List of fictional cetaceans

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Moby Dick attacking a whaling boat Moby Dick p510 illustration.jpg
Moby Dick attacking a whaling boat

This is a list of fictional cetaceans, including dolphins and whales, that appear in video games, film, television, animation, comics and literature. The list is limited to notable, named characters. This list is a subsidiary to the List of fictional animals article.

Contents

Dolphins

Whales

See also

Related Research Articles

Ishmael (<i>Moby-Dick</i>) Fictional character from the novel Moby-Dick

Ishmael is a character in Herman Melville's Moby-Dick (1851), which opens with the line "Call me Ishmael." He is the first-person narrator of much of the book. Because Ishmael plays a minor role in the plot, early critics of Moby-Dick assumed that Captain Ahab was the protagonist. Many either confused Ishmael with Melville or overlooked the role he played. Later critics distinguished Ishmael from Melville, and some saw his mystic and speculative consciousness as the novel's central force rather than Captain Ahab's monomaniacal force of will.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Keiko (orca)</span> Male orca (1976–2003)

Keiko was a male orca captured in the Atlantic Ocean near Iceland in 1979. He was best known for his portrayal of Willy in the 1993 film Free Willy. In 1996, Warner Bros. and the International Marine Mammal Project collaborated to return Keiko to the wild. After years of preparing Keiko for reintegration, Keiko was flown to Iceland in 1998 and in 2002, became the first captive orca to be fully released back into the ocean. On 12 December 2003, he died of pneumonia in a bay in Norway at the age of 27.

<i>Free Willy</i> 1993 family drama film

Free Willy is a 1993 American family drama film, directed by Simon Wincer, produced by Lauren Shuler Donner and Jennie Lew Tugend, written by Keith A. Walker and Corey Blechman from a story by Walker and distributed by Warner Bros. Pictures under their Family Entertainment imprint. The film stars Jason James Richter in his film debut, Lori Petty, Jayne Atkinson, August Schellenberg, and Michael Madsen with the eponymous character, Willy, played by Keiko.

The cetology in Herman Melville's 1851 novel, Moby-Dick, is a running theme that appears most importantly in Ishmael's zoological classification of whales, in Chapter 32, "Cetology". The purpose of that chapter, the narrator says, is "to attend to a matter almost indispensable to a thorough appreciative understanding of the more special leviathanic revelations and allusions of all sorts which are to follow." Further descriptions of whales and their anatomy occur in seventeen other chapters, including "The Sperm Whale's Head -- Contrasted View" and "The Right Whale's Head -- Contrasted View".

<i>Moby Dick</i> (1956 film) 1956 film by John Huston

Moby Dick is a 1956 American color adventure film directed and produced by John Huston, who co-wrote the screenplay with Ray Bradbury. A film adaptation of Herman Melville's 1851 novel Moby-Dick, the film stars Gregory Peck, Richard Basehart and Leo Genn and follows the exploits of Captain Ahab in pursuing and killing a gigantic sperm whale with whom he has a personal vendetta.

<i>Orca</i> (1977 film) 1977 American thriller film by Michael Anderson

Orca is a 1977 American horror thriller film directed by Michael Anderson and produced by Dino De Laurentiis, starring Richard Harris, Charlotte Rampling and Will Sampson. The film follows a male orca tracking down and getting revenge on a fishing boat and its captain for killing the whale's pregnant mate and their unborn calf.

"Free Willzyx" is the thirteenth episode in the ninth season of the American animated television series South Park. The 138th overall episode, it originally aired on Comedy Central in the United States on November 30, 2005. In the episode, which parodies the film Free Willy, Kyle, Stan, Cartman and Kenny go to an amusement park, where aquarium employees prank them into thinking the orca Jambu is telling them he needs to be sent back to the Moon where he truly belongs or else he will die; the prank backfires as the boys embark on a misguided mission to set him free.

<i>Free Willy 3: The Rescue</i> 1997 American film

Free Willy 3: The Rescue is a 1997 American family film directed by Sam Pillsbury and written by John Mattson. Released by Warner Bros. under their Warner Bros. Family Entertainment banner, it is the sequel to Free Willy 2: The Adventure Home in addition to being the third film in the Free Willy franchise and final installment of the original storyline as well as the last to be released theatrically. Jason James Richter and August Schellenberg reprise their roles from the previous films while Annie Corley, Vincent Berry and Patrick Kilpatrick joined the cast. The story revolves around Jesse and Randolph attempting to stop a group of whalers, led by its ruthless captain, from illegally hunting Willy while secretly receiving help from an unlikely source involving the captain's young son after an accident changed his view on whales.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Giant squid in popular culture</span>

The giant squid's elusive nature and fearsome appearance have long made it a popular subject of legends and folk tales. Its popularity as an image continues today with references and depictions in literature, film, television, and video games.

<i>Free Willy</i> (TV series) TV series or program

Free Willy is an animated television series, inspired by the 1993 film of the same name. The television show was produced by Warner Bros. Television, Regency Enterprises, Canadian company Nelvana and French company Le Studio Canal+ for Warner Bros. Studios.

A whale is a sea mammal.

Moby-Dick is an 1851 novel by Herman Melville that describes the voyage of the whaleship Pequod, led by Captain Ahab, who leads his crew on a hunt for the whale Moby Dick. There have been a number of adaptations of Moby-Dick in various media.

<i>Moby Dick</i> (1930 film) 1930 film

Moby Dick is a 1930 American pre-Code film from Warner Bros., directed by Lloyd Bacon, and starring John Barrymore, Joan Bennett and Walter Lang. The film is a sound remake of the 1926 silent movie, The Sea Beast, which also starred Barrymore. It is the first film adaptation of Herman Melville's 1851 novel Moby Dick that includes a soundtrack.

Keiko may refer to:

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Orcas in popular culture</span>

Orcas, also known as Killer whales, have appeared in several movies and many documentaries.

Free Willy is a media franchise from Warner Bros. that started with the 1993 film Free Willy that went on to become a sleeper hit at the box office. The original series primarily follows a street kid named Jesse who befriends an orca named Willy and eventually develops a strong connection. While trying to juggle his newly found life, he and Willy are challenged with overcoming or defeating various hazards to the ocean or Willy himself including corporate greed, hunters, poachers, and oil disasters.

Dot and the Whale is a 1986 Australian animated film by Yoram Gross. It is based on the character Dot from the animated film Dot and the Kangaroo, which in turn was based on the children's book of the same name by Ethel Pedley.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Captain Ahab</span> Fictional character from the novel Moby-Dick

Captain Ahab is a fictional character and one of the protagonists in Herman Melville's Moby-Dick (1851). He is the monomaniacal captain of the whaling ship Pequod. On a previous voyage, the white whale Moby Dick bit off Ahab's leg, and he now wears a prosthetic leg made out of whalebone. The whaling voyage of the Pequod ends up as a hunt for revenge on the whale, as Ahab forces the crew members to support his fanatical mission. When Moby Dick is finally sighted, Ahab's hatred robs him of all caution, and the whale drags him to his death beneath the sea and sinks the Pequod.