History Main / CaptainsLog

** A cut scene from ''Kif Gets Knocked Up a Notch'' was also to have featured Zapp's voice over to the Captain's log... a literal fallen tree that he found in the jungle.

* ''WesternAnimation/StarTrekLowerDecks'' continues the tradition of Captain's logs and logs from other Senior officers, but now also has logs form the lower ranking Junior officers who, [[LowerDeckEpisode as the name implies]], are the main focus of the series.

** The PilotMovie of the ''WesternAnimation/BuzzLightyearOfStarCommand'' spinoff takes the homage further; having Buzz making log entries ''incessantly'', to the point where he's about to be brainwashed by the bad guys and opts to record his final moments — and the bad guys lampshade it but write it off as Buzz being a control freak as usual. [[spoiler:Too bad for them he wasn't recording, he was ''transmitting'' and calling in the [[BigDamnHeroes Big Dang Heroes]].]]

-->'''Krillin:''' Krillin's log, Stardate... uhh, November 28th. We've been flying for two weeks now. Starting to feel ''very'' pent up. Not just from being trapped on the ship of course, but from Bulma walking around in ''nothing but her underwear!'' [[ADateWithRosiePalms I would relieve this tension]], but I have had no alone time because ''THE TOILET KEEPS SCREAMING AT ME!!''\\

->'''Zapp:''' Captain's Log, stardate...uhh...\\
'''Kif:''' (sighs) ''April thirteenth!''\\
'''Zapp:''' April thirteenth...point two.
-->-- ''WesternAnimation/{{Futurama}}'', "Love's Labours Lost in Space"

* The ''Series/StarTrekTheNextGeneration'' episode "Yesterday's Enterprise" takes place in an alternate timeline where the Federation has been at war with the Klingons for twenty years. Captain Picard gives his usual voiceover, but he's recording a "military log" and using "combat dates" rather than Stardates.

** Odo starts recording security logs in "Necessary Evil" at the request of Sisko. He gripes: "The reason for this exercise is beyond my comprehension, except perhaps that Humans have a compulsion to keep records and files — so many, in fact, that they have to invent new ways to store them microscopically. Otherwise their records would overrun all known civilization. My own very adequate memory not being good enough for Starfleet, I am pleased to put my voice into this official record of this day. Everything's under control. End log." Right after this however, Odo finds himself investigating a murder mystery and his log entries become the equivilent of a PrivateEyeMonologue.
** The episode "In the Pale Moonlight" uses the Captain's Log as a framing device for the story as Sisko recounts how the Romulans were convinced to join on the Feds side of the War. Since the story involves several serious crimes Sisko was party to and is struggling to live with, Sisko actually winds up destroying the logs.

* ''Series/StarTrekVoyager'': "The Cloud" [[LampshadeHanging lampshades]] the franchise staple with something similar to LeftTheBackgroundMusicOn. Janeway makes the usual episode-opening log entry as a voice-over monologue while on a stroll through the ship, ending with:

* Not only does the Captain keep an official log, but so do a number of officers - including the science officer, second officer, chief engineer, chief medical officer, and so on. Many people were shown to keep personal logs which may be in addition to their official logs. In both the ''Next Generation'' episode "[[Recap/StarTrekTheNextGenerationS4E7Reunion Reunion]]" and the ''Deep Space Nine'' episode "[[Recap/StarTrekDeepSpaceNineS02E14Whispers Whispers]]", K'Ehleyr and Chief O'Brien respectively go through each log in turn for specific time frames trying to find out just what the hell is going on.

[[folder:Anime]]

* ''LightNovel/{{Baccano}}! 1711 - Whitesmile'' is separated by several interludes in the form of status reports sent by Victor to his employer, Lucrezia de Dormentaire. The thing is, he was also sleeping with her. And since he figured that Szilard and Carla would send more formal reports covering all the boring details anyways, he decided to personalize his own. Acquiring [[CompleteImmortality immortality]] shortly after the mission, he comes to regret this in 2002 when one of his underlings finds them in a dossier regarding the Lotto Valentino bombings.

* ''[[Franchise/{{Tintin}} Explorers on the Moon]]'' has a few all-text panels headed "Extract from the Log Book by Professor Calculus."

* In ''WesternAnimation/ThePenguinsOfMadagascar'', Skipper delivers one after the penguins are stranded at sea without food and water.

* Janeane Garofolo's character on ''Series/{{Felicity}}'', as the never-seen therapist sending dictated comments serves as both AnAesop and a CaptainsLog in reverse.

* ''Manga/MagicKnightRayearth'': The Sega Saturn adaptation has each of the three protagonists write illustrated diary entries about the towns they visit. Given that they're a PowerTrio of fourteen-year-old girls (Hikaru as TheKirk, Umi as TheMcCoy, and Fuu as TheSpock) they are subject to UnreliableNarrator and [[invoked]] AlternateCharacterInterpretation about their adventures and the people they meet. One of the villains [[http://24.media.tumblr.com/ea3c3d9184eb2c20711b85a76c384c3f/tumblr_mrbubpD7db1s6nyupo1_1280.jpg also records one]] about how he's SurroundedByIdiots.
* ''VisualNovel/{{Sunrider}}'' has [[TheCaptain Kayto Shields]] dictate entries for his captain’s log on several occasions.These entries usually indicate that the plot has jumped ahead a few days or weeks, and serve to bring the player up to speed on what’s happened since the last scene. He even prefaces them with the words “Captain’s log”, in a shout out to the TropeNamer.

[[folder:Webcomics]]

* ''Series/TheSuperMarioBrosSuperShow'' started every animated segment with Mario's "Plumber's Log", setting up the exposition.

* ComicBook/MilesMorales had one in the first issue of ''ComicBook/MilesMoralesSpiderMan''.

** Archer is often shown recording his starlogs in real-time rather than a simple voiceover, more so than the other captains. He also has a tendency to pause his recordings to discuss things with his dog, Porthos.

* On ''Series/StarTrekDiscovery'', all the log entries we get to hear (at least in season 1) are recorded by Michael Burnham, who isn't a captain (save for when she [[spoiler:impersonated her MirrorUniverse counterpart as captain of ISS ''Shenzhou'']]).
* ''WesternAnimation/StarTrekProdigy'' started using these in the episode "[[Recap/StarTrekProdigyS1E4Dreamcatcher Dreamcatcher]]", although it doesn't happen in every episode. Usually it's Dal, the self appointed Captain, doing these but sometimes another character will do them.
* Not only does the Captain keep an official log, but so do a number of officers - including the science officer, second officer, chief engineer, chief medical officer, and so on. Many people were shown to keep personal logs which may be in addition to their official logs. In both the ''Next Generation'' episode ''[[Recap/StarTrekTheNextGenerationS4E7Reunion Reunion]]'' and the ''Deep Space Nine'' episode ''[[Recap/StarTrekDeepSpaceNineS02E14Whispers Whispers]]'' K'Ehleyr and Chief O'Brien respectively go through each log in turn for specific time frames trying to find out just what the hell is going on.

** Odo starts recording security logs in "Necessary Evil" at the request of Sisko. He gripes: "The reason for this exercise is beyond my comprehension, except perhaps that Humans have a compulsion to keep records and files — so many, in fact, that they have to invent new ways to store them microscopically. Otherwise their records would overrun all known civilization. My own very adequate memory not being good enough for Starfleet, I am pleased to put my voice into this official record of this day. Everything's under control. End log."

* Given a ShoutOut by ''WesternAnimation/ToyStory'': When Buzz first "lands", he begins recording, and says "stardate". He later gives a Vulcan Salute to Woody.

** Sometimes Kirk will forget that the plot device isn't a diary, and he's not supposed to put how sad and helpless he feels when (usually) Spock is in trouble.

* In ''VideoGame/SpaceQuestVTheNextMutation'', Roger Wilco begins with this, before escalating into an intense battle...that gets suddenly interrupted by Captain Quirk who tells ''Cadet'' Wilco to [[UnwinnableTrainingSimulation get out of the bridge simulator.]]
* One of many {{Shout Out}}s by [[{{Cloudcuckoolander}} George]] in ''VideoGame/TheLongestJourney''.
* In ''Videogame/BattleZone1998'', missions start off with a spoken journal record of the PlayerCharacter - [[OnlyKnownByTheirNickname Grizzly One]] detailing his thoughts and feelings about being in the UsefulNotes/ColdWar [[TheGreatestStoryNeverTold gone hot]]. The sequel, ''Battlezone II: Combat Commander'', likewise starts each mission off with a journal by the player character, John Cooke, showing his divided loyalties when [[BlindJump stranded halfway across the universe god-knows-where]].

* An interesting example in ''VideoGame/AHatInTime'': Hat Kid has a diary, but she's hidden it on her spaceship. [[spoiler:It's under the pile of pillows in her bedroom. Use the Ice Hat to reach it.]] The diary will have messages based on the last level you played.
* ''VideoGame/Pikmin1'': At the end of every day, Olimar will make an entry in his log, the contents of which depending on his accomplishments and discoveries during the day. He may chronicle his observations about the characteristics of the different Pikmin types, describe the various hostile creatures encountered, reminisce and worry about his family back home, or even wax philosophical about the nature of the alien planet on which he's stranded.
* In ''VideoGame/PuyoPuyoTetris'', Tee regularly logs reports about what is currently happening to his partner O which go...somewhere, not even Tee is certain where or who they go to. [[spoiler:It’s revealed later on that they go to Ex, the Keeper of Dimensions.]]

* Mercilessly spoofed in the dead-in-the-water but utterly hilarious ''Webcomic/StarSomething'' (by the creators of ''Webcomic/RPGWorld'' and ''Webcomic/{{Adventurers}}''). The [[http://starsomething.comicgenesis.com/d/20020209.html very first comic]] shows the lead character assigning a random number to the stardate (and wondering why anyone else would be listening as it's a private log), and later we see [[http://starsomething.comicgenesis.com/d/20021005.html why exactly it's called a captain's log]].

* The ''WesternAnimation/{{Futurama}}'' episode "Love's Labours Lost [[RecycledINSPACE in Space]]" parodies this over and over again. Zapp trying to use ''Star Trek'''s "Stardate", which is nonsense in the ''Futurama'' world, Leela giving up when she fails to find AnAesop in the episode, and then there's this exchange:

* Not only does the Captain keep an official log, but so do a number of officers - including the science officer, second officer, chief engineer, chief medical officer, and so on. Many people were shown to keep personal logs which may be in addition to their official logs. In both the ''Next Generation'' episode ''Recap/StarTrekTheNextGenerationS4E7Reunion'' and the ''Deep Space Nine'' episode ''Recap/StarTrekDeepSpaceNineS02E14Whispers'' K'Ehleyr and Chief O'Brien respectively go through each log in turn for specific timeframs trying to find out just what is going on.

** In Doogie's case, this continues in the [[Series/DoogieKamealohaMD reboot]], but in an update, Doogie is not writing a journal for a study he's in, but is a teenaged influencer making a vlog

* ''Podcast/TheMagnusArchives'': Jonathan, the archivist, introduces himself, explains his job and makes his excuses for the chaotic state of the archive at the beginning of the first episode.

A voiceover of the lead character talking out a journal or {{diary}} entry. At the beginning of the show, this is used to allow the main character to be MrExposition, or to remind watchers of a StoryArc of which the current episode is a part.

[[quoteright:350:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/captains_log.png]]

[[quoteright:350:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/captainslog.jpg]]

[[folder:Podcast]]

* On ''Series/StarTrekDiscovery'', all the log entries we get to hear are recorded by Michael Burnham, who isn't a captain (save for when she [[spoiler:impersonated her MirrorUniverse counterpart as captain of ISS ''Shenzhou'']]).

* In ''Webcomic/{{Sinfest}}'', [[http://www.sinfest.net/archive_page.php?comicID=3234 Crimney has a Beast Log about dealing with Tomey in the early days.]]

* The Sega Saturn adaptation of ''Manga/MagicKnightRayearth'' had each of the three protagonists write illustrated diary entries about the towns they visited. Given that they're a PowerTrio of fourteen-year-old girls (Hikaru as TheKirk, Umi as TheMcCoy, and Fuu as TheSpock) they are subject to UnreliableNarrator and [[invoked]] AlternateCharacterInterpretation about their adventures and the people they meet. One of the villains [[http://24.media.tumblr.com/ea3c3d9184eb2c20711b85a76c384c3f/tumblr_mrbubpD7db1s6nyupo1_1280.jpg also records one]] about how he's SurroundedByIdiots.

* At the end of every day in ''VideoGame/{{Pikmin}}'', Olimar will make an entry in his log, the contents of which depending on his accomplishments and discoveries during the day. He may chronicle his observations about the characteristics of the different Pikmin types, describe the various hostile creatures encountered, reminisce and worry about his family back home, or even wax philosophical about the nature of the alien planet on which he's stranded.