Ben Affleck Series Beloved By A Generation Is Impossible To Find Today
Ben Affleck has multiple iconic roles in his filmography, from Batman and his work with Kevin Smith to, more recently, with The Accountant, but to an entire generation, he’ll forever be known as C.T. Granville from The Voyage of the Mimi. An educational series developed by PBS and released in 1984, it’s gained notoriety following the success Affleck has found in Hollywood. It’s also in danger of becoming lost media.
Half-Fiction, Half-Science
The Voyage of the Mimi follows a crew of scientists conducting a survey of humpback whales off the coast of Massachusetts in a series of 15-minute episodes, followed by another 15-minute episode going behind the scenes and explaining the scientific concepts from the episode. During the dramatic portions, the Mimi is caught in a storm, and the crew is shipwrecked on an island. They have to survive until help can reach them. In the matching educational sections, scientists explain how to find fresh water and how to prevent hypothermia.
Played In A Generation Of Classrooms
During the behind-the-scenes portions of The Voyage of the Mimi, the young stars, including Ben Affleck, interview scientists and experts. This includes some of the series’ cast, including Peter Marston, who plays C.T.’s grandfather and, in real life, is both an MIT professor and the real captain of the Mimi. For an entire generation of students, watching episodes of the series beat regular class activities because who didn’t get excited when the teacher wheeled in the AV cart?
The Second Voyage Of The Mimi
The Voyage of the Mimi was produced for under $4 million, and it was a hit. In 1988, a sequel series, The Second Voyage of the Mimi, was launched. Instead of whales in New England, the sequel focused on exploring Mayan ruins in Mexico. It wasn’t as memorable as the original, and I will always hate it because my math class had to learn Mayan math, and the zero I earned on the test still haunts me decades later.
A third series, allegedly following C.T. and his grandfather on a trip down the Mississippi River and teaching about ecology and the environment, was never produced.
An Educational Series With A Future A-List Star
Educational programming doesn’t have to be boring, and The Voyage of the Mimi did a great job of finding the right balance between engaging and making sure kids learn something. Back in the 80s, we also had Mr. Wizard, Square One, and the best of them all, Where in the World is Carmen San Diego?, but none of those had a future Oscar-winner in the cast. If Ben Affleck hadn’t become a fixture of Hollywood’s A-list, chances are this series would be forgotten instead of a fun artifact of the star as a child actor.
Danger Of Being Lost Forever
REVIEW SCORE
Watching The Voyage of the Mimi is hard today, as the series made it out onto VHS and Laserdisc but skipped DVD and went straight to iTunes. It’s now not even available on iTunes, and unless PBS re-releases it in some form, the series and its banger theme song will go the way of other lost media. If nothing else, it’s worth saving so everyone can see young Ben Affleck.
