Jolly Roger is a 1999 animated short film (12 minutes) written and directed by Mark Baker.
Captain Jolly is the captain of a pirate ship. It's a very serious operation, with a heavily armed ship and a cutlass-wielding crew. As the story opens Captain Jolly seizes another ship, robs it of booty and casks of rum, and then sinks it. He also steals a woman named Estelle. When Estelle refuses to have sex with Captain Jolly, he makes her walk the plank.
Captain Roger is the captain of a much smaller, and much less serious pirate ship, with a crew that consists only of him and his huge, dopey mate Hugo. Captain Roger seems to not do much actual piracy, but instead to scavenge the flotsam from pirate attacks. He fishes out a cask of rum from Captain Jolly's attack and is disappointed to find it empty. Then he fishes out Estelle, who was still floating in the water and not eaten by sharks as Captain Jolly had hoped. Estelle is bent on revenge.
This cartoon plays many of the standard Pirate Tropes for comedy. Morwenna Banks provided the voice of Estelle.
Tropes:
- Big Guy, Little Guy: The ineffectual, bumbling Captain Roger bosses around a single mate, Hugo, who is about four times his size.
- Boarding Party: Captain Jolly's men board another ship and defeat its crew, seizing all their booty (and Estelle).
- Bolivian Army Ending: The sympathetic characters—Roger, Estelle, Hugo—are left bobbing in the ocean, seemingly doomed, after their boat sinks. The parrot, sitting on Roger's head, starts whistling a sea shanty, the camera pulls away, and the cartoon ends.
- Chekhov's Gun: The parrot's Running Gag ability to imitate any voice becomes important when he imitates Captain Roger's command "Full sail!", and Hugo obeys, sailing their tiny little ship right up to Captain Jolly's giant pirate ship.
- Didn't Think This Through: After Roger's boat gets stuck to Jolly's, hooked by the anchor, Captain Jolly gleefully sinks Roger's ship. In doing so he forgets that Roger's ship is still hooked to his. Roger's ship drags down Jolly's, which also sinks, with a loss of all hands.
- The Drunken Sailor: Captain Roger and his humble little boat are able to steal the treasure chest from Captain Jolly, because Captain Jolly and his entire crew are all passed out from drinking the rum they captured.
- Eyepatch of Power: Captain Jolly has the standard pirate eyepatch.
- Hook Hand: Naturally Captain Jolly has a hook hand, to complete the pirate ensemble.
- Jolly Roger: Duh! Captain Jolly's ship flies the standard skull-and-crossbones flag. Captain Roger's, being an altogether sillier operation, flies a flag with a cartoon drawing of a face.
- Nameless Narrative: There are no names in the short. The names listed on this page, Captains Jolly and Roger, Hugo, and Estelle, all come from supplementary material.
- One-Word Vocabulary: Estelle only says one word over and over: "Revenge!"
- Pirate Parrot: Captain Jolly has a parrot that is a perfect mimic of any voice. This is a Running Gag throughout the cartoon.
- Running Gag:
- The Pirate Parrot irritating everyone with pitch-perfect voice imitations.
- The rats jumping from one sinking ship to another.
- Seadog Peg Leg: Naturally Captain Jolly has a peg leg.
- Victoria's Secret Compartment: Where Estelle keeps the key to the treasure chest, which turns out to be hers.
- Walk the Plank: Estelle is made to walk the plank when she won't put out for Captain Jolly.