Review of Rescue from Gilligan's Island

"After fifteen years... we're finally... rescued!" The Skipper choked on the words almost unable to say them as if he couldn't believe it. So do we as this the most successful television movie finally rescues those seven...... well, six anyway, Judith Baldwin had done away with Tina Louise and hypnotized the Castaways to think she was Ginger. Just kidding, Louise had held out till the last minute on doing the movie and then refused to do it. The show had reputedly damaged her career and she had finally gotten it back when this was going to be made. Her absence and Baldwin trying to be like her are the only things wrong with this movie as the castaways realize being rescued means leaving each other and that their time on the island was better than they had thought; this is more of what the movie should have been about. There is too much time spent on the sub-plot of Russian spies, a holdover from some of the episodes, which drags down this movie and a failure to show the celebrity status that would have logically occurred if seven real people had been suddenly rescued after being legally thought deceased. Think of what has happened to the cast of the first "Survivor." I would have figured at least the Skipper and Gilligan would have done commercial endorsements. "Running from cannibals and headhunters on the island, I always made sure I wore my Sprint-fast Air-soled Sneakers !" Gilligan would scream through the brush. Instead, we are subjected to the same cartoon-like humor and comedy that the series had turned into by the end of the series. Very little time is spent exposing the culture shock the castaways have returning to society and then the movie rushes straight into its meandering, obviously dated and clichéd sub-plot of spies and secret microfilm. Another overall drawback on the movie is the limited budget. It was all done rather cheaply with a rather noticeable Hollywood tank being used to float the huts on and a studio back lot being used as civilization. Even with the cast showing their age, and Tina Louise conspicuously absent, the movie is a joy to see but for the nostalgia factor. Maybe you can go home again, but I for one wouldn't mind seeing a big screen version of the series go into updating and expanding upon this movie for the present rather than trying to recreate the series itself!