Monster of the Day #1182

Flangepart

Ah. More from the G I tract.

CaptNemo

I knew the Professor could make anything out of coconuts but this is ridiculous!

bgbear_rnh

It looks like it could be from the “Money for Nothing” video.

We gotta install microwave ovens custom kitchen deliveries
We gotta move these refrigerators we gotta move these color T.V.’s.

Gamera977

Embarrassed to say I watched the show all the time as a kid but don’t remember any of these episodes. Does anyone run the series now?

GreenLuthor

TVLand currently shows it.

Gamera977

Thanks!

bgbear_rnh

although they had to pixelate out the Confederate navy jack from the Minnow.

mtz

MeTV has it, too.

Rock Baker

It’s actually worth picking up the WB DVDs. The picture is the sharpest I’ve ever seen for a color film, particularly a TV series.

Rock Baker

Is he really a monster, though?

I think this is the episode which prompted the misremembered coconut radio jokes. At one point Gilligan is suggesting ways the robot could get the castaways rescued and his brilliant plan is to have the robot build a radio station. Skipper asks him what materials the robot is supposed to use, “coconuts and bamboo?”

bgbear_rnh

yes, I do not recall thee professor ever making a radio, they had one. The other misremebered might be that I believe they needed to make a battery for the radio. Something possible with citric acid and coconut shells.

Rock Baker

They rigged up a system to recharge the radio’s batteries using said coconuts, pennies, and either acid or seawater. I’d have been interested in learning how he built the peddle-powered dynamos that pop up so frequently (and, now that I think about it, if he could construct dynamos, why didn’t they have electric lights? Presumably they couldn’t hold a charge long enough to use them for something like that, it seems like they lost their charge almost immediately).

One thing nobody seems to remember is that for two episodes they had a transmitter. In fact, one episode to feature it was the one where they had to turn the radio into a transmitter by switching the wires! Suddenly, in the last act, they have both the radio AND the transmitter on the same table!

Eric Hinkle

It’s kind of sad to think that this show had the characters come up with (vaguely) scientific solutions for their problems when it seems like at least half the modern TV shows would use something lazy like “It’s magic!” or “It’s weird supertechnology, I don’t gotta explain nuttin’!” to handwave it all away. Wait, did I just say that Gilligan’s Island was more rational and scientific than modern TV shows?

bgbear_rnh

The Minnow must have had a few electric motors/generators on board. The Minnow should have had a two way radio as well.

Rock Baker

I know the Minnow had the transmitter (smashed by Gilligan once Skipper and the Professor had gotten it working -it had been damaged in the storm). The castaways did build a lot of stuff using the left over parts of the Minnow, likely including the engine parts -hey, that helps explain the dynamos! Of course, the boat itself was reduced to loose planks after the bit involving the “glue” incident. In a later episode, a supposedly sea-worthy pontoon boat was constructed, which sank like a stone. Construction of sea-faring vessels was evidently just beyond the scope of the group’s collective knowledge.

Rock Baker

It helps that Shwartz (sp?) was an educated man (he’d either studied chemistry or engineering, so he knew the correct terminology).

zombiewhacker

Well, they never explained why the Howells happened to be carrying three years of wardrobe for a three hour tour. So some mysteries WERE left unexplained.

Rodford Smith

Degree in chemistry. Don’t know which degree.

Rock Baker

Shwartz was convinced that folks like the Howells would be able to come up with the perfect outfit for any occasion, regardless of the conditions around them. Although it is pretty amusing seeing how their pile of luggage increases in size over the three seasons!

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