Surviving Gilligan's Island: The Incredibly True Story of the Longest Three Hour Tour in History

"Surviving Gilligan's Island: The Incredibly True Story of the Longest Three Hour Tour in History," as well as fitting alongside "Rascals and Robbers: The Secret Adventures of Tom Sawyer and Huck Finn" and "The Positively True Adventures of the Alleged Texas Cheerleader-Murdering Mom" in the realm of TV movies with unbelievably long titles, is part documentary, part dramatization, part comedy and part nostalgia trip. Accordingly, it's also part successful.

Hosted by Dawn Wells, Russell Johnson and Bob Denver - the latter with "And Special Appearance By" credit, although he appears throughout the movie - this is shown from the off to be one for the fans, when the still-cute Wells boards a plane and the passengers break into the show's indelible theme song (she says this really did happen to her, and it's impossible to doubt it). It's especially hard to believe that many UK viewers will fully appreciate it; though it has aired in the UK, "Gilligan's Island" isn't as well known here as other American TV shows that have also been the subject of telemovies (like "Charlie's Angels" and "Batman"), but then again who's in a hurry to see ones about "The Good Life" or "Man About The House"? Especially as the most repeated series on British TV may well be "The Phil Silvers Show." But I digress. (Then again, maybe I don't - Silvers guested on the show once, and Gladasya [which made the show with United Artists for CBS] was his production company. Not many people know that.)

The movie's need to cram so much story into so little time means it plays like a Reader's Digest version of a book about the making of the series; it's rather jarring when an anecdote about a friend of Natalie Schaefer's having a mastectomy comes up. And though Tina Louise isn't too flatteringly portrayed here, it doesn't really come across as mudslinging (Louise has always been keen to distance herself from the series - she didn't even lend her voice to the cartoons "The New Adventures of Gilligan" and "Gilligan's Planet"). The constant cutting between the other three surviving cast members and the actors playing the original cast is an odd conceit, with every wall in sight broken when Dawn Wells gives Samantha Harris a crash course in Mary Ann's look ("This is a two-hour movie... let's cut to the chase"). But with the fine recreations – with a particular nod to Steve Vinovich as Jim Backus – and Laura Karpman's music in tune, as it were, with both the series and the period, it works.

It works in fits and starts, admittedly – the scenes where it gets serious are very hit and miss, especially considering that the original series was not renowned for its sentimentality – and it's ultimately more for people with a massive interest than the casual viewer (it bothers me a bit that the aforementioned animated spinoffs aren't mentioned - more understandably, neither is the next series Bob Denver did with Sherwood Schwartz, "Dusty's Trail"). Still, at least this approach is more original than a bigscreen movie, and this is a nicely put-together effort that serves both as a valentine to the show and a potted history, with some good laughs as well.

It would have been good if the story of how Schwartz pitched the idea to CBS by writing the theme song first and singing it to the board (as related in the book "TV's Greatest Hits") had been included, but at least the Professor finally answers the question of how someone so smart couldn't fix a hole in a boat - as the man says, if YOU were stuck on a desert island with Ginger and Mary Anne, would you fix it?

I never saw the promos for this wonderful feat of nostalgic fun, but as a Gilligan fan, I knew it was coming up. It was as funny and as cartoonish as the series with the last three survivors (if you consider Tina Louise killed "Ginger") telling in front of the camera their favorite anecdotes and having them acted out for all the fans who already know them. The host segments were wonderful, and the flashbacks were made wonderful by actors who looked like the castaways. I have seen Eric Allen Kramer and Steven Vinovich play other roles, but it was this movie that convinced me just how much they look like the Skipper and Mr. Howell. Samantha Harris and Kristen Dalton were equally wonderful as Mary Ann/Dawn Wells and Ginger/Tina Louise. I wonder how Tina is going to take this bashing portrayal of herself as a prima donna. If anything, I'd love to see these new actors take over the roles and bring back the series. If they can return us the the series, maybe they can bring back the series.

While seeming like a prospect of "Where are they now?" crossed with "Growing up Brady", this was an inventive format. Narrative with actors for some parts, presentations by the original actors for others, and vox populi for yet other parts, they all blended together to make for a trippy sort of special, especially when the staged narratives used original actors (Dawn Wells at Alan Hale Jr's funeral) and the presentations used the young actors (the questions about the professor getting off the island, why did they have so much clothing?). I won't say much about the actual content, but I was pleasantly surprised at the way they presented it.

As a 32 year old, I grew up with watching Gilligan's Island. By watching this interesting "behind the scenes", I learned a lot. Heck, I never realized that Tina Louise was ashamed of being a part of the series. What a loser! Anyway, this was a lot of fun to watch as was anything but a "scandle" documentary. I was, at first, expecting to see some kind of E The True Hollywood Story. This was, instead, a very tastefully and well done story.

A wonderfully conceived biopic of how Sherwood Schwartz's idea became one of the most watched comedies in TV history, even to this day.

I loved it as a kid and still often watch with my boy. Too bad Tina Louise still harbors some latent hostility for the old show, and this "True Story" as well. It would have been so great for her to be a part of it. The behind-the-scenes stuff is a riot, and the actors who play the castaways are top-notch. It's wonderful seeing Dawn Wells, Russell Johnson, and Bob Denver together, talking about the fun times, and the poignant moments about Jim Backus, Natalie Schafer, and Alan Hale, all who have since passed away. I never understood why the critics were so merciless in their hatred of the show. I'd pit 'Gilligan' against the tripe on TV these days anytime!