Customer Reviews

Gilligan's Island: The Complete Third Season

5 star:		(59)
4 star:		(7)
3 star:		(4)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

"Gilligan's Island," while never a hit with the critics, is beloved today by millions of fans. I don't remember when the series was on during primetime, but I fondly recall coming home from school to catch it in the afternoons. This DVD set covers the final season of the short-lived series and it contains some of my favorite episodes. Gilligan thinking that he's a vampire, Gilligan being hunted by a big game hunter, MaryAnn thinking that she's Ginger, a witch doctor casting spells on the castaways, and many more memorable episodes. My all time favorite is included here - "The Producer" with Phil Silvers as the over-the-top movie producer Harold Hecuba.

The entire episode list follows:

#1 - Up at Bat - After being bitten by a bat, Gilligan is convinced that he is turning into a vampire.

#2 - Gilligan vs. Gilligan - Gilligan can't convince the others that there is a Russian spy on the island and he looks just like him!

#3 - Pass The Vegetables Please - Gilligan finds a crate of radioactive vegetable seeds that give the castaways superhuman powers.

#4 - The Producer - Phil Silvers guest stars as Harold Hecuba and the castaways try to impress him by staging their own version of "Hamlet."

#5 Voodoo - A witch doctor makes dolls in the likeness of the castaways and casts spells on them.

#6 Where There's A Will - Mr. Howell decides to revise his will and leave everything to his fellow castaways. When they throw him a party, he thinks that they are out to kill him.

#7 Man With A Net - John McGiver guest stars as Lord Beasley, a butterfly collector in pursuit of the elusive pussycat swallowtail.

#8 Hair Today, Gone Tomorrow - Gilligan and the Skipper mysteriously go bald and decide to live in a cave to avoid the stares of the others.

#9 - Ring Around Gilligan - Vito Scotti guest stars as mad scientist Dr. Boris Balinkoff who controls the castaways with a hypnotic ring.

#10 - Topsy-Turvy - Gilligan is having vision problems and there are headhunters on the island.

#11 - The Invasion - Gilligan finds an attache case filled with top secret files and has a dream that is Agent 014.

#12 - The Kidnapper - Don Rickles guest stars Norbert Wiley, a kidnapper who holds the women for ransom.

#13 - And Then There Were None - The castaways are vanishing one by one and Gilligan, thinking he is responsible, has a dream that he is Dr. Jeckyll and Mr. Hyde.

#14 - All About Eva - Tina Louise has a field day as the drab Eva Grubb, who gets a beauty make-over from the girls and ends up looking just like Ginger.

#15 - Gilligan Goes Gung Ho - Law and order is needed on the island so Skipper becomes the sheriff and Gilligan his deputy.

#16 - Take A Dare - Strother Martin guest stars as George Barkley, who is trying to win $10,000 by surviving on a deserted island. Only this island isn't deserted!

#17 - Court-Martial - The Skipper is distraut when he hears that he is at fault for the Minnow shipwreck.

#18 - The Hunter - Rory Calhoun plays big game hunter Jonathan Kinkaid, who wants to hunt humans.

#19 - Lovey's Secret Admirer - Mr. Howell is sending his wife anonymous love letters.

#20 - Our Vines Have Tender Grapes - Denny Miller guest stars as Tongo, the Ape Man, who is actually an actor vying for a movie role.

#21 - Gilligan's Personal Magnetism - Gilligan becomes invisible.

#22 - Splashdown - The Professor calculates that a space shuttle will soon be flying over the island. The castaways prepare to get their attention.

#23 - High Man on the Totem Pole - After seeing his likeness on a totem pole, Gilligan thinks that he is the descendent of headhunters.

#24 - The Second Ginger Grant - Mary Ann thinks that she is Ginger after hitting her head.

#25 - The Secret of Gilligan's Island - Gilligan and the Skipper find prehistoric tablets in a cave. Gilligan dreams that the castaways are living in prehistoric times.

#26 - Slave Girl - Gilligan saves the life of a native girl and now she wants to be his slave for life.

#27 - It's A Bird, It's A Plane - A jet pack floats into the lagoon - the Professor thinks that there is enough fuel in it to get one of them back to Hawaii.

#28 - The Pigeon - Sterling Holloway plays a prisoner who uses his homing pigeon to correspond with the castaways.

#29 - Bang! Bang! Bang! - A crate of molding plastic washes ashore and the castaways start using it but are unaware that it is actually an explosive.

#30 - Gilligan, the Goddess - Natives arrive on the island in search of a "white goddess" to feed to their volcano.

Unlike many other shows of the 60s, Gilligan's Island went out on a high note, leaving good memories of a show that didn't tail off in quality after a 3-year run. Surprising, considering that watching it, you realize how much of a one-joke slapstick it really was. Despite its observable limitations, it proved itself popular enough to warrant the show a significant spot in the pantheon of archetypal TV comedy and endless re-runs that never seem to get stale. Sherwood Schwartz (Funnyman who was the genius behind Hogan's Heroes) turns in a different comedy gem with Gilligan, showcasing how a simplistic premise can be stretched for 3 years and stay on top of the quality barrel. It's Saturday night circa early 60's and right after The Jackie Gleason Show on CBS comes `Gilligans Island'.
When it first aired about the only two well-known members of the cast to the vast majority of viewers were Bob Denver who had appeared as the beatnik Maynard G. Krebs on Dobie Gillis and the multi talented Jim Backus. Russell Johnson who played the Professor was one of those actors that would appear on various TV shows. Its run on prime time was three seasons but thanks to re-runs Gilligans Island has in fact never left the airwaves. The 98 episodes play over and over yet they still hold up well today and one can still find themselves laughing at various episodes even though they may have seen it dozens perhaps even hundreds of times. The highlight, is of course, Bob Denver's fantastic comedic timing, coupled with some of the most original writing of the era. And let's not forget that fantastic theme song that has stayed burned in the memory of many fan's brains. A truly classic show that deserves its title, and the DVD extras are very welcome for a show that's almost 40 years old. This is essential TV comedy classic.

We are huge fans of Gilligan's Island, this is creative, interesting, visionary television programming at its Best! You never tire of the silly stories they are so free, relaxing and silly. Life is grand because of Gilligan's Island. The kids enjoy it, I enjoy it, we can watch them over and over again and learn or notice something new...A real family value, which we don't see much of anymore...Hooray For Gilligan's Island. There is a God!

If you grew up watching Gilligan's Island as I did every weekday afternoon, you will absolutely love the 3rd season! It is exactly as I remember each episode and the interaction between the Skipper and Gilligan seems even more funny when compared with modern shows of today. My only small complaint is the actual packaging of the three DVD's. They are double sided DVD's and are also more difficult to get out of the case itself. However, the episodes are absolutely incredible!!!

As others have already noted in their reviews, Sherwood Schwartz's sitcom "Gilligan's Island" was prematurely canceled after the 1967 television season, in order for CBS to make room on their prime-time schedule for one last season of the hit Western series "Gunsmoke." It would be wrong to praise Gilligan's Island by bashing Gunsmoke, since the latter is also a classic (and unlike Gilligan's Island, a long-running) television series, but it is certainly an interesting "what might have been." By the third year of their adventures on an "uncharted" island, it was clear that, far from running out of ideas and rehashing the same stale material over and over again, the castaways actually seemed to just be hitting their stride insofar as off-the-wall, so-idiotic-it's-hilarious comedy went. Gilligan's Island could have probably gone on to last at least six or seven seasons overall, but the very brevity of the show, and the lasting impact of the fewer-than-100 episodes upon millions of viewers worldwide, have served to make it a cult phenomenom -- something akin to the short-lived 90s series (and Clair Daines' star vehicle) "My So-Called Life" -- only without the pretense to realism or unnecessary histrionics.

Gilligan's Island is a gloriously, unapologetically stupid show, and that's why it's so great, and in no season is its greatness more wonderfully showcased than in the final year of its prime time life. Of particular interest in the third season are the increased number of guest stars on the island, the increase in the number of dream sequences (the episode where the Professor dresses up like Sherlock Holmes and calls Maryanne -- dressed as an 1890s street-urchin flowergirl a-la Audrey Hepburn in My Fair Lady -- an "ugly old lady" is priceless), and the increased involvment of the whole cast in getting into zany situations. In the first season, each of the castaways played straight-man to Gilligan's wild eccentriciries, with the exception of Mr. Howell, who is for me the most amusing character in the show, but in the second and especially in the third all of the other characters get a chance to behave in a silly (and fun) manner.

Each season of this show had many unforgettable episodes, but the third year -- and especially the episode where the castaways produced their own version of Shakespeare's Hamlet -- goes over the top, and in a good way. Other reviewers have already gone over the episode plot synopses, so I won't get into that, but trust me -- if you love Gilligan's Island, the episodes you'll find in season three are probably among the biggest reasons why.

as i have said in my other reviews,i'm a father of two who uses these and other old shows i grew up on to show my boys and keep them from watching some of the trash that passes for tv these days. on friday nights we have popcorn and movie nights and gilligan is one of the top shows they pick to watch.
you know the story and the theme song,so really the only thing to say is that this silly,very funny show is something my kids and i share and laugh at together and we talk and just have a good time as a family watching this family friendly show that i don't have to worry about leaving the room for a second because i know no dirty words ,gore, or sex is going to show up.
the fact that my boys love this as much as i did and we can share it together earns 5 stars and a big place in my collection.

This is the one I've been waiting for. Of course, I bought the first two, but this one has the ULTIMATE Gilligan's Island episode, my favorite, "Pass the Vegetables Please" (#71). Two words: wacky trombone. Every time Gilligan displays superhuman strength, that infectious trombone music comes bouncing in, wackily. This is the reason I NEED the incidental music from this show. Well, that and the music whenever somebody (i.e. Gilligan) gets dizzy or sees double.

With the impending release of season 3, it only makes me wish there had been a season 4. In truth, I rate season 3 as Gilligan's weakest, although there are a few real gems (The Producer, Pass the Vegetables, Court Martial, The Hunter). I've always rated season 2 as the strongest overall. Still, it only makes you wonder how much wilder and 'way out' the show would've gotten if there had been a fourth season. Unfortunately, the studio heads wanted to bring back 'Gunsmoke', and a thirty minute sitcom had to be sacrificed...Gilligan became that casualty. Alas, we still have the 'Gilligan' TV-Movies, which I hope will get a re-release with a few extras.
Truly, one of the all-time 'guilty pleasures' TV has ever produced...thank you, Sherwood....

Not that there's anything wrong with seasons one or two, but season three has all the episodes I loved watching growing up; "Pass the Vegetables, Please", "The Producer", "And Then There Were None", etc. All classic in a surreal way. I guess there's only so much 7 people can do on an island before the fantasy/dream sequences come into play. Great entertainment.

Well while Gilligan only lasted three seasons the fact that there is 98 episodes makes it four or even almost 5 seasons in today's shortened TV seasons. Gilligan's staying power is really quite amazing considering it had no real major actors, no actors who went on to become larger stars, and was a borderline kid's show. But this screwball comedy with the improbable plots and the professor building hi-tech items out of coconut cream pies is just darn funny. The best episodes are always those where it looks like the castaways will be rescued until Gilligan screws it up again.

My Favorite episodes from season three are:

"Up at Bat" Gilligan is bitten by a bat and thinks that he is going to become a vampire.

"The Producer" This is one of my favorites as the great Phil Silvers guest stars as director Harold Hecuba lands on the island.

"Ring Around Gilligan" famous 60's and 70's character actor Vito Scotti guest stars as a mad scientist who uses his rings to hypnotize the castaways.

"The Kidnapper" Don Rickles guest stars as a gambler and thief who kidnaps the women.

"Gilligan Goes Gung Ho" Gilligan is made sheriff of the island and ends up throwing everyone in jail.

"Our Vines have Tender Apes" An Actor (Denny Miller) who is practicing for a movie part convinces the castways that he is a Tarzan-like jungle man.

"Gilligan's personal Magnetism" A lightning strike cause a bowling ball to get stuck on Gilligan's hand.

"The Second Ginger Grant" Maryann hits her head and passes out. When she comes to she thinks that she is Ginger.

"It's a Bird, It's a Plane!" A jetpack washes ashore the island but Gilligan ends up wasting most of the fuel.

"Bang Bang Bang" A crate containing moldable plastic washes ashore that the castways use to make various objects not knowing that the material becomes explosive when it hardens.

The other great thing about the show was the guest stars: Rickles, Silvers, John McGiver, Strother Martin, Rory Calhoun, Sterling Holloway...it all added to make this show a classic.