Goodnight Sweet Skipper

Goodnight Sweet Skipper is the fourth episode of the first season. It first aired October 17, 1964.

Synopsis
In the middle of the night, the Skipper comes sleepwalking out of his hut. He's acting like he's back in World War II. His yelling wakes Gilligan who follows him. Skipper is trying to convert a radio into a transmitter, but when the Skipper yells about dive bombers, Gilligan jumps into the Lagoon. The Skipper heads back to the hut, and Gilligan wakes the Skipper by dripping on him. Gilligan explains that the Skipper was sleepwalking, but he doesn't believe it, insisting that he was in the hammock all night. He suggests that Gilligan was really sleepwalking.

The next morning, the Skipper and Professor are listening to the radio when they hear about Alice McNeil flying around the world. According to the Skipper's calculations, she's going to be flying right over the island. He suggests building a big signal fire to catch the plane's attention, but he is concerned about cloud-cover blocking the view of the fire. Gilligan then mentions in passing the Skipper's sleepwalking episode where he turned the radio into a transmitter. It's then that the Skipper suddenly remembers and admits to Gilligan it was in his dream after all. He tries to go to sleep to regain the lost knowledge, but the Professor and Gilligan are staring at him. Gilligan stands guard to make sure that no one bothers him as Ginger and Mary Ann sing a lullaby. The Skipper is almost asleep until Gilligan joins in the singing, his off-key crooning waking the Skipper.

The Professor is soon listening to the radio trying to figure out where Alice McNeal is, but the Skipper still can't fall asleep. Gilligan goes and asks Mr. Howell for some tranquilizers for the Skipper and puts a couple of pills into the Skipper's mango juice. Afterward, Mary Ann, Ginger and the Professor each put two pills into the juice to help the Skipper along, but while sitting at dinner, the Skipper won't drink his mango juice. He does find the pills hidden in the bananas and takes two, washing the pills down with mango juice thinking that they will help him go to sleep. He instead passes out.

The Professor soon hears on the radio that Alice McNeil is an hour ahead of schedule, asking to talk with anyone who can receive her signal. The Skipper now comes sleepwalking out of the hut, and the Professor and Gilligan follow him back to the lagoon. Gilligan, however, gets knocked into the water and when he spits out the water in his mouth loudly, the Skipper wakes up.

The Professor now resorts to hypnotizing the Skipper and uses the rest of the castaways as actors in his dream. He writes down everything the Skipper says in hopes he will get the information he needs to turn the radio into a transmitter. Afterwards Skipper, Professor, and Gilligan try to see if the transmitter works with failed results. As Gilligan fiddles with the transmitter while on guard duty, he actually talks with Alice McNeal and runs to get the Skipper to tell him the news, but the Skipper doesn't believe him. When Gilligan demonstrates how he hit the transmitter to get it to work again, all the wires and coils fall out of it. It is then that Alice flies overhead and calls thanks for the brief chat over the radio, announcing she's sorry they couldn't have talked longer.

Eventually, the Skipper is able to asleep again, but Gilligan tries to quiet a bug and as it lands on the Skipper, he hits him on the head waking him.

Message

 * "Don't count your chickens before they're hatched"

Highlights

 * Gilligan reacting to Skipper's sleep behavior.
 * Gilligan's idea of a human tower.
 * Ginger rocking and singing "Rock-a Bye Baby" to help the Skipper fall asleep
 * Gilligan loudly joining in on Ginger's lullaby
 * Gilligan's "sound effects"
 * Gilligan and the Castaways imitating the sounds of battle

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
 * June Foray as Alice McNeil

Trivia

 * The exterior setting of the Supply Hut is used as the Boy's Hut in this episode, implying either the Skipper was staying in the Supply Hut to watch the supplies or all the huts were built with the same specifications.
 * The Skipper should have snapped from his trance after grabbing Gilligan's hands and confusing them as tools.
 * Like several episodes in the series, Gilligan, the Skipper and Professor are the primary characters at the start of the episode.
 * The Skipper makes the calculations that Alice McNeil will pass over the island instead of the Professor.
 * One would think the Professor would automatically know about re-wiring the radio to become a transmitter, especially with his later maintenance of it in the series.
 * This episode has a rare appearance with Dawn Wells out of her Mary Ann pig tails.
 * The Skipper claims he has had 34 cups of mango juice and counted 19,000 sheep trying to sleep.
 * Ten tranquilizers would have actually had an almost fatal affect on the Skipper. Furthermore, since the Professor already knew Gilligan was going after them, there was no reason to hide them for him and spike his drink.
 * In the scene where the Skipper is hypnotized, Mrs. Howell's hands are in different positions between the long shots and close shots.
 * The Castaways impersonate the Skipper's old Navy unit. The Professor is Wikowski, Mr. Howell is McInerny, Mrs. Howell is Lefkowitz, Gilligan is Evans (possibly - the Skipper's voice calling out names is edited out here), Mary Ann is Ferguson and Ginger is Gunner's mate Entwhistle.
 * Gilligan claims that Harris is the one with the radio manual, but during the Skipper's recreation, he also tells Evans to hold the book. He also calls Gilligan "Ferguson."
 * Of the three women on the island, Mrs. Howell's voice is the only one the hypnotized Skipper questions when she tries to sound like a man.
 * According to the Skipper's dream, he used the main coil of the radio to reverse engineer it into a transmitter at Guadalcanal. However, the Professor seems to use the info to restore the transmitter.

Quotes
Gilligan - "I know. The lagoon's full of water."
 * Skipper - "Gilligan! You're soaking wet."

Gilligan - "Yeah, and all those clouds are in the way too."
 * Gilligan - "I think a fire's our best bet, Gilligan, although I'm not sure if she'd see it through all that nimbus cumuli."

Skipper - "I've had 34 cups of that already. I never want to see another coconut. Or a lamb chop." Gilligan - "Lamb chop?" Skipper - "Yes, I also counted 19,000 sheep today."
 * Gilligan - "Skipper, how about a nice warm cup of coconut milk to make you sleep?"

Gilligan - "Yes, sir." Mr. Howell - "Just make sure his wife doesn't find her."
 * Mr. Howell - "Gilligan, my boy, let me tell you something. Look behind every successful man, and you will find a woman."


 * Mr. Howell - "What's this?" (reads medicine bottle) "Kills Pain Fast-fast-Fast..." (tosses bottle) "Indeed, no one rushes a Howell..."

Mary Ann - "Burned swordfish." Ginger - (tasting the soup) "Burn the other side, it might taste better."
 * Ginger - "What smells so good?"

Ginger - "By time he starts sleepwalking, that lady could go around the world on a raft."
 * Mary Ann - "How long do you think before something happens?"


 * Mr. Howell - (finding the Skipper on Gilligan on the ground) "Lovey, I told you to hurry up... look, we missed the cocktail hour!"

Mrs. Howell - "I didn't bring them dear. I didn't know we were going out this far."
 * Mr. Howell - "Lovey, where are my seasick pills?"

The Professor - "I'm positive." Gilligan - "Are you sure you dreamed the instructions correctly?"
 * Skipper - "Are you sure you wrote those instructions down correctly?"