My Thoughts - Gilligan's Island: Bang! Bang! Bang! (1967)

Synopsis: When a crate full of moldable plastic washes up on the island, the castaways come up with a variety of uses for the substance, including fixing Gilligan's (Bob Denver) teeth. What they don't know is the clay becomes explosive once it hardens.

My Thoughts:

That scientist (Kirk Duncan) sure was nonchalant when holding that explosive ash tray. If I knew it could blow up the entire room if dropped, I'd definitely make sure I had two hands on it and certainly wouldn't risk handing it to someone I just met.

In fact, the whole idea seems a bit impractical when you think about it. It would be different if you needed a heat source or some sort of detonator to set it off. Something that can explode just because you drop it seems like it would result in a lot of accidental secret agent deaths.

Wow, the Skipper (Alan Hale, Jr.) sure is a snob all of a sudden. I am, of course, basing this on his complaint about Gilligan finding a crate full of clothes "rejected by the Salvation Army." Considering they've been wearing the same clothes since they were shipwrecked, he's really not in a position to be picky. It sounded like something Ginger (Tina Louise) or Mrs. Howell (Natalie Schafer) might say.

At what point does the Professor (Russell Johnson) stop trusting the things that wash up on shore? Considering the island has been both a potential missile test spot and other government experiments, like radioactive seeds, have washed up, you would think he would be a little extra cautious about a crate that has words like "secret material" and "control batch" written on the side. And, yes, I am referring to him specifically because he's supposed to be the smart one on the island. Plus, he apparently knew about plastic explosives.

That point aside, the castaways sure did waste a lot of that plastic. There was a limited amount of it and it could only be used once. Why were they using it to make golf balls, jewelry, etc. when they obviously have plenty of other needs?

Why does the Professor have a dentist chair? I find it hard to believe he built that from scratch just for Gilligan's sake. Does he torture people with that drill just for fun or something?

Speaking of dental work, didn't the Professor say pulling Gilligan's teeth would cause an explosion? What led to him changing his mind later? The danger seemed to be the same regardless of whether or not Gilligan was knocked out first. Oh, and why did he need Ginger there? It seemed somewhat unnecessary considering the potential outcome.

How did Gilligan not choke on that mouthpiece? It looked awfully small, and I'm surprised it didn't slide right into his throat, especially since he sleeps on his back with his mouth open.

What happened to the rest of the explosives? Shouldn't there have been some sort of chain reaction when Gilligan accidentally blew up the hut? There were a lot of explosives still on top of it and, assuming they were launched in the air with the monkey, they should have landed somewhere, exploding on impact.

Can Gilligan really trust the Professor's dental work now? Yeah, melting two pennies seemed like a nice fix but the last fillings he put in Gilligan's teeth fell out the first time he sneezed. How does Gilligan know that won't happen again?

Final Opinion: To be honest, it's really not a bad episode but it is also one that you really can't spend a lot of time thinking about (like I do) because, if you do, there is a lot about it that honestly doesn't make sense.

My Grade: C