AustLit

During the Napoleonic Wars, Captain Jack Aubrey, in command of HMS Surprise, purses the heavier and more powerfully armed French privateer Acheron across the Pacific Ocean and around the Galapagos Islands, under orders to 'sink, burn, or take her as a prize'. But his friend, ship's doctor Stephen Maturin, worries that Aubrey is motivated more by pride than by duty.

An American/Australian co-production, this series was a revival of the original 1964 - 1967 series Flipper.

The show's production is sharply divided between seasons one and two on one side and seasons three and four on the other.

Seasons one and two aired in first-run syndication in the US, as American television networks turned away from funding comparatively expensive one-hour dramas in the late 1980s and 1990s. These two seasons were made in Australia and took advantage of local directors and other crew, but, notably, the script-writers were exclusively American (as far as they have been traced).

For seasons three and four, Flipper left first-run syndication and aired in the US on the new network PAX TV (now Ion Television). These two seasons were also made in Australia and directed by Australians, but for the first time, they also used Australian script-writers: of the writers who have been traced for seasons three and four, all of the season three writers and the majority of the season four writers are Australian.

For full information on the script-writers, see the list of episodes on the film details page of this record.

Napoleon, a young Golden Retriever, finds himself in Sydney after a balloon ride. Determined to find dingoes, he sets off to the bush guided by a galah called Birdo. During the journey, he encounters various Australian bush animals and a wide variation of landscapes. In the centre of Australia, he finally finds two dingo pups and rescues them when their cave is flooded.