The Hunter

The Hunter is the 86th episode of Gilligan's Island and the 18th episode of the third season. It aired on January 16, 1967.

Synopsis
A hunter named Jonathan Kincaid arrives on The Island with his manservant Ramoo, portrayed by Harold Sakata. Kincaid is looking for game to hunt when he finds Gilligan. Hearing that there's nothing to hunt on the island, he decides to hunt one of the castaways. Looking over them, he decides that Ginger, Mary Ann and the Howells wouldn't give him much of a challenge and that the Skipper and Professor would be too easy. Gilligan is the only worthy choice. Removing the tubes from the radio in his helicopter to stop the Castaways from calling out, he gives Gilligan 24 hours to elude him, promising to rescue the crew and passengers afterward. Gilligan eludes him all over the island; his fellow Castaways escaping the cave Ramoo has imprisoned them in to help him hide in a hollow tree. By time Kincaid realizes Gilligan is in the tree, the 24 hours is up, and Gilligan is safe, but Kincaid departs confessing he has no intentions of rescuing the Castaways for fear they will go to the police and report him. The Skipper and Professor don't care as long as Gilligan is safe. A month later, the Skipper, Mr. Howell and Gilligan hear on the radio that after shooting 100% at a trap shoot, Kincaid has had a mental breakdown and has to be taken away in a straitjacket to a mental hospital... all the while muttering "Gilligan... Gilligan..."

Message

 * "Where there's life, there's hope."

Highlights

 * Coming up

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
 * Rory Calhoun as Jonathan Kincaid
 * Harold Sakata as Ramoo

Trivia

 * This episode was based on the infamous short story "The Most Dangerous Game"
 * Harold Sakata was the villainous henchmen Odd-job on James Bond movie "Goldfinger."
 * The episode opens with Gilligan on the far side of the lagoon in order to get the helicopter in the shot without showing man-made structures.
 * The helicopter in the episode is apparently a Bell 47 - the same one used in the The Ape Man and Don't Bug the Mosquitoes episodes. The report of the island being in helicopter range is implausible because in It's a Bird, It's A Plane, the Island is said to be 250 miles south of Hawaii and the range of the Bell 47 is 245 miles!
 * The Professor claims there's no game on the island, but he seems to have forgotten the Skipper catching a wild boar for Mr. Howell's barbecue in Where There's a Will.
 * Kincaid announces he took the tubes from the radio to keep the Castaways from using it, but after being left behind by so many visitors, the Professor doesn't just remove the radio or tamper with the helicopter itself to keep Kincaid from leaving without them.
 * Ginger repeats the same "not Mary Ann, you're Mary Poppins' line from Topsy-Turvy.
 * When Mrs. Howell leaves the cave, Ramoo is first using his spear to bar her from passing, but in close-ups, he's actually pointing it at her.
 * The owl Gilligan talks to in the jungle is a stuffed North American brown owl; even if it was alive, it wouldn't be living on a South Pacific Island.
 * The Professor calls the hollow tree trunk Gilligan hides in an akaporasaka, further adding that to shoot at it results in four to five years bad luck. Just claiming it has a jinx on it after trying to dissuade the Skipper's superstitions shows just how desperate he is to save Gilligan's life.

Quotes

 * Skipper - "Oh, man, when I get back I'm going straight to the nearest Italian restaurant and having eight to ten pizzas, two dozen meat balls, two platters of spaghetti and then I'm going to have dinner!"

Mr. Howell - "Uh, yeah, but I went on a tiger hunt, and I shot three of the terrible beasts in fifteen minutes." Kincaid - "Three in fifteen minutes, you must have been pleased." Mr. Howell - "Yes, but the directors of the zoo were furious!"
 * Kincaid - "Are you a hunter, Mr. Howell?"

Ginger - "Beatrice Arnold?" Gilligan - "Well, you don't look like a Benedict."
 * Gilligan - "You think you get to know someone, and she turns out to be a Beatrice Arnold."


 * Ginger - "You're not Mary Ann, you're Mary Poppins!"


 * Kincaid - "My malaria must be coming back."