1982

An Officer and a Gentleman

Townies Debra Winger and Lisa Blount ride the Kulshan, debating the morals of getting pregnant in order to marry one of those crisply uniformed candidates—like, say, Richard Gere—at the Navy’s nearby officer training school.

1994

Disclosure

Between being sexually harassed by his boss, Demi Moore, and delivering indignant speeches about the plight of the beleaguered white male, tech exec Michael Douglas finds reprieve on his moonlit ferry rides home from work.

1995

Free Willy 2

After missing his boat, a young eco advocate overhears an oil CEO’s plan to send the whales to a marina. Luckily, the kid’s eavesdropping helps keep the whales (Willy included!) safe and, most importantly, free.

2002

The Ring

Heading to the island home of an evil dead girl, Naomi Watts gets chased around a car deck by a black horse, which eventually hurls itself overboard and gets pureed in the propellers.

2006

The Wicker Man

A British Columbia ferry cameos as Nicolas Cage’s transport to a Washington island full of nefarious artisanal honey farmers. While en route, Cage does his thing: broods, pops pills, hallucinates a young girl being hit by a truck.

2007

Grey’s Anatomy

The medical drama loves our ferries, but the apotheosis of that love was a sort of apocalypse. A two-part episode sees a ferry crash, complete with a faint pillar of real smoke. Luckily, the Seattle Grace crew, McDreamy and all, dashes into the bloody mayhem.