Balinkoff's Castle
Bio
Balinkoff Castle is a towering Gothic-Romanesque castle located somewhere near Gilligan's Island. It's exact history is unknown, but at some point in its history, it was chosen as a remote location for Dr. Boris Balinkoff to conduct his experiments aided by his manservant and assistant Igor. The structure is located near the precipice of a high cliff and includes an unseen greenhouse and dock for a yacht, also unseen. The interior includes a foyer with a staircase to the upstairs bedrooms, a dining room and a secret panel to hidden passageways to Balinkoff's lab and the dungeon which comes replete with restraint and torture devices. The location is also somewhat neglected and covered with dust and cobwebs.
Balinkoff brings Gilligan and the Skipper to the island on his motor boat with the pretense of retrieving his yacht to rescue the castaways, but he very quickly takes then prisoner. When the others arrive, Mr. Howell learns of Balinkoff's plans to use them as guinea pigs in his mind-control experiments, but he is very quickly taken prisoner as well with the others. After Ginger gets Igor's body, she helps everyone escape, and the Professor restores everyone to their real identities. The Skipper then traps Balinkoff in his machine as Gilligan flips the switch. The Castaways next see Balinkoff as a cat fleeing from Igor as a dog (and vice versa) before escaping back to their island in the motor boat.
Uncropped version of image
Trivia
- Balinkoff's castle is actually a matte painting of a structure over a section of Carmel Heights near Point Lobos, California. It first appears in the Roger Corman movie, "The Raven" (1962) and is reused in "The Terror" and "The Pit And the Pendulum." It also pops up again in Gilligan's dream sequence in Up At Bat