User Reviews

A menacing headhunter from another island paddles ashore in his outrigger to scout out the island. Meanwhile, Mary Ann gets a cramp while swimming and while Gilligan tries to rescue her, the Skipper succeeds in carrying both of them out of the lagoon.

The Skipper is celebrated as a hero while Gilligan feels guilty about not being able to rescue Mary Ann. So after a session being psychoanalyzed by Mrs. Howell, the conclusion is that Gilligan needs to become a hero as well, so the castaways manufacture a few situations to help this happen.

Naturally, Gilligan screws all it up until the headhunter makes his move, facing off against the Skipper.

Perhaps the prototypical episode of Gilligan's Island with some nice touches and good laughs along the way. However, speeding up the film at the end as the headhunter leaves with his butt on fire seems a little childish, even for Gilligan's Island.

Highlights include the photo session with the Skipper and Mary Ann, Mrs. Howell explaining the heroes of the past to Gilligan, the glare from Mrs. Howell as Ginger sits on Mr. Howell's lap, Ginger projecting from her diaphragm (a moment that in isolation can be interpreted a little differently than being in pain), the realization that there actually is a headhunter on the island and Gilligan's attempt at rescuing the Skipper.

Overall, this is a very good episode that is not a classic, but more typical of what makes Gilligan's Island funny and enjoyable.

• When you look at the size the gentleman playing the headhunter, it's amazing he managed to paddle that relatively small outrigger in the lagoon. Plus, he manages to pick it up with ease and hide it in the bushes. A really nice touch is the skulls of his previous victims adorn his belt. This particular fellow we will see again as the leader of a fearsome tribe in "Music Hath Charm".

• The camera that Mr. Howell uses is quite nice, but quite different from the solid gold one he sports two episodes later in "The Matchmaker"

• The forced perspective shot of the headhunter approaching the Skipper and then the Skipper and Gilligan as their legs are trapped under the tree is very imaginative, but not well executed as it appears that when the headhunter raises his machete to strike, he is way too far away from either one of them.

• It's kinda hard to see, but that beach spider that "threatens" Mrs. Howell does move a little.

• The flag from "Plant You Know, Dig You Later" makes a return in the epilogue scene.

• Also, only Mary Ann is really paying any attention to Gilligan in the epilogue...a nice touch that will play out two episodes later in "The Matchmaker".

• As for things that don't survive from episode to episode, the headhunter swims away from the island, yet he leaves his outrigger behind...never to be seen again.

After having to share to spotlight with guest stars for a few episodes, Gilligan is back to being front and center. Whenever an episode slows down a bit and stops to focus on character development it's usually above average. This episode moves very fast, keeps the silliness in check for the most part, has good gags, and finishes strong.

It's crowded down at the lagoon in a busy cold open. First, a headhunter lands on the island in an outrigger canoe. Second, Mary Ann takes a morning swim, catches a cramp or something, and starts to drown. Third, our lead attempts to save her, but he can't handle her thrashing about. And fourth, the Skipper hears their cries for help and heroically hauls them out of the water, one castaway in each hand.

One of the Skip's flaws is his pride. (He has that 'brave and sure' image to maintain). It doesn't take much to feed his ego. Shortly after the rescues, he is lauded, congratulated, photographed, and told his picture is going to be on the front page of Howell-owned newspapers. All of this overkill goes straight to his head.

Gilligan's efforts, on the other hand, are overlooked and downplayed. Even the Professor gets snarky with him. All of the attention the Skip gets bruises his ego and makes him jealous. In a great moment, he is reduced to taking a picture of the others with the resident hero, then wanders away unnoticed.

Our depressed lead has a couch trip with Mrs. Howell, who, when she isn't planning cotillions, apparently dabbles in psychology. She diagnoses that Gilligan has come down with a bad case of Skipper envy, and the cure is to save a castaway to restore his self-esteem.

The Skip's scheme to have Gilligan save him from a fallen log ends with the pair underneath it. They nearly get decapitated by our guest savage before the Professor comes to their aid and becomes the hero. Gilligan spots the headhunter after everyone else has gone and rushes off to tell them, but--surprise-no one believes him. And Mr. Howell's plan for Gilligan to save his wife may be more imaginative, but doesn't do the trick either.

It's back to the Skip, who takes advantage of his little buddy having 'headhunters on the brain' by dressing up as one. He makes the mistake, though, of explaining his idea to the girls in the jungle without first checking if the coast is clear, and Gilligan overhears his plot.

To set up the final fun confrontation, the real headhunter beats the Skip to the punch. He captures the others and binds them to what look like maypoles in preparation of them being his dinner.

The climax is one of the best of the season. Our lead saunters into camp with a chip on his shoulder, believing the whole hostage-taking is a ruse. His showdown with the headhunter is entertaining with the usual assortment of broad sight gags and slapstick. (Cleaving the tree in half is always good for a chuckle). When the Skip makes his belated goofy appearance, Gilligan realizes he isn't being put on and is in fact going up against the real McCoy.

But our lead makes sure he is the one who doesn't get burned in the end.

COCONOTES:

Russ Grieve makes the first of the three appearances as the headhunter.

The simultaneous moaning between Ginger and Skipper gets really, really awkward.

The clever, sarcastic version of Gilligan in the camp scene was severely underused in the series.

Gilligan needed someone to dialogue with during the climax, so neither Howell is gagged.

Mr. Howell's pole is extremely wobbly when Gilligan runs around it. It nearly comes out of its base.

Major plot hole: all Mary Ann had to do was acknowledge that Gilligan tried to save her in the beginning, and he wouldn't have developed an inferiority complex.

Usually we get Ginger as a nurse, but now Mrs. Howell is a psychiatrist, probably needing a few of her own living with Thurston. Gilligan is having an identity crisis, upset because he can't do anything right and never ends up the hero.

Little do they realize that there is a real headhunter on the island, and on several occasions, the skipper has almost ended up with a permanent headache or at least a new look above the neck. Other castaways to their best to make Gilligan the hero, but every time, something prevents that from fully happening. But as each of the castaways becomes a victim of the headhunter one by one (locked up in a cage for later cooking), Gilligan has no choice but to reach into his heroic possibilities otherwise end up the only one left. But it is at the real headhunter or the skipper dressed up? Only a headhunter's headhunter will know.

Funny but juvenile episode with a silly looking native, one with a permanent scowl on his face, and not exactly the healthiest looking one either. Of course it's a debate as to who looks sillier in Native costumes, the skipper or the high paid extra who is actually the real headhunter. I'm curious as well about the not so little spider on Mrs. Howell's floor that looks quite big from my perspective. Cartoonish and somewhat insipid with a few awkward laughs.