User Reviews

A young girl sleeping in the back of her parents convertible is tired of them arguing over the mother's modeling career so whilst they are getting gas near Coral Key, she sneaks into the Ricks' camper to run away.

Bud is making a raft with a sail and he and Sandy get into a brothers teasing session (Sandy mocks the makeshift raft and Bud mocks Sandy's singing). Sandy and Porter head into town and the girl comes out and persuades Bud that she's an orphan and to go sailing on the raft. The raft quickly falls apart, they swim with a life jacket to a buoy and climb in but the lid closes and locks them in.

Sandy finds the girl's scarf just at the time that Porter hears from the police about the missing girl and they embark on a search for the pair in the launch. Trouble is Bud encouraged Flipper to stay away so Flipper can't guide Sandy and Porter. Bud and the girl sway the buoy and make noise to try and attract attention. Flipper hears the banging and sees the unusual motion and then Porter and Sandy see the weird motion of the buoy and rescue the pair.

Parents and child are reunited - the runaway stunt persuades the mother to give up going to Key West to model.

Porter doesn't know it, but there's a little girl in the back of his truck and his about to wreck havoc on his youngest son while he and Sandy out gone. When they return to the house a few hours later, they find Bud no where in sight. Sandy finds a scarf that belonged to the missing girl and they determine that wherever Bud is, that's also where they will find the girl. "Boy, that brother of mine!" Sandy declares.

And where are these two kids? Well, they aren't on that shoddy raft that Bud built. That broke up while they were on the ocean. And thanks to a trick Sandy taught him, Flipper didn't know where he was either! They were hanging out in the ocean, but where? The answer will leave you remembering this story for a long, long time. It was quite cleaver for them to come up with such an interesting solution to the kids' problem; and I get seasick just watching!

I remember this one from when i was a kid, it stuck with me and made me terrified of buoys.

Set up: Flipper hates the sound of metal on metal Situation: Two children are stranded at sea with one life jacket and swim to a buoy with a hollow interior, they go inside the buoy but become locked in it. There's a nice stunt where Bud hoists the 4 year old up onto the massive buoy from the water and the girl climbs up. Looks real, might be real. Stakes: It seems pretty dire, coast guard and shore searches yield nothing as they search all day and it begins to get dark. Flipper only finds a piece of the boy's ship. Solution: Bud has the girl clang the broken handle on the bottom of the metal buoy to get Flipper's attention while he throws his weight around inside to make the buoy bob strangely in the calm water. This makes it clear to flipper and the searchers that they are inside. It's an original little trapped scenario that uses the dolphin well enough and has some good suspense. Bud and little lost Tina some how get out of the situation without even getting scolded by their parents, so ridiculous. And Tina's mom feels responsible... then commits to stop working at the father's demand, saying she is going home "for good" and giving up on her career aspirations. Everyone seems thrilled. Yikes.