Goodnight Sweet Skipper

Goodnight Sweet Skipper is the fourth episode of the First season. It 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 McNeal 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.

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 Skipper makes the calculations that Alice MacNeil 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 this series.
 * Fourteen tranquilizers would have actually had an almost fatal affect on the Skipper. Furthermore, since he already knew Gilligan was going after them, there was no reason to hide them for him and spike his drink.
 * 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.