Skipper John

**Skipper John** is a character affiliated with the Jungle Cruise.

## History

### Background

Skipper John was a skipper for the Jungle Navigation Company during the early half of the 20th century. John was a known eccentric personality who often spoke of living toys, talking ants and strange automobiles. John also seemingly had a respect for adventurer Charles F. Muntz and followed his ideology that, "Adventure is out there!".

### Development History

Skipper John is modelled after John Lasseter,  former CEO of Pixar and chief creative officer of Walt Disney Animation Studios who had done work as a cast-member aboard the Jungle Cruise. This was before Lasseter left due to being exposed for having committed crimes of sexual nature against co-workers and subordinates while running a misogynistic work-place.

## Appearances and allusions

### Jungle Cruise

Skipper John has been skipper/host of several Jungle Cruise tours in the past.

### Trader Sam's Enchanted Tiki Bar

A photograph of Skipper John is hung in Trader Sam's bar with a note talking about how the photo featured John unknowingly holding a rare Black Coil Snake.

### Magic of Disney Animation

A poster has one, "Skipper Lasseter" listed as being a performer in a film called, "The Jungle Cruise" alongside Mickey Mouse, Minnie Mouse and Trader Sam. This film having been filmed in Zanzibar and Calcutta with the permission of the Jungle Navigation Company.

### Skipper Canteen

In the Skipper Canteen's library, there is a book called *Great Characters of World Literature* by one J. Lasseter. Whether this is intended to be a character pseudonymous or otherwise connected to Skipper John is unknown.

### In other media

* **D23**: A D23 video on Trader Sam's Enchanted Tiki Bar had Nigel Greenwater commenting on Skipper John. In the video he mentions John having frequently talked about living toys, talking ants and strange automobiles, referencing the films *Toy Story, A Bug's Life* and *Cars* respectively. He is also identified as having lived by, "Adventure is Out There", a quote of Charles Muntz from Up.
* **Disney Parks Presents: Jungle Cruise**: Skipper John is the skipper in this children's book illustrating a typical tour of the Jungle Cruise. Due to Lasseter's crimes having been known at the time of development, this lead to internal fighting amongst the creative-team involved due to discomfort regarding the featuring of his likeness.
* **Merchandise**: Skipper John's likeness has been used in Disney vinylmation to represent Jungle Cruise skippers.

## Trivia

* Based off of the Trader Sam's photograph of John showing his boat as having the old, red/striped canopy, it can be presumed that John was amongst the older skippers of the JNC.
* The four Pixar films which Nigel Greenwater affiliates with Skipper John's characters have each been incorporated into the expanded parks mythos in some form.
	+ **A Bug's Life**: The ants of *Ant Island* from the film are inhabitants of Discovery Island where they live under the Tree of Life. It is inferred that they might have a connection to the ant of legend who planted the tree in the first place.
	+ **Cars**: The scrapped parts of the airplane Skipper Riley appear on a shelf in Jock Lindsey's Hangar Bar. In Avengers Campus, a map of the facility run by Howard Stark shows a scrap yard made to mirror Mater's Junkyard in Disney's California Adventure.
	+ **Toy Story**: In addition to more assorted references, the fictitious *Woody's Round-Up* property is connected with the locations Cottonwood Creek and Rainbow Ridge from *Big Thunder Mountain Railroad* and the fictitious *Buzz Lightyear* property is run by a member of the Tomorrowland Chamber of Commerce from the *Tomorrowland* mythos.
	+ **Up**: The Wilderness Explorers have outposts in Anandapur, Harambe, Discovery Island, Diggs County and the Valley of Mo'ara on the moon of Pandora. Additionally, Trader Sam is in possession of a coin-jar for Paradise Falls similar to that used by Carl & Ellie, and the *League of Adventurers* was influenced by Charles Muntz.

## References

1. ↑ https://d23.com/d23-video/five-treasures-youll-find-in-trader-sams-enchanted-tiki-bar/
2. ↑ https://www.cartoonbrew.com/books/report-there-was-an-internal-battle-at-disney-over-this-childrens-book-starring-john-lasseter-158990.html
3. ↑ https://insidethemagic.net/2015/09/jock-lindseys-hangar-bar-opens-at-walt-disney-world-inspired-by-indiana-jones-packed-with-movie-nods-to-star-wars-pixar-and-more/
4. ↑ https://www.marvel.com/articles/culture-lifestyle/avengers-campus-hidden-details