You've Been Disconnected

You've Been Disconnected is the seventeenth episode of the second season of Gilligan's Island. It first 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. Unfortunately, the Professor is having a hard time breaking into the cable, shattering all the blades on their hacksaw. He proposes using one of Mrs. Howell's diamond necklaces to cut through, but this attempt only leads to a revelation that they can burn through with a handmade blowtorch after they can't generate the heat or the speed to cut through the casing. Using parts from the Radio, they finally start tapping the lines, but a new problem arises when they realize how many foreign languages are going through them. The Professor now jury-rigs a dialing mechanism from tree resin hardened into plastic. Gilligan meanwhile is getting annoyed by hearing again about his previous screw-ups which Ginger is documenting for her movie. Using the dialing mechanism to call for help, he and Mary Ann soon realize they are only annoying the callers they reach and not being able to 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. Unfortunately, another storm suddenly hits the island, and after it abates, it's realized that the cable has been dragged back out to sea. The Professor responds that how the wires are exposed, the saltwater will eventually corrode and break the line, requiring the attention of the telephone company with workmen are sent out to fix it, enabling them to eventually still be rescued. At that moment, Gilligan remembers having covered the wires with the Professor's tree sap in order to prevent them from getting wet in the storm, effectively preventing them from having to be fixed. That afternoon as punishment, he is sent diving into the lagoon for the cable over and over to try and find it.

Message

 * "There are some people who never seem to do wrong, and there are some who never seem to do right."

Highlights

 * Ginger hears about "The Ginger Grant Story"
 * Ginger recalling previous unseen events
 * Gilligan racing into the lagoon when his pants catch on fire
 * Gilligan being repeatedly sent into the lagoon in search of the telephone cable

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
 * Sandra Gould as the Hollywood Gossip Columnist (unconfirmed)
 * Sandra Gould as the Telephone Operator (uncredited)
 * Ann Robinson as the Theater Matron (uncredited)
 * Unidentified Actor as Larry (voice)
 * Judy Carne as Sybil (voice - unconfirmed)
 * Unidentified Actor as a Boyfriend
 * Unidentified Actress as a Girlfriend

Trivia

 * In the opening scenes of the storm, power lines can be seen in the shot of swaying palm trees.
 * 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 and Italian, the Skipper knows a few island dialects and the Professor 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, although it's possible planning on it ceased between episodes.
 * The TVLand version of this episode cuts out the part where Gilligan has to keep diving in search for the cable lost in the lagoon.
 * The Sundance TV and IFC, airings also the end of episode.

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

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..."
 * Gilligan - "That cable's just not down there."