Gilligan's Island was an American TV sitcom which aired on CBS from September 26 1964 to September 4 1967 for 98 episodes. The first 36 episodes were filmed in black-and-white; the remaining 62 episodes and the three sequels were filmed in color.
The show's theme song, "The Ballad of Gilligan's Isle" (written by George Wyle and Sherwood Schwartz), is probably the best-known example of ballad meter, and it begins:
Just sit right back and you'll hear a tale, a tale of a fateful trip...
The song was written to give new viewers a capsule summary of the unusual situation the castaways find themselves in. Another verse was played over the closing credits, after the invariably unsuccessful attempts of the castaways to leave the island.
The last episode of the show, "Gilligan The Goddess" (prod. no. 1098-670417), aired on April 17, 1967, ended with the castaways never succeeding in leaving the island. Under a wave of pressure to reverse the threatened cancellation of Gunsmoke, which aired late on Saturday nights, CBS cancelled Gilligan's Island to open up early air time on Monday evenings, despite the sitcom's solid ratings.
Contents [hide]
1 Cast
2 Pilot vs. first broadcast episode
3 Episode list
4 Typical plots
4.1 Visitors to the uncharted island
4.2 Dream sequences
5 Theme song
5.1 Lyrics
6 Gilligan's first name
6.1 Suggested alternatives
7 Location of the island
8 Spin-offs
9 Tributes
10 Cultural allusions to Gilligan's Island
11 Trivia
11.1 "And the rest"
12 Goof
13 References
14 External links
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Cast
Bob Denver – Willy Gilligan
Alan Hale – Skipper Jonas Grumby
Russell Johnson – Professor Roy Hinkley
Jim Backus – Thurston Howell III
Natalie Schafer – Eunice "Lovey" Wentworth Howell
Tina Louise – Ginger Grant
Dawn Wells – Mary Ann Summers
Gilligan, of the show's title, was the hapless first mate of the S.S. Minnow. Other characters are the Skipper (referred to as Jonas Grumby in the first broadcast episode), the Professor (referred to twice as Roy Hinkley), the millionaire Thurston J. Howell III and his wife Eunice, nicknamed Lovey, movie star Ginger Grant, and Kansas farm girl Mary Ann Summers.
Bob Denver was not the first choice to play Gilligan. Actor Jerry Van Dyke was offered the role, but he turned it down, believing that the show would never make it. He choose instead to play the lead in "My Mother, the Car". The producers then looked to the lovable beatnik, Maynard G. Krebbs from the The Many Loves of Dobie Gillis. Denver embraced the role.
Alan Hale, Jr. both embodied and relished the role of the Skipper. A long time actor in B-westerns, Hale so loved the role of Skipper that long after the show was off the air, he would still appear in character in his Hollywood restaurant.
Jim Backus was well known by the time he took the role of the Millionaire, Thurston Howell, III. He was perhaps best known as the voice of the cartoon character Mr. Magoo. He used some of the voice inflections and mannerisms of Magoo in the role of the Millionaire. He was well known for his ad-libs on the set.
Natalie Schafer had it written in her contract that there were to be NO close-ups of her during filming. This was perhaps due to her advanced age. She was 62 when the pilot was shot. Reportedly, no one on the set or in the cast knew her real age, and she refused to divulge that information. Originally she only accepted the role because the pilot was filmed on location in Hawaii, and she looked at the job as nothing more than a free vacation as she was convinced that a show this silly would never get on the air.
Tina Louise, as the character of Ginger Grant, created a version of the quintessential Hollywood star and even her name, an amalgam of Ginger Rogers and Cary Grant, was a homage to Hollywood's past. When regular shooting began, Tina Louise clashed with producers, because she believed she was the main focus of the show, despite it being titled "Gilligan's Island". In addition, her character was originally written as a sarcastic and sharp-tongued temptress but Louise argued that this type of character was too extreme and refused to play it as written. A compromise was reached and Louise agreed to play her as a cross between Marilyn Monroe and Lucille Ball. The evening gowns and hair style used was designed to recreate the look of Myrna Loy. Louise continued to clash with producers and was the only cast member who refused to return for any of the TV movies that followed the series cancellation, saying that the role had destroyed her career as a serious actress.
Dawn Wells was a former Miss Nevada when she auditioned for the role of Mary Ann. Her competition included Raquel Welch. She was part of the replacement cast that was hired after the pilot was shot and the Network wanted the roles of the professor and the 2 girls recast.
Russell Johnson took over the role of the Professor from John Gabriel. The network thought Gabriel looked too young to have all the degrees attributed to the professor. Ironically the Professor was in reality just a high-school science teacher, not a University professor.
Charles Maxwell was the uncredited voice of the "Radio Announcer", whose plot-advancing radio bulletins were eagerly tuned in to by the castaways in many episodes.
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Pilot vs. first broadcast episode
The first episode broadcast is often wrongly referred to as the series' pilot. This episode begins with the characters on the beach, immediately after they were shipwrecked, listening to a radio news report about their disappearance. This is the scene which reveals that the Skipper's name is Jonas Grumby and the Professor's name is Roy Hinkley.
In fact, there was an entirely different episode from this one that actually served as the show's pilot. That episode dealt more with the characters' background and how they came to be shipwrecked. However, there were significant cast and character changes made after the pilot. The part of the Professor (originally played by John Gabriel) was re-cast to Russell Johnson. The parts of the two secretaries, Ginger (played by Kit Smythe) and Bunny (played by Nancy McCarthy), were changed to a movie star, Ginger Grant, and a Kansas farm girl, Mary Ann Summers, and re-cast respectively to Tina Louise and Dawn Wells. These changes meant that when the show was finally broadcast, the original pilot could not be used as its first broadcast episode.
Rather than re-shoot the same pilot story again for broadcast, the show just proceeded on, and the series would begin broadcasting with what otherwise would have been the show's second episode—the episode beginning in the immediate aftermath of the shipwreck. In recognition of the fact that by doing this, the audience would have lost all of the background that the pilot episode provided, the scene with the castaways listening to the radio broadcast was added to provide that background as succinctly as possible.
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Episode list
For the full list of episodes, see List of Gilligan's Island episodes
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Typical plots
The show's plots often revolved around the characters' failed attempts to get off the deserted island where they have been shipwrecked. Often, the failure of that week's attempt was due to some bumbling error committed by Gilligan.
Another popular element were the numerous dream sequences the castaways experience in the later episodes which provided variety to the series' limited premise. For instance, Gilligan dreams on separate occasions that he is Lord Admiral Gilligan fighting off pirates, Secret Agent 014, a goofy vampire who is hunted by Inspector Sherlock (played by the Professor) or Dr. Jekyll who turns into Mr. Hyde when people talk about food around him.
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Visitors to the uncharted island
One challenge to a viewer's suspension of disbelief is the frequency with which the presumably uncharted island is visited by people who do nothing to help the castaways get rescued. Some have ulterior motives for not helping to rescue the castaways, some are simply unable to help as detailed below. Also the island is home to an unusual assortment of animal life, some of it ?native?, some just visiting. In various episodes they are encountered by :
Various natives, (no less than 8 different episodes) visit the island from supposedly nearby islands. (With so many nearby islands, how can this one be uncharted?) Many are "headhunters" with less than honorable intentions, and most seem to be of Polynesian descent although French Polynesia is about 2500 miles from Hawaii.
The hostiles have no reason to help facilitate a rescue, the friendlies usually end up angry at the castaways or frightened by them.
Daffy aviator "Wrong-Way Feldman" (played by Hans Conried and obviously based on the real-life story of "Wrong Way" Corrigan), appears in two episodes. In the first, he is discovered to have been living on the island for many years. His plane is called "The Spirit of the Bronx" {a spoof of the Spirit of Saint Louis}; years before he vanished he flew for Howell airlines from Chicago to San Francisco-he was supposed to fly from Chicago to New Orleans!! In the second he returns to escape civilization.
Wrong-Way is unable to help rescue the castaways, as he is unable to recall where he came from when he returns to civilization at the end of the first episode. The castawys hear on the radio that Wrongway's directions are so inprecise that "Gilligan's Island" could be anywhere from the North Pole to the Adriatic sea. He leaves the island in the second episode only to land on his own uncharted isle and there is no one to report the castaways to there. In his return to Hawaii, mi-episode for medicine, he makes it a point to sneak in and then back out undetected.
A Japanese submariner (complete with mini-sub) convinced that World War II was still in progress.
It is not known just where the sailor returns to, but as he believes he was on an enemy occupied island, he would have no motive to report the castaways.
A gangster on the lam from the law visits. He is played by Larry Storch, of F-Troop fame.
Another visitor who has no motive to assist with a rescue of the castaways, as it is presumed that he is still on the lam after he leaves the island.
A Jungle-boy who the castaways actually send to Hawaii in a homemade helium balloon.
A famous fictional surfer named "Duke Williams"
These last two visitors are among those who actually could-of, should-of send help, albeit at some point in the future. Initially though, the Jungle-boy's inability to help rescue the castaways is attributed to a lack-of-language barrier. And the surfer is unable to tell where he has been because he himself is unaware of where he was.
A famous painter Dubov, comes to island to escape the rigors of civilization. He is convinced to return when the castaways set up Gilligan as a rival artist.
Dubov, who feared competition from Gilligan, would not want to report the castaways upon his return to civilization.
An exiled Latin American dictator El Presidente Rodrigues, who was left on the island after a revolution overthrew him. He leaves the island and returns home to Ecuarico, after a counter-revolution reinstats him.
El Presidente actually promises to send a ship for the castaways and rescue them as repayment for befriending him. But as soon as he is home, a counter-counter-revolution unseats him again, ironically because he tells a tale of being the president of a deserted island filled with people, and this time he is sent into exile atop the Andes mountains.
Russian cosmonauts land on the island.
Once returned home, the russian government insists that their space capsule landed right on target, thousands of miles away from the island. To rescue the castaways would be to admit the flaw in their space program.
A rock and roll band, The Mosquitoes (portrayed by The Wellingtons, the group which performed the theme song). They are driven away when the do not find the peace and quiet they sought.
The Mosquitoes would not report the castaways for fear that the girls own rock and roll group, The Honeybees, would upstage them.
A Hungarian countess and prominent well-to-do socialite, Erika Tiffany Smith, played by Zsa-Zsa Gabor.
Erika actually wants to help rescue the castaways, but her ships log is in "plain English translated from Hungarian". The navy is unable to translate her log entries, wherein her directions to the island consist of phrases like "turn left at the beautiful tropical plant, and then pulled over and parked".
A soviet agent who disguises himself as a ghost to scare the castaways off the island. He provides them with a self-destructing boat.
Again a russian government would have no reason to want to rescue these people, who would presumably reveal to the world their attempt to establish a base so close to American territory.
A mad scientist who wants to do mind-swapping experiments on the castaways. In a second visit in the third season, he returns to island with mind-control rings in an attempt to turn them into robots who will assist him in robbing Ft. Knox.
The doctor lives on a nearby island, and it is never mentioned that he would have contact with civilization. Even if he did, he would not want to see the castaways rescued as they would surely report his in-humane experiments, or his illegal plots, to the authorities.
A Hollywood producer, Harold Hekuba, (portrayed by Phil Silvers), comes to the island for a vacation. The Castaways stage a musical production of Hamlet in order to convince him to return to society.
He would not report the existence of the castaways as he stole their idea of a musical version of Hamlet, and it was becoming a Broadway hit. He would have to share credit and presumeably money with the castaways if he helped rescue them.
A world famous Butterfly collector, Lord Beasley, played by John McGiver. Lord Beasley is searching for the elusive Pussycat Swallowtail butterfly and will not leave until he finds it.
A kidnapper, played by Don Rickles, comes to the island and begins kidnapping the castaways one by one.
He too would not want to report the existence of the castaways as to do so would lead to his own arrest for crimes commited on the island.
A radio game show contestant, George Barkley, played by Strother Martin is exiled on the island, to survive alone for one week. If he does he will win $10,000.
Like Hecuba, Barkley would be unwilling to reveal the castaways existence due to a greed factor, because to do so would mean admitting he cheated at the game, and cause him to forfeit his prize.
A big-game hunter, Jonathon Kinkaid, played by Rory Calhoun comes to island to hunt big game. Finding none he decides to hunt the ultimate game, Gilligan.
Yet another criminal if he reports the castaways to the authorities. Instead his inability to successfully hunt Gilligan drove him to the brink of insanity.
An out-of-work actor, who is trying to land the role of Tongo, the apeman. He comes to island to practice his character and upon finding the castaways, he decides that if he can convince them that he is a true apeman, then he is certain to land the role of Tongo.
The castaways see that he is terrified of a real ape, the island's resident gorilla. He is afraid that if he were to reveal the whereabouts of the castaways they would report his fear to the world and he would lose the role he doesn't actually have. hmmmmmmmm ....
A Mr. Howell imposter, who while on a cruise spending Thurston's money he is shipwrecked himself.
The imposter would face jail time if he were to reveal the where-abouts of castaways, therefore he does not help rescue them.
A foreign presumably Russian spy disguised as Gilligan who believed the castaways were on a secret American base.
Another russian agent. Again the russians have no motive to help rescue the castaways, who would only report their spying.
A suicidal librarian who resembled Ginger Grant.
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Dream sequences
Another common story format had the castaways confront a problem and one of the castaways, usually Gilligan, has a silly dream that relates to the problem in question. Almost all of the castaways in later interviews and memiors have stated that the dream episodes were among their personal favorites.
Gilligan dreams he is a Wild West sheriff who protects a duck everyone wants to eat.
Thurston Howell dreams he is a prospector who strikes it rich, but gets into debt and trouble
Gilligan dreams he is a spoiled prince of the Royal Howells, who only wants to be a 'normal boy.
Gilligan dreams his own version of Jack and the Beanstalk where the Giant is hoarding oranges.
Lovey Howell stars in her own dream version of Cinderella with Gilligan as her Fairy Godfather.
Mary Ann dreams she is a patient in a hospital everyone wants to pronounce terminal.
Gilligan dreams he is a vampire who battles Inspector Sherlock (The Professor) and Colonel Watney (Skipper).
Gilligan dreams he is Lord Admiral Gilligan battling pirates on his ship.
Gilligan dreams he is Henry Jekyll on trial with Mary Poppins (Mrs. Howell) as his consul, while it is revealed by witness, "The Lady in Red," (Tina Louise), that he turns into Mr. Hyde when people talk about food within earshot.
Gilligan dreams he is a puppet (literally) ruler of a country, where he must promise the people "dis, dat and de udder ting"[sic].
Gilligan dreams he is Secret Agent 014 charged with delivering an attache case with most of the other castaways being assassins.
The castaways are cave people following a map to get to the other side of the island.
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Theme song
The Ballad of Gilligan’s Isle is proper name for the theme song for Gilligan’s Island. The music and lyrics were written by Sherwood Schwartz and George Wyle.
There were two versions of the theme during the run of the show, one for the first season and another for the second and third seasons. The lyrics were slightly altered in the second season to add direct mention of the Professor (Russell Johnson) and Mary Anne (Dawn Wells) in the opening credits. According to Schwartz, as the show evolved, the Professor and Mary Anne grew into more important characters than were originally planned. On the annotated first episode on Gilligan’s Island: The Complete First Season, it was reported that Bob Denver insisted that the opening credits be changed to feature all seven actors.
The first season version was recorded by the The Wellingtons and had a more folk music sound. It starts with an acoustic guitar strumming for two bars before the lyrics start. The instrumentation, which includes a slide guitar, is subdued and very Hawaiian sounding.
The second and third season version was not credited to a particular group in the credits, but was presumably recorded under the direction of Gerald Fried, the music supervisor. It begins with a mini fanfare, and has a more traditional pop music sound but with some almost reggae-like underpinnings. The instrumentation is much more prominent in this version, and doesn't have any slide guitar.
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Lyrics
Gilligan's Island Theme Song
During opening credits:
First season:
Just sit right back and you'll hear a tale,
a tale of a fateful trip.
That started from this tropic port
aboard this tiny ship.
The mate was a mighty sailin' man,
the skipper brave and sure.
Five passengers set sail that day
for a three hour tour, a three hour tour.
The weather started getting rough,
the tiny ship was tossed.
If not for the courage of the fearless crew,
the Minnow would be lost, the Minnow would be lost.
The ship set ground on the shore of this uncharted desert isle
with Gilligan, the Skipper, too,
the Millionaire, and his Wife,
the Movie Star,
and the rest
are here on Gilligan's Isle.
Second and third seasons (The final verse changed to):
with Gilligan, the Skipper, too,
the Millionaire, and his Wife,
the Movie Star,
the Professor and Mary Ann,
here on Gilligan's Isle. During closing credits:
Now, this is the tale of our castaways,
they're here for a long, long time.
They'll have to make the best of things;
it's an uphill climb.
The first mate and his skipper, too,
will do their very best
to make the others comfortable
in a tropic island nest.
No phone, no lights, no motor cars,
not a single luxury.
Like Robinson Crusoe, (pronounced like Caruso)
it's primitive as can be.
So join us here each week, my friends,
you're sure to get a smile
for seven stranded castaways,
here on Gilligan's Isle.
[edit]
Gilligan's first name
Gilligan's full name has been a subject of debate among fans of the series for decades, a debate resolved by the release of Gilligan's Island — The Complete First Season DVDs in 2004. The DVD includes a documentary called "Before the Three Hour Tour" which confirms that Gilligan's full name is Willy Gilligan, though this name was never used on the show. This is the same name that Bob Denver mentioned on a talk show.
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Suggested alternatives
In the "Slave Girl" episode of the series, The Professor is heard to possibly give a last name for Gilligan. When introducing him to a native girl, The Professor says "Gilligan …" adding, as the girl looks on uncomprehendingly, "… Hohople", which causes her to laugh. Some cite this as evidence that the character's full name is Gilligan Hohople. The Urban Legends Reference Pages has explained that the "Hohople" reference is the Professor asking the girl if she finds Gilligan handsome. While it may sound as if the Professor is asking a question, there is no context for why he would ask such a strange question.
Alan Hale Jr. has repeatedly stated that he always thought that Gilligan's full name was "Gilligan Davis".
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Location of the island
In episode 3.28, titled "The Pigeon", the note the castaways pin on pigeon's leg says the island is located approximately 300 miles southeast of Hawaii. This general location is refered to in various episodes.
In episode 1.18, entitled "X Marks the Spot", viewers were informed that the Pentagon had decided to test a new warhead just above the equator at 140 degrees latitude and 10 degrees longitude. This is actually one of the series' bigger goofs, as latitude is measured north and south of the equator to the poles and only ranges from 0 to 90 degrees. If coordinates were simply reversed — 140 degrees longitude and 10 degrees north latitude, this would place the island approximately 1200 miles southeast of Hawaii.
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Spin-offs
The success of Gilligan's Island spawned a number of spin-offs:
The New Adventures of Gilligan was a successful Filmation-produced animated remake that aired on ABC Saturday (and Sunday) Morning from September 7, 1974 to September 1977 for 24 episodes (16 installments airing in 1974-75 and 8 new ones combined with repeats in 1975-76). The voices were done by the original cast except for Ginger and Mary Ann, voiced by Jane Webb. An additional character was Stubby the Monkey, voiced by Lou Scheimer.
In a successful 1978 made-for-TV movie, Rescue From Gilligan's Island, the castaways did successfully leave the island, but they had difficulty reintegrating into society. During a reunion cruise at the first Christmas after their rescue, fate intervened and the group found themselves marooned on the exact same island. It starred the original cast except for Tina Louise, who refused to participate and was replaced as Ginger by Judith Baldwin (who seemed much too young for the role, compared to the other actors). The plot of the movie involved Soviet agents seeking a memory disc from a spy satellite that landed on the island and facilitated their rescue.
In a 1979 sequel, The Castaways on Gilligan's Island, they were rescued once again, and the Howells converted the island into a getaway resort, with the other five castaways as "silent partners". (Ginger was again played by Judith Baldwin). This sequel was intended as a pilot for a possible new series in which the castaways would host new groups of tourists each week, using the all-star cast anthology format made popular by The Love Boat. The series never materialized.
In still another sequel, The Harlem Globetrotters on Gilligan's Island (1981), some villains (played by Martin Landau and Barbara Bain, who also appeared together on Mission: Impossible and Space: 1999) try to take over the island to gain access to a valuable but unknown substance. They are thwarted by the timely intervention of the Harlem Globetrotters. Jim Backus, who was in poor health at the time, only appeared at the very end of the episode, arriving back on the island. David Ruprecht played the role of Thurston Howell IV. This is odd, because it was established in the series that the Howells were childless.
Gilligan's Planet was an animated science fiction version produced by Filmation and starring the voices of the Gilligan's Island cast save for Tina Louise (Dawn Wells played the voices of both Mary Ann and Ginger). They escape from the island by building a spaceship, and get shipwrecked on a distant planet. Only 12 episodes aired on CBS (Gilligan's old network) between September 18, 1982 and September 3, 1983. In one episode, they travel to an island, get shipwrecked there, and Gilligan observes, "First we were standed on an island, then we were stranded on a planet, and now we're stranded on an island on a planet."
Gilligan's Island: Underneath the Grass Skirt (1999)
Gilligan's Island: The E! True Hollywood Story (2000), a backstage history of the show, featuring interviews with some of the stars or their widows.
Surviving Gilligan's Island: The Incredibly True Story of the Longest Three Hour Tour in History (2001) was a docudrama where Bob Denver, Dawn Wells, and Russell Johnson reminisce about the show.
On November 30, 2004, the TBS network launched a reality series entitled The Real Gilligan's Island which placed two groups of people on an island, leaving them to fend for themselves a la Survivor — the catch being that each islander matched a character type established in the original series (a klutz, a sea captain, a movie star, a millionaire's wife, etc.). While heavily marketed by TBS, the show turned out to be a flop with a very "Survivor"-like feel, but little of the Survivor success. A second season began June 8, 2005 with two-hour episodes for four weeks. TBS announced in July 2005 that a third season of the show would not be produced.
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Tributes
This is a list of shows that were either similar in content to Gilligan’s Island or spoofed it in a particular episode:
Dusty's Trail, another Sherwood Schwartz production, put similar characters on a wagon train heading west. Bob Denver starred as Dusty (Gilligan's counterpart), but the other characters (wagon master, rich couple, saloon girl, school marm, and engineer) were played by a different cast. In this series, Dusty was sidekick to wagon master "Callahan" played by Forrest Tucker of F Troop fame. Only 26 episodes were aired in syndication in 1973 and 1974.
ALF featured an episode where Alf, yearning for the castaways' simple life, dreams about being on the island with the Skipper, Gilligan, the Professor and Mary Ann. The Professor has built a TV set (out of bamboo and other miscellany), where they watch a TV show based on the life of the Tanners.
Roseanne, during its 1995 season finale episode, featured a fantasy sequence in which several cast members became characters on Gilligan's Island (Dan becomes the Skipper, Darlene as Mary Anne, Roseanne as Ginger, Jackie as Gilligan, Leon and Bev as Mr. and Mrs. Howell, and so on). During the shows closing credits, as a reversal, we see the surviving original cast of Gilligan's island filling in on the set of Roseanne, as character counterparts (guest starring: Bob Denver, Russell Johnson, Dawn Wells and Tina Louise).
The Movie A Very Brady Sequel created a link between The Brady Bunch and Gilligan's Island in the form of Carol Brady's former husband being revealed to be the Professor. Additionally, Gilligan's father was shown to have funded the Minnow's journey in search of a rare statue. He then imagined the horror of the crew surviving the storm and being trapped on some "uncharted desert isle".
In March 2006, the Applebee's restaurant chain introduced a new advertising campaign for their "Shrimp Sensations” dishes in which two musicians sing about the product to the tune of the The Ballad of Gilligan’s Isle.
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Cultural allusions to Gilligan's Island
On the animated series Family Guy, the youngest child Stewie Griffin's full name is Stewart Gilligan Griffin, in homage to Gilligan's Island.
Along with the spin-offs listed above, Bob Denver appeared as Gilligan or a Gilligan-like character in the television series Baywatch, The New Gidget, and Meego, as well as in the movie Back to the Beach.
The motto of the starship USS Brattain of the fictional world of Star Trek is "...a three hour tour, a three hour tour", a possible reference to the show's opening theme.
Alan Hale, Jr. guest-starred in episode of The Wild Wild West. At the end of episode he quips he is going to vacation on an "uncharted desert isle", an obvious in-joke.
Alan Hale, Jr. also made a brief appearance in a Batman episode that guest-starred Vincent Price as Egghead. Hale played "Gilligan", the chef/owner of a fast-food diner that Chief O'Hara stopped at.
Bob Denver made a guest appearance on the Fox series Herman's Head, donning his trademark hat, and portraying himself promoting his book Gilligan, Maynard and Me. In the episode he is on an island in the Caribbean for his book-signing tour. Unfortunately, he misses his flight and is stuck on the island for a long period of time.
What I Like About You, a sitcom airing on the WB network, featured an episode where the main characters were watching an episode of Gilligan's Island, in which the show's cast played the roles of the castaways. Amanda Bynes, the star of the show, played a Mary Ann who had to stay behind on the island as the rest of the cast escaped the island.
The graphic novel David Boring, by writer/artist Dan Clowes, features an island called "Hulligan's Wharf" where the main characters are stranded, gradually running low on food supplies.
In an episode of Sliders, some of the cast is watching TV at their hotel room, and we can hear the dialogue which suggests an alternate-Earth version of casting. At the station break, the announcer says they'll return to Skipper's Island in a moment.
In 2006, the comic strip Monty (comic strip) had an extended sequence in which the title character was shipwrecked on the island of Lost. He eventually discovered that the mysterious "Others" were in fact Gilligan and his descendants. Gilligan was portrayed as having gone mad and become a figure resembling Colonel Kurtz (Marlon Brando) in Apocalypse Now.
In an epsiode of "Married With Children", Mrs. Darcy's Japanese boss comes to see how his bank is being run and she serves him a Japanese dinner. While she is serving him he thinks to himself, "Japanese food for a Japanese man? That is like offering Gilligan a coconut after getting off the Island!"
On an episode of Magic School Bus, Dorothy Ann thinks up names for an island. She says " Gilligan's Island? No. It's been taken.
On and episode of Fairly Oddparents Timmy says " They couldn't build a boat on Gilligan's Island because it would end the series."
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Trivia
A fellow editor requested that someone provide references or some sources for the information in this section.
In the Jack and the Beanstalk dream sequence in the episode "'V' for Vitamins," the smaller version of Gilligan, running from the Giant Skipper, is played by Bob Denver's real life son, Patrick Denver.[1]
The show was filmed what is today the CBS Studio Center in Studio City, California.[2]
The pilot episode was filmed at Moloaa Bay on the island of Kauai.[3]
The view of the island from the water is actually "Coconut Island" or Mokuoloe. It is located in Oahu's Kaneohe Bay and is the home of the Institute of Marine Biology.[4]
The original pilot was filmed shortly after John F. Kennedy was assassinated. In the title sequence of the first season, in the background, while the Minnow is leaving the port, there is flag flying at half-mast in honor of John F. Kennedy after his death.[5]
Some fans were convinced that the cast were actually stuck on an island. The U.S. Coast Guard regularly received phone calls and letters to rescue them.
Some fans also thought that Jim Backus and Natalie Schafer (the Howells) were really married in real life.
The S.S. Minnow was named after Newton N. Minow, the chairman of the Federal Communications Commission in 1961. In a much-publicized speech, he called television a "vast wasteland". The boat was named after the man who, Gilligan's Island producer Sherwood Schwartz insists, "ruined television". Minow gave networks authority and placed the power of programming in the hands of the networks. He did this after Gilligan's Island was started.[6]
The theme song was sung by a folk group called "The Wellingtons". They comprised three-fourths of "The Mosquitos", the rock group that came to the island to get away from civilization. The other member was Les Brown, Jr., son of big band leader Les Brown.[7]
In the episode "Don't Bug The Mosquitoes", Gilligan makes a reference to The Beatles song "She Loves You" by singing "yeah, yeah, yeah" to the Skipper after he said "no, no, no!"
As of April 2006, Tina Louise, Dawn Wells, and Russell Johnson are the only surviving cast members.
Some the episodes were directed by Richard Donner.[8]
Some of the music for the series was composed by John Williams.[9]
In several episodes where a show is being presented, Jim Backus (as Mr. Howell) does impersonations of Ed Sullivan.
Actor Vito Scotti appeared in four episodes as two different characters: two as a Japanese sailor and two as a mad scientist.[10]
Some TV stations which are airing Gilligan's Island refuse to air two of the episodes featuring the Japanese sailor, due to political correctness and sensitivity to stereotyping.
The "Jungle Boy" in the episode "Gilligan Meets Jungle Boy" is played by a young Kurt Russell.[11]
Lakers announcer Chick Hearn [12] and NFL Films narrator John Facenda made voice-over appearances on the program as radio announcers.
In real-life, Natalie Schafer (Lovey Howell) was actually born 13 years before her husband on the show, played by Jim Backus (Thurston Howell III).[13] [14]
Bob Denver, Jim Backus, and Tina Louise each had feature episodes where look-alikes came to the island (who were, of course, played by themselves).
Before he played his "signature" role as Jaws in several James Bond movies, Richard Kiel played the ghost in the episode "Ghost a Go-Go".[15]
In the episode "Up at Bat", in the dream sequence where Gilligan believes he's a vampire, the fight sequence is done in the style of fights on the Batman TV series.
In a dream sequence in another episode, Gilligan was a Marshal of a western town, protecting a duck. The sequence was filmed on the set of Gunsmoke, which, coincidentally, was the show responsible for knocking Gilligan off the air.[16]
The theme song is almost rhythmically identical to most of Samuel Taylor Coleridge's poem Rime of the Ancient Mariner. The subject of a wayward ship voyage is similar, too.
The series was originally a United Artists Television production. The series is now owned by Warner Bros.' Turner Entertainment and the Phil Silvers Trust; this is due to the fact that Gilligan's Island was part of the MGM/UA package purchased in 1986 by Ted Turner (this also included the classic MGM/WB/RKO libraries). Through subsequent acquisitions, Warner Bros. now handles all worldwide distribution, including home video.
The opening scene of the "Minnow" in a storm was reused in an epsiode of "The Wild, Wild West" in which several persons are trapped on a island.
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"And the rest"
In the first season theme song, the Professor and Mary Ann were not mentioned by name or role, but rather referred to as "and the rest". Actors Russell Johnson and Dawn Wells were originally considered "second-billed co-stars", but with the growing popularity of their characters, their names were inserted into the later-season lyrics.[1] [2] [3]
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Goof
In several episodes, latitude and longitude coordinates of the island are given, but they never seem to match with other coordinates given in other episodes. In one episode, the Professor gives the island's position as 10° N 110° W, which would place the island 3100 miles (5000 km) from Hawaii, due south of the Baja California Peninsula and due west of Costa Rica.
In several episodes Mrs Thurston Howell claims to speak fluent French, while in one episode she claims she cannot speak any French.
Episode #1041 "The Sweepstakes" in which Prospecter Howell and everyone thinks he lost his deed. Yet look closely-a few minuites before he put the deed in his pocket!!
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References
Denver, Bob (November 1993). Gilligan, Maynard & Me. Carol Publishing Corporation. ISBN 0806514132.
Green, Joey (April 1988). Unofficial Gilligan's Island Handbook. Warner Books. ISBN 0446386685.
Johnson, Russell; Steve Cox (July 1993). Here on Gilligan's Isle, 1st edition, Perennial. ISBN 0060969938.
Schwartz, Sherwood (15). Inside Gilligan's Island : A Three-Hour Tour Through The Making Of A Television Classic. St. Martin's Griffin. ISBN 0312104820.
Gilligan's Island - The Complete First Season (DVD), 2004, Turner Home Entertainment, UPC 053939673425.
Gilligan's Island - The Complete Second Season (DVD), 2005, Turner Home Entertainment, UPC 053939692624.
Gilligan's Island - The Complete Third Season (DVD), 2005, Turner Home Entertainment, UPC 053939733129.
^ * Green. Unofficial Gilligan's Island Handbook.
^ Straight Dope staff (Lileth). Was the "Gilligan's Island" theme song tampered with?. The Straight Dope. Cecil Adams. URL accessed on 2006-04-04.
^ Gilligan's Island (Gilligan's Island Tidbits section). The Fifties Web. URL accessed on 2006-04-04.