You've Been Disconnected

Sorry, You've Been Disconnected is the Seventeenth episode of the Second Season. It aired January 13, 1966.

Synopsis
After a big storm tears up the island, Gilligan finds the devastated beach easier to search for turtle eggs, but in the strewn detritus, he finds a telephone communications cable has been pulled up into the lagoon and left on the shore. He calls the Skipper and Professor to come check it out. The Professor believes they can break into the line to call for help. Meanwhile, Ginger is ecstatic to hear that Hollywood will be creating The Ginger Grant Story about her life and alleged demise and begins writing a diary about her adventures since she was stranded. Meanwhile, the Professor is having a hard time breaking into the cable. Shattering all the blades on their hacksaw, they try using one of Mrs. Howell's diamond necklaces to cut through, but they can't generate the heat or the speed. He soon has a revelation and burns through with a handmade blowtorch. Using parts from the radio, they start tapping the lines, but a new problem arises when they realize how many foreign languages are going through them. The Professor next jerry-rigs a dialing mechanism from tree resin hardened into plastic. Gilligan meanwhile is getting annoyed by hearing again about his previous screw-ups Ginger is documenting for her movie. He and Mary Ann using the dialing mechanism are only annoying the callers they reach and not being reach others. Despite the Skipper and Professor trying to estimate which lines are coming from the United States, Gilligan briefly contacts a St. Louis Theater Matron, who hangs up on him before he can respond, and a San Diego Telephone Operator, who asks for correct change. Unfortunately, even after Gilligan hurriedly tells her who he is, she thinks he's a nut and hangs up on him. Suddenly, another storm hits the island and after it abates, it's realized that the cable has been dragged back out to sea. The Professor realizes then that the saltwater will eventually corrode and break the line, which would eventually lead to them being rescued. Unfortunately, Gilligan remembers having covered the wire in the Professor's plastic to keep them from getting wet. As punishment, he's sent diving for the cable over and over to try and find it at the bottom of the lagoon.

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
 * Rona Barrett (unconfirmed) as the Hollywood Gossip Columnist
 * Sandra Gould as the Telephone Operator
 * Unidentified Actress as the Theater Matron
 * Unidentified Actor as a Larry (voice)
 * Unidentified Actress as a Sybil (voice)
 * Unidentified Actor as a Boyfriend
 * Unidentified Actress as a Girlfriend

Trivia

 * The TVLand version of this epsiode cuts out the part where Gilligan has to keep diving in search for the cable lost in the lagoon.
 * Along with Smile, You're on Mars Camera, this is one of the few episodes to have a sub-plot.
 * It's kind of far-fetched that the telephone cable would be dragged all the way up the passage to the lagoon instead of just laid along the beach seen in Two on a Raft and Goodbye Island.
 * With all the storms to hit the island, it is odd that the Professor didn't think it necessary to secure it to the island.
 * Ginger starts her diary again; she began and abandoned one in Diogenes, Won't You Please Go Home?.
 * The Professor and Ginger recall when Gilligan forgot to tie off a raft with their provisions, an incident in April when he put their last flare on the Skipper's birthday cake and when Gilligan tossed their blowtorch overboard before the S.S. Minnow was beached.
 * In a previous episode, the Skipper says his birthday is May 1, but the Professor tells Ginger the birthday cake incident happened in April. (Maybe they celebrated it a few days earlier.)
 * It's revealed in this episode that Ginger knows a little Spanish, Mrs. Howell knows French, the Professor knows a few island dialects and the Skipper recognizes (but may not speak) Portuguese.
 * The Skipper mentions this episode occurs on the second day of a month.
 * Nothing more is ever heard about The Ginger Grant Story.

Quotes

 * Gilligan - "Did you know there's a telephone in the lagoon?" Mr. Howell - "No, but can you hum it?"


 * Gilligan - "That cable's just not down there." Skipper - "It's gotta be!" Gilligan - "It isn't! That's the 62nd time I've been down there!" Skipper - "And what number comes after 62?" Gilligan - "Oh-no! Nothing's making me swim around in the bottom of the lagoon again! Nothing." (Gilligan looks at the Castaways angrily watching him.) "63 coming up..."