Thoughts From the Gilligan's Island Episode Take a Dare (1966)

Synopsis: A radio show contestant (Strother Martin) is dropped on the island with a shortwave radio. However, he refuses to call for help for the castaways because he is afraid of losing a $10,000 prize.


My Thoughts:

I don't want to sound like a broken record but how could a radio show drop off a contestant without noticing the island was occupied? Didn't they at least see the huts, especially since they delivered/picked him up with a helicopter? Of course, once again, this is a good reason for having a signal fire burning at all times.

I think George Barkley's motivation was less about forfeiting money and more about just being lazy. I don't know how he could be disqualified for being dropped on an island that wasn't deserted (it's not like he picked it). It seemed more like he wasn't interested in earning the money honestly when he had help from seven reluctant people.

The castaways are too nice. I'm not saying they needed to do anything violent, but I feel like they could have done more to convince Barkley to give them the missing piece of the transmitter. Maybe lock him up in a cage, like we've seen them do with other characters, to ensure anybody coming to pick him up would know he isn't alone. You would also think they would make more of an effort to keep the transmitter away from him.

And was it really that hard to find the missing piece? He was using the transmitter when they found him, so the piece was either in his camp, on his person or somewhere in between the two. Yet they didn't even try to find it.

Gilligan (Bob Denver) got blamed for not seeing the helicopter but what about the rest of the castaways. It seems like any one of them could have seen it as it flew in or, at minimum, heard it. Were they all that obsessed with spotting a boat?

Final Opinion: It's an OK episode but I feel like the only reason they weren't rescued is the castaways didn't put in much more than a minimum amount of effort. As a result of that, I didn't like it as much as I probably could have.

My Grade: C

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