Flying Turtles

**"Flying Turtles"** is the twelfth episode of the first season of *Sammy & Co*. It premiered on December 25, 2015, on Netflix.

## Synopsis

Hungry seagulls hunt for Ella and Ricky and will stop at nothing to make a meal of them. Stuck on a high branch, Ricky suffers from vertigo.

## Plot

The episode begins at the island where Ricky and Ella are playing above the surface by splashing each other with water with their flippers. While playing, the two best friends notice a boat with a human parasailing a few miles away. Having never seen a human doing that activity before, Ricky first thought the human was "flying", but Ella assumes that it is actually the sail that helps them "fly", which impresses the two.

Above them, George notices them out in the open so he swoops down and captures Ella when she and Ricky are trying to swim back down. Realizing that his best friend is in danger, Ricky grabs onto George's leg so he could try to rescue her while George takes to the sky. Suddenly, Ringo flies by and tries to get George to share Ella with him, but George greedily refuses. While hanging onto George, Ricky bites onto his leg which makes the seagull let go of Ella which unfortunately makes her get captured again, this time by Ringo when he catches her mid-air. George chases after Ringo so he could get his breakfast back, which prompts Ricky to bite his leg again to get him to stop, but George gets irritated by Ricky biting him that he kicks the young leatherback turtle off his leg and Ricky falls down from the sky. Ella slaps Ringo in the eye which makes him drop her and she too falls down from the sky. She lands safely on the sand, but Ringo arrives and confronts her. Ella slaps sand into his eyes and blinds him, which gives her enough time to hide and look for Ricky.

Ricky, meanwhile, has landed safely on a palm tree leaf and he wonders where'd Ella go. At the beach, Ringo and George both have an argument over who gets to eat Ricky and Ella and the two seagulls blame each other for dropping their breakfast and lunch as well as being greedy about it. Eventually, they settle their dispute by agreeing to work together to capture both turtles and they'll share the feast together once they succeed. While George is flying above the island, Ringo searches for the two on land as well as stopping them from going back to the water. Now Ricky and Ella have to search for each other if they want to get back home at the reef village safe and sound. After noticing the humans parasailing again, it gives Ricky an idea of using a leaf as if it's a hang glider so he could fly in the air to easily search for his best friend.

Meanwhile, Ella tries to sneak past Ringo by covering herself with a leaf so she could get back in the water. She then notices Ricky above her and shouts out for him, accidentally revealing herself in front of Ringo who chases after her. Ella walks quickly to a nearby bamboo and hides inside it, but Ringo sticks his face into the bamboo when he looks inside. At the sky, Ricky, who's enjoying the time of his life gliding in the air, runs into trouble when George notices him and he starts chasing after him too.

Back on the ground, Ringo is looking up to make Ella get down to his mouth, but Ella manages to climb up to the other end of the bamboo and escapes from the seagull. But because Ringo sticks his face into the bamboo earlier, he accidentally gets the bamboo stuck into his head and he now can't see what's in front of him. Ella looks up and sees Ricky is being chased by George so she needs to find a way to get into the air and save him. She asks Ringo that he needs to help her get up into the air, but the seagull refuses to do so since it's out of the question to him. However, Ella promises him she'll get his head out of the bamboo if he helps her save Ricky, which makes Ringo agree with her.

Using Ringo as her guide, Ella makes him fly up into the air and get to where Ricky is. While guiding in the air, Ella makes Ringo knocks George out of the way when the latter gets too close to Ricky. Ricky is impressed to see Ella is able to tame Ringo to help them while in the air, but while gliding, he looks down and sees various trees in front of him which frightens the young leatherback turtle that he accidentally lets go of his leaf glider and he falls down, but luckily he lands safely onto a leaf of a palm tree. Ricky, now developing a fear of heights after he falls down from the sky, gets scared of being very high from the ground unlike last time and he cries out to Ella for help. Ella, hearing Ricky's cry for help, makes Ringo fly to where her best friend is and she helps the now-acrophobic Ricky get onto Ringo's back. Once Ricky makes it safely on Ringo, the two sea turtles guide the seagull to go back down to the shore of the island so that the two will go back to the reef village.

Behind them, George, angry with Ringo's supposed betrayal and working alongside Ricky and Ella, had recruited Paul to help him deal with them. The two turtles both realize that they've been chased, so Ella makes Ringo fly lower and closer to the ground as part of her plan to get rid of Paul and George off their backs. After passing through various trees, the three are about to hit a large rock in front of them, but Ella makes Ringo fly up and avoid hitting it. Unfortunately for Paul and George, they're flying so fast while chasing after Ringo that they don't have time to stop to avoid the rock and the two hits into it. With Paul and George being too injured to get back into the air, Ricky and Ella both lost them which gives them an opportunity to get Ringo to land them safely onto the ground.

Once Ricky and Ella are back on the ground, Ella whispers to Ricky a plan and how she made a deal with Ringo earlier. Ringo, who still has the bamboo in his face, wonders what the two are doing since Ella promised him she'd help get the bamboo off of him in return after he helped them get back on the ground. The two turtles pull onto Ringo's wing which causes the bamboo to launch up into the air, but because they're pulling onto his wing too hard, Ringo gets painfully hurt and becomes temporarily blind that he's unable to see what's in front of him. He asks the turtles where they are so he can "thank" them for getting the bamboo off of him, but Ella sees through Ringo's lie so when she and Ricky both look up to see the bamboo is about to fall back down from the sky, Ella makes him go to the exact location where it is going to fall. Once Ringo is able to see Ricky and Ella again, he walks toward them to thank his "delicious turtle", but the bamboo lands onto his head which knocks him out. This gives enough time for Ricky and Ella to get back safely in the water and away from the seagull.

Ricky and Ella both meet up with Pipo and Annabel and tell them about their experience earlier. Pipo and Annabel, however, are both impressed that Ricky and Ella are able to "fly" by riding on Ringo and the two wondered what it's like to be able to fly in the air. Ella, wanting her non-turtle friends to experience flying, has an idea for them.

Later, Albert is launching the kids up into the air with his tail so that Pipo and Annabel could experience what it's like to "fly". But while Ella, Pipo, and Annabel are all having a good time, Ricky declines to join them since he "had enough thrills for one day".

## Characters

### Major characters

* Ricky
* Ella
* Paul (antagonist)
* Ringo (antagonist)
* George (antagonist)

### Minor characters

* Annabel
* Pipo
* Albert (non-speaking)
* Humans (background)

## Trivia

* In the French version, the episode is called "Tortue volante".
* Despite this episode is the twelfth to aired on TiJi like its US airing order, it's the forty-sixth episode to aired in France on M6.
* This is the first episode in which Ricky and Ella are seen riding on a seagull.
* This is the second episode that heavily features Ricky and Ella having to avoid getting themselves eaten by the seagulls after "Trapped".
* After the events of this episode, Ricky has developed a fear of heights.
* The episode plot of Ricky and Ella riding on a seagull to experience what it's like to "fly" is a reference to *A Turtle's Tale: Sammy's Adventures* when Ella's grandparents Sammy and Shelly were newborn hatchlings. After Sammy and Shelly were born, the two were separately captured by a seagull and they're taken up into the sky. However, Sammy rescued himself as well as indirectly rescued his future wife when he spits out sand onto his captor's eyes which caused his captor to bump into Shelly's captor and drop the two of them. And when Sammy and Shelly both land back onto the ground, Shelly commented how being carried by the seagulls is like they're flying.
	+ Also, when Ella free herself from Ringo by slapping his eyes with her flippers while in the air, Sammy did a similar thing when he was captured by a seagull after he was born by spitting sand in the seagull's eyes. Both cases lead to them falling down from the sky, but unlike her grandfather who landed very hard on a wooden raft, Ella lands safely on the ground similar to her grandmother.

## References

1. ↑ https://instantwatcher.com/title/80042306
2. ↑ 2.0 2.1 https://playtv.fr/programmes-tv/m6/27-12-2014/
3. ↑ https://playtv.fr/programmes-tv/tiji/08-03-2015/
4. ↑ https://www.netflix.com/title/80042177