I'll keep this short because the '10' I'm going to give it is obvious to most who love animals, yet feel some empathy and sadness for the outcome.Most everyone by now has seen it, and if not SPOILER ALERT, but it needs to be said.I loved this as a kid growing up. Period.The eventual death of flipper in real life was tragic, but it brought to light the issues surrounding using wild animals in 'shows', not unlike some zoos and carnivals.The person who trained flipper, a time after flipper died , came out and said he regretted doing it.He is now, helping to stop the slaughter and abuse of dolphins, killer whales and other threatened innocent magnificent creatures of our oceans.The show brings back memories, and it all deserved, but the story behind the story needed mentioned.Its a enjoyable show but had sad results, but at least the trainer is doing the right thing now, in flippers memory and saving lots of marine life.YOu can help donate to the cause and find him, by following Earth Island Institute.That is not an ad, just my way of saying, if you enjoyed flipper, it wouldn't be a bad thing to follow what he is doing in the name of flipper, and donate as you see fit.

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

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.

It is with sadness that, while surfing through this database, I read that Brian Kelly, the handsome actor who played patriarch Porter Ricks on the television version of Flipper, passed away in February 2005, just short of his 74th birthday. I believe that the news of Mr. Kelly's passing was quite under-reported.Brian Kelly played a father who was intelligent, understanding, and when warranted, firm. His character of Porter Ricks raised his two sons, Bud and Sandy, with keen senses of the difference between right and wrong, values that are quite under-portrayed in an age of extreme dynamics surrounding sex, drugs, and violence.After Flipper went off the air and into syndication, Mr. Kelly appeared in a handful of films and episodic television programs. Around 1970 or 1971, his acting career came to a tragic end following a freak motorcycle accident that left him paralyzed and with speech and health problems. Nevertheless, he continued in the entertainment industry as a motion picture producer. One such production effort is the 1980's action film 'Blade Runner'.Brian Kelly will be missed, and may he rest in peace.