The Castaways on Gilligan's Island

The Castaways on Gilligan's Island is a 1979 made-for-television comedy film that continues the adventures of the shipwrecked castaways from the 1964–1967 sitcom Gilligan's Island and the first reunion movie, Rescue from Gilligan's Island, featuring the original cast from the television series with the exception of Tina Louise, who was replaced in the role of Ginger Grant by Judith Baldwin. Written by Al Schwartz, Elroy Schwartz and series creator Sherwood Schwartz and directed by Earl Bellamy, it was first broadcast on NBC May 3, 1979. Unlike the independently-produced Rescue from Gilligan's Island, this and the subsequent The Harlem Globetrotters on Gilligan's Island were produced by MCA/Universal Television.

The Castaways on Gilligan's Island
Title card
GenreComedy
Written bySherwood Schwartz
Al Schwartz
Elroy Schwartz
Directed byEarl Bellamy
StarringBob Denver
Alan Hale, Jr.
Dawn Wells
Jim Backus
Natalie Schafer
Russell Johnson
Judith Baldwin
Music byGerald Fried
Country of originUnited States
Original languageEnglish
Production
Executive producerSherwood Schwartz
ProducerLloyd J. Schwartz
CinematographyJoe Jackman
Keith Smith
EditorAlbert J. Zuniga
Running time70 minutes
Production companiesRedwood Productions
Sherwood Schwartz Productions
MCA/Universal Television
DistributorNBCUniversal Television Distribution
Warner Bros. Television Distribution
Release
Original networkNBC
Picture formatColor (Technicolor)
Audio formatMono
Original releaseMay 3, 1979 (1979-05-03)
Chronology
Preceded byRescue from Gilligan's Island
Followed byThe Harlem Globetrotters on Gilligan's Island

Plot

Part One

The movie picks up directly after the end of Rescue from Gilligan's Island. The castaways are once again stranded on the same island that they had been on for so many years. The storm has contaminated all of the underground springs, and they are desperately searching for fresh water. Gilligan stumbles upon a pair of airplanes that are hidden in the jungle that they failed to notice throughout their 15 years on the island. It is revealed that the island was a base of operations for the Army Air Corps during World War II, and the hangar was abandoned and heavily overgrown with jungle brush, and as such hidden from plain sight. The tidal wave from the previous movie destroyed the foliage and exposed the hangar. The Professor believes that he can combine the two planes into one and fly them all back to civilization. He succeeds in cobbling together an airworthy plane and, dubbing it Minnow III, they head back.

During the attempt to fly back to Hawaii, however, the plane has engine trouble. The Professor orders Gilligan to jettison some weight, and in doing so, Gilligan falls out and has to parachute down to the island. The castaways elect to return for Gilligan, although the Professor warns it will be impossible to take off again. Right after landing, the engine falls off, and the Skipper remarks it would have been certain death had that happened while airborne. Gilligan inadvertently saved the castaways again, and the group says they should look for him. They soon find him stuck in a tree, but they are dismayed as the plane was their final hope of rescue. Their despair is quickly dispelled when a U.S. Navy captain appears saying that their plane was detected on radar long enough for them to track it back to the island. The castaways are once again returned to civilization and the U.S. government pinpoints the location of the island to prevent future castaway incidents. After being officially rescued, Mr. Howell decides to build a hotel resort on the island- a "living tribute", as he calls it, to the years the seven lived together on the island...

Part Two

The second half — which was originally intended as a pilot for a Love Boat-type of weekly series — picks up a year later, with the island now a tropical resort fully linked to civilization and owned by Mr. Howell (who makes Gilligan and the other castaways silent partners in the hotel). The rest of the castaways work as the staff of the resort, where the Skipper and Gilligan man a motor whale boat, aptly named Minnow IV, that shuttles people to and from cruise ships that stop at the island.

On one such trip, the Minnow IV brings two married couples to the island. One couple has Henry Elliot (Tom Bosley), a workaholic real estate business man from Cleveland, whose wife, Myra (Marcia Wallace), is trying to get to relax and forget about work, as well as an unaccompanied minor named Robbie (Ronnie Scribner). It is initially assumed the kid belonged to either the Elliots or the other couple on the boat, but neither couple claims the boy (the Elliots mention their kids being back home, and Henry actually forgets how many they have), nor does any other couple staying on the island.

Henry continues to fuss over work, despite Myra and the rest of the castaways trying to help him relax, but nothing helps; not a massage, not fishing, not snorkeling, nothing. Henry even finds the only pay phone on the island (hidden in a fake tree in the lobby, and used only for emergencies) and tries to call his office back in Cleveland, then panics because no one answers there, only for Myra to remind him of the time zone difference. Henry finally decides to placate his wife by changing out of his suit (which he had been wearing since getting off the Minnow IV) into a pair of shorts and a polo shirt, and does not shave. She is not too impressed with his new look or his sudden desire to adapt to the vacation, but she reluctantly goes along with it. It is shown to be an attempt to use reverse psychology to drive Myra to want to leave sooner, but she caught Henry telling that to another couple they have spoken to before (one of whom is a dentist, and is glad to get away from work for a vacation), and winds up threatening to have them stay for many weeks.

Meanwhile, Robbie, the unaccompanied kid, is sneaking around the island, and even snatches a hamburger from the Skipper's plate when he is not looking. As he is doing this, he climbs trees, swings from tree to tree via vines like Tarzan, and even shows a lot of skill as a gymnast. His parents end up coming over from the cruise ship to find him after realizing he was not in the ship's gym or on the boat at all. Gilligan goes out and eventually finds him, and learns he ran away from his parents due to undue pressure put on him to work hard to go to the Olympics, and how he would love to be more like a regular kid and not be practicing for eight hours a day on the weekends. Gilligan does not agree to hide him from his parents and eventually he is reunited with them, where his parents learn why he ran away and agree to dial it down, realizing they never listened to what he really wanted.

Another story is the luau planned for that night and how the Professor found ancient masks to hang at the beach for it. The desk clerk, Naheeti (played by Hawaiian actress Mokihana), warns of evil spirits coming from the masks, which the Professor naturally blows off. He then shows stickers on the insides of the masks saying "MADE IN CHICAGO" to put everyone's mind at ease. Later on at the luau, Henry is seen finally relaxing for real and enjoying himself, apologizing to Myra for being so uptight. When Myra suggests coming back in a year, Henry says he wants to return in six months and see if he can talk Mr. Howell into building condos on the island (to which Myra laughs). The Professor also admits to everyone the "MADE IN CHICAGO" stickers on the masks were placed on them himself to try to prove there is nothing to worry about. Of course, after that, the smaller masks move, and the pole the big mask was on falls onto the table they are sitting at, sending a bowl of poi in the air, landing on the Professor's head. The Professor offers no comment to that.

Cast

Production

In the wake of the ratings success of Rescue from Gilligan's Island, NBC wanted Sherwood Schwartz to produce a new Gilligan's Island series for them. Schwartz objected to reviving the show in its original format due to the aging cast and because he didn't want to repeat his old ideas. He instead suggested the idea of a new hour-long series where the castaways would run a resort hotel on the island. Each episode would feature different guest stars with their own storylines, a premise he compared to The Love Boat. NBC agreed and wanted to order seven episodes to begin airing in three months. Schwartz felt that didn't give him enough time and instead made an agreement to produce one pilot for the current TV season, which became this 90-minute TV-movie, with an option to produce seven series episodes for the fall season.[1]

Release

The Castaways on Gilligan's Island aired on NBC on May 3, 1979 from 8:30 to 10:00 p.m. It suffered a sharp decline in the ratings compared to the previous TV-movie. Schwartz blamed this in part on a last-minute change in its air date. It was moved up eight days from what had been previously advertised to a Thursday, a school night for kids, and put up against Mork and Mindy, a top-rated show at that time. In light of the mediocre ratings for the TV-movie, NBC opted not to order the hour-long series.[2]

References
  1. Schwartz, Sherwood (April 15, 1994). Inside Gilligan's Island: A Three-Hour Tour Through The Making of A Television Classic. St. Martin's Griffin. pp. 235–236. ISBN 0-312-10482-0.
  2. Schwartz, Sherwood (April 15, 1994). Inside Gilligan's Island: A Three-Hour Tour Through The Making of A Television Classic. St. Martin's Griffin. pp. 239–240. ISBN 0-312-10482-0.
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