"Dolphin Talk" is the first half of the tenth episode in the first season of Stanley.
Summary[]
It's Harry's birthday and Stanley, Dennis, Elsie, Marci, and Mimi are planning a surprise party for him. Harry always gets in their way and they're looking for a way to communicate in secret, without spoiling his surprise party. Through a trip into "The Great Big Book of Everything", they learn how dolphins talk through sounds and sign language.
Plot[]
Playing a game with Mimi and Marci, Elsie suddenly arrives and interrupts a game with Stanley and his friends telling Dennis that Harry is asleep. Elsie tells Stanley that he and his friends must be busy because it's Harry's birthday. Planning for a surprise party, Elsie tells Dennis that what Harry likes is eating and sleeping. Harry arrives to the couple not doing anything as he decides to go to the kitchen to see what's in his old food bowl. Afterwards, Mimi and Marci leave while Stanley is talking to Dennis about a surprise party for Harry. Dennis tells Stanley to be very careful not to hurt his feelings just as Stanley's friends arrive to plan for his party.
Back at home, Dennis explains that it's not easy to keep the surprise a secret just as Stanley imagines if he had a carrier pigeon to send a birthday note to Harry. Dennis explains that if Stanley had a carrier pigeon, it would take a long time to master a carrier pigeon. He then plans to do talking with Stanley without using words to know they are keeping a secret to Harry to which Stanley finds out the animal that talks to another one animal without speaking is a dolphin. Stanley explains that dolphins talk to each other without speaking. Stanley decides to use the Great Big Book of Everything to learn more about dolphins. Stanley opens his book about animals and goes to the "D" section where Stanley could learn about dolphins. Dennis explains that the dolphins in Stanley's book are bottlenose dolphins; he explains that the reason why bottlenose dolphins get their name is because their nose is shaped like a bottle. Stanley and his friends jump into the book to learn more about dolphins.
Arriving at the book, Dennis says that dolphins are powerful swimmers that live in family groups called "pods". It is then known that even though dolphins do not talk, they communicate with each other making sounds to socialize with each other. Dennis then learns that the dolphins are telling each other about catching up with a member of the pod - a group of dolphins. Diving underwater, Dennis explains to Mimi that the sound that dolphins are making is known as "echolocation". It is then known that when dolphins echolocate, the sounds of echolocation help dolphins find their way using this agility. Stanley then points the gang to a mother dolphin having a newborn calf, a word used to call a baby dolphin just like the name used for baby cows. Arriving at the surface, Dennis says that dolphins are mammals - despite living in the water, dolphins reach the surface to breathe for air just like humans do as dolphins can hold their breath longer for up to fifteen minutes while humans can only hold their breath for one minute. Stanley then proves of how long he can hold his breath longer like a dolphin to which fifteen minutes is much longer than one minute.
Arriving towards two humans, Stanley explains that they use hand signals so that dolphins can understand them. It is then known that the pod of dolphins once lived at an aquarium and were taught the signals their trainers taught them. Stanley then decides to use hand signals as the dolphins gave him a great idea to use this back at home. Back at home, the twins decide to bring the cake to Harry for his party while Elsie gestures with Harry to come in without talking. Everyone else celebrates Harry's birthday at the house as the group decides to play the game like they did with the dolphins in the book. Mimi and Marci then do sign language towards Harry to which it is then explained that the twins are saying "I love you" in sign language. Having celebrated Harry's birthday, Stanley talks about his plan in surprising his pet dog and also about his adventures in learning about dolphins in his book.
Voice cast[]
- Jessica Stone as Stanley
- Charles Shaughnessy as Dennis
- Khylan Jones as Mimi and Marci
- Hynden Walch as Elsie
- Rene Mujica as Harry
Featured animals[]
- Dolphins
Trivia[]
- Moral: There are many ways to communicate, not just by using words.
- This episode was released as an extra on the VHS release of Rolie Polie Olie: The Great Defender of Fun at the end of the aforementioned film.
- This episode mentions that Harry is not supposed to eat chocolate cake, due to him being a dog. The exception is that in real life, chocolate is an extremely unhealthy food to a dog.
- This episode explains that Marci and Mimi have a friend who can't hear but rather communicates through sign language.
- The episode is also adapted into a picture book titled Dolphin Party.
Errors[]
- At one point, during the beginning of the episode where the kids are playing the board game, Mimi's sneakers are the same dark blue as Stanley's instead of teal.
- This occurs again during the party at the end, where her sneakers are instead purple like Marci’s (and her own overalls).
