- “I'm the Captain of the Axiom. We are going home today!”
- ―McCrea declaring to AUTO that they are going home to Earth once and for all.
Captain B. McCrea, better known as The Captain, is one of the two tritagonists (alongside M-O) of the 2008 Disney•Pixar animated feature film WALL-E. He is the Axiom's captain and commander.
Background[]
Personality[]
The Captain is a very kind person who cares about all of his people, robots, (save for the ones that betrayed him) and has a huge love for nature and life. He is also curious about it and is very well-spoken.
Role in the film[]
The Captain's early life prior to the film is unknown, but like the rest of humanity on the Axiom,The Captain was extremely obese, and almost always confined to a hoverchair. Most of the day-to-day management of the ship was handled by AUTO and the ship's computer. However, on the Axiom's 700th anniversary, a probe ship returned with evidence of life on Earth. The Captain, while still not truly understanding what a plant even was, let alone what it meant to go home, was nonetheless intrigued by the concept, and was amazed when he discovered the Operation Manual for Operation Recolonize, the first tool he had ever seen that was not voice-controlled. However, the EVE probe was lacking the said plant.
The Captain assumed that EVE was malfunctioning, and had GO-4 send her to the Repair Ward. Much to his surprise, WALL-E had managed to follow EVE into the control room and subsequently introduced himself to The Captain with a handshake. Upon seeing the dirt that had come from WALL-E's hand, the confused Captain asks for the robot to be cleaned up. However, The Captain saved the dirt and had the computer analyze it, which led to him researching about Earth. He quickly became fascinated by all of the different things and customs that he had seen.
Eventually, EVE brought him the plant, which had been stolen by GO-4. The Captain was overjoyed that they could go back home for the first time, and quickly used a projector to see EVE's footage of her time on Earth. However, much to his shock and horror, the recordings showed a barren wasteland, nothing like the beautiful Earth that he had seen and expected. After watering the plant, it dawned on The Captain that the Axiom needed to return to Earth and called Auto down to his room. However, Auto instead insisted that the plant was given to him, and they could not go home. The confused McCrea demanded to know why. Auto claimed that it was "classified" and only revealed the truth when McCrea gave him a direct order to do so.
Auto revealed Directive A-113, a message from Shelby Forthright that was received in the year 2110, showed that Operation Cleanup was a failure and that life was unsustainable on Earth; the auto-pilots were to take control of everything, and none of the ships were to return to Earth. The Captain tried to persuade Auto otherwise, as the message was nearly seven hundred years old, and that the plant was living proof that Forthright was wrong. However, Auto is unable to disobey his directive and tells him that as long as they're in space, they will survive, but The Captain says that he doesn't want to survive, he wants to live.
Noticing the pictures of all the captains from generations down, The Captain notices that AUTO is in every image each time closer to the camera than the last, meaning he was the true captain of the Axiom, not them. Putting on his hat properly and knowing that his predecessors were counting on him, McCrea firmly states they are going home today. Unfortunately, Auto's directive surpasses The Captain's orders and he stages a mutiny. GO-4 takes the plant from The Captain, and it is only (and unintentionally) saved by WALL-E, who had climbed up the garbage chute to find EVE. The Captain is forced to watch as Auto tasers WALL-E (severely damaging him in the process), sends him and EVE down the garbage chute, and locks the furious Captain in his room, terminating all outside communications.
After banging on the elevator door in a futile attempt to get back to the control room, The Captain notices the Rogue Robots message that had been posted for WALL-E and EVE, who had managed to escape with the plant. The Captain uses whatever tech in his room to get a message to EVE and WALL-E, telling them to get to the Lido Deck. Using a picture of WALL-E with the plant, which he had gotten from EVE's recordings, The Captain tricks Auto into thinking he has it and challenges him to come to get it. When Auto comes into his room, McCrea grabs him and manages to get into the control room. The two fight for control of the ship, with The Captain unintentionally destroying GO-4 in the process.
Eventually, The Captain is able to bring up the holo-detector. The fight continues until Auto throws The Captain to the ground and tries to turn off the holo-detector. WALL-E manages to keep the device open and eventually wedges himself inside in a desperate attempt to barely keep it open, which results in him getting crushed. Enraged, The Captain finally gains the strength to stand up on his own and fights AUTO. During the struggle, a hatch above AUTO opens to reveal a switch to his Systems. The Captain manages to reach for it, switching it to MANUAL, disabling AUTO and putting McCrea in full control of the ship.
Everyone gets the plant into the holo-detector, jumping the Axiom back to Earth. At the end of the film, The Captain is seen showing the kids how to farm, exclaiming that it is good to be home. In the credit roll, he is shown ordering EVE to dig a well.
Trivia[]
- He is the first Pixar character to be voiced by Jeff Garlin. It was this character that officially established Jeff's friendship with Pixar.
- In one of the trailers for WALL-E, he was incorrectly portrayed as a villain, even uttering a line that wasn't even in the movie: "Arrest that robot!" This was likely from a early version or a deleted scene of the film.
- This could possibly imply that he was in some form, intended to be an antagonist (though details about it are currently unknown). It's also currently unknown how possibly villainous he was in that early version, as to whether he was actually evil or would redeem himself.
- The scene that was also featured in the actual film itself had The Captain yell "No! Mutiny! Mutiny!" after being confined to his room by AUTO.
Relationships[]
Gallery[]
