favourite fictional captain?

Captain Benjamin Sisko, Star Trek: Deep Space Nine

Remember how I said that Captain Picard isn’t my favourite Captain? Well that honour actually goes to another Star Trek Captain, Benjamin Sisko! What I like about Sisko is that his personality really shines through in his captaining. He has this wild eyed exuberance which you can see both when he is excited and when he is furious. You never quite know what to expect, which just makes his decisions seem even more like strokes of genius. He is refreshingly unafraid of making controversial decisions, and through his relationships with other characters on DS9 you really get to know him as a man, not just as a Starfleet Captain.

Who is your favourite crew?

The Toad Brigade, various games in the Mario series

Operating under the steadfast leadership of the brilliant Captain Toad (who achieved his rank by putting a head lamp on and declaring himself the captain), the Toads are responsible for the operation of their ship, the Starshroom, and providing general support to Mario. There are a few official roles within The Toad Brigade, such as Mail Toad and Bank Toad, but their main activities seem to be slacking off, sleeping and going on holiday without leave. You are unlikely to find a lower work ethic in any crew you can think of, which isn’t really surprising considering how often their Captain can be found shirking his duties, but for me this just goes to make them even more adorable and hilarious.

What is your favourite ship?

Moya, Farscape

The thing that sets Moya apart from most other ships is that she is not a man made ship, but is actually alive. She has a strong personality and her actions directly impact the story that the main characters are living through. Although she can’t really speak, you can actually trace her story through the series, and she is as much of an escapee as any of the other characters. Farscape is a show with a lot of sad stories, but you would need to have a heart of stone to not shed a tear for Moya given what she goes through in the course of the story. A ship she may be, but she is as much one of the characters as any of the humanoids she has as her crew.

The last fandom you experienced has suddenly been cast into outer space. Who is the captain and who are their crewmates?

A space adventure starring the cast of Final Fantasy X

I’m playing Final Fantasy X for the first time at the moment and am loving it so far. If the cast got flung out into space (which to be fair happens in most JRPGs at some point), then I think the crew would be assembled as follows: Kimahri would be the Captain. He is straight forward, tough and decisive, meaning he could take control of any situation. Tidus would be the tactical officer and also second in command. He claims that he will come up with answers to the group’s problems and so would be ideal for coming up with quick fire tactics. Weapons and security would be the remit of Auron. He is hard as nails and has been around the block enough times to know how to blast any enemy away. The ship would also need a medic, and I’m going to give this role to Yuna. She has a kind and gentle manner and is well versed in white magic, so would be able to fit into this role easily. Lulu would be in charge of navigation. She has a cool head and is very focused on her role, so would be well suited to this. The role of engineer is an important one on a space ship and I’m giving this job to Rikku. She is adept at making stuff so I’m sure she could utilise those skills into fixing engines etc. Last but not least, Wakka would be the ship’s cook. He has no love of technology so wouldn’t necessarily want to be involved with the actual running of the ship, however you’d think growing up in Besaid must’ve taught him some basic cooking skills. Obviously food is essential to our crew, but I’m also counting on Wakka to keep morale up by cooking some tasty space fiend recipes.

---

So what do you think of my choices? Any Captains you like in there? Maybe there are some others you would have picked? Let me know below in comments, or even better, head on over to Just Geeking By to find out how to take part yourself!

Thanks for reading,

Pix1001 x