User Reviews

There's a lot a new Ranger can do to mess up, but messing with Bud and Flipper are probably the lowest things! First, the new recruit tries to shoot Flipper, believing he's a dolphin. He expects to approach Sandy and get a big thank you, and instead he gets yelled out. Sandy tells him he better hope Bud never finds out.

If that's not bad enough, the guy builds Bud up to hero worshiping him, then takes Bud with him on the boat. Bud tries to advise the young ranger not to go in a certain area where the beautiful girl is because he could run into rocks, but he didn't listen and lost a whole net full of fish for a nice, poor, old fisherman. Porter bawls him out, not only for what he did, but also for involving his son in the mess.

Then something happens and he gets to see a for-real shark experience!

Sandy Ricks kicks off the episode by living every teenage boy's dream of frolicking in the water with a beautiful older woman - in this case close family friend Miss Ulla Norstrand. Their fun is interrupted by the new Junior Ranger Alan Bentley threatening to shoot Flipper thinking he's a shark and then compounding his error by flirting with Ulla.

Porter gives Alan his orders to clean the underwater boundaries and, after complaining, he goes out with Bud. His resistance to the norms of the Coral Key's Park Ranger duties extends to not wanting to rescue a popular old local fisherman broken down at sea with his stranded catch. Alan again tries to show off to Ulla but ends up scraping the trailing net on a reef despite Bud and Ulla's warning thus losing the fisherman's catch. In his defense he rudely tries to throw Bud under the bus. Everyone is not happy.

He finally redeems all his missteps by saving an injured diver after figuring Flipper's calls out. Alan carefully helps the diver descend to a safe depth to treat a blood clot meanwhile Flipper protects by dealing to a shark. Porter and the boys, resplendent in their smart Scout and Venturer uniforms, wait on the dock for Alan to tie up the launch with contrived grim faces to wind him up because in reality, the great work he did saving the diver resulted in him calling his friend the Park Commissioner and so all is forgiven Junior Ranger Bentley.