raywest

17th Nov 2024

Gilligan's Island (1964)

Show generally

Question: Why is the Skipper so superstitious? In the Season 1 episode "Waiting for Watubi," the Skipper thinks he's cursed, and in the Season 3 episode "Up at Bat," Gilligan gets bitten by a bat, and the Skipper thinks Gilligan will turn into a vampire. For a level-headed man, this seems quite strange.

Answer: Many people are superstitious, regardless of age, personality, temperament, background, and so on. It's usually something they grew up with and is ingrained into their thinking. It was particularly more prevalent in the era (first half of the 20th century) that the Skipper grew up in and may have been influenced by culture, family beliefs, religion, limited education, etc.

raywest

Answer: Sailors are also very superstitious for various reasons, and through the adventures the Skipper had while on the open sea (including his service in WW2) and before beginning the tour business with the Minnow, the Skipper would have made his superstitions a huge part of his life and would have been easily susceptible to superstitious beliefs.

Scott215

Answer: The Skipper never thought Gilligan would turn into a vampire. When the bat flew out, that's when Gilligan said, "I'm going to turn into a vampire." When his odd behaviour started up, the Skipper began to believe it.

Answer: Probably because Gilligan has a history of getting things wrong more often than being right. The others, rightly or wrongly, tend to automatically dismiss him.

raywest

31st Jul 2019

Gilligan's Island (1964)

Show generally

Question: All through the show MaryAnn makes coconut cream pies for everyone. Where does she get the eggs, milk, wheat flour...every ingredient but the coconut?

Answer: It's never explained how she gets the ingredients. There may be substitute ingredients someone on a tropical island could possibly use, like eggs from island birds, wild sorghum as a substitute flour and sweetener, wild goats milk (such creatures are common enough thanks to sailors of previous centuries), citrus fruit for flavor, etc.

raywest

Join the mailing list

Separate from membership, this is to get updates about mistakes in recent releases. Addresses are not passed on to any third party, and are used solely for direct communication from this site. You can unsubscribe at any time.

Check out the mistake & trivia books, on Kindle and in paperback.