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Sea Hunt Season 1 Episode 11

Killer Whale

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Episode Summary

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AIRED: 3/22/58

A killer whale is capsizing boats and endangering scuba divers and swimmers along a stretch of coastline.

Fan Episode Reviews (3)

Out of character for Mike Nelson? Maybe! Unusual for 1950s television? Not at all!

4.0

By sounddude, Nov 26, 2011

This is not a defense for the writing quality of this episode of Sea Hunt, which was for the most part, ahead of it's time as a voice for conservatism. But the criticism against this episode does not take into consideration several facts.

First of all, dramatic television shows are not documentary. They never have been and never will be. There is nothing about fictional dramatic television writing that dictates that the information used or depicted in the program is true.

Even today, every single television show uses dramatic license. And most shows are terribly inaccurate. Looks at shows like the Law & Order franchise, the CSI franchise, and almost every single police show and medical show, etc. Every one of them is so "un-real" that I for one can't watch them. Yet few voices rise up to protest and they are ratings winners.

And look at the way people of faith are shown. The majority of people in this country believe in God and most of them worship Him weekly in some way. For the most part, they are just regular people who have some level of spiritual faith as a basis for their existence. But look how television depicts most Christians, as either unintelligent dups, or wackos, or crazies who want to kill, or being extremely religious like nuns or priests. And most Muslims are shown as devious terrorists who want to kill Americans.

These are just a few examples of the misinformation that television feeds it's audience every day, every week, every year. So I think it's unfair for the harsh criticism that has been written against this particular episode of Sea Hunt. Instead, the inaccuracies of the episode should have simply been pointed out and using this episode as an opportunity to educate.

Another factor is that this episode was produced in 1958. At that time, killer whales were still highly misunderstood. We did not have the information and revelation that we have gathered since then. They have been depicted as killers in many movies since 1958 and no one protested those films. So again, lets just consider that this was a fictitious drama, written in the late 1950s for a television show. Let's examine the errors that it presented and let's educate. But please don't slander the show because of it even though opinion is everyone's "right".

The things that jumped out at me, and were still typical of the shows of that era, were first of all the statement made about how the job of seeking out and killing the whale was "no job for a woman". You couldn't get away with that today! I also noticed that in this episode, the acting was particularly bad. This could be a combination of casting choices and poor directing. All in all, it is one of the worse episodes of Sea Hunt. I felt that the subject matter and the over dramatization so early on in it's first season was a cheap attempt at heavy excitement and drama. It fails at both. But again, that was typical for the period. Unfortunately, television hasn't changed in the fifty years since.moreless
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Extremely unfair episode full of false and misleading facts, as well as a bigot episode.

1.0

By bmoshier, Oct 08, 2011

This episode is the worst episode of Sea Hunt. It is full of false and misleading facts and promotes a bigot stereotype of the killer whale (Orca). As the Wikipedia.org entry and other sources state the killer whale is not a killer of humans in the wild.

Yet, the writers and producers write the story showing an Orca eat a man whole. At the end, Mike Nelson proudly kills one of these whales, which is crime of ethics!

The entire episode has zero redeeming value nor any truthful lessons, as so many of these episodes provide to young viewers. Lloyd Bridges and his staff certainly failed to provide ethical and good entertainment.

The owners of Sea Hunt should withdraw this episode OR place a notice at the beginning, after the commercials, and at the end stating the mistakes in this episode, as well as, the truth about killer whales. Nothing less should occur in order to provide an honest and truthful episode based upon the facts as we know them in 2011.moreless
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Ridiculous and out-of-character.

1.5

By Tony_Ferano, Oct 08, 2011

I fully agree with my fellow reviewer about this episode's misleading and preposterous plot. I detested it the first time I saw it, and now that it's come around on the THIS network again, I hate it just as much.

What *happened* here?! Usually the show is very good at presenting a positive view of underwater life. Even sharks are treated more kindly than the poor Orca whale. What possessed the writers and everyone else to want to have a story like this without checking their facts? I know that the Orca whale has gotten a bad rap in the past, but this should have been a show to change that.

If there was one thing that appalls me the most, it's Mike saying in disgust that every Orca should be destroyed. What the heck?! That is not Mike Nelson speaking! (Maybe it's his evil twin from season 4.) Mike has always advocated live and let live and tells of the good things about underwater creatures. He doesn't blindly lash out against any creature the way he does here. And what's more, even if the whale was attacking people (which is ridiculous in and of itself), Mike seems to want to kill it for revenge and not because it's a danger. Captain Ahab, anyone?

The next time this episode is on, I want to make sure I miss it. It's an abomination to Orca whales and to a show that was usually wonderful.moreless
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Cast & Crew: STARS

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Lloyd Bridges

Mike Nelson

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Cast & Crew: RECURRING AND GUESTS

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Cyril Delevanti	Lars Anderson	Guest Star
Neil Grant	Will McKay	Guest Star
Jan Harrison	Mela Anderson	Guest Star

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TRIVIA (1)
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- Goof: In the opening Mike makes many incorrect, false, and outright misstatements about killer whales. Wild killer whales are not a threat to humans.
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NOTES (1)
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- TV Rating:
  Canada: G
  USA: TV-G
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