Dave Phillips
Appearances
Serial
The Good Whale - Ep. 2
In our view, the aquarium has made unsubstantiated and false claims that Keiko is not well, when in reality, the evidence shows that Keiko is well. It appears to us, it certainly appears to me, that this is part of an effort to undermine our activities and prevent Keiko from being released.
Serial
The Good Whale - Ep. 1
I was green. There were other people there that were a lot more experienced than I was. I was more likely to be out there with hiking boots and long hair and just getting dirty.
Serial
The Good Whale - Ep. 1
We have a call for you. Mr. Donner is calling. And I'm like, oh my goodness, is this Dick Donner calling from Hollywood? Like, what is, and there's Dick. And he's like all in a flutter.
Serial
The Good Whale - Ep. 1
And he's like, you know, this movie is going to be big. He's like, it's going to be a great movie. And I'm doing this because I want to make a difference for Wales. And I want to know, are you in?
Serial
The Good Whale - Ep. 1
The kit was like steps you can take, like go watch whales in the wild instead of going to watch them in captivity and put pressure on the International Whaling Commission to stop killing whales.
Serial
The Good Whale - Ep. 1
I was like, I was, it was just dizzying because I'm starting to think, wait, how does this even work?
Serial
The Good Whale - Ep. 1
He was like, nobody else can do this. You have to do this. You've got to do this. The kids are depending on it. Everybody is depending on it. You've got to do this. Will you try?
Serial
The Good Whale - Ep. 1
First time I ever went to Mexico to see Keiko, I was completely freaked out. I was sitting up in the bleachers looking down at this whale in this tiny pool in Mexico City. And he didn't look good. He swam in very small circles. And he could make it across this pool in just a matter of seconds. It was very, very poor facility swimming. I almost started crying, really, to tell you the truth.
Serial
The Good Whale - Ep. 1
And where are we supposed to bring him? We're not bringing him into, like, we couldn't bring him into the captive facility. I'm thinking, where are we going to go? We're not going to take him to some place where he's having to perform or be in a captive environment where they're making money off of these whales. We couldn't do that. We're going to have to build a place. And that's just a step one.
Serial
The Good Whale - Ep. 1
How are we going to get him back to Iceland? It's a whaling nation. Are you kidding me? What, we're going to go over to Iceland and convince them that we want to bring back this whale because the world wants to save him?
Serial
The Good Whale - Ep. 1
Yeah, exactly. Before even, while I was down there and on the way back, I was like, I lined it out. I was way over $10 million. And I was like, at that point, I pretty much just stashed it back in my pack saying, I don't know about this. It's just, I don't, you know, we're not used to things with six figures behind it. I can see about like 10 impossible steps here.
Serial
The Good Whale - Ep. 1
You talk about trying to protect all the oceans and that those are the big issues. Those are the big, huge problems. unsolvable problems, global warming, etc. But they're so diffuse. People can't see acidification rising in the oceans. They can't see the coral reefs dying out most of the time. They're not seeing it. It's too broad to say the oceans are dying. There are no grab points.
Serial
The Good Whale - Ep. 1
There are no things to manifest what's at risk. But Whales are one of the things that is just so otherworldly, so majestic, just incredibly, amazingly intelligent, social, powerful. And that means something. It hits people in a different way than talking about the threats to the ocean ecosystems. And that's what got me over my own view that this is only one whale.
Serial
The Good Whale - Ep. 1
It's like, yeah, he's one whale, but he's going to be the most famous or he could be the most famous whale in the world.
Serial
The Good Whale - Ep. 1
It's kind of funny because it was part of the movie... They were like, how far would you go for a whale? He went as far as, you know, getting him, raising up his arm and saying some magical words and having Willie jump over the breakwater into freedom. I mean, simplistic? Yes. But that's what our narrative was too. How far could Keiko go?
Serial
The Good Whale - Ep. 1
A simple story, but... He was the absolute worst candidate for a project like that. Come on, Keiko, do it. Do it, Keiko. Here he goes, here he goes.