Forget Me Not

Forget Me Not is the thirtieth episode of the first season of Gilligan's Island. It first aired April 24, 1965.

Synopsis
The U.S. Navy will be doing maneuvers near the island so the Skipper and Gilligan begin work on a signal tower to contact them. When Gilligan knocks loose a pole that hits the Skipper, he loses his identity and memories of his fellow Castaways as well as the fact that they're stranded. The Professor immediately recognizes this as amnesia, and Gilligan tries to jog his memories with some of his possessions. Meanwhile, the Skipper doesn't recognize Mary Ann and even flirts with Ginger who runs away from him. The Professor re-introduces him to the Howells, who try bribing him to get his memories back. The Professor reminds them that time is of the essence since the Skipper is the only one who knows semaphore signals to communicate with the Navy while they're in the area. The Howells take it upon themselves to knock the Skipper in the head that night to restore his memories, but they only knock Gilligan around as he switches hammocks with the Skipper in their hut. The following day, the Professor attempts hypnotizing the Skipper to get his memories back, briefly regressing him back to his childhood and then not progressing him forward enough to the future. Believing it's World War Two again, the Skipper sees the other castaways as Japanese soldiers and flees into the jungle. While the Professor and Gilligan look for him, the Howells try contacting the Navy themselves but are taken hostage by the Skipper using the rifle left behind by the Japanese Sailor. He also takes the girls hostage despite their efforts to reason with him. Locking everyone up in one of the caves, he tries contacting reinforcements with the Castaway's radio, thinking its a transmitter. Eventually, the Professor and Gilligan come looking for everyone, only to get captured themselves. With the Navy ships right off shore, Gilligan makes one last effort to communicate with the Skipper as his "little buddy" but gets chased back through the bamboo bars of the cave. The Professor makes one last try to hypnotize the Skipper again, but Gilligan and Mr. Howell are so close that they're the only ones hypnotized. As they start arguing, the Skipper enters the cave to quell their argument, getting knocked to the head by Gilligan with a rock. Knocked back for a second, he gets his memories back. Unsure what's going on, he steps forward and knocks Gilligan and Mr. Howell's heads together to stop their argument. All three of them have their true identities back, and before the Skipper can ream them for fighting, everyone rushes in and hugs him before he knows what's happening. The following day, Gilligan searches for ships from the lookout tower, but doesn't see any. Meanwhile, the Skipper is remorseful for fouling things up, but the Professor tells him it wasn't his fault. Just then, Gilligan tumbles from the tower, and they rush to help him. As Gilligan lifts his head up, he doesn't recognize them because now he has amnesia.

Message

 * "Sometimes the very thing that causes a problem, cures the problem."

Highlights

 * First lost identity episode (amnesia)

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
 * None

Trivia

 * It's unrevealed why the Skipper would prefer to resort to semaphore over a signal fire to contact the Navy.
 * It is incredibly unlikely to access a person's memories with hypnosis while they are suffering from amnesia.
 * The gun the Skipper uses looks like the rifle left behind by the Japanese Sailor in So Sorry, My Island Now, which calls into question as to where the Castaways got ammunition for it if any.
 * This TV Season (1964-65) seems to be the year for amnesia. At the start of the first season, the October 4, 1964 episode of "My Favorite Martian" had a case where Tim O'Hara and Mrs. Brown both got a similar form of amnesia from Martin's memory pill-making machine. Two months prior to this episode, the February 19, 1965 episode of "The Addams Family" also had an amnesia episode with Gomez losing his memories. It also continued into the upcoming season: six months later, Herman Munster had amnesia on the November 11, 1965 episode of "The Munsters."

Quotes
Skipper - "What happened to him?" Gilligan - "You wouldn't believe me if I told you." Skipper - "Sure, I would." Gilligan - "He forgot himself." Skipper - "I don't believe it." Gilligan - "See, I told you."
 * Gilligan - "You can rest here awhile. I used to share this hut with a buddy. "

Mrs. Howell - "Oh, Thurston, you must speak to that boy; he just can't seem to do anything right."
 * Mr. Howell - "I made a boo-boo - Gilligan is sleeping in the bottom hammock!"

Mr. Howell - "May J.P. Morgan have mercy upon your soul!"
 * Mrs. Howell - "There are some things when financial promises don't mean a thing."

Ginger - "How could anybody get that idea about me? Besides having amnesia he's got eye trouble."
 * Mary Ann - "He thinks we're men."

Mrs. Howell - "Yes, Thurston can signal for the cocktail hour. A third round of martinis." Professor - "Yes, but can he signal for help?" Mr. Howell - "Good heavens, after the third round what do you think I'm signaling for?"
 * Mr. Howell - "I grew up on a yacht. I know something about signals."


 * Skipper - "Six Japanese soldiers in fifteen minutes! I may take the whole Japanese army single-handed!"


 * Ginger - "Everyone thinks they're the Skipper except the Skipper!"


 * Mr. Howell - "Don't worry, Skipper. It's an off season for rescues."