An "ape man" wreaks havoc on the island and frightens the castaways, who don't realize that he is actually a Hollywood actor preparing for a role.An "ape man" wreaks havoc on the island and frightens the castaways, who don't realize that he is actually a Hollywood actor preparing for a role.An "ape man" wreaks havoc on the island and frightens the castaways, who don't realize that he is actually a Hollywood actor preparing for a role.
- Director
- Writers
- All cast & crew
- Production, box office & more at IMDbPro
Storyline
Did you know
- TriviaThe second of two appearances by Denny Miller on Our Vines Have Tender Apes (1967). The first one was two years earlier of a surfer brought to the island by a storm in Big Man on a Little Stick (1965).
- GoofsSince Tongo obviously didn't know there was anyone on the island, why exactly did he fly there in the first place?
- Quotes
Mrs. Lovey Howell: If he eats with the fork in his left hand, it indicates a European background. If in his right, he's American.
[Tongo drops fork and knife and stuffs pie in his face]
Thurston Howell III: Heavens! A YALE MAN !
- ConnectionsReferenced in Shrek the Third (2007)
- SoundtracksThe Ballad of Gilligan's Isle
Words and Music by George Wyle and Sherwood Schwartz
Featured review
Gilligan meets the poor man's Tarzan.
Clearly, this late in the third season, the series is running low on originality. Once again, an episode from the last season recycles plot elements from way back in the first. This time, it borrows heavily from Diamonds are an Ape's Best Friend and a little bit from Gilligan Meets Jungle Boy. The guest star does a passable job, but the outing has stale, lazy writing, awkward scenes that don't work, and is never more than mildly funny.
Okay, the cold open is at least cute, if you're into Goldilocks. Gilligan discovers an ape man sleeping in his hammock. After the cuteness fades, we go right into the trope of no one believing his very descriptive story. It's not long, though, before the figment of Gilligan's imagination appears (as it did so many times before), swings into the skeptics, gives a non-Tarzan yell, and flees.
For the majority of the first act, the ape man menaces the castaways in mildly humorous scenes; the best scene is where he engages Mr. Howell and causes a fainting spell. The men's search party scenes are too broad and adolescent as they're overmatched by the ape man throwing coconuts. Equally witless and sexist is the girls' plan to make themselves look ugly to keep from being carried off.
Ginger doesn't really try, of course, and is taken to that same weekly cave set. The scene between beauty and the beast is tedious, draggy, and falls woefully short of any Tarzan and Jane material. All that's gained from it is the ape man's name is Tongo. It's followed by another moment cribbed from Diamonds where the Professor tries to use her to lure Tongo into a trap and she refuses. Mary Ann fills in for her in a creepy scene where the cut-rate Tarzan is captured and caged.
In a not so surprising twist, it's revealed that the menacing Tongo is really an actor who has travelled all the way to a remote island to practice his role on the unsuspecting castaways. In short, he's really, really method.
He continues his act with Gilligan and the others in scenes where they try to connect with him, and are pale imitations of better scenes with the jungle boy. They're also kind of cruel since he's playing the naïve castaways for fools.
Not knowing how to continue, writers Mandel and Kammerman have a random gorilla pop up to carry off Tongo in an ironic twist. Once again, we're back to Diamonds, as the castaways try to rescue him in a bid to get off the island. Scrawny Gilligan is dressed up as another gorilla to lure the real one out of that same cave to little comedic effect. (Why Gilligan you say? Why not?) The episode wobbles to its predictable finish; Tongo is exposed as a fraud and a coward, and the writers as creatively spent.
COCONOTES:
Denny Scott Miller makes his second appearance on the series as the ape man. Miller actually played Tarzan on the 1959 series. His actor here comes across as a brutish and unlikable schemer. Definitely left a better impression as Duke the surfer.
Major plot hole: how on earth did he know the island he picked was inhabited?
Another sign that the writers are mailing it in is Mr. Howell's umbrella sword.
Yet another sign is the coconut and bamboo shopping cart. Kind of counterproductive to push a basket on wheels through jungle terrain when it's way easier to carry the 'groceries'.
Okay, the cold open is at least cute, if you're into Goldilocks. Gilligan discovers an ape man sleeping in his hammock. After the cuteness fades, we go right into the trope of no one believing his very descriptive story. It's not long, though, before the figment of Gilligan's imagination appears (as it did so many times before), swings into the skeptics, gives a non-Tarzan yell, and flees.
For the majority of the first act, the ape man menaces the castaways in mildly humorous scenes; the best scene is where he engages Mr. Howell and causes a fainting spell. The men's search party scenes are too broad and adolescent as they're overmatched by the ape man throwing coconuts. Equally witless and sexist is the girls' plan to make themselves look ugly to keep from being carried off.
Ginger doesn't really try, of course, and is taken to that same weekly cave set. The scene between beauty and the beast is tedious, draggy, and falls woefully short of any Tarzan and Jane material. All that's gained from it is the ape man's name is Tongo. It's followed by another moment cribbed from Diamonds where the Professor tries to use her to lure Tongo into a trap and she refuses. Mary Ann fills in for her in a creepy scene where the cut-rate Tarzan is captured and caged.
In a not so surprising twist, it's revealed that the menacing Tongo is really an actor who has travelled all the way to a remote island to practice his role on the unsuspecting castaways. In short, he's really, really method.
He continues his act with Gilligan and the others in scenes where they try to connect with him, and are pale imitations of better scenes with the jungle boy. They're also kind of cruel since he's playing the naïve castaways for fools.
Not knowing how to continue, writers Mandel and Kammerman have a random gorilla pop up to carry off Tongo in an ironic twist. Once again, we're back to Diamonds, as the castaways try to rescue him in a bid to get off the island. Scrawny Gilligan is dressed up as another gorilla to lure the real one out of that same cave to little comedic effect. (Why Gilligan you say? Why not?) The episode wobbles to its predictable finish; Tongo is exposed as a fraud and a coward, and the writers as creatively spent.
COCONOTES:
Denny Scott Miller makes his second appearance on the series as the ape man. Miller actually played Tarzan on the 1959 series. His actor here comes across as a brutish and unlikable schemer. Definitely left a better impression as Duke the surfer.
Major plot hole: how on earth did he know the island he picked was inhabited?
Another sign that the writers are mailing it in is Mr. Howell's umbrella sword.
Yet another sign is the coconut and bamboo shopping cart. Kind of counterproductive to push a basket on wheels through jungle terrain when it's way easier to carry the 'groceries'.
helpful•23
- Ralphkram
- Sep 14, 2018
Details
Contribute to this page
Suggest an edit or add missing content