It had to happen. "Rescue From Gilligan's Island" was such a ratings smash that the network executives had to milk some more money out of it. In fact, these reunion movies probably started the entire business of converting old television shows into big-budget movies. Unfortunately, no attempt was made to lure Ginger back to the role which made her so famous. Her absence and the conspicous presence of Judith Baldwin are one of the few factors from making this movie as great as the first. The plot goes that the island was once used as a landing strip during the war and the castaways stumble across the planes; you'd think that after thirteen years on the island they would have stumbled across them a long time ago. The Professor uses some very deductive reasoning to peice together a plane from the parts to get off the island, but it falls apart and they get rescued anyway when the Coast Guard investigates the odd craft. Sticking to the promises he made during the series, Mr. Howell converts the series to a resort. The construction of which was supposed to lead to a new weekly series along the lines of "Fantasy Island." Bob Denver as Gilligan again gets to stretch a small bit with some dramatic license as he befriends a young tourist, but most of the movie is the same cartoony humor of the series. Even with the altered premises from the original series, the Skipper and Gilligan are still clad in the limited wardrobe of their old costumes rather than given a clothes budget. Still, the movie does harken back to the series, but unfortunately it stays there rather than going to the next level. On a whole, the movie is a wonderful if not slightly askew bit of nostalgia, but the only audience for it are the fans of the original series, and little kids who will love the inane humor.
Review of The Castaways on Gilligan's Island
