Talk:Gilligan's Island

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[edit] Seven Deadly Sins?

information should be added, if it can be confirmed, on the cast as the seven deadly sins. Kingturtle 18:43 Apr 14, 2003 (UTC)

AACK! No! information should be deleted, if added, on the totally spurious suggestion that there's a correlation between the castaways and the seven deadly sins. - Nunh-huh 02:32, 16 Oct 2004 (UTC)
You could make correlations, sure, but so what? A couple might be obvious, but I bet you'll have to really stretch the others. And you could do the same for the 7 virtues, the 7 planets the 7 days, or the 7 metals, or any other group of 7. CFLeon 21:42, 8 April 2006 (UTC)
Haha, the 7 planets??? That's the second funniest thing I've seen all day. The funniest was: "These kind of articles detract from serious, scholarly work being done in the field of Pokemon research." Useight 19:46, 16 June 2007 (UTC)
Speculation has no place on Wikipedia. Michael 02:04, 7 August 2006 (UTC)
Sure it does. Right here. Clarityfiend 20:00, 16 June 2007 (UTC)
No stretching required to figure this out: Ginger = LUST, Mary Ann = ENVY, The Professor = PRIDE, Mr. Howell = GREED, Mrs. Howell = SLOTH, The Skipper = ANGER, Gilligan = GLUTTONY--65.93.75.104 (talk) 17:53, 3 May 2008 (UTC)
But doing so would be original research. — Val42 (talk) 05:31, 4 May 2008 (UTC)

[edit] Gilligan's first name

Sherwood Schwarz has been quoted as saying that Gilligan's first name would have been "Willie" had he ever needed to have had one. As it is, the need never arose, and he was merely Gilligan, a fairly common last name of Irish extraction. This is the proper cast attribution. It is even somewhat plausible. We learn that the Skipper and Gilligan were formerly in the Navy together. It seems plausible that he was a Chief Petty Officer and Gilligan a seaman; Gilligan would be used to referring to the Skipper (Grumby) with a term of respect even if they were now business partners, conversely Gurmby would have continued to call Gilligan by his last name, as he did when they were in the navy and that was the proper form of address by a superior to his subordinate. The passengers simply called him "Gilligan" because that was what the Skipper called him, and probably how he introduced him to the passengers at the beginning of the tour. Rlquall 13:41, 16 Nov 2004 (UTC)

I always figured the "Gilligan... Hohople" meant "Gilligan. He's the idiot." But, of course, there's no proof for this. Just happy speculation I'm sharing for the fun of it. :) --Steven Fisher 18:52, 8 Mar 2005 (UTC)
perhaps the 'Hohople' might be the result of a cut? or perhaps a flubbed line that wasn't caught at the time. CFLeon 21:42, 8 April 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Mrs. Howell

I am fairly sure that Mrs. Howell's first name is indeed Lovey. I don't recall any reference to her as Eunice. Does anybody else? Which episode?

She's always called 'Lovey' by Mr Howell, but this could be a nickname. I don't recall any mention of 'Eunice' in the actuall show. It could be in the blue book or a cut scene. CFLeon 21:42, 8 April 2006 (UTC)
I've seen every episode multiple times, and unless I'm somehow missing it, she was never called any name but Lovey. If anyone can tell me when the name Eunice was ever mentioned, I would truly appreciate it. (Snopes.com says that her name was revealed to be Eunice in the episode "Mr. and Mrs. ??", but this is not true. That episode reveals that her maiden name is Wentworth, but it never mentions her first name as being Eunice.)Raymondluxuryacht 05:00, 4 January 2007 (UTC)
When Mr and Mrs Howell get into an arguement over wether to remarry again or not-Mr Howell calls her "Lovey Wentworth" [unsigned]

[edit] Structure

This page needs to be restructured as it has no flow. There is more than enough information on Gilligan's Island to create at least four or five headings. "Cast", "Guest Stars", "Trivia", "Plot", whatever.... I'll be watching this page and hopefully get back to fixing it. Time isn't on my side lately so I thought to just suggest it here. Look at other show's articles to get an idea on the headings to use. JoeHenzi 19:49, 30 Nov 2004 (UTC)

I agree. I started by creating a new Spin-off heading, but probably won't have time to do more for awhile. --Rick Sidwell 05:33, 3 Jan 2005 (UTC)

[edit] Theme song

Lethe wrote that John Williams wrote the Gilligan's Island theme song. He did indeed write the theme song for the unaired pilot, and scores for some episodes. But the familiar theme song was written by George Wyle and producer Sherwood Schwartz. See [1]. --Rick Sidwell 01:58, 19 Feb 2005 (UTC)

I have heard many suggestions by radio personalities and seen some suggestions elsewhere on the Internet that The Ballad of Gilligan's Isle was actually written by Jimmy Page and Robert Plant, and eventually evolved into the legendary Led Zeppelin track Stairway to Heaven. Now, obviously this can't be true -- The Ballad of Gilligan's Isle must have been written in 1964 or 1963, before Page and Plant even knew each other (in fact, Page was just becoming known as a studio musician at the time, and Plant hadn't even formed the Band of Joy yet), while Page and Plant wrote Stairway to Heaven in 1970. Do you think that it's worthwhile to mention -- and dispel -- this urban myth? Such a mention could even cross-link to Stairway to Heaven#Cultural references and spoofs. John Rigali 17:27, 21 September 2006 (UTC)

Since no one has voiced an opinion, I'll proceed with my input when opportunity permits. John Rigali 16:47, 6 October 2006 (UTC)

This sounds like a garbling of the story behind "Stairway to Gilligan's Island," a mash-up record by Little Roger and the Goosebumps that came out in 1978. It combined the GI theme with "Stairway to Heaven" by Led Zeppelin. More detail is available at the "Little Roger and the Goosebumps" article. estmere 21:59, 8 October 2006 (UTC)

I just read the Little Roger and the Goosebumps article. Although the mention of "Stairway to Gilligan's Island" (of which I have a copy, natch) silently suggests that it is the myth's raison d'être, the article does not mention -- much less specifically dispel -- the myth. Unless someone can convince me otherwise, I'll proceed with my input -- which will now include referral to Little Roger and the Goosebumps -- when opportunity permits. -John Rigali 02:24, 26 October 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Minor points

It's really a stretch to refer to Dusty's Trail as a spin-off; while it is somewhat derivative and shares some common elements (each character can be related to a Gilligan's Island counterpart, not just Denver/Dusty), it has no direct link other than Denver, the creator, and the structure. There are no characters carried over as would be characteristic of a true spin-off; the two shows are not even set in the same century.

Also, it is probably wrong to refer to Surviving Gilligan's Island as a "docudrama". This term usually means a movie presented as "true story" in which considerable artistic license with the underlying events has been taken, or an alternative history such as The Court-Martial of George Armstrong Custer or The Trial of Lee Harvey Oswald, both of which interweave factual events with a fictional setting. Surviving Gilligan's Island is probably better described as a "reunion show"; it talks about incidents in the filming of the show but is not based on the premise that the fictional events of Gilligan's Island actually occurred. Rlquall 02:18, 20 Apr 2005 (UTC)

[edit] Gilligan's Dreams

Gilligan also had several erotic dreams involving Ginger, Mary Ann, and, oddly enough, the Skipper.

Please tell me this is random vandalism and not from the actual show. Danthemankhan 01:19, Jun 17, 2005 (UTC)

This is random vandalism, not from the actual show. —wwoods 05:35, 17 Jun 2005 (UTC)
Problem solved! Danthemankhan 03:21, Jun 20, 2005 (UTC)

[edit] Racism

No criticism about the show's racism?

(The question is an obvious troll, but what the heck.) What racism was there that you can document with references that was atypical for a show of its genre in the early 1960s, and what criticism do you suggest? What sources would you cite?
  • C'mon folks...four tilde marks really isn't all that labor intensive. ;-) --Alcalde 19:14, 5 January 2006 (UTC)

[edit] D'oh!

Is there ever a time when the Skipper says, "D'oh!"

—The preceding unsigned comment was added by 131.252.209.128 (talk • contribs) 23:55, 21 January 2006 (UTC) (UTC)

[edit] Bob Denver as Gilligan cameos

Bob Denver appeared as Gilligan in two cameos:
  • 1) An episode of "The Simpsons" where Homer Simpson joins the Navy. The USO entertaiment is "Gilligan".
  • 2) On TV comedy "Murphy Brown" (?) has cast expecting to be entertained by John Denver; instead they are entertained by Bob Denver.

ANYONE Remember these episode titles?

The Simpsons episode was called "Simpson Tide". I have no idea about the other one. Pumpkingrrl 09:20, 16 March 2006 (UTC)
Just to be thorough, here's what I found from IMDb:
(The Meego ep info is from a Google-cached version of the now-defunct TVTome.com, whose successor, the pathetically incomplete TV.com, doesn't include this information.) I've omitted other shows in which Denver appeared as himself rather than Gilligan or another character. IMDb has no record of a Murphy Brown episode that featured Bob Denver in any role. ~ Jeff Q (talk) 23:26, 8 April 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Latitude and Longitude

I suggest that the following passage be removed from the 'Goof' section: "At no time in the series is there a sextant or a compass being used by the castaways. How can he calculate the known position of an "uncharted Desert Isle"?"

I know for a fact (by way of a celestial mechanics course and a particularly dirty final exam question) that it is possible to determine one's latitude and longitude based on observations of shadows, provided you know the time, date, and the angle of the ecliptic (which is a fairly well-known constant). Pumpkingrrl 09:20, 16 March 2006 (UTC)

This problem has been addressed in the new section "location of the island", including how they would determine latitude and longitude --TnKs daddy 07:27, 8 May 2006 (UTC)

[edit] References and citations

This article is woefully short of cited references, so I've made a start. I added a "References" section that includes several prominent books about Gilligan's Island, in the preferred {{cite book}} format. I also added a list of DVD collections so that people might track them down to verify statements about individual episodes. Finally, when adding a new trivia section on the infamous "and the rest" controversy, I included three footnoted sources — two easily accessed websites and 1 specific reference to one of the cited books. (The book citation should include a specific page number, but I don't have the book handy.) I've also added an {{unreferencedsect}} tag to "Trivia" because much of it isn't obvious from the episodes themselves and should therefore include sources for these claims. ~ Jeff Q (talk) 12:49, 4 April 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Tributes & cultural allusions

When editing the "Trivia" section, I split off all the cultural allusions to GI to form a new section, but didn't notice until just now (because I was too narrowly focused) that there's already a "Tribute" section that addresses the same topic. Clearly, these sections should be combined. In fact, there are enough items to split it into two subtopics: other appearances by the original cast, and general allusions in other shows and contexts without the actors. (Or not, but the amount of material needs some kind of organization at least — perhaps chronological.) I mention it here in case someone wants to tackle it before I get to it. ~ Jeff Q (talk) 15:24, 4 April 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Clean-Up

There are 2 spots in the article that address dream sequences with a lot of duplicate information, and the part about the theme song being changed to include The Professor and MA is repeated. Can the duplications be removed? Also, the episode that I recall The Professor's name being revealed is when he's introduced to Zsa-Zsa Gabor, where Mr. Howell mistakenly calls him "Professor Huntley", and The Professor corrects him, leading to Howell making a joke about 'Huntley-Brinkley'. Another point: the longshot of the island at the end of the credits was different for the first season, it looked almost like just a studio mock-up. CFLeon 21:42, 8 April 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Hamlet Lyrics

Where can I find the lyrics to the song Gilligan sings 'to be or not to be' in the Hamlet musical episode?

According to Sherwood Schwartz in the commentary on the episode, the entire song is from Shakespeare. -Gphoto

[edit] Premise should be explained more!

It is not made clear that they are shipwrecked, I was confused the first time I read the article. There is a small mention about the fact that they are castaways, but it should be clearer! Now it looks like it is written to someone who has heard about it, instead of to someone for who the show is completely unknown. Lapinmies 15:12, 26 June 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Alternate location section

I've removed the section on a possible alternate location for the island, as it was riddled with original research, specifically what the policy describes as "new analysis or synthesis of published data, statements, concepts, arguments, or ideas that serves to advance a position." It's also of little encyclopedic value in an article on the show, because (as the section itself notes) it's contrary to actual statements in the program.

There are other minor original research and tone problems throughout the article, but they're less easy to correct without damaging content; I may take a look at them in the next few days. Brendan Moody 20:09, 3 July 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Trivia: Japanese Sailor/Political Correctness

I provided sources for all the trivia bits I could find sources for back in April, but I could find nothing backing up this claim:

"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."

On July 30, I tagged it for someone else to find a source, and I have continued looking for a source myself, but have found nothing but copies of this sentence from Wikipedia. Since no reference seems to be forthcoming, I am removing the sentence. Rizzleboffin 21:20, 19 August 2006 (UTC)

[edit] What's with the "counterpoints"?

In the "Visitors to the Island" section a bizarre phenomenon has developed. A substantial portion of the visitation instances listed are met by "counterpoint" bullets, which attempt to "justify" the visitations -- when that whole section of article is only meant as a list. The imposed "rationalizations" are absolutely inappropriate. --Renyseneb 10:06, 3 September 2006 (UTC)

[edit] How Many Minnows?

The main page says "Four different boats played the part of the SS Minnow in the show. One was used in the opening credits and rented in Honolulu Harbor. Another was used in the opening credits in the second season, and eventually turned up for sale on Vancouver Island in August 2006 after running aground on a reef in the Hecate Strait on the way south from Alaska. One boat was used for beach scenes after being towed to Kauai in Hawaii and another Minnow was built on the CBS Studios set in the second season.[6]"

Not sure if this is right. Trying to account for them all, and I come up with six (though at least one is probably a duplication):

1) The one shown in the harbor in the first season credits. 2) The one shown on the beach in the first season credits, and in various scenes in the pilot episode, some of which were reused for Episode 12, "Birds Gotta Fly, Fish Gotta Talk". 3) The one shown in the harbor in the second and third season credits. 4) The one shown on the beach in the second and third season credits. 5) The one shown on the beach in Episode 8, "Goodbye Island", which fell apart after the glue failed. 6) The one used in "Birds Gotta Fly, Fish Gotta Talk", to re-shoot scenes from the pilot that were no longer usable because they contained Kit Smythe, Nancy McCarthy, or John Gabriel.

Now, I think 5) and 6) are actually the same, but that still leaves 5, not 4, and all five look noticably different when inspected closely. Is there another duplication somewhere? The main entry seems to cover my 1), 3), 2), and 4), in that order. But that still doesn't explain where the boat on the beach in episodes 8 and 12 came from. It definitely is not the same boat on the beach in the credits or the pilot. So, possibly the Wikipedia is wrong in saying that the boat built on the beach was built in the *second* season. They might have meant the first, though in that case, the boat on the beach in the second season credits is still unaccounted for. It doesn't look like a model, like the one in the storm in the credits certainly is. Or, there really are 5 after all. Opinions? -- BurkeDevlin, 1/6/2007

[edit] Gilligan Hohople?

I have seen the "Slave Girl" episode, and seen the clip at YouTube. The Professor is speaking in her language. She asks something like "Who's that skinny guy?", and then the clip starts. Professor introduces Gilligan, and she repeats "Gilligan". The professor asks her "Gilligan hohopu?" She giggles as she replies "hohopu!?" "Hohopu" could mean "attractive", "handsome", "boyfriend", etc; something to explain her surprised reaction; something that implies Professor is matchmaking. (I'll grant an alternate interpretation that "hohopu" means "the ugly guy", and she replies "Ugly guy? No, he's very sexy." The clip cuts right after she says "hohopu".)

Some say that "Hohople" is Gilligan's last name, and her reaction is because the name sounds funny in her language. She clearly says "pu" for the last syllable, but that's her Polynesian pronunciation. That doesn't explain Professor's intonation. He takes a beat (perhaps even an "uh") between "Gilligan" and "hohopu", and his voice goes up as though it's a question. Professor's pronunciation of "pu" does sound possibly like "ple", but is clearly "pu" if we believe it's mock Polynesian.

But let's assume for a moment that Russell Johnson delivered his line badly and the director didn't care. Why the name "Hohople"? All the names on the show are WASPy except the Irish name "Gilligan" (which is how TV characters were named at the time). Schwatz probably thought the Irish name sounded lower class. Why would Schwartz use this made up name once, and later deny it?

I conclude that "hohopu" is clearly a mock Polynesian word, and I shall edit the page accordingly.-- Randall Bart 00:09, 9 January 2007 (UTC)

I removed the "Suggested alternatives" section on this topic because none of the theorizing in it was properly sourced. I originally tried to source it, but found that the sole claimed source, an unspecific reference to Urban Legends Reference Pages, did not seem to say what was claimed. Specifically, the following article in that source does not say anything about the "Slave Girl" episode or the "Hohople" incident:
There may be some other ULRP page that discusses this, but it seems rather unlikely. We are not permitted to create our own theories or deductions, which Wikipedia calls "original research". We can only legitimately cite the work of others published in reliable sources. Since these certainly exist, as is shown by ULRP, any such information should be rewritten from scratch to reflect what the sources say. We should not write we personally think and then try to find sources to justify our opinions. ~ Jeff Q (talk) 06:33, 9 January 2007 (UTC)

[edit] Pictures

I've got a couple of pictures of the studio from which filming occurred. Do you guys think that is something we might want in the article? Useight 20:30, 27 June 2007 (UTC)

A picture of the cast is about to be speedily deleted, so I don't know if you guys think a picture of the filming studio is a good addition or not, but whatever. Useight 19:49, 31 July 2007 (UTC)

[edit] Gilligan's Island spoof

On a late night comedt show-either Saturdat Night Live-or MadTV-there was a theme "What are they doing Now"-which spoofed the 2/3 seasons endings of "Gilligan's Island" by showing 7 skeleatons around a lagoon!! —Preceding unsigned comment added by 134.53.145.179 (talk) 15:14, 21 March 2008 (UTC)