Thoughts From the Gilligan's Island Episode Ghost-a-Go-Go (1966)

Synopsis: The castaways are on edge when the island appears to be haunted by a ghost (Richard Kiel). When the same ghost leaves them a boat, they don't know if it is an opportunity for them to finally get off the island or a trap.


My Thoughts: 

For starters, I was surprised the Skipper (Alan Hale, Jr.) was one of the skeptics. Yes, he fell in line with the rest of them once he also saw the "ghost," but the fact he doubted both Gilligan (Bob Denver) and the rest of the castaways seemed a bit out of character for him. After all, he is normally the most superstitious one in the group.

Didn't anyone think to check for footprints? The agent playing the ghost was a fairly large guy and I find it hard to believe he didn't leave noticeable footprints wherever he went. Frankly, I'm a little disappointed in the Professor (Russell Johnson) for not thinking of that. Someone pretending to be a ghost was a lot more plausible explanation than his floating sheet theory.

This episode shows who really is the person in charge on the island. The Skipper and Mr. Howell (Jim Backus) may like to lay claim to it whenever possible and the castaways did elect Gilligan as their president at one point but when the Professor talks, they all listen. In fact, he didn't even put the decision regarding the boat up for a vote. He just told them they weren't doing it, and, after a very short explanation, they all fell right in line.

The castaways dummy plan wasn't a bad one but how did they manage to collect supplies for the dummies and carry them to the boat without the ghost seeing them? Maybe it was possible he happened to be on the other side of the island or something but, given the importance of his mission, it did seem a bit odd he wasn't closely observing them.

Even if he didn't see them carrying the dummies, he certainly had to see the Skipper and Gilligan afterwards. The others were walking around the island and pretending to be ghosts but those two were sitting on a log, no longer hidden under their sheets, and he walked right past them. Yeah, I'm just not buying that.

I'm also confused about why he needed to kill the castaways in the first place. The goal was to get them off the island so he and his partner(s) could lay claim to the oil rights. It seems like letting the castaways get rescued would be good enough for that. It's not like they actually had any ownership claim to the island. Killing them just seemed like a waste of a perfectly good boat.

Final Opinion: It's an OK episode in general, though some of the details could have used a little work. It wasn't my favorite from the series, but I didn't hate it either.

My Grade: B-

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