Wrongway Feldman (Episode)

Wrongway Feldman is the fifth episode of the First Season of "Gilligan's Island." It aired October 24, 1964.

Synopsis
While carrying food, Gilligan comes across an airplane but he's not totally sure if it's real until he touches it. He shows it to the other castaways. Professor thinks the engine can be repaired. When they see the name on the plane "The Spirit of the Bronx" everyone starts remembering the pilot, Wrongway Feldman. Wrongway himself comes out of the bushes. He gave up fixing the plane but the Professor says he'll try to fix it with parts left over from the Minnow.

Skipper and Professor work on the plane while Gilligan and Wrongway swap stories and history. Professor and Wrongway go to get some oil to remove the rust from a bolt while Gilligan goes to help the Professor. He takes the rear wheel off the plane leading the Skipper to crush his foot when he puts the plane down on top of it.

Ginger tries to charm Wrongway into taking her in the plane with him. thurston then tries to bribe Wrongway for a spot on the plane. Wrongway tries to explain that the plane is only a one seater. When the plane is ready to fly Wrongway inspects it. The propeller falls off when the plane tries to take off.

A shadowy figure walks to the plane, cutting a wing brace. The next day Wrongway tries to take off again but the brace breaks off. Someone sabotaged the plane. Gilligan stands guard by the plane with an arrow so the plane can recieve no further damage.

Another morning Wrongway is gone. Gilligan finds him in a bush. He admits to being a coward and sabotaging his own plane. He refuses to fly because he's lost his confidence. Gilligan suggests that Wrongway teach him to fly. Using a banana, pineapple, papaya, and a coconut as the controls Wrongway teaches Gilligan how to fly the plane that night. In the morning Gilligan climbs in the plane ready to fly until he looks at the instrument panel only to find there's no fruit there.

When the other castaways hear a plane they rush to see if it's Wrongway. Gilligan says he tried to stop Wrongway but was knocked out. Gathered around the radio, the castaways hear that Wrongway made it to New York after 35 years!. Wrongway does tell the officials about the castaways but the directions are so far off course they won't be found.

Message

 * "People who are consistently wrong are usually wrong again."

Highlights

 * First visitor to the island

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
 * Hans Conried as Wrongway Feldman

Trivia

 * Wrongway Feldman may be loosely based on Douglas "Wrongway" Corrigan, a celebrated Forties pilot. His plane seemed to have been named after "The Spirit of St. Louis," the plane of aviator Charles Lindbergh.
 * In the episode, Feldman's biplane is a one-seater. In fact, the real type of this aircraft, a Kreider Reisner KR 21, was a two-seater biplane!
 * According to Mr. Howell, Wrongway got his nick-name after getting lost while flying to Minneapolis from Chicago; he instead landed in New Orleans.
 * The Professor wonders if there might be someone on the island, and there is; in later episodes, the Castaways find the Japanese Sailor, Jungle Boy and Alexandri Gregor Dubov living on the island.
 * On the radio, it's revealed Wrongway left the Bronx 33 1/3 years before this episode; going by the episode date, this suggests he vanished from civilization in May 1931.

Quotes

 * Gilligan: "Who's there?" Skipper: "Me." Gilligan: "Who's 'me?'" Skipper: "It's me." Gilligan: "Stay where you are, 'me.' How do I know it's you?"   Skipper: "All right, it's not me. It's the Count of Monte Cristo."  Gilligan: "I knew it!"   Skipper: "Gilligan, it's the Skipper. I forgot my lantern."  Gilligan: "Say something the Skipper would say." Skipper: "Put down that bow and arrow, you idiot, or I'll break you in half." Gilligan: "Yeah, it's the Skipper, all right."


 * Wrongway Feldman: "You should have seen my wingman, Bucky Lorenzo." Gilligan: "Was he good?"  Wrongway Feldman: "Good? They still talk about one flight he made. He downed three German planes and then strafed a railroad yard."  Gilligan: "That sure is a great story. He must have been decorated."  Wrongway Feldman: "No, he was court-martialed."  Gilligan: "Why?" Wrongway Feldman: "This was three years after the war was over. Poor Bucky certainly upset the President."


 * Gilligan: "And you missed the Second World War." Wrongway Feldman: "The Second World War? So that's what that was. I always wondered what that noise was."


 * (The castaways find a plane.) Gilligan: "Then we're saved. We can fly it out of here." Professor: "There's only one problem, Gilligan. None of us knows how to fly."  Gilligan: "We can learn. because the Skipper was on an aircraft carrier."  Skipper: "A lot of good that will do us, Gilligan. I was a cook."  Ginger: "My roommate was a stewardess."  Mary Ann: "I knew a crop duster once in Kansas."  Gilligan: "You see, with all the experience, we can do it."


 * Wrongway Feldman: "Forget the moonlit nights, you're not going with me."