Gilligan's Island: Take a Dare

Ginger of course vamps Barkley.

Gilligan's Island: Take a Dare
CBS
January 2, 1967
Sitcom
DVD
B-

This is Roland MacLane's next to last GI script and I don't know if it's him or director Cherry, doing his last of five, who's responsible for all the whimsical little touches, like Gilligan's "Sorry about that, Chief" (not the first Get Smart reference, but less subtle than "Would you believe...?") or the way the castaways are shown talking in a line and the Professor is somehow at both ends.  I like how there's the twist ending, where George Barkley doesn't get the $10,000, and then a further twist on that, with Mr. Howell, the person who least needs it, finding it.  Not a classic episode by any means, but worth watching.

Gilligan's Island: Operation Steam Heat

False alarm, Gilligan did not drink nitroglycerin.

Gilligan's Island: Operation Steam Heat
CBS
March 10, 1966
Sitcom
DVD
C+

This is an episode where the Professor withholds important information, in this case that the volcano on the island might explode.  The science in this episode is pretty dubious, including throwing a bomb into a cavern that connects with the volcano, resulting in the lava actually receding!  At one point, both Mary Ann and Ginger "hug and kiss" Gilligan (we don't see much of either) in order to help him think while he's in his hammock.

Gilligan's Island: Not Guilty

Gilligan's Island: Not Guilty
CBS
January 6, 1966
Sitcom
DVD
B-

This episode, Roland MacLane's fourth, would've made more sense early on the series, since it seems odd that if so many of the castaways are suspects in a murder case that none of the visitors to the island ever mentioned it.  (Or that it had never come up on the radio news.)  Nonetheless, the reconstruction of the night of the murder works well, and we find out a bit more about the castaways' lives before the shipwreck, including that Mary Ann's father went bankrupt.  (I assume she and her mother then moved in with Uncle George and Aunt Martha.)  Shipping note: Ginger kisses Gilligan when he's pretending to be the victim, although she does not slap his face like she claimed to with Randolph Blake.

Gilligan's Island: Water, Water Everywhere

Gilligan's Island: Water, Water Everywhere
CBS
January 2, 1965
Sitcom
DVD
B-

The only GI episode written by Frank and Tom Waldman (brothers?), this fits the "crisis mode" that seems to pop up particularly in the early days of the show.  This time water is not in fact everywhere, until Gilligan and his frog buddy (voiced by Blanc) find a cave full of it.  Ginger seems man-hungrier than ever, especially towards Gilligan, who she flirts with twice (including while in the shower!).  And when the gang goes looking for Gilligan, who's left a note saying he's running away, Mary Ann says they'll hug, kiss, and squeeze him when they find him.  Ginger says, "What are we waiting for?"  On the other hand, the Skipper offers a flower to a person in the shower stall, thinking it's the lovely Ginger, but it turns out to be Gilligan, who asks if the corsage means they're engaged now.

Gilligan's Island: The Big Gold Strike

Gilligan's Island: The Big Gold Strike
CBS
November 28, 1964
Sitcom
DVD
B-

Despite an agreement to split everything on the island fairly, Mr. Howell refuses to share the gold he's discovered (with Gilligan's help).  Soon everyone except Gilligan succumbs to gold fever.  Ginger mildly "seduces" Mr. Howell in hopes he'll change his mind, although mostly she tries to appeal to his well hidden spirit of generosity.  When the life raft sinks, thanks to most of the castaways trying to smuggle gold aboard, it's the Professor that Ginger clings to when she claims she can't swim.

Roland Wolpert also wrote "President Gilligan," while this is the first of five episodes Stanley Z. Cherry directed.