Flipper

I was a big fan of Flipper since I saw the first film as a thirteen year old in 1963, and continued to follow Flipper in the second film and on TV. It's portrayal of an almost idyllic life for a boy and his pet dolphin was a wonderful fantasy for a boy who was about the same age as Sandy (Luke) at the time. The first film was a little more serious than the second: just look at that tiny fisherman's cottage the Ricks family lives in, and the dangers of the fisherman's life portrayed. The second film, despite featuring escaped convicts and a kidnapping plot is definitely light fare - the villains are stock characters and the tone is light enough to include an idyllic 'Eden" sequence much like a music video as Sandy and the girl he befriends tour the island.

The TV series, debuting in September, 1964 offered a lot of changes, mostly for reasons of budget or the target audience. Sandy's mother is now officially dead (she appeared in the first film and wasn't mentioned in the second) probably for budgetary reasons. In an era of stay-at-home moms she would have had to be in most episodes, but because Flipper was an action/adventure show and not a family sitcom, she would have had little to do.

The really big change was that Sandy now had a little brother, Bud (played by Tommy Norden). This was probably because the producers and network (NBC) aimed the show at kids, and felt they needed a younger character with whom they could identify. Even the balance of the character mix was changed: the movies had been pretty much all Sandy (Luke Halpin) who was in virtually every scene. Now Bud seemed to be the principal character, and most of the plots either were centered on him or were created by his mishaps.

The almost idyllic world depicted - a world where you ran around in nothing but shorts all day and swam around with a dolphin between adventures was irresistible to me and I sure would have wanted to be their friend.

Speaking of friends,where were their friends? Another element lost to the budgetary ax no doubt. Both Sandy and Bud were personable boys and it is often mentioned that they go to school,but the never seem to be with any friends,even though they have a house right on the ocean and a pet dolphin! A few friends would have made them seem less isolated.

Even Flipper himself changed dramatically between the movies and the TV series. His intelligence grew enormously. In the first film he does little more than play "fetch" with Sandy, and his dancing is a mere spin in the water, not his famous Tail Dance. In the second film he's adept at throwing various objects to shore.

But in the TV series there's practically nothing he can't do. He can follow the most amazingly complicated instructions, find people without being told where they might be, and even discern bad guys when everyone else believes them to be good. Well I guess it's as Bud and Sandy say in "Flipper's Treasure": "You can't fool Flipper!"

You could say that in the movies Flipper was a pet but in the TV show he became more like a Guardian Angel.

A wonderful classic TV show.

Was there anything that good old Flipper couldn't do? That is in the water and salt water at that. Dolphins have to be in the ocean or they drown. I do remember an episode where Flipper put himself in harm's way by swimming upstream in a channel where the water gradually turned fresh. But when you're man's best sea friend, that's what you do.

Luke Halpin who played the older Ricks son Sandy was with Flipper from the gitgo. He co-starred with Chuck Connors in the movie Flipper when it started. Luke also had a mother in Kathleen Maguire.

He did two subsequent movies however Connors and Maguire were dropped. Connors was a commercial fisherman and I guess producer Ivan Tors thought there were more story possibilities with him being the son of a park ranger. Brian Kelly starred with Halpin in two subsequent Flipper films and was a widower.

But for the television series Kelly stayed a widower and a younger son was added, little redheaded freckle-faced Tommy Norden, a poor man's version of Ronny Howard. When I watched reruns of the show, I never realized how annoying Norden was.

Kelly was a good father figure though and Halpin was a model kid, he might have been the role model for Wil Wheaton as Wesley Crusher. He also was enormously popular among the teenage adolescent girl bubble gum set. He definitely had appeal there and I can personally add also among young gay males.

I guess for the show to work though someone usually had to get in harm's way and by seniority and naiveté, Norden was usually the one. But somehow Flipper affected the rescue.

The series ran its course after about four seasons. Andy Devine was on for comic relief for a while and Swedish actress Ulla Stromstedt was brought on as an oceanographer to give a little romantic interest for Kelly.

Sadly Brian Kelly suffered some career ending injuries in a motorcycle accident in 1971. I guess Tommy Norden couldn't compete with Ronny Howard for the same parts and he left acting. And Luke Halpin went into the service after Flipper was canceled and when he came back he couldn't really get his career back on track.

Flipper was a nice show however, a nice likable family and episodes with a strong moral content. It would be nice to see them again.

I stumbled on the Flipper TV series on Hulu and it has been a wonderful journey back to a golden age of American television. In a modern world obsessed with violence, sex and with Hollywood now so determined to portray families riddled with problems and with pampered children, Flipper represents a dose of old fashioned values from an era now sadly largely gone. There is no cussing, sexual content or anxiety ridden acting out by children. Porter Ricks comes across as an earnest and conscientious father raising two rambunctious and inquisitive boys all the while keeping various crooks at bay at the Coral Keys Park and protecting and rescuing all manner of visitors to the southern Florida paradise.

The quality of the footage is superb - from the rich color (done in an era when color filming was not yet the norm), excellent clarity and of course the underwater footage which is as good as any you'll see in modern TV or films today. The plot lines are somewhat predictable, even a little corny but a number of episodes feature some excellent even gripping story lines. Yes - Flipper is invested with almost human powers and the dolphin footage gets spliced with lots of re-runs of similar Flipper scenes, but the result is one that carries on the endearing fondness between animal and human that was so richly on display between Sandy (Luke Halpin) and the various dolphins who starred as Flipper in the original two movies. It is interesting to note the insertion of an older pilot of the TV show as episode 3 of Series 1 that was clearly filmed right after the second movie in 1963 when Halpin was only 16 and Tommy Norden (playing Bud) was only 10 as both boys seem older when all the other episodes of Season 1 were filmed a year later in 1964 and screened that fall. It provides a neat transition from the 2nd Flipper movie (Flipper's New Adventure) that first featured Brian Kelly as Porter Ricks and enabled the studio to experiment with the mix of Tommy Norden as Bud with Kelly and Halpin.

The family chemistry is most endearing and enjoyable. The boys seem to live an idyllic carefree life mostly in the water where a vast playground of sand, sea, boats and diving is a stone's throw away. The ease in which Sandy and Bud jump into and pilot any available boat or board and throw on scuba tanks and roam the sea floor is one of the many attractions of the series - indeed Halpin became such an accomplished diver that once his post-Flipper career floundered after the advantage of his late maturation (giving NBC the ability to play an older teen in a mid-teen role) was negated by his eventual adulthood and thus growing out of the Sandy Ricks role, Halpin became a sought after diving consultant to the Florida movie industry for many decades. It's hard to find an actor after all these years who combined a depth of excellent acting talent with down home telegenic good looks AND superb athleticism. It's no wonder Halpin became a popular teen idol to the young teenage girl readers of teen magazines with his mop of blond hair, boyish innocence and lots of scenes featuring his tanned shirtless swimmer's physique.

The Flipper TV shows make for excellent television even more than 50 years later with new generations of children able to enjoy the fruits of Ricou Browning's excellent direction work. He features a number of famous older actors and some who went on to became household names (Martin Sheen, Burt Reynolds, and Barbara Feldman) in small cameo roles. By filming exclusively in Florida away from the glitz and glamor of Hollywood, it gives the show a sense of believable reality. In our jaded cynical world where children have to grow up too fast (and TV shows are hastening that process), it's great to watch a TV program that shows boys just being simple boys and a father requiring discipline, hard work, responsibility and consequences all against the backdrop of one of nature's most compelling animals playing a pivotal role in all episodes and all filmed in one of America's prettiest locations. There is so much to like about the Flipper TV series in addition to the trip down memory lane.

Flipper is the reason that Free Willy, the black stallion, and gentle Ben all exist on film. no question about it. I remember growing up on the original flipper movies from the 60s, in the 90s. i still love those films. but for the first time i was able to watch the TV show of flipper on youtube. and i liked it. it's certainly kid's fare, but family fare as well, as long as you don't take all the ridiculous stuff seriously.

First off, We need more dads in TV today like Porter ricks. Mainly because he was a stalwart dad, not like the cretins of today like homer Simpson and peter griffin. he laid down the line between right and wrong in front of his sons, and did everything right.

Sadly, the image of the shirtless, Ab-bared teenager has become more of a gay image, rather than a cool guy that you just wanna sit down and chill with a beer. sandy fills that role perfectly, and i think he's awesome. remember, it was just him and flipper from the start of the story. His little brother was where the camera was really pointed all the time. speaking of..

Bud was annoying. i found him to be more of a camera hog. but there are several little brothers all over the states, and they needed someone to relate to. i'm a little brother myself, but i just didn't like bud.

flipper her/himself was tough to work with. several scenes are reused, and i recall watching several scenes where they were supposedly in open water, but then you'd spot the pool's edge, or the chicken wire fence and you knew they were not filming where they were. but hey, if they brought flipper to open ocean, he'd/she'd swim off and die quickly.

But hey, i love this show. it's certainly a kids show, but thats what makes it so fun to watch. i say buy and enjoy.

8/10

My,My,My..........All Those years ago!!!!!!!!!! Its amazes me that this show isn't shown anymore on either of the cable networks. The last time it shown was for one back in the mid 90's on the kids channel Nickelodeon,then was seen on The Family Channel,and then later on Animal Planet. Nowadays,it is being shown on one of those Discovery Kids channels if it ever comes on. Do I remember singing the theme song?

"They call him Flipper,Flipper,faster than lightning,no one you see is smarter than he,and we know Flipper lives in a world of wonder,finding them under,under the sea".

For one,you had two kids who were living in paradise. Their pet was an highly intelligent dolphin who was the kids family pet,and by the way,any kids dream pet!

Second,there was no mom around,so it was up to the father who looked after the kids,who was the park ranger of a Florida park and coral reef who was responsible for looking after the kids and Flipper.

Third,you had Bud(played by Luke Halpin)who was the oldest and you had the youngest one Bud(played by Tommy Norden)and their father(played by Brian Kelly). Also the show was very exciting to watch since it had some breathtaking underwater photography that was ever seen and in some of the episodes it was fascinating to look at all shot in color! And action? Lots of it including some very famous guest stars that were on the show like Andy Devine,Marshall Thompson and a young looking Burt Reynolds.

Fourth,the series ran for three seasons on NBC-TV(from 1964-67),and after which when the series went off the air,actor Brian Kelly was in a terrible accident,which to this day was never heard from again,until 30 years later in a new version of the series which came out in 1995.

Finally,this was a great kids show and also for adults as well. My,so many years ago.