Sending your child on a flight that crashes. Ulla Nordstrom features again this time needing to fly Flipper to another lab further north up the Florida coast. These two episodes have a very different look and feel to others: Bud is away so his annoying manner and constant trouble making is not part of the plot; Porter and Ulla are constantly flirting - why this never became a romance is beyond me - the couple from casting central; a flight in a DC 3 (still in common use in the 60's) shipping Flipper in a crate; Porter's seeming willingness to allow Sandy to fly with little persuasion (perhaps more time with Ulla was on his mind) and the beautiful scenery from the air over southern Florida.
Porter and Ulla dive and play in her mini sub but Porter senses something. Flipper and Sandy bond together in the cargo area of the plane reminiscent of the movie days when it was just the two of them. Sandy talks very intelligently about dolphin language experiments to the co-pilot and gets to tour the cockpit. Meanwhile the plane flies through a huge flock of birds avoiding a storm; the footage is very dramatic, seizing up an engine and forcing the plane to ditch. Sandy is trapped by a box with heavy machinery and Porter finds out from the Coast Guard and joins the search. While both pilots are only mildly injured, overhead planes searching miss the downed plane and the rising tide is slowly swamping the plane leaving less breathing space for Sandy. In desperation he sends Flipper to get help meanwhile the pilots refuse to desert him. Flipper finds a fishing boat but cannot draw attention until he gets a life ring from the plane. With each passing hour Sandy looses strength but the life ring persuades the fishermen to follow Flipper to the downed plane affecting the rescue!
These are some of the few episodes where Luke Halpin is able to show his considerable acting skills with a greater depth of story line and being the center of the plot over 2 episodes. These episodes must've been some of the first filmed in Season 2 because Sandy seems paler than the episodes screened by NBC before and after where he is very tanned. Also unique to this episode; Sandy rides his surfboard standing up in long jeans and tethered to Flipper via a harness although the Director manages to confuse footage of Sandy in full length jeans and his signature cut off jean shorts.
Most sentimental line: While Sandy wets Flipper with a sponge in the cargo hold of the plane he says "I don't care about being famous as long as Dad, Bud, you and I are still together". Funniest line: when Ulla is introduced to the pilots, they are clearly smitten having assumed oceanographers to be a male and said "we were expecting a beard" to which Ulla retorts without missing a beat "I've been thinking of growing one - might make me more impressive"! Best scene: right at the end of the 2nd episode Ulla turns and looks straight into the camera and says "chaperoned by a boy and a dolphin - story of my life"!
Porter and Ulla dive and play in her mini sub but Porter senses something. Flipper and Sandy bond together in the cargo area of the plane reminiscent of the movie days when it was just the two of them. Sandy talks very intelligently about dolphin language experiments to the co-pilot and gets to tour the cockpit. Meanwhile the plane flies through a huge flock of birds avoiding a storm; the footage is very dramatic, seizing up an engine and forcing the plane to ditch. Sandy is trapped by a box with heavy machinery and Porter finds out from the Coast Guard and joins the search. While both pilots are only mildly injured, overhead planes searching miss the downed plane and the rising tide is slowly swamping the plane leaving less breathing space for Sandy. In desperation he sends Flipper to get help meanwhile the pilots refuse to desert him. Flipper finds a fishing boat but cannot draw attention until he gets a life ring from the plane. With each passing hour Sandy looses strength but the life ring persuades the fishermen to follow Flipper to the downed plane affecting the rescue!
These are some of the few episodes where Luke Halpin is able to show his considerable acting skills with a greater depth of story line and being the center of the plot over 2 episodes. These episodes must've been some of the first filmed in Season 2 because Sandy seems paler than the episodes screened by NBC before and after where he is very tanned. Also unique to this episode; Sandy rides his surfboard standing up in long jeans and tethered to Flipper via a harness although the Director manages to confuse footage of Sandy in full length jeans and his signature cut off jean shorts.
Most sentimental line: While Sandy wets Flipper with a sponge in the cargo hold of the plane he says "I don't care about being famous as long as Dad, Bud, you and I are still together". Funniest line: when Ulla is introduced to the pilots, they are clearly smitten having assumed oceanographers to be a male and said "we were expecting a beard" to which Ulla retorts without missing a beat "I've been thinking of growing one - might make me more impressive"! Best scene: right at the end of the 2nd episode Ulla turns and looks straight into the camera and says "chaperoned by a boy and a dolphin - story of my life"!
