Meet the Meteor

Meet The Meteor is the Thirty-Second episode of the Second Season of Gilligan's Island. It aired April 28, 1966.

Synopsis
Gilligan watches a meteor land on the island; he and the Skipper head out to investigate the next day. The Professor warns them to get away from it, explaining that it can catch cosmic rays from space. He proposes using lead rods to focus the radiation in the hopes a "weather plane" or "radiation detection station" will detect the focused rays and investigate. The radiation, however, degrades their handmade shield and inexplicably rapidly ages a tree. The Professor believes the radiation could accelerate their ages as well, but then he figures a lightning rod combined with a lightning bolt from an electrical storm could shatter the meteor. As the Professor and Skipper prepare the rods, the exhausted Gilligan has a dream they have all aged into elderly versions of themselves. When he awakens during the storm, he rushes to place the rod, getting electrocuted in the process, before blindly losing the rod. Luckily, it hits the spot, and the lightning blows up the meteor. In the morning, the Professor checks the area with his makeshift radiation detector and reports he finds no trace of the radiation.

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

 * The tag scene with the Professor checking for radiation is missing from syndicated versions of the episode.
 * According to this episode, Ginger's birthday and the Howell's anniversary occur sometime around Christmas.
 * If the Castaways had aged 50 years, Gilligan would have been 72, and Mr. Howell would have been 100.
 * The Professor says the meteor aged the sapling Gilligan tripped over into adulthood, but it also moved it two feet over. If it had grown where Gilligan had tripped on it, it would have grown up right up against the meteor and pushed it up out of the ground.
 * In Gilligan's dream where everyone has grown old, even the radio announcer sounds like an old man.
 * The Professor claims meteorites glow from collecting strange rays. In reality they glow from intense heat, and despite his contradictory claim, cosmic rays are a form of radiation.
 * The Professor claims there is no radiation, but proceeds with a plan to focus the rays skyward in hopes that a radiation detection station will pick them up.
 * The Professor's plan to use a reflective screen to direct the rays to be spotted by a weather plane or detection center is extremely far-fetched.
 * Disintegrating a radioactive meteorite does not really eliminate any radiation.
 * The great irony is the lead paint and makeup the Skipper, Gilligan, and the Professor put on, likely poses a greater immediate health risk than would any cosmic rays.
 * During times of crisis, Mr. Howell always starts updating or finishing his will, and in this episode, he heaves his polo pony, Sea Biscuit, to his, nephew Perry, and to Perry's wife, Frances, he leaves his favorite golf clubs in Wingfoot, Pebble Beach and Hillcrest, as well as negating the $1.42 debt that she still owes him.
 * The episode ends with the original First Season version of the closing theme.