Flipper "300 Feet Below" #1.1 (1964)

Nice beginning to the series, 4 March 2008

I have a 5 year-old son who just loves anything to do with animals. The other day we were out shopping and ran across Season 1 of Flipper. I remembered watching it as a child and enjoying the show, so I thought I might take a chance on it and buy it for my son. And at less than $15, I really wasn't risking a whole lot. To my utter delight, my little boy just loves it.

So far, my son's favorite episode is "300 Feet Below". The plot involves a man who radios for help after being attacked by a shark. Badly needed plasma is delivered to the boat by helicopter, but it's accidentally dropped into the ocean. When Ranger Porter Ricks dives in to get the plasma, he runs into the same shark. Fortunately, Flipper is on hand to battle the shark and save the day. For me, I was surprised at how much real tension and suspense I got out of this episode. I was also surprised to see actual blood in a family television show from 1964. I didn't know you could do that back then. For my son, he talks almost every day about the Flipper vs. shark showdown and goes on to describe blow-by-blow how it all unfolded. He's hooked. And I'm thinking that's not a bad thing. With the state of television today, you could do a whole lot worse than Flipper.

7/10