Gilligan's Island: Splashdown

Gratuitous cheesecake scene.

Gilligan's Island: Splashdown
CBS
February 20, 1967
Sitcom
DVD
B-

John Fenton Murray's second GI script has quite a bit of "implausible even for Gilligan's Island" about it, but it is interesting to see the girls and the Howells try to sneak aboard the space capsule.  And it's an overall typical but entertaining episode.  But, no, I don't know why they can't use the phosphoric rocks from the earlier episode to spell out SOS, or why Gilligan doesn't know what SOS means, or why....

James Spencer, who plays Ryan, was Copilot earlier, while George N. Neise is a NASA Official here and was an interviewer earlier.  Sportscaster Chick Hearn is a Commentator here and would be a Radio Announcer later, although it's his appearance in the final GI TV-movie that I really remember.

Gilligan's Island: All About Eva

Gilligan's Island: All About Eva
CBS
December 12, 1966
Sitcom
DVD
B-

This time the lookalike doesn't look like the castaway when we first see her.  Eva Grubb not only wears drab clothes but she wears glasses and has black hair in a bun.  Ever since I was a kid, I've never understood how the women decide to give Eva red hair.  It would've made more sense if it was red to begin with, or a color close to red, like dark auburn.  Still, it's interesting to see Tina Louise in a dual role.  Shipping is complicated here by Eva's presence, since when the Professor tells Eva she's beautiful, he's really complimenting Ginger.  And when Gilligan tries to resist Eva kissing him, how much of this has to do with his feelings about Ginger?  Note that the Professor and Mary Ann dance at the party twice, but Eva only dances with Mrs. Howell!  And I'm going to assume that Eva either reformed at sea or didn't make it back, since we don't hear anything further about her taking over Ginger's Hollywood career.

Gilligan's Island: And Then There Were None

Gilligan's Island: And Then There Were None
CBS
December 5, 1966
Sitcom
DVD
B-

This is Ron Friedman's second GI script and is similar to his "Up at Bat" in that Gilligan imagines he's a monster, in this case Jekyll & Hyde in Victorian London, with everyone doing their best British accents.  Airing as this did one week after "The Kidnapper," it seems odd, not to mention racist, for the Professor to assume that people are disappearing because of head-hunters, but the next conclusion he jumps to, that one of the four men is secretly a killer, is even more implausible.  At this point in the series though, he's definitely the leader and no one really questions him.  Shipping note, Mr. Howell and Ginger, the latter as The Lady in Red, flirt like crazy in Gilligan's dream, while Mary Ann, as Eliza Doolittle, is of course the one person who's on Gilligan's side.  Oh, and this is an episode where Gilligan is in drag in one scene.

Gilligan's Island: The Kidnapper

Gilligan's Island: The Kidnapper
CBS
November 28, 1966
Sitcom
DVD
B-


This is Don Rickles in gentler mode, more like Jack Fanny in Muscle Beach Party than Big Drop in Beach Blanket Bingo.  So instead of insulting everyone, he flatters them.  And steals from them.  Beware Don Rickles in gentler mode.  Ray Singer would also write "Her Sister's Shadow" for The Brady Bunch, thus adding "Marcia, Marcia, Marcia" to pop culture.  Shipping note, Gilligan asks Mary Ann to dance, but she dances with Rickles and is the only woman whose jewelry isn't stolen.

Gilligan's Island: Gilligan vs. Gilligan

Not on the level of Duck Soup, but cute.

Gilligan's Island: Gilligan vs. Gilligan
CBS
September 19, 1966
Sitcom
DVD
B-

This time there is an explanation of the look-alike.  It's not very plausible of course, but it is an explanation.  I do wonder what, if anything, the cosmonauts told the Russian authorities about their visit to the island.  In any case, Gilligan's look-alike's commanders have gone to the trouble of filming him (or maybe they had an agent at the Cannes Film Festival) and they've given the spy temporary plastic surgery.  Yet they have no idea what "mission" the castaways are on.  Sort of shipping note, when the look-alike comes on far too strong with Ginger, she is shocked at Gilligan behaving this way, especially the part about him thinking she's madly in love with him.

Gilligan's Island: Up at Bat

Gilligan's Island: Up at Bat
CBS
September 12, 1966
Sitcom
DVD
B

This is the first of three GI episodes Ron Friedman wrote and it's a nice way to kick off the third season.  The basic idea is pretty silly, and the bat marionette is ridiculous, but the episode does actually manage to be deliberately funny and a bit scary.  (I think it did scare me as a kid, especially because Gilligan was usually so sweet and gentle.)  The dream sequence allows for dress-up as always, with Mary Ann this time a much less attractive maid, and Ginger as Gilligan's vampire bride.  The Professor and the Skipper as Holmes and "Watney" are the most into their roles, although I was surprised by what I'm sure is an ad-lib Jim Backus makes about a male decorator's ballet slippers.  And this episode contains what must be one of Mary Ann's shortest dresses ever, shorter than her nightshirt!

Gilligan's Island: Forward March

Gilligan's Island: Forward March
CBS
February 17, 1966
Sitcom
DVD
C+

Except for Ginger singing "It Had to Be You" to Gilligan and vamping the Skipper to prove she'd make a good spy, this episode, the first of two written by Jack Raymond and the first of seven directed by Jerry Hopper, is pretty forgettable and gives a sense of de ja vu.  Janos Prohaska again plays an ape, or gorilla.