My Thoughts - Gilligan's Island: Hi-Fi Gilligan (1965)

Synopsis: With a bad storm approaching the island, the castaways prepare to shelter in a cave. While stacking supplies, the Skipper (Alan Hale, Jr.) accidentally smacks Gilligan (Bob Denver) in the mouth and temporarily turns him into a radio receiver. This becomes important when the real radio is accidentally damaged.

My Thoughts - 

Given the various dangers they have encountered on the island, ranging from storms to headhunters, wouldn't it be wise to keep a couple of the caves stocked with supplies ahead of time? They got an advanced warning of the storm this time around, that isn't guaranteed.

I like how the episode managed to gloss over the scientific explanation for Gilligan's condition. The Professor (Russell Johnson) was about to give it in detail when the Skipper cut him off. I can't think of a better way of explaining something ridiculous than "there's an explanation but I was told not to give it."

Wow, they sure can get a lot of radio stations on that island, meaning they must be closer to Hawaii than the show wants you to believe. It, once again, raises a question about why they weren't discovered yet.

Why didn't the Professor have Gilligan sleep in his hut? He wasn't using it at the time, he was listening to the radio outside. It would have made more sense for Gilligan to use his bed for a while rather than making him wander around. He wouldn't have disturbed anyone in there and the Professor could have just slept in Gilligan's bunk when the Skipper relieved him.

If the Professor can't fix the radio, how do they have it in other episodes? Did he take a radio repair correspondence course or something? And that radio did look like it was in bad shape.

Mrs. Howell (Natalie Schafer) continues to be my favorite from this series. I absolutely loved how she took two seconds to look at Gilligan so she could remember him as he was then, a second later, encouraged the Skipper to belt him good. Lines like that make it apparent her character didn't get enough screen time on this series.

Who was the genius who picked out that cave? They packed supplies, meaning they were planning on staying there a while. Yet, they picked up a cave that didn't even have enough room for seven people to stand, let along sit, sleep, etc. Given the advanced warning, I feel like they should have had more time to pick out a better cave. Heck, the one they used for a jail cell would have been perfect.

Once again, Gilligan thinks so little of himself, he thinks nobody will care if he dies. Sure, the other castaways ultimately try to prove him wrong out of guilt but still should be ashamed of themselves for making him feel like that.

They avoided the cave collapsing but where did they take shelter? I find it hard to believe they rode out that storm huddling under a tree, especially with all the damage that storm left behind.

Final Opinion: To be honest, I wasn't overly crazy about this episode, mostly because of the poor choices that are made despite having plenty of time to make smart ones. Other than Gilligan being turned into a radio (which is almost as ridiculous as when he was turned invisible), there's really nothing memorable.

My Grade: C-