Flipper (1964–1967): Season 3, Episode 22 - Decision for Bud - full transcript

A scientist goes to Bud to ask his permission to take Flipper for a special study. He and Bud make a deal, but then Flipper is called upon to help find a missing diver.

- Well, he stopped struggling entirely.

Probably scared to death.

- I think you're wrong Captain.

I've been doing considerable research

on dolphin intelligence for
our project at the institute

and my guess would be that his
attitude reflects pure shame

at having been outwitted
by what he considers

the inferior brain of man.

- I'm not so sure you're
wrong at that, Dr. Murdock.

They are pretty smart.

- Smart and reliable.



That's why we decided to use dolphins

for our Project Neptune.

- How exactly will they fit

into the Project Neptune?

- They'll be trained to
carry food and supplies

down to the men in the lab

since the lab will be stationed
at a depth of 300 feet

we can eliminate the risk of the bends

or nitrogen narcosis if we use dolphins

instead of divers as carriers.

- Well how long will
it take to train them?

- Oh six months to a year

depending on the
flexibility of the animal.

Like people they're not
all equally intelligent.



We'd like to have five
or six to begin training

and then narrow it down to two.

- Captain there's another one.

- Get the net ready.

- Cheer up fella you'll soon have company.

- Wait a minute.

- Hurry up or we'll lose him.

- That's Flipper.

Hold it boys, we can't take Flipper.

- Flipper, what is he an
escapee from the Seaquarium?

- The ranger's sons' pet,

probably came here to try
to rescue his friend here.

- A pet dolphin in the open sea?

- That's right, and whenever
they call him,

right back to Coral Key.

- If he's that well trained already

he'd be invaluable to us.

- Right, but you can't take Flipper.

He belongs to Bud and Sandy Ricks.

Besides he's too smart
to let himself be caught.

- Captain let's knock off here
for a couple of hours huh?

And perhaps you can tell me

where I can find those
two boys Bud and Sandy?

- Sure Doc, head her in.

♫ They call him Flipper,
Flipper faster than lightning

♫ No one you see is smarter than he

♫ And we know Flipper lives
in a world full of wonder

♫ Lying there under, under the sea

- "To be or not to be
that is the question."

To be or not to be?

That doesn't make any sense does it Pete?

William Shakespeare, now why
do I have to memorize him?

"Whether it is nobler, oh, oh yeah,

"whether tis nobler of the mind"

- "To suffer the slings and
arrows of outrageous fortune

"or to take arms against a
sea of trouble," Sandy Ricks?

Let me help you.

Dr. Harold Murdock is my name.

- Mine's Bud.

Do you know this guy?

- Shakespeare, in a manner of speaking.

- What is he, some kind
of a kook or something?

Doesn't even know the English language.

- Well there are varying
opinions about that.

Many people consider William Shakespeare

to be the finest writer that ever lived.

- Well I guess he just isn't my type.

Sandy reads a lot of this stuff.

Oh he's in Centerport
right now with my dad.

He's taking his college entrance exam.

- I sure hope he makes it.

- Oh I think he'll do all right,

but he's gonna have to do extra good

because you see my dad can't send him

to college without a scholarship.

- So Sandy is the student of the family

and what do you like to do?

- Well I like to pay with
my pet dolphin Flipper.

- I've heard you're
quite a dolphin trainer.

- Well Flipper trains himself really.

Would you like to meet him?

- I most certainly would.
- Come on.

- You know Bud I'm about to get

into the dolphin training business myself.

We're preparing an underwater lab

at the National Institute of Oceanography

and we plan to use dolphins as messengers

to carry supplies back
and forth from top side.

- Gee would I like to see that.

- Maybe you will.

If Flipper's smart as I hear he is

I'd like to take him away
to train the other dolphins

and you can come and visit
him anytime you like.

- Take him away, from here?

- We'd just be
borrowing him for a few months.

But he's our pet.

- Bud Flipper's part of the park

so he belongs to the public

and besides think of the contribution

he'd making to science.

- Well I don't know I'll live
through the next 10 days.

You'd think they'd let
you know the results

of those exams sooner.

If I don't get that
scholarship I'll drown myself.

- I think you'll live.

- Do you think I'll pass?

- Well I don't know about that.

Wait a minute who's that?

A lady in a skiff.

She's waving to me, I
better get over there.

Take the wheel Sandy.

What's the matter?

- Ranger I'm so glad you're here.

My husband's still down below.

We were diving together,
there was an avalanche.

I tried to find him but I ran out of air.

- You all right?

- I think so, some rocks fell on me.

My husband.

- How much air did he have left?

- I guess he has about
a half an hour or more.

Ranger I'm so frightened.

- All right all right take
it easy, take it easy.

We'll see what we can do.

Sandy get my diving gear.

All right, now I want you to go and see

if you can find Flipper

and I want you to radio the coastguard

and have them send a helicopter for her.

Bring back some extra tanks of air.

Now get going, hurry up.

- Okay Dad.

Dad's there now with the injured woman.

I'm on my way to get Flipper

so he can help us with the
underwater search for the diver.

Over and out.

- All right just hang on,
everything will be all right.

I was going to do my
best to find that diver

but I really didn't think
I had much of a chance

before Flipper came to help.

At that moment Flipper was
the subject of a bargain

between Bud and Dr. Murdock.

Bud sadly agreed to let Flipper go away

for a study by the institute

if Dr. Murdock would get a
college scholarship for Sandy,

but Bud was also trying
to convince Dr. Murdock

that Flipper was not so great after all.

- Hi Sandy did you pass?

- I don't know.

There's a diver missing
off of Lighthouse Point.

Dad and I came across
his wife on the way back.

He needs some extra air bottles

and Flipper out there right away.

- Sandy I'm Dr. Harold
Murdock, could I accompany you?

- Sure, help me with this gear.

- Yeah.

- Come on Flipper.

- I take it the ranger
asked for the dolphin

'cause his sonar could help
him locate the missing man?

- That's right.

There's hundreds of reefs
and coral heads in the area.

It would take divers days to search it.

- Is this the first time

you've used Flipper for that purpose?

- Oh no, Flipper's practically
a one man rescue service

all by himself with some help from Dad.

- Very interesting, that's
what Captain Harvey says,

the one that's not very sharp.

- There's Dad.

- Sandy did you
bring the extra bottles?

- Yeah Dad.

- Good 'cause I'm completely out of air.

Good I'm glad you brought Flipper.

- Where's Mrs. Martin?

- Coastguard helicopter picker her up.

They're checking her for injuries.

- Dad this is Dr. Murdock

from the National
Institute of Oceanography.

He wanted to come along.

- Doctor nice meeting you sir.

- Is there anything I can do?

- No I'm afraid not.

There's some loose rock down below

from some blasting we did last year

and there's a diver trapped in it

and I don't know where he is.

I'm gonna have to get
down to get him some air

before it's too late.

I'm not even sure he's still alive.

All right Sandy give
Flipper his instructions.

- Flipper, Flipper listen.

There's a man missing,
down there, understand?

You gotta go find him, go find him!

- He really understood you?
- Sure.

- Incredible.

- All right Sandy get your gear on

and follow me down right away.

Give me an extra bottle of air.

Bud I want you to stay
here with Dr. Murdock

in case Flipper comes back
up, do you understand?

- Yeah Dad.
- Okay.

- Flipper talks to you?
- Sure.

Bud why don't you tell Dr. Martin

all those tricks that Flipper
does while you're waiting?

- Yes Bud why don't you?

- I'm sorry I lied to you
about Flipper Dr. Murdock.

I guess he's just about

the greatest dolphin that ever lived.

- I understand why you did it Bud

and I wouldn't want to
take your pet away from you

if it weren't for a very important cause.

We hope to make great advances
in our underwater research

with our Project Neptune

and Flipper can help us a great deal.

- Well are you sure you can
help Sandy get a scholarship?

- Depending on his grades
I'm reasonably sure.

Bud, do you think Flipper
really understands

that he has to find that diver?

- Yes sir, if anyone can
find that diver, Flipper can.

Look there's Flipper.

- What's that he's got in his mouth?

- It's a flipper, the diver's flipper.

Dad!

Dad!

- What is it Bud?

- Dad look Flipper's
found the diver, his fin.

- Flipper show us where he is.

- If I hadn't seen it with my own eyes

I never would've believed it.

- I told you Flipper was the
greatest dolphin in the world.

- You love flipper very much don't you?

- Well Sandy's scholarship's
more important anyway.

- They've got him.

- He's all right, got him just in time.

Come on.

- My wife, I was diving
with my wife, where is she?

- She's all right,

I had her sent ashore with the coastguard.

All right now take it easy
with him, he's got a bad leg.

Give me that fin.

Easy with him.

All right Sandy get this extra bottle.

How is he?

- There's a bit of a swelling there

but I don't think it's broken.

- It just feels numb like the rest of me.

How'd you ever find me?

- It wasn't me, it was
that guy over there.

- That dolphin?
- Yep.

- I thought he was just playing
when he took my swim fin.

- That's Flipper, he belongs
to us, my brother Bud and me.

- You must be very proud.

Imagine owning an animal like that.

Thanks Flipper.

- We're proud of him all right.

We wouldn't give him up
for anything in the world.

The exam lasted about two hours.

At the end of the first hour

I was about a quarter of the way through,

I really had to rush.

Hey don't you want to hear?

You're gonna have to go through

the same thing in a couple of years.

- Well sure I want to
hear Sandy it's just,

well I don't think I'm
gonna go to college.

I'm not that smart about
books and things like you are.

I could never get a scholarship.

- Even if I pass the exam Bud

getting a scholarship is something else.

- You'll get it, I know you will.

- How do you know?

- Hi Dad.
- Hello boys.

- Hey how are the Martins?

- They'll soon be as good as new.

Oh Mr. Martin said to tell you

that he's ordering a six month
supply of fish for Flipper.

- Here, but I thought Flipper was leaving?

- What do you mean not gonna
stay, where's he going?

- Bud Dr. Murdock told me
about the deal you made

on the way over and I think
the doctor has a few revisions.

- That's right Bud.

I've come to the conclusion

that your method of handling dolphins,

affection training as
your father calls it,

is far better than any method
we can devise at the institute

so I've decided to bring our dolphins here

so you and Sandy and
Flipper can help train them.

- Boy that'd be swell,

but what about Sandy's scholarship?

- What's going on here,
will somebody fill me in?

- Well Sandy for the
moment let's just call it

affection training for
brothers, huh, right Bud?

And for dolphins too.

♫ 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 is smarter than he

♫ And we know Flipper lives
in a world full of wonder

♫ Lying there under, under the sea