I gave this film a 9 out of 10, because it was exactly what I expected it to be.

A film with more than the usual spoiler issues. Talking about it in any detail feels akin to handing you a gift-wrapped present and saying, "I hope you like it -- It's a thriller about a diabolical secret experiment."

Just intense enough to provide a much-needed diversion, just lightweight enough to make you forget about it soon after it’s over. It’s not exactly “good,” per se, but it does what it sets out to do in terms of putting us on edge, which makes it … successful?

The story, direction, characters, and writing/dialogue is akin to taking a tranquilizer shot to the neck, but everything else was so well done.

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 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 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 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 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.

Seasons 1, 2 and 3 of Flipper The Original Series are for sale on Amazon. Great quality!Don't buy this from fxcloudmedia! Most of their DVD's won't play in your standalone DVD player. The picture quality is horrible. They recorded Flipper from television (the Animal Planet logo is on screen all the time) and they must have used a VHS recorder for this. Also there is no artwork.I've tried to contact Fx Cloud Media about this, but they are not responding.Season 3 is not for sale yet on Amazon.com. On the German Amazon (amazon.de) all seasons have been for sale for years now. But the German DVD's don't contain the original soundtrack. It's all in German.All episodes (seasons 1, 2 and 3) can been watched on Hulu.com.

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.

I remember seeing this as a kid. I don't remember the exact year, but I must have been VERY young. Why? Well, there was this episode with a Swedish (?) guest star, and while they were waiting for Flipper to save the day, the guest sang a song in her own language. Then Sandy said something like "It's very pretty, what's it about?" I was actually surprised to find there was someone on the TV who didn't understand Swedish!!