"O Captain!" Trivia Quiz

Answer: Voyager

Kate Mulgrew played Captain Kathryn Janeway from 1995 to 2001. Janeway was the captain of "Voyager", and first female captain of the "Star Trek" franchise. She captained the intrepid-class starship USS Voyager, NCC-74656, which had a maximum warp speed of 9.975. "Voyager", the fourth sequel, was set in the 24th century where the ship and its crew wound up stranded in the Delta Quadrant.

Answer: Catch-22

Joseph Heller's satirical, anti-war novel "Catch-22" was published in 1961. The protagonist and anti-hero of the book is twenty-eight-year-old Captain John Yossarian, a World War II bombardier pilot of the 256th Squadron of the US Army Air Forces. Heller patterned Yossarian after his own experiences. "Catch-22" is a neologism coined by Heller to illustrate the bureaucracy and insanity of war.

Answer: Jaws

We first meet Captain Sam Quint in Peter Benchley's 1974 novel "Jaws". He reappears in Steven Spielberg's 1975 blockbuster film where he is played by Robert Shaw (1927-1978). Set in the tourist town of Amity Island, the plot revolves around a killer shark and the town leaders' attempts to deal with it.

They employ Quint, a "grizzled" sea captain, who joins the police chief and an ichthyologist in an attempt to destroy the beast.

Answer: Law & Order

If you've ever watched one of television's most successful franchises, i.e., "Law & Order", then you are familiar with Captain Donald Cragen. The wise, understanding, former alcoholic, police Captain Cragen was played by Dann Florek from 1990 to 2004. Cragen could also be found captaining the spinoff, "Law & Order: Special Victim's Unit" from 1999 to 2015.

Answer: Animal Crackers

Going way back to 1930, we find the black and white comedy "Animal Crackers". Groucho Marx (along with his brothers and sight gags) plays the intrepid explorer Captain Jeffrey T. Spaulding, fresh from his African adventure. He is invited to a posh party at the Rittenhouse estate when a valuable painting is stolen and the captain takes it upon himself to solve the crime.

Answer: Treasure Island

Robert Louis Stevenson's wonderful children's story "Treasure Island" was published in 1882. It is a tale of "buccaneers and buried gold". The protagonist is thirteen-year-old Jim Hawkins who finds a treasure map which supposedly leads to the spot where the infamous pirate Captain Flint buried his loot. Jim sets sail aboard the Hispaniola as a cabin boy, encountering adventures and the pirate Long John Silver with his parrot named Captain Flint.

Answer: M*A*S*H*

We first meet Captain Benjamin Franklin "Hawkeye" Pierce in Robert Altman's 1970 black comedy movie "M*A*S*H*, where Donald Sutherland played the role of Hawkeye. However, Alan Alda's TV portrayal of the Korean War surgeon from Crabapple Cove, Maine became an indelible part of American culture from 1972 to 1983.

The final episode drew a total audience of over 121 million viewers, more than either Super Bowl XVII or the "Roots" miniseries.

Answer: 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea

Captain Nemo was a character created by Jules Verne. He appeared in Verne's 1870 science fiction novel "20,000 Leagues Under the Sea". The story gives us a French marine biologist, his manservant and a Canadian whaler who find themselves aboard the submarine Nautilus in an attempt to find and destroy a giant sea monster. Captain Nemo, commander of the Nautilus, has been in self-imposed exile but agrees to the dangerous mission. BTW, "nemo" is the Latin word for nobody.

Answer: The Love Boat

"The Love Boat" was actually a cruise ship named the Pacific Princess on the television comedy which ran from 1977 to 1987. Sort of a "Fantasy Island" on water, the show was a matchmaker for B-list celebrities. Gavin MacLeod (formerly Murray Slaughter on "MTM") was kindly Captain Merrill Stubing who, along with Doc, Isaac and Gopher, greeted passengers with the promise of "love, exciting and new".

Answer: Gilligan's Island

We end with what was supposed to be "a three hour tour" but ended up stranding seven people on "Gilligan's Island" for three years, i.e., 1964 to 1967. The "Skipper" of the grounded USS Minnow was Captain Jonas Grumby, played by Alan Hale Jr. The castaways also included "the millionaire and his wife, the movie star, the professor and Mary Ann" and, of course, the first mate, Gilligan, played by Bob Denver.