Splash

First Movie: Splash
German Title: Splash – Eine Jungfrau am Haken

Spanish Title: 1, 2, 3... Splash

Italian Title: Splash - Una sirena a Manhattan

Airdate: March 09, 1984

As an eight year-old boy, Allen Bauer (David Kreps) is vacationing with his family near Cape Cod. While taking a sight-seeing tour on a ferry, he gazes into the ocean and sees something below the surface that fascinates him. Allen jumps into the water, even though he cannot swim. He grasps the hands of a girl who is inexplicably under the water with him and an instant connection forms between the two. Allen is pulled to the surface by the deck hands and the two are separated, though apparently no one else sees the girl. After the ferry moves off, Allen looks back at the girl in the water, who dives underwater, showing her mermaid's tail. Allen comes to believe the encounter was a near-death vision hallucination, but his bond with the mermaid proves so strong that his subsequent relationships with women fail as he seeks the connection he felt with the mermaid.

Years later, Allen (Tom Hanks) is a co-owner of a wholesale fruit and vegetable business in New York City with his womanizing older brother Freddie (John Candy). Depressed after his latest breakup, Allen returns to Cape Cod, where he encounters eccentric scientist Dr. Walter Kornbluth (Eugene Levy) and again falls into the sea. He wakes up on a beach where he encounters a beautiful naked woman (Daryl Hannah) who, unknown to him, is the mermaid he met as a boy (her tail transforms into legs when it becomes dry). After kissing him, she dives into the sea and leaves Allen to return home. Kornbluth, while diving in order to seek proof of strange sea creatures, also encounters the mermaid in her sea form, causing him to become obsessed with finding her again.

The mermaid finds Allen's wallet that he dropped in the water and decides to find him in New York. She comes ashore naked at the Statue of Liberty, where she is remanded for indecent exposure. Gaining information from Allen's wallet, the mermaid gets released into his care. She learns how to speak English from watching television and says her name is a high-pitched chirp sound in the language of mermaids. On the way, she's eager to see a big city for the first time in her life and she chooses the name Madison from a Madison Avenue sign. She tells Allen that she will be in New York for "six fun-filled days when the moon is full" and if she stays longer, she can never go home again (the reason for this is unexplained, though the Special Features of the 2004 DVD edition refers to a deleted scene in which Madison has visited a sea hag and made some sort of bargain). Despite Madison's occasional unusual behavior, she and Allen fall in love. Allen proposes to Madison, but she declines and runs away. After pondering her reason for coming to the city in the first place, Madison returns to Allen and agrees to marry him, with the added promise of telling him the truth about her at an upcoming dignitary dinner to welcome the President of the United States.

Meanwhile, Kornbluth, realizing that the naked woman at Liberty Island was the mermaid he had encountered, pursues the couple, trying to expose her as a mermaid by splashing her with water. Many attempts are unsuccessful and Kornbluth ends up with multiple injuries, including a badly broken arm and whiplash. When he finally does so at the dignitary dinner attended by Allen and Madison, the exposed mermaid is taken in by government scientists led by Kornbluth's cold-hearted former colleague and rival Dr. Ross (Richard B. Shull) for examination. However, Kornbluth regrets his actions after he learns that Madison is due to be studied and dissected, as he just wanted to prove that he wasn't crazy.

Allen is shocked by Madison's secret and when he denies his love for her, Freddie lashes out at him, telling his brother how happy he was with her. Allen confronts a guilt-ridden Kornbluth, who agrees to help him.

Impersonating Swedish scientists, Freddie and Allen enter the lab with Kornbluth and smuggle Madison outside. Madison makes it back to the ocean and tells Allen that he can survive under water as long as he is with her. Allen realizes she was the young mermaid he had met so long before. The United States

military arrive to recapture her, ignoring Allen's demands to let her be free. Although Madison warns him that if he comes to live in the sea he can't return, he jumps into the water and they elude their pursuers. Together they swim along the ocean floor toward what appears to be an underwater kingdom.

Second Movie: Splash Too


German Title: Splash 2

Spanish Title: Splash Otra Vez

Airdate: May 01, 1988

Set four years after the events of the first movie, Allen Bauer (Todd Waring) and his wife Madison (Amy Yasbeck), a mermaid, have been living on a deserted island hideaway. Allen is bored with life on the island and admits he misses New York City and his older brother, Freddie. Madison has the magical ability to view images and communicate by running her finger in a circular motion over liquid water; she uses this method to show Allen how things are going on back in New York with Freddie.

The family business, Bauer Produce, is in trouble since Allen left. Madison offers to go back to New York with Allen so he can help out, and they do. They are welcomed back by Freddie, and Allen manages to attract a potential new customer for Bauer Produce, the wealthy Karl Hooten (Noble Willingham). Karl places importance on all-American family values, so Allen and Madison are to present themselves as a typical happily married couple. Freddie gives them a run-down suburban house for them to move into, which they manage to restore into presentable condition.

Madison agrees to be a housewife and adjust to life on land. She also has to keep her mermaid side a secret, especially from their new neighbor, Mrs. Needler (Doris Belack). When Allen's work takes up more of his time and he breaks some promises to her, his relationship with Madison is strained. Madison finds comfort with her new friend Fern Hooten (Rita Taggart), Karl's wife, who supports Madison's desires to find her own interests.

During a business event at an aquarium, Madison sees one of her dolphin friends, Salty, in one of the tanks. Madison is upset by this, especially because Salty has a mate out in the wild. Karl is one of the benefactors of the aquarium, so Madison asks him to let Salty go. This causes more friction between Madison and Allen, as Bauer Produce still needs Karl's business and Allen doesn't want to get on Karl's bad side. Madison declares her unhappiness with how Allen is treating her and disregarding her feelings, and leaves.

Allen realizes his mistake and regrets pushing Madison away. When Madison returns to the house, Allen apologizes and the pair reconcile. They sneak into the aquarium, where Dr. Otto Benus (Mark Blankfield) is doing research on Salty, and try to set him free. They are almost caught, but Fern Hooten comes to their aid and helps them get Salty on to a van and out to the ocean.

At the sea front, Salty is released into the ocean and returns home to his mate. Madison and Allen talk about their future and agree to be honest. Allen agrees to return to the sea with Madison if that's what she wants, but he would prefer to stay on land. Madison agrees to stay on land with him, as she has many things she would like to do. The pair embrace.