Three to Get Ready

Three to Get Ready is the 29th Episode of the First Season. It first aired April 17, 1965.

Synopsis
While digging a bait trap with the Skipper and Professor, Gilligan discovers a cat's eye quartz that the Skipper believes is the Eye of the Idol taken from the statue of the native god Metuzar. He explains that anyone who finds it is granted three wishes, a notion that the Professor scoffs at, but Gilligan tests it by wishing for ice cream. As the Professor and Skipper debate the legend, a tub of ice cream washes up into the Lagoon and turns out to be chocolate. Uncertain what to wish for next, Gilligan wanders the Island trying to decide, but the notion of the three wishes intrigues Ginger into trying to get him to share with her. Mr. Howell is also taken with the idea, and tricks Gilligan into losing it, but when it doesn't work for him, he seeks out Gilligan and throws it back at him, upset. When the Skipper says the stone will only work for Gilligan, Gilligan casually wishes for ice cream again. At that moment, Mary Ann runs by with French vanilla ice cream that floated into the lagoon. Convinced that everyone is going to be rescued on the last wish, the Skipper rallies everyone together to leave the island. The Professor, however, remains dubious, and when Gilligan loses the stone, he half-heartedly helps Ginger search the caves where Gilligan thinks he lost it and since the cave is dark, The Professor bumps his forehead on the wall. Meanwhile, the Skipper falls from a tree Gilligan had climbed while searching for the stone with Mary Ann, and the Howells search the clam beds for the stone, losing their interest in clams for the rest of their lives. When Ginger finds the stone, everyone rushes for the lagoon, but the Professor remains unconvinced that anything will happen and wishes them off to humor them. As the sun descends on the time limit for Gilligan's wishes, everyone one by one breaks away. Mary Ann opts to stay with the Professor, then Mrs. Howell asks her husband to stay as chaperone with them, but then she and Ginger decide to stay behind too. By now, the Professor chooses to humor them and joins them. Gilligan wishes everyone was off the island at the last minute, just as the small patch of land they're on drifts into the lagoon. They are off the island, but now they're adrift in the lagoon as Gilligan tries hard to correct his wish to no avail. Later that evening, the Professor rationalizes the digging of the bait trap loosened the small plot of land, and the Skipper groans at his disbelief. Gilligan pretends to disgruntledly toss the Eye of the Idol into the jungle, announcing that whoever finds it next has better luck with it. At that moment, everyone rushes off to find it, including the Professor, who prefers not to take any chances. Left alone at camp, Gilligan reveals he never tossed it after all as everyone searches for it.

Message

 * "Be careful what you wish, because you might get exactly what you wish for."

Highlights

 * The Professor remaining logical even as things turn absurd.
 * Gilligan obsessed with wishing for ice cream, dessert toppings, and a motorcycle.
 * Mr. Howell tries wishing for even more money.
 * Ginger and The Professor's mole and bat impressions.
 * Mr. Howell burying Mrs. Howell in oysters.
 * The Professor injuring his head in the dark cave.

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 is the third episode in the series that features the Skipper's obsession with voodoo and island superstition; the other two are Voodoo Something to Me and Waiting for Watubi
 * The Professor calls the stone a piece of semi-precious quartz.
 * Gilligan reveals that his father is a short man with a mustache and glasses.
 * The Professor gets injured for the first time having hit his head in a cave. His nose also gets hurt in A Nose by Any Other Name (along with his arm and leg) and in Gilligan Goes Gung-Ho. With the obvious exception of Gilligan and the Skipper, he's the one passenger who goes through the most physical abuse in the series.
 * When the Skipper chases Gilligan from the hut, his head hits the top of the doorway and the entire hut façade gets knocked back briefly.
 * Supposedly, a chunk of the shore in the lagoon floats out into the water. Not only is this unlikely, but in later episodes there's no sign of a chunk of the lagoon missing.
 * Technically, the small island may not have been fully Gilligan's fault as the wish technically came true. The island has had minor earthquakes and a small imperceptible one could have caused the small patch of land to break away from the main island.
 * When The Professor hits his head on the wall, it is the first time a bruise on someone's forehead is shown on Gilligan's Island.

Quotes

 * Skipper - "Gilligan, we're digging a bait trap... Not an elephant pit!"

Skipper - "It's true!" Gilligan - "It's chocolate!!"
 * Professor - "It's ridiculous!"

Mr. Howell - "Where I live, that is considered a slum area!"
 * Skipper - "Maybe you could think of in the neighborhood of a million dollars each?"

Skipper - "Well, Professor, I notice it hasn't stopped you from enjoying your ice cream." Professor - "For which I give thanks to the airplane or the ocean liner which lost it."
 * Professor - "I repeat, a silly superstition concocted by ignorant savages."

Gilligan - "My mother." Skipper - "Your mother isn't on the island." Gilligan - "Neither is my father."
 * Skipper - "When things are at their darkest, when you're in trouble, when you need some help, who do you go to?"

Skipper - "Hi Son!" Gilligan - "Where's your mustache?" Skipper - "What?" Gilligan - "My dad wears a mustache."
 * Gilligan - "Hi Dad!"

Skipper - "Hi Son! What's on your mind?" Gilligan - "What's on your lip?"
 * Gilligan - "Hi Dad!"

Mr. Howell - "And upside down!"
 * Mrs. Howell - "I think for a friend he would turn himself inside out."


 * Mr. Howell - "That's the last time... I'll never pull anything sneaky on that boy again!"

Mrs. Howell - "Not just the legend, sweetheart."
 * Mr. Howell - "Well, the ice cream gave the legend more weight."

Gilligan - "No, it's me, Gilligan"
 * Professor - (sarcastically) "Well, if it isn't Merlin the Magician."

Gilligan - "Don't be ridiculous. I'm too big to fit in my pocket."
 * Skipper - "And don't get yourself lost like you did the jewel."

Professor - (flatly) "I am a bat." Gilligan - "You look more like a gopher with an ear ache!"
 * Gilligan - "What's with you?"


 * Mr. Howell - "Lovey, I've made up my mind. We're definitely selling our house on Oyster Bay."

Mr. Howell - "After I reserved first class passage for seven people?" Mary Ann - "It's not fair to leave the Professor here by himself." Mrs. Howell - "But you can't stay alone with him. It's not proper!"
 * Mary Ann - "I'm not going. "

Professor - "Oh, I don't. It's entirely unscientific... absolutely absurd... violates every rule of common sense and it's completely contrary to the rules of logic and intelligence... But just in case!"
 * Gilligan - "Professor, I didn't think you believed in all that wishing stuff."