Flipper and Lopaka is an Australian animated series created by Yoram Gross (of Blinky Bill fame). It follows the adventures of Flipper, a talking dolphin, and Lopaka, a boy with the ability to speak with marine animals, on his tribe's island home of Illoka and the undersea city of Quetzo. As the name implies, the series is a loose adaptation of the original Flipper series.
This series includes the following tropes:
- Adults Are Useless: The people of Illoka in general are well-meaning, but certainly not capable fighters. Even if they were, they couldn't reach Quetzo if they tried.
- Amazing Technicolor Wildlife: There are several strangely coloured animals:
- Dexter, an octopus, is purple.
- Otty, an otter, is mauve.
- Ray, a manta ray, is olive.
- Ultra, a dolphin, is pink. note
- Awesome Underwater World: The sunken city of Quetzo is portrayed as intriguing and empowering in comparison to the hero's mundane life on the surface.
- Blue Boy, Pink Girl: Flipper is the blue boy and Ultra is the pink girl.
- Comedic Underwear Exposure: In the episode "Roboshark", Captain Barnibus Crab is accidentally de-pantsed by Lopaka, exposing his red boxer shorts printed with skulls. His trousers then keep falling down till the end of the episode.
- Earthy Barefoot Character: All the inhabitants of the island. From the youngest to the oldest, they walk around barefoot.
- Fossil Revival: In the episode “Big Bones” a magical staff resurrects a dinosaur (a sauropod) which proceeds to rampage across the island which Flipper and Lopaka have to deal with.
- Friendly, Playful Dolphin: Flipper is Lopaka's best friend.
- Heroic Dolphin: Flipper, who defends Quetzo in his parents' absence. He met Lopaka while saving him from drowning. After her Heel–Face Turn, Ultra also qualifies.
- Heterosexual Life-Partners: Flipper and Lopaka are best friends and inseparable.
- In Name Only: Along with moving the setting from Florida to a remote island in Oceania, the series features talking animals and mythological elements, none of which were in the original live-action Flipper series and movies.
- Lustful Melt: Dexter did this once, after being seduced by a jellyfish posing as an octopus.
- Pink Means Feminine: The female dolphin Ultra is pink, which visually distinguishes her from Flipper.
- Pirate Girl: Kim, the 18 year old niece of Captain Barnibus Crab. Kim is quite an enthusiastic apprentice pirate and often seems far better at the actual business of piracy than her uncle.
- Prefers Going Barefoot: Kim, the Pirate Girl. In fact, all the island natives go barefoot and half-naked, but Kim is the only outsider not to wear shoes, strongly implying that it is by choice.
- Ruthless Modern Pirates: Captain Barnibus Crab, Kim and Simon are the villains in the third series.
- Ship Tease: A lot between Flipper and Ultra.
- Sixth Ranger: Ultra fully joins the group during Season 3.
- Slippery as an Eel: Serge is a sea snake (although easily mistaken for an eel) who acts as the 'brains' to Dexter's motivation. He is bright green, with a devious and sharp mind.
- Speaks Fluent Animal: Lopaka has the ability to converse with marine life.
- Super Not-Drowning Skills: Lopaka possesses the ability to breathe (and talk) underwater.
- Tentacled Terror: Dexter the octopus is proud of his attempts to take over Quetzo and bully its inhabitants.
- Underwater Ruins: The sunken island of Quetzo.
