Rescue from Gilligan's Island

Fifteen years after the original shipwreck, Gilligan has a nightmare about the island melting. Meanwhile, in an unidentified country modeled after the Soviet Union, military scientists control a satellite to self-destruct to prevent it from crashing to Earth, as it contains a disc full of top-secret information. The metal disc instead makes it through the Earth's atmosphere and lands at the lagoon, where Gilligan finds it.

The Professor realizes that a unique alloy in the disc can be used to make a new barometer. Using the barometer, the Professor deduces that they are going to be hit by a tsunami that could destroy the island. To survive the wave and potentially effect a rescue, the Professor has the castaways build a new raft from three of their huts.

The castaways awaken the next morning and realize they have been swept off the island on their makeshift raft. Gilligan makes a fire on the deck to cook a fish but leaves it unattended, and it spreads out of control. Angry at Gilligan, the other castaways promptly extinguish it. However, they are grateful when the United States Coast Guard spots the smoke and tows their raft to Hawaii, where the castaways are at first confused by modern life. After a great deal of media hype, the group agrees to meet again at Christmas aboard the S.S. Minnow II.

While viewing an interview of the castaways on TV, spies from the unknown country learn that Gilligan has their lost disc, so they are sent to recover it. At the same time, an insurance company informs the Skipper and Gilligan that they will not receive a settlement payment for the first Minnow unless their former passengers sign a statement testifying that the Skipper was not responsible for the shipwreck. They first visit Ginger, who is acting for a new film but disapproves of how films now use violence, profanity, and sexual explicitness to succeed. Gilligan convinces her to sign the insurance statement by reminding her of popular films he has recently seen that did not need profanity or bawdiness to succeed. They then reconnect with the Professor at his college, where he has learned that many of his invention ideas have already been created and that students are more interested in his celebrity status than his research. After conversations with college cheerleaders, another faculty member, and the college dean, the Professor signs the insurance statement. The spies try, but fail, to secure the disk from Gilligan.

Gilligan and the Skipper then go to meet the Howells, who are dining with old friends and introduce them to their acquaintances before going into the library to discuss matters. Over the intercom, however, they overhear their rich "friends" making insults toward Gilligan and the Skipper. The Howells angrily eject their supposed friends, with the spies hiding among them, from their property before they sign the insurance statement.

The Skipper and Gilligan go see Mary Ann, who is engaged to marry her fiancé, Herbert. Although they have both changed and she no longer loves him, Mary Ann insists she must do what she believes is right and marry Herbert. She asks the two sailors to stay for the wedding while her childhood friend Cindy confides to Gilligan and the Skipper that she and Herbert are in love now. They decide to "save" Mary Ann using a tractor pulling a wagon full of watermelons. Subsequently, the two spies and all the male guests begin running after the tractor and almost catch the threesome until Gilligan hurls a watermelon into the group. Meanwhile, as Mary Ann contemplates how to break the news to Herbert without breaking his heart, she is relieved to learn that Herbert and Cindy are getting married, so she provides her signature.

The insurance company pays for the first Minnow, and the reunited castaways and crew prepare for a cruise on the Minnow II. The spies make one last attempt to get the disc, but are thwarted by the FBI. As the cruise begins, the Minnow II is caught in a storm because, while cleaning the compass, Gilligan had rendered it useless by removing its magnet, causing the Skipper to sail for hours in the wrong direction. When the storm finally subsides, the group arrives on a beach. Gilligan realizes they have landed on the same island again upon finding a piece of wood from the original Minnow (the name plate of the original ship, which is incorrectly marked Minnow I). Infuriated, the Skipper chases him into the lagoon.

• Gilligan - Bob Denver
• Jonas "The Skipper" Grumby - Alan Hale, Jr.
• Thurston Howell III - Jim Backus
• Mrs. "Lovey" Howell III - Natalie Schafer
• Ginger Grant - Judith Baldwin
• Professor Roy Hinkley - Russell Johnson
• Mary Ann Summers - Dawn Wells

Tina Louise declined to appear in the movie, claiming that she was not going to reprise the role that she felt had devastated her career. Reportedly she asked for a prohibitively large sum of money. Judith Baldwin, a substantially younger actress who resembled Louise, was cast in her place. The following year, Baldwin would go on to play Ginger again in The Castaways on Gilligan's Island. Cassandra Peterson also auditioned for the part of 'Ginger,' shortly before KHJ-TV offered her the horror-host position as 'Elvira, Mistress of the Dark'.

Rescue from Gilligan's Island aired in two parts on NBC on October 14 and 21, 1978. The first part garnered a 30.2 rating and a 52 share.[2] This was just below the ratings of the top two TV series that season, Laverne & Shirley and Three's Company. The made-for-TV-movie was released on DVD on January 1, 2002, August 1, 2012, June 23, 2015, and July 9, 2015.[3]

• Rescue from Gilligan's Island at IMDb
• Rescue from Gilligan's Island is available for free download at the Internet Archive