Diver Dan (I) (1961) User Reviews

Baron Baracuda used to scare me!

[niborskaya · 7/10 · 8 September 2007]

I really liked this show as a little girl in the mid-60s. I used to tunnel under my covers to the foot of my bed singing the theme song, pretending I was Diver Dan.

I'm not sure it would fly (or swim) today, as it's so old-fashioned and unsophisticated. But I think my parents found it was pretty silly back then, too. And heck, if kids are impressed by Dora Explorer and that show about the octopus with the weenie dog, they'd probably love Diver Dan.

I think there are a couple of episodes posted on Youtube, check them out if you're in the mood for a walk down memory lane (or a dive to the bottom of the bed).

Keeping the memory of Diver Dan alive

[plavanway · 10 October 2006]

Diver Dan - Live Action TV Show It really wasn't a show at all. More of a serial with the familiar "tune in next time for the next exciting chapter". Each chapter was about 6 minutes long and featured some of the most seaworthy characters around.

Oh, and yeah, they were all puppets.

Well, Diver Dan and the mermaid named Minerva were live actors - Dan played by Frank Freda (who still lives and works in N.Y. City), Minerva by Suzanne Truner - but the rest of the cast was made up of marionette fish puppets.

Dan's fish friends included Finley, Georgy Porgy, Doc Sturgeon, Sawfish Sam, Angel Fish, Sea Biscuit the sea horse, Oh and of coarse, Dan's love interest Miss Minerva, the mermaid that Dan always had a problem of catching up with.

Then there were the evil baron Barracuda (with a voice that sounded like Bela Logosi), his cigarette smoking sidekick Trigger Fish, beatnik fish Gill-Espi, Scout Fish, Hermit the Crab, and little Goldie rounded out the other inhabitants of this underwater classic.

Allen Swift provided all the voices of the fish characters.

Underwater it might have seemed on Diver Dan, but in reality these performers were filmed acting through a real fish tank. Real bubbles and fish would swim in front of the action we were watching and it gave the illusion of a real underwater adventure. Well, as a youngster it really seemed that way! The show was the brainchild of artist John Ferlaine. It actually started out as a comic strip called 'Fish Tales'. When an art directer for WCAU TV, he adapted his idea for a television show. He not only created the show, but carved all of the fish characters himself. It was his idea also to film through the fish tank to give the show that underwater look.

With the help of film producer Louis Kellman who had a staff of cameramen, lab technicians, and editors that he employed to produce TV spots, short films and NFL football games, liked the idea of producing a children's show, so he and his crew spent the next nine months filming 104 episodes of Diver Dan.

What is unfortunate about this childhood classic, is that only a handful of episodes of the show(40) still exist out of that 104.

But we who still remember the episodes will keep the memory of Diver Dan alive and a special part of our youth.

One of the best kiddie show their was.

[vitogoomba · 10/10 · 1 March 2007]

I was five when Diver Dan aired. Now fifty, I can still remember the voices, premises and all the characters. Now that show had to be that amazing to have had lasted in my head all these years.Like usual the Fishes are plotting again Diver Dan for stepping on their toes again. Does Dan fall for their deadly plots this time? Stay tuna'd, I do know one thing, Baron Von Kuda, is a Pisces, and he works for scale, a fin an hour. In obvious pun I will leave you now and not a moment sooner. I love that fact, when Dan was being filmed, they were savvy enough for the time line to film it through a fish tank to make it more authentic. Diver Dan should be aired on Saturdays for new children to view.

Magnificently Simple

[hainessamuel2 · 10/10 · 1 October 2016]

This movie is excellent. It's simple, yet complex, because it always has new things happening, yet it's easy to follow along with. It's probably my favorite video ever. I could watch it 1,000 times and still not be sick of it.

This movie breaks from the status quo. For example: Fish in the water!? Unheard of! I think the only problem with this video is the fact that it is very hard to follow along with and overall nothing changes.

Overall, this movie is excellent, but I would not recommend it, as it is not a very good movie.

All in all, I recommend this title.

Fun little series.

[jamescotis · 24 September 2004]

Always wondered what ever happened to the film or video elements to this fun little series. Loved it as a kid. I used to view it on our local NY network on Channel 5. As simple as it was looking back, it was a very put together series and had good story lines. Hopefully someone out there or the original producers of the series will someday revive it and air it again, maybe Nickelodeon or Disney Channel. I remember the great titles and theme song with visuals of the ocean crashing on a rocky shore. Anyway I have fond memories of the series. It was produced at a time when television was still in its infancy, and children's programming wasn't the main priority for the networks, national or local for that matter. With that being said, it reflected the positive attitude being conveyed to children on television at that time as opposed to what is being produced today. The show did not promote negative exploitation to children.

GREAT

[random_ax · 15 June 2003]

I watched this show growing up in Chicago. I have always wondered what happened to the actress who played Minerva, the curvaceous blonde mermaid. All the boys in my school has a big crush on her. I wonder what the kids of today would think of Diver Dan?

A weird and amusing puppet show

[Douglas_Holmes · 23 July 2002]

I used to watch this as a kid. There was very little action as such, but the shows as I remember them were always well scripted. The effects were very humorous- you could PLAINLY see the wires moving the jaws of the "fish"! But I enjoyed it anyway. The stories were simple and logical and sometimes even had a moral.