Gilligan Goes Gung-Ho

Gilligan Goes Gung-Ho is the 83rd episode of Gilligan's Island and the 15th episode of the third season. It first aired December 26, 1966.

Synopsis
Passing by the girls' hut, Gilligan sees the Professor, Mary Ann and Ginger rehearsing a play with a murder scene, but Gilligan watches from the window and thinks he watching a real murder. When he finds the Skipper to investigate, he hears that he has found phosphorescent rocks on the Island that could help them get rescued. However, upon hearing about the "murder," the Skipper and Gilligan return back to camp to investigate, finding the Professor very much alive and being treated by the girls after hitting his nose on a table while acting out one of Ginger's scripts. Although the Skipper is frustrated with Gilligan's misunderstanding, the incident makes the Professor realize they need some sort of law enforcement on the Island. Mr. Howell wants to do it, but he bruises his hand trying to do karate on the Skipper, who becomes the next logical candidate. Gilligan becomes his deputy and takes the new job too literally, virtually conducting traffic in the island's walking trails. Left in charge of camp so the Professor and Skipper can collect the phosphorescent rocks without problem, Gilligan starts enforcing all of the laws in The Criminal Law book to every detail. He arrests Mr. Howell for "stealing" the Skipper's binoculars and puts him in jail in a local cave and tries warning Mary Ann and Ginger from keeping their fire too close to a hut. They just can't take him seriously and he locks them up for fighting arrest. He also arrests Mrs. Howell for trying to help them to escape and the Professor for "hiding" dynamite in his shirt. When the Skipper comes back and learns what he's done, he shakes Gilligan to get the key to release everyone, but Gilligan locks him up for police brutality. The Castaways recreate various scenes from prison movies to try and get out of the cave, but Gilligan knows all the movies and gets so caught up in describing them that he locks himself up with the others. Everyone now comes after him to get even for how he treated them, but a United States Coast Guard plane then flies over the Island. No one has had a chance to set up the signal to contact them. With everyone now particularly annoyed at Gilligan, he breaks out of the cave and escapes, freeing everyone. The following day, the jail is fixed, and the Skipper locks up Gilligan for annoying everyone and screwing up another rescue. Gilligan meanwhile says he'll be back in camp for supper and starts tunneling out of the cave.

Message

 * As Sir Charles Percy Snow said, "No one is fit to be trusted with power."

Highlights

 * Mr. Howell trying a karate chop on the Skipper and hurting himself
 * Gilligan "out-thinking" the Skipper
 * The murder play with a blank gun

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
 * Glenn Langan as the Coast Guard Pilot
 * James Spencer as the Co-Pilot

Trivia

 * The episode has a tag scene removed in syndication. Locked up for screwing up the rescue, Gilligan references the book and movie, "Count of Monte Cristo," to reveal he is tunneling out of jail.
 * From the interior of the Girl's Hut, it looks as if Gilligan has stuck his head in the girl's window, but the exterior shows a flower box in the way.
 * While acting out a scene from Ginger's script, the Professor injures himself by stumbling forward and hitting his nose on a table which gave him a bloody nose. With the possible exception of Gilligan and the Skipper, he seems to have injured himself more than any of the Castaways, He has also injured himself or been injured in Three to Get Ready, A Nose by Any Other Name and Quick Before It Sinks among other episodes.
 * When Gilligan and Skipper are investigating the Professor "murder," the incidental music runs a few bars of a funeral dirge. This short tune also appears in Court-Martial.
 * This is the third Ginger has acted as a nurse for the Castaways. She uses her nursing skills to attend to the Professor's nose without an ice pack, having previously showed up as an entertainer/nurse for Gilligan in Forward March.
 * This episode features a rare incident where one of the characters bleeds from an injury. Gilligan was also jabbed by Mr. Howell's tie clip in Forward March and the Professor had a minor scratch hitting his head in Three to Get Ready.
 * The presence of the blank gun is unexplained unless it came from the Hollywood crate in Castaways Pictures Presents or the magic crate in It's Magic.
 * During the Skipper and Gilligan's chat about the law, their hammocks in their hut are missing.
 * Gilligan responds to the Skipper with "Sorry about that, chief." - a known catch-phrase from the series "Get Smart." Ginger also makes a reference to the show in Splashdown.
 * It's unrevealed as to why the Air Force are checking islands in the area, but it's possible that's it's a follow-up from accumulated reports from Erika Tiffany Smith, Harold Hecuba and Lord Beasley Waterford.
 * When the Skipper becomes Sheriff on the island, Gilligan limps and calls him "Mr. Dillon," obviously a reference to Marshall Dillon on "Gunsmoke," the series that contributed to the show's cancellation. Chester called Marshall Matt Dillon "Mr. Dillon."
 * The cave set up as a jail looks like the one Jonathan Kincaid used to imprison the Castaways in The Hunter.
 * Mrs. Howell tries using a cake to break her husband out of jail, but she must have picked up some cooking lessons from Mary Ann because in Agonized Labor, it's revealed that she's a horrible cook.
 * The close-up of Gilligan stamping out the girls' fire shows the fake ground shifting.
 * The Professor reveals in this episode he knows how to "make" dynamite. While it is plausible the Professor would understand the compounds and processes necessary to create dynamite, it is unlikely he could source all the materials from a tropical island or handle the highly corrosive compounds properly with only coconuts, gourds and bamboo as containers.
 * The dish that Gilligan serves the Castaways is coconut pot pie.
 * The stock footage used as the island for the pilot's fly over in this episode looks nothing like the island from the series. It has no lagoon, no mountains and no clearings. Furthermore, the Air Force pilots should also have been able to see the huts from the air.
 * When Gilligan smashes his way out of jail, he loses his cap, but he's still wearing it in the next shot.
 * Given that Gilligan has ruined so many potential rescues, it is inexcusable that the Skipper and Professor haven't already started locking him up until their rescue was evident.
 * This episode is similar to an episode of "The Andy Griffith Show" known as Andy Saves Barney's Morale in which Deputy Barney Fife is left in charge for one day and locks up everyone in town.
 * Two syndicated versions of the episode edit out two scenes. The Me-TV airing edits out when the Professor talks to Mr. and Mrs. Howell. The Sundance TV and IFC airings edit out the part where Gilligan runs past the Howells as he jumps over their chairs.

Quotes

 * Professor - (After his bloody nose has stopped and Ginger takes the towel away.) "You know, I just realized. With some actors, they have acting in their blood. With me, I've got blood in my acting."


 * Gilligan - "Professor, you shouldn't be walking around dead. It might be fatal!!"

Mrs. Howell - "Maybe he saw someone speeding?" Mr. Howell - "On this island?" Mrs. Howell - "Jay-walking?"
 * Mr. Howell - "Why would Gilligan want a policeman?"

Skipper - "Yeah, but one thing is sure making it easier." Professor - "What's that?" Skipper - "The fact that Gilligan isn't here to help us."
 * Professor - "Collecting these phosphorescent rocks is harder work than I imagined."

Mr. Howell - "You might say that it's a coming out party."
 * Ginger - "Mr. Howell, this is no time for a party."


 * Mr. Howell - "I don't have to eat this slop. I have friends on the outside, and one of them happens to be a chef."