The Hunter

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

Synopsis
While Gilligan is fishing in the lagoon, a helicopter lands near him carrying a hunter named Jonathan Kincaid and his Asian manservant Ramoo. Kincaid is looking for game to hunt on the island when he finds Gilligan and learns about the castaways. 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. To him, 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. That night Ramoo feeds and massages Gilligan as Mr. Howell tries to pay off Kinkaid to give up the hunt. When he fails, Ginger tries to drug Kincaid to overpower him, but Gilligan drinks the spiked punch. The following morning, Gilligan is given a head start, managing to eludes Kincaid narrowly all over the island, getting knocked to his feet when Gilligan hides in a pile of leaves and knocked into a water corral. The Castaways meanwhile have been imprisoned in one of the caves, but Mrs. Howell abets in their escape when she tries to reason with Ramoo. Freed, the Skipper and Professor manage to hide Gilligan in a hollow tree set up like a dead tree. When Kincaid shows up tired after trailing Gilligan, he wants to check his guns accuracy after the water corral by using the log Gilligan is in for target practice. The Skipper and Professor stall as best as they can, but by time Kincaid realizes Gilligan is in the tree, the 24 hours is up, and Gilligan is safe. Realizing he's been defeated, Kincaid turns to depart, but now he confesses 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 they're not being rescued after all as long as Gilligan is safe, but when he finds out out close he came to getting shot, he faints inside of the tree right onto the Skipper's foot. A month later, the Skipper, Mr. Howell and Gilligan are listening to the radio when they hear 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 is possibly best known as the villainous henchman Oddjob in the 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 Our Vines Have Tender Apes 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. However, it is possible that Kincaid was flying from a launchpad on a yacht off-shore.
 * 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.
 * Along with, Ring Around Gilligan, this possibly ranks as one of the darkest episodes in the series.

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 meatballs, 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!"
 * Jonathan 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!"


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