When Willy the orca jumped to his freedom and surprising box office profits, he also inspired an animated series that debuted a year after the movie. Free Willy, the sleeper hit of the 1993 summer season, didn’t leave a dry eye in the house after it told the story of Jesse, a determined boy, who befriends a killer whale, who luckily befriends him right back, instead of using him as a mid-morning snack.

The cartoon continued the adventures of Jesse and Willy with one minor change: Willy could now talk. The two friends were joined by other marine denizens, also blessed with the gift of speech, like Lucille the sea lion and Einstein, an adorable baby dolphin. Jesse worked aboard a research vessel, the Eco-Ranger II, alongside marine scientist Randolph and Marlene. Now that Willy could talk, he imparted all sorts of wisdom to his young human friend who was a typical hotheaded teenager. Lucille was also brash and bold and Jesse, Willy and the rest of the gang often had to mount a rescue to get the sea lion out of trouble.

There was plenty of trouble to be had too, thanks to the show’s villain, a menacing oil baron, called (very menacingly) the Machine. This dastardly polluter embodied greed and ecological destruction while Willy and Jesse stood for friendship and environmentally responsible practices. The Machine had something of Captain Ahab about him, obsessed with destroying Willy, who had bitten off his arm during an earlier encounter (possibly for a mid-morning snack).

The series ran on ABC for two season 1994-1995, taking place mostly on Misty Island Oceanic Reserve but also following the heroes to the Arctic and coming back to Misty Island for a whale of a Christmas special.