The Baron Watches "Gilligan's Island"

[The Baron]

Having seen my good friend Jeff's latest TV-based discussion, Jeff Watches Torchwood, I thought, "Since Jeff is posting about a current program that he's watching for the first time, I ought to post about an old program that I'd be watching for what would be at least the fiftieth, but which I haven't looked at in quite some time - and what better program to watch than one of the seminal comedies of its generation, one which had a profound impact on American television, and which went on to inspire such varied fare as Dusty's Trail, Far Out Space Nuts, and Lost.

Gilligan's Island is one of the first television programs I ever remember watching - Having been born in 1963, I was a touch too young to watch it in first-run, but I must've caught it in its earliest re-runs - I'm pretty sure that "Happy Birthday to You" and "The Ballad of Gilligan's Isle" are among the first songs that I knew all the words to.

I debated putting a spoiler warning on this thread - it's hard for me to conceive that there's anyone out there who hasn't seen Gilligan's Island - certainly not in the U.S. Anyway, if by some chance you haven't seen the show, but might want to watch it someday - be forewarned! There will be discussions of plot points, here.

As for the rest of you, "Just sit right back..."

[ClarkKent_DC]

I once read somewhere that Wonder Woman's appearance on The Brady Kids was her first appearance in animation.

[Figserello]

I'm enjoying this thread even though I've never seen a single episode of this Gilligan's Island of which you speak.

Regarding the cartoons, wasn't Top Cat just a rip-off of Sergant Bilko?

Also, by my understanding of scientific method, it'd be impossible to prove the negative - ie that picking up radio in your fillings was impossible. How would you start to prove that?

You can't just say - I've got fillings and I don't hear Casey Casem in my head, therefore its impossible to pick up radio in your teeth!

If there's a one in a million chance of it happening, your test cohort would have to include a million people. Not many test groups are that large, and I don't think Mythbusters have that big a budget.

Their budget usually only stretches to the cost of a kilo of TNT and a hammer.

[The Baron]

You don't hear Casey Kasem in your head?

[The Baron]

Figserello said:

I'm enjoying this thread even though I've never seen a single episode of this Gilligan's Island of which you speak.

Regarding the cartoons, wasn't Top Cat just a rip-off of Sergant Bilko?

Also, by my understanding of scientific method, it'd be impossible to prove the negative - ie that picking up radio in your fillings was impossible. How would you start to prove that?

You can't just say - I've got fillings and I don't hear Casey Casem in my head, therefore its impossible to pick up radio in your teeth!

If there's a one in a million chance of it happening, your test cohort would have to include a million people. Not many test groups are that large, and I don't think Mythbusters have that big a budget.

Their budget usually only stretches to the cost of a kilo of TNT and a hammer.

Well, on one level, all the Mythbusters can prove or not prove is whether or not they can duplicate a given phenomenon. Still a fun show, though.

[The Baron]

ClarkKent_DC said:

I once read somewhere that Wonder Woman's appearance on The Brady Kids was her first appearance in animation.

If it's true, they must've just beaten the first SuperFriends show.

[Jeff of Earth-J]

I'm in the midst of watching the first SuperFriends show right now. (Just thought I'd share that.)

[ClarkKent_DC]

I discovered where I read that Wonder Woman's appearance on The Brady Kids was her first appearance in animation: Over here, on the old board, in the thread "Under the Radar Shows You Remember".

[ClarkKent_DC]

We come up with several more examples of live-action shows done as Saturday morning cartoons in this thread: "10 Worst Cartoon Characters of All Time" ... not to threadjack or anything ...

[The Baron]

The Chain of Command:

A brush with death and a perceived threat of attack by headhunters causes the Skipper to ponder who would assume command if something were to happen to him.

There's a small continuity error in this episode. Gilligan, caught up with "being in command" and not watching where he's going, marches blindly off a cliff, and only saves himself by clinging to a branch. When he marches off the cliff, he's wearing the Skipper's hat - when he's shown clinging to the branch, he's wearing his own hat.

Back Story: Gilligan describes his appointment as the Skipper's successor as his "first promotion since grammar school".

Taking it Seriously: In order to test Gilligan's ability to assume command, the Skipper fakes his own capture by "savages", leaving behind signs of a scuffle and a note. It seems odd to me that no one questions the idea that he supposedly had time to write a note while being attacked.
The funny thing is, this episode makes a good case that Gilligan is the best suited of the castaways to assume command in the Skipper's absence.

Gilligan Spoils A Rescue: No.

[The Baron]

Don't Bug the Mosquitoes:

The island is visited by the popular rock & roll band, the Mosquitoes - Bingo, Bango, Bongo, and Irving (Played by Les Brown, Jr. and The Wellingtons), who are trying to get away from it all. The castaways attempt to persuade them to leave the island sooner - going so far as to forn bands of their own - the male castaways form "The Gnats" and the female castaways form the Honeybees. The Gnats are awful, but the Honeybees are good enough that the Mosquitoes feel threatened by them. and leave the island, leaving the castaways behind.

This is very much an early 60's TV portrayal of rock & roll, with the Mosquitoes as caterwauling long-hairs (they're actually not that bad), opening a "generation gap" between Gilligan, Mary-Ann and, to a lesser extent, Ginger, who are fans of the Mosquitoes, and the others, who simply consider the Mosquitoes' music to be incomprehensible noise.

Natalie Schafer is particularly funny in this, relentlessly chasing the rockers with scissors.

The Mosquitoes leave the castaways a copy of their album, "The Mosquitoes at Carnegie Hall".

While we've had variations on it in the past, I believe this is the first episode where we get a full-blown "Gilligan, you've done it again, little buddy!"

Back Story: Gilligan has a collection of all of the Mosquitoes' albums.
Mr. Howell claims to have been a personal advisor to the Bolshoi Ballet and Lawrence Welk.

Taking It Seriously: The fact that the Mosquitoes knew of the island and had believed it to be uninhabited strikes me as an indication that the place wasn't really "uncharted". also, this is one of the more callous "abandonments" of the castaways to date.

Gilligan Spoils A Rescue: No.

[The Baron]

Gilligan Gets Bugged:

Gilligan is bitten by the mantis cani, a bug whose bite is said to be fatal within 24 hours. In the end, it turns out to be a non-fatal subspecies, and it is the bug that does 24 hours after biting Gilligan.

There are some good scenes in this in which we see how much Gilligan means to the other castaways, including a surprise party that ends rather sadly.

Back Story: One of the books the Professor has with him is The World of Insects.

Takng It Seriously: Since I know very little about entomology, I have no idea whether there are any insects in the world that are this lethal. I got stung by a bee in my armpit, once, when I was a kid. Had to walk around holding my arm at a odd angle for a couple of days. Another time I was cleaning my grandparents' gutter, and stuck my hand through a nest of mud wasps. As I recall, I expressed my discomfort through the loud projection of several words of ancient Anglo-Saxon derivation.

Gilligan Spoils A Rescue: No.

[Commander Benson]

The Baron said:

Don't Bug the Mosquitoes

One of the favourite in-jokes of the Good Mrs. Benson and myself comes from this episode. All anyone has to do, including myself, in any context, for any reason, is to say "the mosquitoes" or, simply, "mosquitoes".

At the sound of the word, instantly, the GMB will, in true Mary Ann fashion, toss her head and squeal: "The Mosquitoes!?! EEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE!!!"


Incidentally, Dawn Wells has gone on record as stating that she couldn't sing a note. Even when she sang "Happy Birthday" in an episode, she said her singing had to be dubbed in. Assuming Miss Wells is not simply being modest, whomever dubbed her singing voice as one of the Honeybees had it spot-on. I've listened to it dozens of times and, if I didn't know any different, I'd swear it was Dawn Wells singing.