# At what point do you kill Gilligan? **URL:** \ **Category:** Great Debates\ **Created:** [September 9, 2022, 8:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/at-what-point-do-you-kill-gilligan/971290 "2022-09-09T20:30:27Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Lumpy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lumpy/32/446_2.png) [@Lumpy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lumpy)\ **Post date:** [September 9, 2022, 8:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/at-what-point-do-you-kill-gilligan/971290/1 "2022-09-09T20:30:27Z")
That is, at what point is sheer incompetency, even in the absence of malice, contemptable? At what point do you say that their “tried their best” is pathetically inadequate, especially if you suffer as a result? ---
**Author:** ![running\_coach](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/running_coach/32/15836_2.png) [@running\_coach](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/running_coach)\ **Post date:** [September 9, 2022, 8:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/at-what-point-do-you-kill-gilligan/971290/2 "2022-09-09T20:38:41Z")
Gilligan was the _key_ to their survival. Any time any of the others messed up, they stayed alive by saying “At least I’m not Gilligan”. ---
**Author:** ![Dropo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/ce7236/32.png) [@Dropo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dropo)\ **Post date:** [September 9, 2022, 8:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/at-what-point-do-you-kill-gilligan/971290/3 "2022-09-09T20:49:04Z")
Exile before death. However, if food supplies run low enough and cannibalism is the only solution, I say hunt the incompetent fucker down and roast him to save (hopefully, more worthy) others. ---
**Author:** ![Sam\_Stone](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ecccb3/32.png) [@Sam\_Stone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sam_Stone)\ **Post date:** [September 9, 2022, 8:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/at-what-point-do-you-kill-gilligan/971290/4 "2022-09-09T20:58:46Z")
Didn’t Gilligan save them all in the first place? Or at least the skipper? And at least Gilligan did the work. Unlike useless Ginger or the Howells. If I’m atuck on an island, I’ll take a semi-competant hard worker any day over an imperious know-it-all who is too good to get their hands dirty. Gilligan FTW! ---
**Author:** ![Crafter\_Man](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/crafter_man/32/458_2.png) [@Crafter\_Man](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Crafter_Man)\ **Post date:** [September 9, 2022, 9:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/at-what-point-do-you-kill-gilligan/971290/5 "2022-09-09T21:02:25Z")
> [@Sam\_Stone](#): > > Unlike useless Ginger… But who would make the coconut cream pies? Or maybe that was Mary Ann. ---
**Author:** ![Kropotkin](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kropotkin/32/18045_2.png) [@Kropotkin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kropotkin)\ **Post date:** [September 9, 2022, 9:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/at-what-point-do-you-kill-gilligan/971290/6 "2022-09-09T21:10:29Z")
It was definitely Mary Ann. The actor Dawn Wells even published a cookbook of “Mary Ann’s” recipes ---
**Author:** ![Akaj](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/akaj/32/145_2.png) [@Akaj](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Akaj)\ **Post date:** [September 9, 2022, 9:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/at-what-point-do-you-kill-gilligan/971290/7 "2022-09-09T21:13:26Z")
I’m looking at it from the POV of the showrunner on a more modern, more serialized series. At what point have we gotten so low on ideas that we kill off our main character, and where does the series go from there? Although, if it were a modern series, two or three of the original castaways would have died by now, replaced by three or four natives or new castaways. Ah, fuck, it would be _Lost_. ---
**Author:** ![Dag\_Otto](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/439d5e/32.png) [@Dag\_Otto](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dag_Otto)\ **Post date:** [September 9, 2022, 9:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/at-what-point-do-you-kill-gilligan/971290/8 "2022-09-09T21:16:49Z")
The hardest worker on the island was the radio battery. Oops. Honest, I thought this was CS, not GD. ---
**Author:** ![Robot\_Arm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/robot_arm/32/18280_2.png) [@Robot\_Arm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Robot_Arm)\ **Post date:** [September 9, 2022, 9:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/at-what-point-do-you-kill-gilligan/971290/9 "2022-09-09T21:42:33Z")
> [@Sam\_Stone](#): > > Didn’t Gilligan save them all in the first place? Or at least the skipper? It might be interesting to go through the series and count how often Gilligan saved everyone vs. how many times he thwarted their rescue. I remember an early episode where they repaired the Minnow with glue. Gilligan discovered the glue wasn’t permanent and kept everyone from boarding the boat. He saved them all from hostile natives at least twice. ---
**Author:** ![Kropotkin](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kropotkin/32/18045_2.png) [@Kropotkin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kropotkin)\ **Post date:** [September 9, 2022, 9:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/at-what-point-do-you-kill-gilligan/971290/10 "2022-09-09T21:59:49Z")
You take the good, you take the bad, you take them both and there you have The facts of life, the facts of life ---
**Author:** ![silenus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/silenus/32/166_2.png) [@silenus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/silenus)\ **Post date:** [September 9, 2022, 10:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/at-what-point-do-you-kill-gilligan/971290/11 "2022-09-09T22:01:57Z")
“Eat the rich” works just as well on an uncharted desert isle… ---
**Author:** ![Two\_Many\_Cats2](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/779978/32.png) [@Two\_Many\_Cats2](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Two_Many_Cats2)\ **Post date:** [September 9, 2022, 10:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/at-what-point-do-you-kill-gilligan/971290/12 "2022-09-09T22:02:21Z")
Were Gilligan and the Skipper a couple? ---
**Author:** ![RivkahChaya](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/rivkahchaya/32/8919_2.png) [@RivkahChaya](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RivkahChaya)\ **Post date:** [September 9, 2022, 10:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/at-what-point-do-you-kill-gilligan/971290/13 "2022-09-09T22:07:19Z")
> [@Dropo](#): > > I say hunt the incompetent fucker down and roast him I dunno. Not much meat on those skinny bones. > [@Kropotkin](#): > > The actor Dawn Wells even published a cookbook of “Mary Ann’s” recipes Seriously? Oh please, let my Google-fu be working! ---
**Author:** ![Thudlow\_Boink](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/thudlow_boink/32/320_2.png) [@Thudlow\_Boink](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Thudlow_Boink)\ **Post date:** [September 9, 2022, 10:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/at-what-point-do-you-kill-gilligan/971290/14 "2022-09-09T22:15:48Z")
> [@Lumpy](#): > > That is, at what point is sheer incompetency, even in the absence of malice, contemptable? I assume, since you posted this thread in Great Debates and not Cafe Society, that you’re more interested in discussing this broader question than in just the show, although you’re using the show as an example. To that I would say, you don’t kill Gilligan. I’d rather live on _Gilligan’s Island_ than in _Lord of the Flies_, so I’d try my best to get along with everyone and cooperate. But, if necessary, I might impose some rules on Gilligan, to try to prevent his incompetence from becoming too destructive. ---
**Author:** ![running\_coach](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/running_coach/32/15836_2.png) [@running\_coach](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/running_coach)\ **Post date:** [September 9, 2022, 10:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/at-what-point-do-you-kill-gilligan/971290/15 "2022-09-09T22:15:50Z")
> **[Mary Ann's Gilligan's Island Cookbook: Dawn Wells, Ken Beck, Jim Clark, Bob...](https://www.amazon.com/Mary-Anns-Gilligans-Island-Cookbook/dp/1558532455)** > > Mary Ann's Gilligan's Island Cookbook \[Dawn Wells, Ken Beck, Jim Clark, Bob Denver\] on Amazon.com. \*FREE\* shipping on qualifying offers. Mary Ann's Gilligan's Island Cookbook ---
**Author:** ![Thudlow\_Boink](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/thudlow_boink/32/320_2.png) [@Thudlow\_Boink](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Thudlow_Boink)\ **Post date:** [September 9, 2022, 10:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/at-what-point-do-you-kill-gilligan/971290/16 "2022-09-09T22:20:09Z")
“I feel like Professor on _Gilligan’s Island_ I’m surrounded by idiots. Why is everyone so well-behaved? Let’s ditch Gilligan and we’ll be saved.” -[Something Fierce](https://somethingfiercemn.bandcamp.com/track/feel-like-professor) (from a song that’s actually about Reagan/Bush-era politics) ---
**Author:** ![The\_Other\_Waldo\_Pepper](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/the_other_waldo_pepper/32/12370_2.png) [@The\_Other\_Waldo\_Pepper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Other_Waldo_Pepper)\ **Post date:** [September 9, 2022, 10:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/at-what-point-do-you-kill-gilligan/971290/17 "2022-09-09T22:27:55Z")
Wasn’t it Russell Johnson who said, _okay, so I’m living on a tropical island with beautiful women, and my only competition is the fat guy and the idiot? Why would I want to leave? Yeah, a hole in a boat, that’s beyond my professorin’ skills, I guess._ ---
**Author:** ![Fear\_Itself](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/fear_itself/32/19637_2.png) [@Fear\_Itself](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fear_Itself)\ **Post date:** [September 9, 2022, 10:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/at-what-point-do-you-kill-gilligan/971290/18 "2022-09-09T22:56:53Z")
The Professor was popular with Ginger because he kept recharging the coconut batteries for her vibrator. ---
**Author:** ![Lumpy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lumpy/32/446_2.png) [@Lumpy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lumpy)\ **Post date:** [September 9, 2022, 11:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/at-what-point-do-you-kill-gilligan/971290/19 "2022-09-09T23:13:05Z")
> [@Robot\_Arm](#): > > It might be interesting to go through the series and count how often Gilligan saved everyone vs. how many times he thwarted their rescue. I remember an early episode where they repaired the Minnow with glue. Gilligan discovered the glue wasn’t permanent and kept everyone from boarding the boat. He saved them all from hostile natives at least twice. And he (as much by dumb luck as anything) saved everyone from the pit trap. Also I think he found the water reservoir during the drought. ---
**Author:** ![Kropotkin](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kropotkin/32/18045_2.png) [@Kropotkin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kropotkin)\ **Post date:** [September 9, 2022, 11:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/at-what-point-do-you-kill-gilligan/971290/20 "2022-09-09T23:21:32Z")
I’m not sure I buy it, but I did hear Sherwood Schwartz say Gilligan’s Island was conceived as a way to show people, however different, had to learn to get along and appreciate each other, and that was the purpose of the show. It was not an accident that it came out as America was tearing itself apart and it was a metaphor for America. Sure, okay, I guess… [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/at-what-point-do-you-kill-gilligan/971290.md?page=2)