What happens to the outcasts?

Thanks to the earworm that is “The Ballad of Gilligan's Island,” most viewers know how Gilligan (Bob Denver) and the other castaways ended up trapped. Gilligan and the captain (Alan Hale) were taking five passengers on a scheduled three-hour tour of Hawaii when they hit bad weather and were thrown off course. The ship washed ashore on an undiscovered desert island, and the seven castaways had to learn to survive. Because Gilligan's Island was broad and cartoonish, survival was never harrowing or even particularly difficult. There was rarely a shortage of food or water, and everyone carried huge amounts of clothing and supplies. Life on Gilligan's Island actually seemed okay, despite the absolute isolation.

This was said by series creator Sherwood Schwartz he thought Gilligan's Island was an idealized microcosm of a well-functioning American democracy. Seven characters, all from different classes, are forced to live together due to extreme circumstances, but they managed to survive, develop and get along without killing each other. “The Island” was an optimistic series for Schwartz.

Of course, in its structure, “Gilligan's Island” is also a portrait of Sisyphean futility. At the beginning of each episode, an object or person appears on the island, offering the outcasts a potential escape route. The professor (Russell Johnson) devises an escape route for them, and the hearts of the lost fill with hope. Then Gilligan, as a cosmic agent of fate, disrupts the escape, and the outcasts sink back into despair. Hope is fleeting; our own weakness and lack of understanding keep us trapped.

The series was also never given a proper ending. After three seasons and 98 episodes, The Outcasts have never escaped. Their escape only happened in a 1978 TV movie, and even then it was only short-lived. In that sense, “Gilligan's Island” had multiple endings.

The last episode of “Gilligan's Island” was called “Gilligan, the Goddess” (April 17, 1967) and its story was as typical as any episode that would come before it. The king of a neighboring country is looking for a young woman to sacrifice to the volcano gods (gotta love the 1960s cultural sensibilities) from a nearby island, so the outcasts dress up Gilligan and offer her up in their closet. There is nothing epic or significant about the story of this episode to indicate that the series is coming to an end.

Indeed, the showrunners assumed that “Gilligan's Island” will be picked up for a fourth season. Instead, it was pulled from the CBS calendar at the last minute.

Speaking up 2013 interview with EsquireMary Ann actor Dawn Wells recalled how long-running blockbuster Gunsmoke was canceled and Gilligan's Island was slated to move to its time slot. However, as she understood it, one of the top executives at CBS was pushing to cancel “Gunsmoke” instead of “Gunsmoke” at the insistence of their spouse, who loved the last episode. “(Barbara) Paley — the wife of the chairman (William S. Paley) — was on vacation when 'Gunsmoke' was canceled and when she came home she said, 'You can't cancel 'Gunsmoke.' It's my favorite show. So they canceled us,” Wells explained. Eventually, Schwartz's show was taken off the air while “Gunsmoke” continued until 1975.

As /Film has written before, The cancellation of “Gilligan's Island”. was also the result of then-new CBS president James Aubrey canceling “Gunsmoke” because ratings were falling and after 12 years it was long in the tooth. William S. Paley, a longtime champion of “Gunsmoke,” forced Aubrey to cancel the show, allowing the stars to renegotiate their contracts and ask for more money. The increased budget of “Gunsmoke” forced CBS to look elsewhere, so “Gilligan's Island” was canceled.

And so it went. “Gilligan's Island” never got a proper ending and moved into perpetual syndication, airing reruns for years.

However, thanks to these reruns, Gilligan's Island was still a big hit. Schwartz's series was never a critical success, but it was a pretty strong ratings draw. The ratings remained high in reruns and the show was seen again and again in the 1970s. Interest was still high in 1978, and audiences were finally invested in the plight of the abandoned.

Fans' concerns would finally be addressed in the 1978 TV movie “Salvation from Gilligan's Island,” which was the event intended to complete the story from “Gilligan's Island.” The cast returned, except Tina Louise (Ginger), who was replaced by Judith Baldwin. “Rescue” catches up with the castaways after being trapped for 15 years. When a radioactive piece of a Soviet satellite lands on the island, the professor turns it into a barometer… only to discover that a storm is approaching, big enough to destroy the island. A last ditch effort assembles their cabins to make a makeshift sea vessel.

The ship drifts out to sea, is spotted by a passing ship, and the castaways are rescued. They return to the continent … only to find that much has changed. Mary Ann's target is an unhappy marriage, the professor can't return to his professorship because of his celebrity, and the captain is embroiled in an insurance dispute over the fate of the SS Minnow. Also, everyone is being followed by Russian spies hoping to find their radioactive satellite.

It seems that salvation really didn't make the apostates terribly happy. When the insurance payment is finally made, the castaways reunite on the SS Minnow II to celebrate. Unfortunately, the Minnow II has a broken compass and is thrown off course when it hits bad weather. The film ends with the outcasts landing back on the same island, stranded again.

The ending of “Gilligan's Island” was a big cosmic joke.

However, The Rescue was popular enough to spawn a 1979 sequel called Gilligan's Island Outcasts, which also took our seven heroes back to the mainland. The storm from the previous TV movie seems to have uncovered a secret US Army airfield hangar that was always on the island (!), so the Professor builds a working plane from the machines inside. The plane accidentally drops Gilligan, causing the castaways to land back on the island, but their flight attracts the attention of the US Navy. Finally, the island is mapped and made US territory, and the renegades are saved forever.

The second half of the TV movie was intended as a pilot for a “Fantasy Island” https://www.slashfilm.com/ “Love Boat” style series in which Howell opens a beach resort on his old island with guests. starts visiting regularly for advice on her love life. (In the language of Sisyphus, they made their rock “their thing”.) Now, found and happily living on the beach, it seemed that the adventure of the outcasts was finally over.

However, The Castaways of Gilligan's Island never spawned a proper TV series.

In 1981, Gilligan's last live-action adventure took place, and it was the strangest to date. “The Harlem Globetrotters on Gilligan's Island” sees the titular basketball team crash into a lost beach resort. Meanwhile, Mr. Howell's rival tricks young Thurston Howell IV (David Ruprecht) into signing away the rights to the resort. To get it back, the Globetrotters must win a game against a rival basketball team made up of robots.

Yes, it's real.

There were also two animated “Gilligan's Island” spinoffsbut they are not generally considered canon. One of the shows takes the Apostates to a distant planet (!), where they interact with aliens. However, when Gilligan's Planet was canceled in 1983, that was the last anyone heard of the castaways.

At least until their 1987 guest spot on the sitcom “ALF.” The appearance of “ALF” meant that the outcasts were once again stuck and still yearning for civilization. It seems that salvation will never be permanent for them.