The PBS Show Every 90’s Kid Was Forced To Watch In School
If you grew up in the ’90s, you probably remember the greatest sight a kid could see in class: the teacher rolling that giant television cart through the door.
And if you were lucky, there’s a good chance the VHS tape they popped in was The Voyage of the Mimi.
But this strange little PBS science show was much more ambitious — and much weirder — than most of us realized.
In this episode of Dial-Up Dayz, we’re looking back at the forgotten classroom series that introduced millions of kids to whales, navigation, marine biology, hypothermia, and even a very young Ben Affleck.
We’ll uncover how The Voyage of the Mimi became part of a massive educational experiment, why teachers kept showing a 1984 series well into the 1990s, the controversial hypothermia episode that reportedly caused problems in some classrooms, and the surprisingly sad fate of the real ship used in the show.
If you remember watching The Voyage of the Mimi in school, let me know in the comments what year your teacher was still showing it — and what other forgotten classroom shows you remember.
Subscribe to Dial-Up Dayz for more deep dives into the TV shows, movies, and strange pieces of pop culture we grew up with.
@LittleMissLounge
August 14, 2026 at 5:30 pm
Went to school from 1994-2007. I don't remember watching this specifically, but we definitely watched stuff like this.
@sarahrichards9250
August 14, 2026 at 5:30 pm
I watched the second voyage in sixth grade social studies in '95. My colleague found it online and showed it in sixth grade social studies in 2015.
@ceno10101
August 14, 2026 at 5:30 pm
VHS!? I think you mean Laserdisc. This was one of the few selling points of that device to schools.
@ZachSpade88
August 14, 2026 at 5:30 pm
Seen it in 99-00. 6th grade
@jamestoman3496
August 14, 2026 at 5:30 pm
When I went to college in the Midwest no one had heard of the Mimi. I thought it may have been regional since I remember visiting the Mimi in 5th grade in 1996/7.
@supercompman
August 14, 2026 at 5:30 pm
I vividly remember this from my science classes in about 1990/91! I remember really enjoying it and just how excited our science teacher was to get these lessons to us.
@Tall_4_a_Hobbit
August 14, 2026 at 5:30 pm
Never watched it in school–caught it on PBS, after school. Nebraska's PBS was special like that. 🤣
@johnwalker4958
August 14, 2026 at 5:30 pm
I had found a dolphin skull as a kid and didn't know what it really was until 6th grade when i saw voyage of the mimi. lol
@Vin3garT0m
August 14, 2026 at 5:30 pm
5th grade, Mr Magarian's class in about 1993/94. It's funny how much of a big deal the hypothermia scene was. I remember seeing it as a kid and banking it away as a way to save someone's life, not some homoerotic display. People have weird hang-ups. It's really sad the boat doesn't survive to this day as I'm sure xennials/elder millennials like myself would have loved to have walked it's deck in real life.
@ProsyStrangers
August 14, 2026 at 5:30 pm
Recently I was thinking about this show and googling like crazy but having trouble because I could have sworn I watched a show about a historical whaling ship in school. I think maybe my school's curriculum just included information about historical whaling too and my mind merged those. Also I had no idea the kid was Ben Affleck.
@DansOOI
August 14, 2026 at 5:30 pm
I still have my workbook from 1991!
@dca3092
August 14, 2026 at 5:30 pm
Am I crazy or did Reading Rainbow do an episode on The Mimi?
@AgentOroko
August 14, 2026 at 5:30 pm
Mid 90's. Only thing I can remember is the black guy doing a after adventure lession about decibels and hearing damage.
@davidpumpkinsjr.5108
August 14, 2026 at 5:30 pm
That there's been playing on repeat in my mind since seventh grade.
@swjr-br1kf
August 14, 2026 at 5:30 pm
The first and only time I watch something off a laser disk back in school back in 95
This is also how I learned about hypothermia 😅
@SteveOnTheEastCoast
August 14, 2026 at 5:30 pm
Ben Affleck 😅
As a Boston guy this makes me chuckle.
@calandryll
August 14, 2026 at 5:30 pm
This show and Mrs. Plummer, my 3rd grade teacher, is the reason I went and got my PhD in marine science/biology. It would have been mid to late 80s that I saw this, I can't remember if this was in school on our local PBS station. I think it was this show that had a part of an episode where they showed how to get freshwater from seawater using a solar still, still remember it quite vividly.
I also remember watching a show in school around the same time that taught how to use the library, I want to say it was short episodes and the kids were fighting robots. It's been over 30 years since I saw it so my memory isn't exactly clear.
@SpoonieCreates
August 14, 2026 at 5:30 pm
Oh man, now do Tomes and Talismans!
@stephencrabtree4256
August 14, 2026 at 5:30 pm
Wow. Absolutely remember watching this in class on the tv/vcr cart that the teacher rolled into the room in fifth and sixth grade! (1992, 1993)
**note: I wrote all that BEFORE watching the episode!
@DoveRaccoon
August 14, 2026 at 5:30 pm
I never actually saw this. I don't think my school showed it. I transferred schools in 7th grade, so it's possible my first school showed it later, or my second showed it earlier.
@RubyofTrinity
August 14, 2026 at 5:30 pm
This is the first I’ve ever heard of this and I graduated in 1998.
@chrisrusche2109
August 14, 2026 at 5:30 pm
OMG
@eaglescout1984
August 14, 2026 at 5:30 pm
Here's something I vaguely remember watching in class. One of those shows about "making the right choice". Some kid would face a decision in his day, usually with peer pressure, and would make the "wrong choice". Somehow this room sized time machine would appear and the kid would step.inside and be presented with a way to go back and evaluate their choices. Then they could go back in time and do the "right thing".
@kyleward3914
August 14, 2026 at 5:30 pm
I think it was 5th grade for me, so probably 1994.
@emanym
August 14, 2026 at 5:30 pm
I remember the hypothermia scene, and it all felt so practical to me at the time. I don’t remember any of my classmates reacting 😮
@asphaltrivers
August 14, 2026 at 5:30 pm
I learned about 2 things I actually remember from this show. One, was how to get drinking water from salt water with a plastic pyramid. And the other was how many licks it takes to get to the center of a tootsie pop. They gave us candy while we were watching 🙂
@hazukieru
August 14, 2026 at 5:30 pm
I think I watched this in middle school. I think my science teacher mentioned that Ben Affleck was in this show too.
@MysteryGoat
August 14, 2026 at 5:30 pm
So I went into this video totally having no idea what this show was. But then!… Watching the scenes of them doing sign language sparked a memory. I have a very brief memory of a deaf woman working on a boat parked at a dock. There was a kid who asked someone else there what happens when you need to get her attention. He knocked on the wood and she looked up. He explained she can feel the vibrations. That's a tidbit that's always stuck with me. I still don't fully know if I watched any of this show, but there is a good chance I did at one point. And if I squint my minds eye hard enough I think I can remember it. I had two teachers in middle school, my English and science teachers. My science teacher was annoying because she was also a P.E. coach and the vast majority of her curriculum was health and the human body. Not joking, that's all I learned about from her for 6th and half of 7th grade until I got to transfer to a different science class. Where after two classes of joining them at the tail end of their chemistry section, they then started into HEALTH AND THE HUMAN BODY! I'm not still bitter about it I swear. I'm also digressing. Anyway, the only other thing that got her hot and bothered was oceanography. Somewhere along the way her and the English teacher got together and doubled up on the oceanography thing. During that period is where I now believe I saw an episode, maybe two, of this show. It's funny, though, even the title is not really that familiar. I have to say, though, about that scene where they are teaching how to help someone with hypothermia. I've heard that before but honestly wasn't sure if it was meant to be serious because it's been used for jokes many times. But I really hope no one complained about it as inappropriate. These days it wouldn't surprise me. But back in the 80's I would hope educators would have been intelligent enough to understand the difference between a real medical educational demonstration and something else. Anyway, thanks again for another video.
@TheIMMORTALKAHNHD
August 14, 2026 at 5:30 pm
Yup….this one past me by childhood wise. Lotta the classroom stuff is reginal specific im bettin far as how often you got to see it/ if it was pushed. Never heard this one. Lotta times we got after school specials copied off tv or special school copies lol.
@newadventurer06
August 14, 2026 at 5:30 pm
Holy flip someone actually made a video retrospective about this!!!!! I saw this in 5th grade before I went to middle school. I saw I think 5 or so eoisodes but I never saw the ending. I saw the hypothermia part but since I and my classmates were just 5th grade we were too young to be embarrassed about it.
Learned so much from this video. Thank you so much for talking about this and revealing the ending. 🙏
Edit: oh sorry I forgot to say it was 1995 when I saw this series. That's when I attended 5th grade lol
@CarCinCal
August 14, 2026 at 5:30 pm
I remember learning about the base-20 Mayan counting system from the "Second Voyage of the Mimi", loved that show
@DrJupiterValentine
August 14, 2026 at 5:30 pm
Holy hell I remember this