Rescue from Gilligan's Island

NBC, out of nowhere in 1978, announced this TV film "Rescue From Gilligan's Island" as a Movie of The Week(which they did so well in the day!). Much was made of the fact that Tina Louise declined to be in the film-a mistake on her part-feeling the Ginger role had 'ruined' her career. Judith Baldwin kind of faked her way in the sultry part, but truly it was Dawn Wells who was still da bomb of the two of them. The story was what everyone had wanted to see. Many of the cast had aged noticeably but once in familiar costumes, they jumped back into the roles easily from the get-go and they kept it with "real time" in that they'd been missing for 15 years. It has the familiar theme song from the start and the Professor finds out grave news-via one of his ingenious devices-they have to leave the island because it's sinking. Gilligan's incompetency in cooking a fish on the wooden raft of huts causes a fire-which attracts the Coast Guard-and gets them rescued. After a rather-highly budgeted location scene that had them return to the the Honolulu harbor they left from-the film descends into familiar territory, on studio sets, with two Russian spies pursuing Gilligan for a missing part (from a Soviet rocket)he's wearing for good luck. One by one the castaways find they can't really connect back into society after the lapse of 15 years and are drawn back together, for...another boat cruise. The film wound up being a ratings smash for NBC, with one of the highest ratings ever for a TV movie, apparently! So much so they commissioned two more very lame,set-bound "sequel" movies-The Castaways of Gilligan's Island, and The Harlem Globetrotters on Gilligan's Island. The former had them winding up-after another three hour tour-back on the same island(apparently it did not sink) and, within the first 10 minutes rescued again by a condo developer who'd been there already and, puts them in charge of their famous island as a resort getaway. The latter film really was threadbare, and a new low-point for guest stars Martin Landau and Barbara Bain as the "bad guys" who create robots to go head to head with The Globerotters on the island at a sporting event. Jim Backus-who had been suffering the terrible effects of Parkinson's Disease-had to step out and was replaced by his and Mrs Howell's long-lost son. Backus, apparently so cared for his cast mates, and the role that despite his crippling illness found some strength and gave it his all to do a very quick walk-on scene(he could barely walk) and one or two lines that were written in at the last moment. He was obviously visibly ill. It's hard to think that the core of the cast, save for Dawn Wells, Tina Louise and Russell Johnson, have passed on because the show was so immortal even for it's mere 3 seasons and 3 movies.

The original show was a gem as its stories were designed so that the seven characters "bounced off" one another in a way that highlighted their stereotype, cartoonish natures. The show was pure escapism - and it worked!

It was a gem of comedy.

With their removal from the island and separation from each other, the characters' took on a dull, blah realism as they had to interact with other characters and situations germane to their respective "real" environments. They no longer were funny. The magic of the series was missing due to this, and the show seemed more a weak drama with shallow, predictable plots and a few strained comedic interludes.

While it initially was nice to see the characters again, I prefer to remember them as they originally were intended to be.

"Rescue from Gilligan's Island" came out 11 and a half years after the series ended. The movie was a huge hit on TV simply due to the show's gazillion of fans, multiplied by a decade of syndicated reruns. Unfortunately, the film doesn't measure up to the zany-but-excellent series, particularly the last two seasons.

For one, at 95 minutes it seems to have a lot of filler. Many of the scenes could've been cut down by about 40%. It also seems rushed at times, like the actors learned their lines an hour before filming; and a lot of the humorous situations/dialogue aren't entirely successful, to put it nicely. Also, Tina Louise refused to return as Ginger, evidently because they didn't offer her enough money (which is funny because she wasn't exactly an in-demand actress at the time; the only significant role I remember her in after Gilligan's Island was in the 1975 film "The Stepford Wives"). The woman they got to replace Tina looks fine but she comes off as an airheaded bimbo and Ginger was never a bimbo. She's a sexy starlet, yes, but also smart.

Most of the cast look pretty good a dozen years later and Mary Ann (Dawn Wells) looks incredible. Surprisingly, it's Gilligan (Bob Denver) who has aged the most, which is strange since he was supposed to be a "boy" of about 19-21 during the original run. As such, he should only be about 30-32 during this movie, but he clearly looks to be in his mid-40s or older (in real life Bob Denver was 29-31 during the series and was 43 at the time of this movie). Still, this isn't a big deal.

BOTTOM LINE: "Rescue from Gilligan's Island" comes across as a lame version of the series with too much filler, but it's worthwhile for fans of the show because, of course, we have to know how they finally got rescued after almost 15 years as castaways. But, as they say, you can never go home again and neither can the castaways; they became their own family on the island, which is one of the reasons the show was so endearing.

GRADE: C

By the late '70s, I'd spent many an afternoon watching Gilligan's Island in syndication after school. Each episode was the TV equivalent of a Hostess Twinkie - light, fluffy, undeniably artificial, sweet and sappy enough to make you sick. But come the next day, you wanted another one anyway. Rescue from Gilligan's Island looks like nothing so much as an extended episode from the original series. Depending on how much you liked or hated the series, that can be good or bad. All the old staples were back, from the fast-motion slapstick to the groaners masquerading as punchlines. As soon as I saw the network promo where the Skipper said, "After 15 years, we're finally rescued," I was looking forward to watching this on TV. I missed the original lagoon set, though. The new lagoon looked a lot smaller and darker, not at all inviting. Perhaps the worst part of the movie was seeing everyone back in "civilization" after years of seeing them only on the "island." The message of the movie is true: there's no place like home, which in this case was the island.

Most of the cast was back, looking none the worse for wear. Alan Hale, Jr. could have stepped fresh from the series, as could Dawn Wells, Jim Backus and Natalie Schafer. Russell Johnson looked his age, and Bob Denver added the most years. Judith Baldwin was nowhere near as alluring as Tina Louise. Choosing between Mary Ann and this Ginger would be no contest. At least her leaden delivery and wooden expressions made me appreciate how underrated Tina really was.

The DVD transfer is easily the worst I've ever seen. Where did they get the source material, off a videocassette recorded from a local broadcast? There were numerous flaws in the tape, including a fuzzy, washed out picture, bad dropouts, tracking problems and many jumpy edits where a second or two seemed to be missing. In fact, roughly three minutes of running time are missing here, clocking in at only 92 minutes. Lots of hiss on the audio track. Even the printing on the DVD was bad. It was ragged and looked like somebody used an old inkjet printer to sloppily print the label. The company involved in the DVD mastering got prominent on-screen credit. If it were me, I wouldn't brag about it. I'd call it amateurish, but I've seen amateur-produced DVDs that were much better. But what can you expect for a $5 DVD? At least secondhand copies can be had for less.

Before watching the reunion movie "Rescue from Gilligan's Island", the only exposure I had to the original television series was seeing the last five minutes of one episode. After watching this reunion movie, I have absolutely no desire to watch any more of the original show. This reunion movie goes wrong in just about every way you can think of. Most of the principle cast looks very tired and old, and seeing them try to get the energy to do their shtick is a sad sight. In fairness to the cast, they were working with an incredibly bad script. The gags are as tired and old as the cast. Not only that, but the movie doesn't seem to know what to do with its premise, having the rescued castaways doing things that don't seem the least bit comically inspired. Also, an incredible amount of time is spent on the subplot with the communist spies hunting for Gilligan's medallion, a subplot that's ultimately for nothing and could have easily been written out without affecting the rest of the story in the least bit. This sorry excuse for a movie should be marooned on an uncharted island.