Here is another formulaic, by-the-numbers second season episode where you have to suspend disbelief all the way through. It has no great surprises or twists, but at least it's fast paced and contains some genuine laughs.
The cold open starts with the overly familiar scene of Gilligan fishing something valuable out of the lagoon. Disbelief is shortly suspended as our scrawny lead is somehow able to single-handedly haul a giant iron mine that weighs a ton or two onto the beach. In his haste to tell the others, he carelessly leaves his fishing pole beside it, and the pole falls and activates the mine.
As usual, no one listens to Gilligan. The Skipper humorously orders him to fillet whatever he caught. Opportunistic Mr. Howell also misunderstands and, in a faint echo of The Big Gold Strike, makes Gilligan his (very) silent partner and swears him to secrecy. But Gilligan can't keep his mouth shut, and the men hit the beach to investigate his find.
To their horror, they discover that the mine is ticking. In a nice gag to close out the first act, the others scramble up the beach and leave our lead plastered to the sand.
The Professor warns that if the mine detonates, the gaseous fumes from the caves underneath the island would cause it to explode. The girls, who've done little up to this point, are shuttled over to the other side of the island to wait things out.
The ridiculous meter then gets dialed up all the way to eleven.
Suspension of disbelief really gets stretched in the next series of goofy scenes. The mine remembers it's magnetic by zapping Gilligan and Mr. Howell by their lucky charm and watch, respectively. The Professor gets them loose by pointing the transistor radio at them and hitting them with high frequency waves. His plan to place an SOS message on a raft involves a metal rudder. No problem. The castaways have enough metal odds and ends just lying around the island to fashion one. Lastly, in a gag as old as the hills, Gilligan tries to deactivate the mine with his head.
The one scene that does work amid this mishmash is when our lead outwits Ginger, who tries to seduce him out of his metal charm and fails.
Out of options, the Professor and Skipper conclude one of them has to tow the mine out to sea in a heroic sacrifice. They still can't decide who should sacrifice himself any more than they could in Hi Fi Gilligan, so they plan to cut cards to see who'll do the towing. Gilligan inserts himself into the drama when he overhears their plan and takes matters in to his own hands. As usual, any tension is undercut by more cartoonish slapstick, sped-up camera work, and overly cute musical beats.
In the overly cute epilogue, Gilligan loses his mine but gains a plastic swordfish.
COCONOTES:
The Howells have a badmitton net and shuttlecocks in this one, which go the way of their pool table, barbeque pit, roulette wheel, palm-frond fan, et al.
Jim Backus keeps this episode afloat. Love his competitiveness in the badmitton match and his line to the Professor about insurance.
Mary Ann does little in this one other than collect metal. Her outfit when she visits Gilligan is what dreams are made of, however.
Why on earth did Gilligan take the wheels to his skateboard with him on a three hour tour? Hmm? Anyone? Anyone? Bueller?
The cold open starts with the overly familiar scene of Gilligan fishing something valuable out of the lagoon. Disbelief is shortly suspended as our scrawny lead is somehow able to single-handedly haul a giant iron mine that weighs a ton or two onto the beach. In his haste to tell the others, he carelessly leaves his fishing pole beside it, and the pole falls and activates the mine.
As usual, no one listens to Gilligan. The Skipper humorously orders him to fillet whatever he caught. Opportunistic Mr. Howell also misunderstands and, in a faint echo of The Big Gold Strike, makes Gilligan his (very) silent partner and swears him to secrecy. But Gilligan can't keep his mouth shut, and the men hit the beach to investigate his find.
To their horror, they discover that the mine is ticking. In a nice gag to close out the first act, the others scramble up the beach and leave our lead plastered to the sand.
The Professor warns that if the mine detonates, the gaseous fumes from the caves underneath the island would cause it to explode. The girls, who've done little up to this point, are shuttled over to the other side of the island to wait things out.
The ridiculous meter then gets dialed up all the way to eleven.
Suspension of disbelief really gets stretched in the next series of goofy scenes. The mine remembers it's magnetic by zapping Gilligan and Mr. Howell by their lucky charm and watch, respectively. The Professor gets them loose by pointing the transistor radio at them and hitting them with high frequency waves. His plan to place an SOS message on a raft involves a metal rudder. No problem. The castaways have enough metal odds and ends just lying around the island to fashion one. Lastly, in a gag as old as the hills, Gilligan tries to deactivate the mine with his head.
The one scene that does work amid this mishmash is when our lead outwits Ginger, who tries to seduce him out of his metal charm and fails.
Out of options, the Professor and Skipper conclude one of them has to tow the mine out to sea in a heroic sacrifice. They still can't decide who should sacrifice himself any more than they could in Hi Fi Gilligan, so they plan to cut cards to see who'll do the towing. Gilligan inserts himself into the drama when he overhears their plan and takes matters in to his own hands. As usual, any tension is undercut by more cartoonish slapstick, sped-up camera work, and overly cute musical beats.
In the overly cute epilogue, Gilligan loses his mine but gains a plastic swordfish.
COCONOTES:
The Howells have a badmitton net and shuttlecocks in this one, which go the way of their pool table, barbeque pit, roulette wheel, palm-frond fan, et al.
Jim Backus keeps this episode afloat. Love his competitiveness in the badmitton match and his line to the Professor about insurance.
Mary Ann does little in this one other than collect metal. Her outfit when she visits Gilligan is what dreams are made of, however.
Why on earth did Gilligan take the wheels to his skateboard with him on a three hour tour? Hmm? Anyone? Anyone? Bueller?
