Flipper (1964–1967): Season 1, Episode 29 - The Call of the Dolphin - full transcript

- 64 degrees at 20 feet.

- 64 at 20, right.

- I'll take one more check and then

we'll head out to Sands Point.

- Right.

- Hi Sandy.

- Hi Bud.

- What's he up to now?

- A new project.

He's collecting coral out at the point.

Some of the kids are gonna
set up a roadside stand



and the proceeds go to new
equipment for the ball club.

- That sounds worthy enough.

But I don't like him fooling
around up at that point.

It's a bad riptide out there.

- Best coral outside the park.

And he'll be alright as
long as Flipper's with him.

- Yeah, I guess so.

Alright, let's get going Sandy.

Get the anchor up.

- Flipper!

- Flipper!

- Flipper, Flipper!

Help, help!

♫ They call him Flipper, Flipper



♫ Faster than lightning

♫ No one you see

♫ ls smarter than he

♫ And we know Flipper

♫ Lives in a world full of wonder

♫ Lying there under

♫ Under the sea

- Isn't that Bud's raft?

' Yeah.

- Where's Bud?

- There he is.

- Take the wheel, Sandy.

- Hi, Dad.

- I'll "hi" you, what happened?

- Well you see, Dad, I was just floating

along on my raft, and all
of a sudden, I fell in!

- Well I thought you had Flipper with you.

- Well I did, Dad.

Then all of a sudden, took off.

- Look, Bud, you were lucky that time.

But I don't want you going down

to that point alone again, do you hear me?

- But Dad, I wasn't alone.

I was depending on
Flipper to take me back.

But if I can't depend on
Flipper, who can I depend on?

- Well you still have a
brother and a father, remember?

- Oh, Dad, what about my raft?

- I guess we'll go pick up your raft.

- Gee, thanks Dad.

- Flipper!

Flipper!

Dad, he just won't come.

- Well, try calling him again.

- I've called and I've called.

I've even used the auto
horn, he still won't come.

Dad, can't we go out in the boat now

and look for him, please?

- Bud, we've been waiting eight months

for this underwater tv set to arrive.

Now Flipper's been gone
before, he'll be back.

- Dad, this is different.

He's never deserted me before.

- Maybe he's found a
beautiful girl dolphin.

- He wouldn't desert me for a girl.

- Wow, isn't that something?

- Yeah, seems to work alright.

Let's take it out and test it.

Tell you what, Bud.

Let's take it out and see if
we can find Flipper with it.

- Gee, thanks Dad!

- Sandy, stow the tools.

- Hey, look!

- Barracuda!

Gosh, Dad, we've about
covered the whole park.

- Well, take it easy, Bud.

Tell you what I'll do.

Take one more run around the point, okay?

- Gee, thanks Dad.

- Dad, a submarine!

- Hey look, it's Flipper!

What's he doing?

- Well, it's surfacing.

- Flipper!

Now what's the big idea?

What's he doing, Dad?

- We'll soon find out.

- Flipper, what's the big idea?

- Your dolphin's been on a cruise with me.

- You kidnapped him!

You can't do that, he's our pet!

You know what my...

- Alright, Bud.

I'm Porter Ricks.

- Kellwin.

- I'm chief ranger of Coral Key Park.

These are my two boys.

Sandy

and Bud.

Like Bud says, Flipper is a family pet.

What have you been doing with him?

- Talking to him.

I'm with the Marine Research Institute.

I've got a government
grant to study sounds

by which sea animals communicate.

I haven't really been talking to Flipper.

We haven't learned how
to do that just as yet.

- I do.

- Alright Bud.

Well mister...

or is it doctor?

- Doctor.

See I have these tapes.

The sounds of a dolphin pack.

And I was playing them on these

underwater speakers on the sub.

And your dolphin responded to it.

He followed me.

Wait a minute, I'll show you.

- Flipper's flipped.

- That's easy to understand.

See, sound is a dolphin's strongest sense.

Like a smell is to a dog.

- You mean he was, he's
attracted to the sound then?

- That's right.

They're pack animals.

Flipper responded to the sound.

- So what's such a big deal
about talking to dolphins?

We talk to Flipper all the time!

- Yeah, that's right.

- Here, watch.

Flipper, get me a fish!

Throw it to him, Flipper.

- That's very good.

But any intelligent animal
can be taught tricks.

I'm after a breakthrough,
full scale communication.

- Well, good luck, Doctor.

Alright boys, I think
we better take Flipper

and head for home.

- Uh, just a minute please.

See, Flipper is the
most intelligent animal

I've seen so far.

I'd like to take him
up to the coast with us

to the laboratory where
we have full facility...

- Absolutely not.

Taking Flipper away is out.

- Well, he'll come to no harm, of course.

- What about us?

We want him here.

- Well you should be very proud

to have Flipper in our experiments.

Look what it would mean if we should

succeed in a full scale communication.

- We've got all the communication
we need with Flipper.

He's ours!

- Legally he's a dolphin in the open sea.

I'll tell you what.

I won't touch him.

Since you're so sure of your dolphin,

why don't we leave it up to him?

You, you go ahead like you're planning

and uh, if he goes with you, fine.

If he doesn't

- He will, don't worry.

He will.

- Alright.

Let's go boys.

- Come on Flipper.

- Come on Flipper!

Come on Flipper!

Come with us!

Come on Flipper!

Flipper, come with us!

- Come on Flipper!

Flipper, come on!

- Dad, what are we gonna do?

- Boy, you'll never beat the
Lakeville team at this rate.

- I guess I wasn't paying attention.

Let's try it again, okay?

- Hey, what's with you anyway?

You've been missing every pass.

- If Flipper was here,
he'd help me get that ball.

- I know, you're worried about Flipper.

- He was my best friend.

- Mine too.

- Why would he possibly wanna go with

that Doctor Kellwin then?

I thought best friends were
supposed to stick together

forever and ever.

- Are we best friends,

Sandy and you and I?

- Yeah, I guess so.

- Bud, has it ever occurred to you that

that some day Sandy's gonna
grow up and go his own way?

And then you'll grow up

and you'll go your own way.

But that doesn't make us
any less close, does it?

- No, I guess not.

But, Dad, it isn't as if I'd go away,

get another father.

But Flipper,

he's going away with another friend.

- No, Bud.

That's not right at all.

Now Doctor Kellwin said that
dolphins are pack animals.

Well, maybe Flipper just wanted to be

with his own kind for awhile, that's all.

You remember last year when we read

The Call of the Wild?

And Buck, the dog?

He left his master and he went
back to the pack, remember?

- I guess that's the same thing here.

Flipper thinks that Doctor
Kellwin has other dolphins

in that sub and he wants to be with them.

- That's exactly right, Sandy.

Animal instinct.

- But I don't get it, Dad.

Flipper's more important
to me than some people.

You think I'd be more important
to him than some dolphins.

- I don't think Flipper
will go with Doctor Kellwin.

I think he'll find out
that it's just a trick.

Well, should we go have some chow?

And I'll do the dishes tonight.

Come on.

- Sandy, you asleep?

Sandy, I was thinking about Flipper.

- Yeah, me too.

- Flipper thinks that
there's other dolphins

in that sub, right?

He's gonna be mighty disappointed

when he finds out there isn't.

- So maybe then he'll come back to us.

- But Sandy, let's say
Flipper doesn't find out

until he's in Doctor Kellwin's lab?

Then he won't be able to escape!

I thought it was our duty.

Well, to save Flipper
from being disappointed.

. How?

- We could put him in his pen
until Doctor Kellwin leaves.

- Good thinking.

Let's tell Dad.

- No, sh sh sh.

You see, Sandy.

Dad has to get up mighty
early tomorrow, right?

So, he needs all the sleep he can get.

. Okay-

- There he is!

- Let's get the gate open now.

- Come on boy.

Come on Flipper.

Good boy.

- Rise and shine.

Hey, what is this?

Come on you guys, up and at 'em!

Get your feet on the deck.

- Hi Dad.

- What's going on here?

It's after eight o'clock in the morning.

- Be right out, Dad.

- Alright.

Look, there's some oatmeal on the stove.

I've gotta go out to the south channel.

Some guy ran outta gas.

And no chocolate cake for breakfast!

- Okay Dad.

- Flipper!

- Flipper! Flipper!

- Can't we go any faster?

- Not without upsetting the boat.

- By the time we get there,

Flipper may be going with Doctor Kellwin.

- I know.

Trouble is, even if we get there in time

there's no guarantee
Flipper'll come back with us.

- We'll show him.

We'll show Flipper there isn't

any other dolphin in that sub.

It's just, just a big trick.

- Yeah.

Yeah, Doctor Kellwin's
sub was right about here.

Call Flipper.

. Okay-

- Sandy? I'm scared.

Suppose Doctor Kellwin's already left,

and Flipper's gone with him?

- There's nothing we can do then, I guess.

- How could Flipper do such a thing to us?

- Hey, Bud!

Bud, come on, let's go back to the boat.

- Find anything?

- No, come on, let's go back.

- One more dive!

- Hey, Bud!

Bud!

Bud!

- Sandy, what's the matter?

- A Portuguese man-of-war!

Get me to the boat!

- Come on!

Sandy, does it hurt?

- Yeah, Bud, it burns me.

- Okay Sandy.

Dad, help us!

Somebody help!

- I'm on my way home now, Dennis.

W-n-e-s-s-s out.

- Sandy,

- Carry meg

- I'll try

- I can't hold you.

It won't tr-Sandy!

Sandy!

.Bud?

- Hold on.

- Help him, help my brother!

Get him up!

- What happened to him?

- Jellyfish got him.

- You'll be alright Sandy.

- You brought Flipper back with ya.

- No, Flipper brought me back.

- Hey, here comes Dad, Sandy.

- Where?

- Over there.

- There, that's gonna
hurt for a little while,

but in a couple hours, you'll be fine.

Now, what were you two
doing down at the point?

- Well Dad, we were looking for Flipper.

But, I guess he wants to go
away with Doctor Kellwin now.

- I think you're wrong about that, Bud.

There's more to communication than sound,

I can see that now.

And Flipper sensed that
his family was in trouble,

all my dolphin sounds
didn't mean a thing to him.

Take a look.

If you don't mind,

I'll headquarter at Coral Key for awhile.

Placed where I should stay,

Flipper's right here, where he belongs.

- Well why don't we ask Flipper?

What do you say, Flipper?

♫ Everyone loves the king of the sea

♫ Ever so kind and gentle is he

♫ Tricks he will do when children are near

♫ And how they laugh when he's near

♫ They call him Flipper, Flipper

♫ Faster than lightning

♫ No one you see

♫ ls smarter than he

♫ And we know Flipper

♫ Lives in a world full of wonder

♫ Lying there under

♫ Under the sea