Goodbye Island

Goodbye Island is the eight episode of the First Season of Gilligan's Island. It aired November 21, 1964

Synopsis
The Professor has found an out-cropping of ferrous oxide on the island to forge nails, but despite his best efforts, the he can't make nails to patch the holes in the Minnow. His first attempt shatters like glass while another attempt actually explodes. Meanwhile, Gilligan and Mary Ann make pancakes for dinner and try finding a tree on the island to provide syrup to serve with the pancakes. During dinner, however, everyone notices that the syrup that they collected when heated becomes springy and elastic. Ginger even comments its more elastic than some undergarments she's worn. The Professor meanwhile notices that went it finally hardens that its like permanent glue. He shocks the Howells by running from the table, dunking his plate with the hardened syrup to test it underwater. He reveals that the heated tree syrup can act like glue to repair the S.S. Minnow. The next morning, he and the Skipper test the glue and successfully use it to attach a board on the Minnow. They feel they can have the Minnow ready to set sail the following morning despite Gilligan and the Skipper getting themselves briefly covered in the glue and stuck to the hull of the Minnow. The Professor uses perfume from Mrs. Howell and Ginger to burn through the cement to free them. The following morning, the Skipper uses the glue to seal the entire hull of the Minnow, but remembering the incident with the glue, he sends Gilligan off on a fool's errand to look for icebergs. Wandering off to the lagoon, Gilligan feels useless but brightens up when he realizes it was he who found the glue that got them rescued. However, when he holds up the Professor's pancake plate, it finally slides apart, the emaciated glue having deteriorated into dust. He realizes the repairs to the Minnow won't hold for long and he rushes back to warn everyone. He arrives back at the beach just as Mr. Howell tries to re-launch the Minnow with a small ceremony. The Skipper doesn't believe him and proudly pats the boat to prove its as hard as a rock, but when he dies, the glued boards pop off and planks start ricocheting everywhere with a rubbery composition. Gilligan climbs aboard trying to stop it as the craft peels itself down to the hull with Gilligan left holding just the captain's wheel in the empty skeleton which just collapses. Everyone is left dejected and disappointed. That night while sitting by the campfire, the Skipper apologizes for being blustery to Gilligan when he was just trying to help. He also confesses that if Gilligan hadn't warn them in time that they might have been out at sea when the Minnow collapsed. It's then that Gilligan tells him that he's sitting on a paintbrush covered in glue.

Credits
Main Cast
 * Bob Denver as Gilligan
 * Alan Hale Jr. as The Skipper
 * Jim Backus as Mr. Howell
 * Natalie Schafer as Mrs. Howell
 * Tina Louise as Ginger
 * Dawn Wells as Mary Ann
 * Russell Johnson as The Professor

Guest Cast
 * None

Trivia

 * This episode would set the surreal slapstick comedy tone of "Gilligans Island" since the only part of the ship that should have come apart should have been the boards glued over the damage to the hull, not the whole thing!
 * The holes in the S.S. Minnow would suggest it struck an underwater reef before hitting the beach. This is confirmed by the recreation of the wreck in Court-Martial.
 * It is unrevealed as to why he Professor struggled with making nails from ferric oxide or why he couldn't have just made nails from melting down a few metal objects or pulling nails out of the crates on board. Although, it could be that the hull required a very specific type of nail.
 * Not only does the island-made glue tear apart all the components of the Minnow not attached by it but it also causes the planks and boards to attain a rubber-like consistency.
 * When the Minnow falls apart, there is no sign of its mechanical parts, wiring, rigging system, electronics or engine system.
 * The Minnow in this episode looks like a much bigger craft than the version seen in Marooned (Unaired Pilot) and Two on a Raft.
 * Another view of the Minnow prop can be seen in Birds Gotta Fly, Fish Gotta Talk.
 * The Skipper claims they might have been out to sea when the Minnow fell apart, but his timing is way off, it actually comes apart before the tide they were expecting to carry back out to sea.
 * If the Minnow had not been destroyed, the wreck on the island would have been sighted by a passing ship and expedited their rescue, and yet, it appears almost whole in wide shots of the beach on the island in later episodes. During the Second and Third Seasons openers, it appears paradoxically on the shore of the lagoon.

Quotes

 * Professor - "It would take a polyester derivative of an organic hydroxidemolecule." Mr. Howell - "Watch your language!"


 * Mr. Howell - "It is rather difficult being rich. If it wasn't for the money, I'd rather be poor."