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When he was in Mexico City he couldn’t hold his breath for two minutes, shameful by whale standards.Īs Susan Orlean, a writer for The New Yorker, says on the video, “You’re taking about something really bizarre, which was human beings teaching a whale to be a whale.” He had to learn to hold his breath longer, swim more and catch his own food - no more frozen fish dinners prepared by trainers, and for that matter, no more trainers. For Keiko to survive in the ocean, he had to relearn to be a wild whale. The challenge ahead was, as it turned out, daunting.
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Piles of money were raised from children collecting their nickels and dimes, Warner Brothers, the Humane Society and from the cellphone billionaire Craig McCaw to build a $7.3 million rehab tank at the Oregon Coast Aquarium, which was four times the size of the Mexican marine park.
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He was seriously underweight, and he developed lesions from a skin virus.”Ī veterinarian who examined Keiko estimated that if kept in the Mexican marine park, he would probably die within a few months.įrom there the Retro video takes you on a tour of events that can be summed up as, only in America.
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Keiko was a pup when captured off the coast of Iceland in the late 1970s and trained to join a long line of trick whales that performed at marine parks, in his case, one that was in Mexico.Īfter the film became a “heartwarming,” “truly inspiring” “unforgettable,” “smash hit” that “kids and adults alike” would be “talking about for years,” the news media discovered that the real whale was not free and was leading a pretty miserable life.Īs the video notes: “Forced to swim in endless circle, his dorsal fin drooped.
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Keiko the killer whale was a movie star, the real-life whale featured in the 1993 film “Free Willy.” It’s the story of a good-hearted boy and his whale and the brave humans who returned him (Willy, that is) to the ocean and freedom. In this case we are talking about the man-made peril that comes from confining a wild killer whale in a theme park and the economic peril of trying to recreate through nurture what, it turns out, can often be taught only through nature. So Willy was invented anew by special effects experts.If there is a lesson in this week’s Retro Report video about a famous whale, it’s mess with nature at your own peril. But, unfortunately, this time, Keiko was not used apparently, she was trapped in a Mexican amusement park with no one to set her free. The new movie also introduced a new delinquent kid (supposedly Jesse's half-brother) to go through the same plot all over again. Two years later, in true Hollywood fashion, "Free Willy" was followed by "Free Willy 2: The Adventure Home," a ridiculous sequel that brought back Jesse and his oceanographer pal Randolph (August Schellenberg).
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The Orca, Willy, was played by real-life Mexican whale Keiko, with some technological augmentation. That movie, corny in a good way and shot in an abundance of blue sea and sky, was about a lovable Orca trapped in a seedy amusement park, and his relationship with Jesse (Jason James Richter), the delinquent kid who set him free. The Free Willy Saga - or perhaps we should call it the "Free Willy Trilogy" - began in 1993, with the original "Willy," a surprise hit that I enjoyed immensely.