The premise of Sherwood Schwartz’s popular 1964 sitcom “Gilligan’s Island” is handily defined in its theme tune: 5 passengers examine right into a three-hour boat tour, run by the skipper and first mate of a tiny vacationer boat known as the S.S. Minnow. The ship hits some dangerous climate and is thrown miles astray, touchdown on an uncharted desert isle. The seven vacationers grow to be seven stranded castaways. No telephones, no lights, no motorcars, not a single luxurious. Like “Robinson Crusoe,” it is as primitive as may be. The septet should study to stay collectively, often to comedic impact.
Gilligan (Bob Denver) was the above-mentioned first mate, and his harmless cluelessness and tendency to bumble usually thwarted the castaways’ capacity to flee. He shared the island along with his Skipper (Alan Hale), a professor (Russell Johnson), a pair of married millionaires (Natalie Schafer and Jim Backus), a farmer (Daybreak Wells), and a display actress (Tina Louise). In a refreshingly democratic twist, the castaways all appear to get alongside properly, and their miniature group thrives; few “Gilligan’s Island” tales middle on intense interpersonal battle.
Schwartz has mentioned in interviews that the germ for “Gilligan’s Island” was merely placing seven disparate characters in a scenario the place they have been pressured to work together. Schwartz initially thought that an workplace constructing can be a very good place for that, however he did not like the concept of a office drama, because the characters can be allowed to go dwelling on the finish of the day. On “Gilligan’s Island,” they have been pressured to remain collectively 24/7.
“Gilligan’s Island” was massively standard on the time, and, due to superior syndication offers, stayed in reruns for actually a long time thereafter. “Gilligan’s Island” is a part of American tradition now. Naturally, different showrunners and writers have thought to emulate the collection in a technique or one other, and lots of of “Gilligan’s” youngsters may be now be loved.
Listed here are just a few exhibits (and one film) like “Gilligan’s Island.”
Misplaced (2004 – 2010)
Maybe the obvious parallel to Schwartz’s present is J.J. Abrams’, Damon Lindelof’s, and Jeffrey Lieber’s ultra-popular mystery series “Lost.” “Misplaced” additionally takes place on an uncharted desert isle, this time following aircraft crash survivors. In contrast to “Gilligan’s Island,” “Misplaced” delves deeply into every character’s backstory, and explains why they have been on that ill-fated flight to start with. However like “Gilligan’s Island,” the island itself appears to be a magnet for eerie and unexplained phenomenon. “Misplaced” encompasses a polar bear and a mysterious smoke monster. “Gilligan’s Island” will get visits from war-ready gorillas, robots, and the Harlem Globetrotters. Additionally in contrast to “Gilligan’s Island,” the island on “Misplaced” has a mysterious … factor … within the floor, and it appears to be warping the material of actuality. “Gilligan’s Island,” in the meantime, befell in a cartoonish world the place actuality was simply sort of naturally warped.
“Misplaced” is much much less democratic than “Gilligan’s Island” as properly. A few of the characters on “Misplaced” collaborate to outlive, however ersatz factions start to kind, and sure characters start to kind their very own schemes and objectives with out telling any of the others. “Misplaced” has protagonists and antagonists. “Gilligan’s Island” has solely associates.
“Misplaced” wasn’t only a huge hit, however popularized a sure sort of “thriller field” storytelling that bled extensively all through all pop TV of the period. Viewers have been inspired to maintain watching, because the central mysteries of the present would not be defined till a lot later. On “Gilligan’s Island,” we did not want the mysteries. We might simply settle for that everybody introduced a number of trunks of garments on a three-hour tour.
Dusty’s Path (1973 – 1974)
A decade after “Gilligan’s Island,” Sherwood Schwartz tried to recreate his present’s success by primarily repeating the same premise in a brand new style. “Dusty’s Trail” also starred Bob Denver and a equally bumbling character, and Forrest Tucker performed his very Skipper-like captain. There was additionally an mental (Bud Cort), a glamorous dancehall woman (Jeannine Riley), a farmer (Lori Saunders), and a pair of married millionaires (Lynn Wooden and Ivor Francis). Solely this time, as a substitute of being misplaced on a desert island, the septet can be misplaced on the American frontier within the Eighties.
The S.S. Minnow was now a stagecoach on its strategy to California, however it will grow to be separated, and the principle characters would spend the collection wandering across the deserts of the Outdated West, unable to get again on monitor. On condition that it is simple to navigate by the solar and the celebs, this premise appeared much less believable. “Dusty’s Path,” in its setup, was extra like “Wagon Practice” than “Gilligan’s Island.”
When it comes to its characters, although, it was equivalent. Denver’s Dusty was virtually precisely the identical as his Gilligan, and the “Island” character dynamic was the identical, even with a brand new solid. If one each wished to see what “Gilligan’s Island” would appear like as a Western, “Dusty’s Path” stays prepared for discovery.
Solid Away (2000)
This can be an apparent selection, however it’s apt. “Gilligan’s Island” is about seven stranded castaways on a tropical island paradise, whereas Robert Zemeckis’ survival drama “Cast Away” is about just one. Tom Hanks performs a FedEx supply man named Chuck Noland whose aircraft crashes into the ocean, and who washes up on the in need of an uncharted desert isle. The movie particulars, step-by-step, what Chuck does to outlive. He finds coconuts to eat, teaches himself the way to make hearth, and learns to spear crabs and fish. He finds a strategy to safe water and make rope. Chuck turns from a cushty city-dweller into an island denizen. Like on “Gilligan’s Island,” he additionally makes use of random gadgets that wash up on shore; he constructs an axe out of a pair of ice skates, as an illustration.
There are not any different folks on the island with Chuck, so he creates a companion within the type of a painted volleyball he names Wilson. Wilson offers Chuck one thing to speak to and to retain his sanity.
“Solid Away” is the survival drama that “Gilligan’s Island” intentionally eschewed. Meals and water got here simply to the folks on Gilligan’s Island, and their garments have been all the time clear. Chuck, in the meantime, did not have such magic to help him. In a approach, “Solid Away” and “Gilligan’s Island” are two sides of the identical coin. One posits that tenacity is required to outlive in isolation, whereas the opposite posits that consolation may be had in teams.
Star Trek: Voyager (1995 – 2001)
The “Star Trek” model of “Gilligan’s Island” got here in 1995 with the release of “Star Trek: Voyager,” a collection concerning the title ship changing into misplaced in deep, deep area, 75 years journey from Earth. “Voyager” dealt slightly bit with the shortage {that a} starship may expertise a few years from the closest ally or dependable supply of restore, however largely explored how the facility dynamic aboard a hermetically sealed, remoted starship may evolve as time passes.
The denizens of “Gilligan’s Island” got here collectively and fashioned a democratic dynamic the place everybody thrived. “Voyager” noticed the title starship taking over a number of resistance fighters from a bunch known as the Maquis and assimilated them virtually instantly. As time handed, the ship’s captain (Kate Mulgrew) grew to become more and more authoritarian, affecting a “what I say, goes” perspective.
The usS. Voyager additionally had just a few character parallels to “Gilligan’s Island.” The bumbling Gilligan character grew to become the jolly Talaxian Neelix (Ethan Phillips), the mental professor grew to become the strict Vulcan Tuvok (Tim Russ), and the flashy, “glam” character was gender-flipped to be the hotshot pilot Tom Paris (Robert Duncan McNeill). The harmless farm woman grew to become the naive Harry Kim (Garrett Wang), in addition to the light ethical character Kes (Jennifer Lien). The Skipper (Mulgrew) by no means hit folks along with her hat, fortunately. As a result of “Star Trek” takes place in a post-capitalist world, there have been no married millionaires.
Survivor (2000 – current)
CBS debuted Charlie Parsons’ actuality competitors collection “Survivor” in 2000 and, acceptable to its title, it has remained on the air ever since, spawning 682 episodes over the course of 47 distinctive seasons. “Survivor” was the American model of a Swedish competitors present known as “Expedition Robinson,” created by Parsons in 1997. Each “Survivors” are primarily the sport present model of “Gilligan’s Island.” Contestants, known as castaways, are break up into two groups, or “tribes,” and despatched to a desert island the place they compete in desert island-themed survival challenges. They should stay on the island for 39 days, and contestants are often voted off the island by their teammates. The ultimate survivor wins a prize of $1 million.
“Survivor” has primarily served as a decades-long experiment to see if the egalitarian democracy of “Gilligan’s Island” would work in actual life (or as actual as competitors TV exhibits enable). Would groups get alongside? And the way would the castaways really feel when one in every of their very own begins letting down the entire group? On “Survivor,” they don’t seem to be allowed to bolster their friends, as they’re pressured to vote somebody off. The makers of “Survivor” manufacture a substantial amount of aggressive rigidity this fashion.
The success of “Survivor” spawned innumerable knock-offs and imitators, till all the development looped again round. In 2004, TBS launched “The Real Gilligan’s Island,” which staged “Survivor”-like competitions, however with two groups of seven, every chosen as a result of they regarded just like the solid of Schwartz’s sitcom. The “Ginger” characters have been performed by real-life actresses, as an illustration. The Millionaires have been precise millionaires. “The Actual Gilligan’s Island” solely lasted 10 episodes, nonetheless, canceled after two seasons.
