This episode revolves around just how much rescuing Flipper can do. When Flipper finds a woman washed up on the beach early one morning, he wakes up Bud who then fetches Porter. Turns out she's the wife (Lynn Borden) of one of Porter's oceanographer friends (Carl Borden). Lynn admits their marriage is strained by Carl's workaholism. Bud is convinced Flipper rescued her. Porter persuades Carl to give his marriage more priority and Carl is so grateful that he wants to prove that Flipper (or dolphins in general) can and will rescue people stranded in water.
In conjunction with the Coast Guard, he has divers jump in the water and feign distress but on two occasions Flipper ignores them. Bud is so bummed out that he won't sit at the dinner table with Porter, Sandy and the Borden's) and tells Lynn that Flipper ignored the divers due to their wetsuit style.
Carl proceeds to try and catch a stone-fish from his mini-sub (yes oceanographers LOVE mini subs on Flipper) but tangles with a reckless water skier (ironically played by Producer Ricou Browning) and is badly injured. Flipper rescues him from the sea floor and tows him to safety thus somewhat proving Bud and Lynn's belief. Carl had committed to extended leave after the Flipper experiment hopefully to save the marriage.
The show features typical older brother-younger brother tension. Bud stealing the limelight in this episode prompts a cynical but humorous aside from Sandy "How could anyone ever forget you Bud - you're so quiet". It does however highlight the shift in focus from just Flipper and Sandy in the two movies to Flipper and Bud and Sandy in the TV series. The producers made a decision to pitch the show to catch as many child viewers hence the plots tending to revolve more around Bud than Sandy. It's hard to know how Luke Halpin felt about that as he was the show's teen superstar when it came to media publicity.
In conjunction with the Coast Guard, he has divers jump in the water and feign distress but on two occasions Flipper ignores them. Bud is so bummed out that he won't sit at the dinner table with Porter, Sandy and the Borden's) and tells Lynn that Flipper ignored the divers due to their wetsuit style.
Carl proceeds to try and catch a stone-fish from his mini-sub (yes oceanographers LOVE mini subs on Flipper) but tangles with a reckless water skier (ironically played by Producer Ricou Browning) and is badly injured. Flipper rescues him from the sea floor and tows him to safety thus somewhat proving Bud and Lynn's belief. Carl had committed to extended leave after the Flipper experiment hopefully to save the marriage.
The show features typical older brother-younger brother tension. Bud stealing the limelight in this episode prompts a cynical but humorous aside from Sandy "How could anyone ever forget you Bud - you're so quiet". It does however highlight the shift in focus from just Flipper and Sandy in the two movies to Flipper and Bud and Sandy in the TV series. The producers made a decision to pitch the show to catch as many child viewers hence the plots tending to revolve more around Bud than Sandy. It's hard to know how Luke Halpin felt about that as he was the show's teen superstar when it came to media publicity.
