This is another 3 part episode (there were 3 - one each season) and it is a little cumbersome in parts but a major highlight is the 2nd part (season 2 episode 17) which features lengthy footage from the first "Flipper" movie, the sequel "Flipper's New Adventure" and an episode from Season 1. Flipper is stolen by thieves who take him hundreds of miles north only he escapes and then rescues a oceanography magazine photographer from an unexplored torpedo. This leads to a newspaper story that is picked up by Sandy back at Coral Key where he and particularly Bud are fretting for the absent Flipper. The boys persuade Porter to visit the locale of the article in the hopes that they find Flipper.
Episode 2 features Porter and the boys' search for Flipper culminating in them arriving at the photographer's boat. Flipper has left one hour earlier ... to temporarily befriend an old Italian fisherman but the photographer was so happy to be rescued that, even though one dolphin looks like another to him, he wants to know more about Flipper. He invites the Ricks' aboard for breakfast and Sandy tells the story of how they came to have Flipper as their pet. Extensive footage from the 1963 Flipper movie (actually filmed in 1962 when Luke Halpin was only 15) is shown especially the poignant scene of Sandy's rescue of the beached and speared Flipper.
Other incidents of assistance rendered by Flipper are regaled but there is an awkward moment as the script writers try to figure out a way to cover off the pre-TV Flipper period (the two Flipper movies never featured Bud nor ever mentioned a little brother for Sandy) with the vague statement by Bud "I was too young to remember". Likewise a story is told by Sandy of Flipper's 'law enforcement' prowess of when two crooks were intercepted by Flipper at Emerald Point (a location near the Ricks' home in Coral Key) and yet the footage showed backing this story is actually from the sequel movie "Flipper's New Adventure" (filmed in 1963 and released in 1964 just before the start of Season 1 of the TV series) which was set in the Bahamas some hundreds of miles south and involved three criminals that Sandy and Flipper systematically manage to capture. Finally there are some endearing scenes from the famous animal variety show from Season 1 - Episode 26 (Flipper and the Elephant - part 3) are shown.
This is the only time in the Flipper TV series when archive footage from the two original movies is shown providing an excellent link as to how the whole Flipper story began. Luke Halpin is the only actor (apart from the dolphins who played Flipper and a couple of minor parts like the sheriff) who acted in both movies and all TV episodes (except 3) so it's only natural that he narrates these flashbacks in this episode and he provides some fascinating insights into how he felt about his first encounters with Flipper.
Episode 2 features Porter and the boys' search for Flipper culminating in them arriving at the photographer's boat. Flipper has left one hour earlier ... to temporarily befriend an old Italian fisherman but the photographer was so happy to be rescued that, even though one dolphin looks like another to him, he wants to know more about Flipper. He invites the Ricks' aboard for breakfast and Sandy tells the story of how they came to have Flipper as their pet. Extensive footage from the 1963 Flipper movie (actually filmed in 1962 when Luke Halpin was only 15) is shown especially the poignant scene of Sandy's rescue of the beached and speared Flipper.
Other incidents of assistance rendered by Flipper are regaled but there is an awkward moment as the script writers try to figure out a way to cover off the pre-TV Flipper period (the two Flipper movies never featured Bud nor ever mentioned a little brother for Sandy) with the vague statement by Bud "I was too young to remember". Likewise a story is told by Sandy of Flipper's 'law enforcement' prowess of when two crooks were intercepted by Flipper at Emerald Point (a location near the Ricks' home in Coral Key) and yet the footage showed backing this story is actually from the sequel movie "Flipper's New Adventure" (filmed in 1963 and released in 1964 just before the start of Season 1 of the TV series) which was set in the Bahamas some hundreds of miles south and involved three criminals that Sandy and Flipper systematically manage to capture. Finally there are some endearing scenes from the famous animal variety show from Season 1 - Episode 26 (Flipper and the Elephant - part 3) are shown.
This is the only time in the Flipper TV series when archive footage from the two original movies is shown providing an excellent link as to how the whole Flipper story began. Luke Halpin is the only actor (apart from the dolphins who played Flipper and a couple of minor parts like the sheriff) who acted in both movies and all TV episodes (except 3) so it's only natural that he narrates these flashbacks in this episode and he provides some fascinating insights into how he felt about his first encounters with Flipper.
