Forward March

Forward March is the 22nd episode of the Second Season of Gilligan's Island, and the 58th overall series episode. It first aired February 17, 1966 on CBS-TV.

Synopsis
Sitting reflectively against a rock, the Skipper sighs and writes out "steak" in the sand as Gilligan comes up and asks how he liked his steaks. At that moment, an object resembling an avocado flies over their heads. The Skipper recognizes it as a hand grenade just before it explodes. Collecting the fragments of it, the Skipper shows them to the Professor and Mr. Howell, who dismiss their plan of action. They decide on surrendering with a white flag, but they've already turned the idea down by time Gilligan comes back with one. Before they can come up with another plan, another grenade flies overhead and explodes near them in the compound. Taking charge, Mr. Howell proclaims himself General and makes the Skipper Secretary of the Navy and the Professor Chief of Intelligence, but they just humor him along as they search the Island. Gilligan, however, gets stuck by a pin when Mr. Howell dives under the table from the grenade and is sent to the girls to treat his wound. They over-eagerly wrap up his entire arm, and Gilligan rejoins the men scouting the Island. They're then surprised by gunfire and take cover, but their shooter takes off, abandoning the submachine gun. While they're wondering why their attacker left the gun, Gilligan notices a gorilla come out of the woods and throw a grenade at them. They take cover again as the ape takes off again into the jungle. The Professor deduces that the gorilla watched men fighting with the weapons during World War Two and is now imitating what it saw. Tracking it to a cave, they realize where the weapons have been coming from. Their plan to sneak the weapon boxes out fails when the gorilla catches them in the act and chases them out of the cave. The Professor then realizes that the gorilla might be stared into immobility, but Gilligan flinches first and the gorilla catches him. Fleeing the cave, the men are trying to decide how to rescue Gilligan when they hear explosions. In the lagoon, Gilligan has taught the ape to throw the grenades across it where they harmlessly explode. After they're all gone, the only thing left is a strange red disc. The Professor tries stopping them, but it flies off and detonates, creating a huge mushroom cloud beyond the island as the professor relaxes that it wasn't a grenade. A few moments later, Mr. Howell is awarding Gilligan for his bravery when the gorilla returns. Everyone scatters except Gilligan as it reaches down and throws Mary Ann's pie saved for Gilligan into his face. Meanwhile, Gilligan just realizes that the gorilla's aim has improved.

Message

 * "The simplest approach is often the best."

Highlights

 * Ginger singing "It Had To Be You" to Gilligan.
 * Gilligan trying to stare down the gorilla.
 * The results of the mysterious red explosive

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
 * Janos Prohaska as The Gorilla

Trivia

 * Grenades explode with a perimeter of six to seven feet and can throw fragments up to 200 feet. The Castaways should have experienced fatal injuries due to their proximity to some of the explosions in the episode.
 * The Howell's Hut is made up into a military hospital with bottles of alcohol, iodine and Scotch.
 * The gun the gorilla uses appears to be a Russian-made AK-47 assault rifle, due to the wooden handguard and the curved magazine. Unless Russia supplied the Japanese army in WWII, it's highly unlikely any soldiers who the gorilla observed would have had one.
 * In the episode, Gilligan gets scratched by Mr. Howell's cuff link. Although exceedingly minor, he has been injured at different levels in A Nose by Any Other Name (sprained nose), Topsy-Turvy (skewed vision), Bang! Bang! Bang! (lost filling) and Love Me, Love My Skipper (minor bruises) among other slights through the series.
 * Ginger acts as a nurse for Mr. Howell's "war games." She also shows up as a nurse in Mary Ann's dream sequence in The Postman Cometh. She also acted as a nurse in Gilligan Goes Gung-Ho in order to help the Professor.
 * The Professor's map of the island resembles Lord Beasley Waterford's map of the island in Man With a Net. Both maps have the waterway out of the lagoon bending left instead of right.
 * The claim that a gorilla can be stared in mobility is incredibly unlikely; if anything, they would accept it as an act of aggression.
 * The syndicated version of this episode shows the Gorilla throwing the "red disk" while omitting the part where Gilligan gets hit in the face with a pie.
 * This episode won't be the last time the castaways have to deal with a simian playing with explosives. In Bang! Bang! Bang!, a monkey Gilligan befriends gets its paws on a bunch of plastic explosives washed up on the island and bombs the compound.

Quotes
Mrs. Howell - "I think he should put it back where it belongs! It looks awful!"
 * Mary Ann - (looking at Gilligan's tongue) - "Oh, Mrs. Howell, what do you think?"

Professor - "Ginger, this is neither the time nor the place for a woman." Ginger - "Forget that I'm a woman. I'm a secret agent trying to capture the enemy."
 * Ginger - "Mata Hari reporting for duty."


 * Gilligan - "I had a little scratch and the girls tried to cure me... I'm lucky got out alive!"

Skipper - "You would pick two losers."
 * Mr. Howell - "You contest your Commanding General? A man who studied under General Lee and George Custer?"

Skipper - "But Gilligan, that tiger was behind bars!"
 * Gilligan - "I once stared at a man-eating tiger for two hours and twenty-six minutes, and it didn't bite me."

Ginger - "Not the ape...Gilligan."
 * Mary Ann - "And bring him back alive!"


 * Gilligan - "Well, he finally got it over home plate..."