# 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:** 2
**Author:** ![Kent\_Clark](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kent_clark/32/105_2.png) [@Kent\_Clark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kent_Clark)\ **Post date:** [September 10, 2022, 12:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/at-what-point-do-you-kill-gilligan/971290/21 "2022-09-10T00:41:23Z")
> [@Lumpy](#): > > 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. He also found the grapefruit when the castaways were afraid they’d come down with scurvy. ISTR that whenever a vital plant or doodad was needed, Gilligan was always the one who found it on the other side of the island. ---
**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 10, 2022, 12:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/at-what-point-do-you-kill-gilligan/971290/22 "2022-09-10T00:46:51Z")
> [@Kent\_Clark](#): > > Gilligan was always the one who found it on the other side of the island. - Why didn’t they move to that side? ---
**Author:** ![Just\_Asking\_Questions](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/ba9def/32.png) [@Just\_Asking\_Questions](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Just_Asking_Questions)\ **Post date:** [September 10, 2022, 12:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/at-what-point-do-you-kill-gilligan/971290/23 "2022-09-10T00:47:32Z")
I would never kill him, because I’m not an amoral monster. It’s that simple. ---
**Author:** ![Jackknifed\_Juggernaut](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/9de053/32.png) [@Jackknifed\_Juggernaut](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jackknifed_Juggernaut)\ **Post date:** [September 10, 2022, 12:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/at-what-point-do-you-kill-gilligan/971290/24 "2022-09-10T00:57:23Z")
Huh? Gilligan was the Guinea pig for almost everything! Mammoth spider? Send Gilligan. Put out the volcano? Send Gilligan. Marry the native girl to not get killed by her family? Who else but Gilligan? Play Hamlet? Without him, the rest are surely doomed. The Professor too. In terms of resource management, I’d start with Thurston and Lovey. ---
**Author:** ![omenran](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/omenran/32/3318_2.png) [@omenran](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/omenran)\ **Post date:** [September 10, 2022, 1:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/at-what-point-do-you-kill-gilligan/971290/25 "2022-09-10T01:17:51Z")
> [@Thudlow\_Boink](#): > > 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. Even if you don’t have any benefits or good results from Gilligan - which others have pointed out- I don’t think you go directly to murder. Only after repeated attempts to curtail or prevent problems would you impose harsher methods. I.E. you have everyone travel with a buddy anywhere outside of their hut area. If things continue to be intolerable, confine Gilligan to his own hut with regular parole/free time. Of course if you’re not in a realistic situation and are actually dealing with plot and choices from a higher level of reality (the meta) then you just work to survive and not to kill, because that will fail -if not backfire. ---
**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 10, 2022, 1:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/at-what-point-do-you-kill-gilligan/971290/26 "2022-09-10T01:50:53Z")
Courtesy of “SCTV”: [![](https://img.youtube.com/vi/v5VDBACtdj4/hqdefault.jpg "SCTV's Masterpiece Theatre") ](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v5VDBACtdj4) ---
**Author:** ![outlierrn](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/outlierrn/32/3005_2.png) [@outlierrn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/outlierrn)\ **Post date:** [September 10, 2022, 7:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/at-what-point-do-you-kill-gilligan/971290/27 "2022-09-10T07:08:46Z")
Another way to look at it is that others gave Gilligan tasks that he wasn’t up to. Aren’t the people supervising Gilligan equally to blame. He was an enthusiastic puppy of a person, but he could have contributed more than he consumed. Someone who won’t take orders, or stay in their lane, AND causes problems, is more of a malice person. ---
**Author:** ![Jackknifed\_Juggernaut](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/9de053/32.png) [@Jackknifed\_Juggernaut](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jackknifed_Juggernaut)\ **Post date:** [September 10, 2022, 1:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/at-what-point-do-you-kill-gilligan/971290/28 "2022-09-10T13:59:15Z")
> [@The\_Other\_Waldo\_Pepper](#): > > 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._ In the original song, the Professor and Mary Ann weren’t even named. They were “and the rest” after “the movie star”. ---
**Author:** ![Bosda\_Di\_Chi\_of\_Tricor](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bosda_di_chi_of_tricor/32/16845_2.png) [@Bosda\_Di\_Chi\_of\_Tricor](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bosda_Di_Chi_of_Tricor)\ **Post date:** [September 10, 2022, 2:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/at-what-point-do-you-kill-gilligan/971290/29 "2022-09-10T14:25:48Z")
Note–from what I recall, in the first Season,_everybody_ screwed up the rescue/escape, at least once, _including the Professor._ I do not recall Gilligan screwing up the rescue in the first (black and white) season, **at all.** This may be one of those things that “everybody knows”, that simply isn’t so. Like Tokyo Rose being only one woman. Not true. ---
**Author:** ![Just\_Asking\_Questions](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/ba9def/32.png) [@Just\_Asking\_Questions](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Just_Asking_Questions)\ **Post date:** [September 10, 2022, 3:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/at-what-point-do-you-kill-gilligan/971290/30 "2022-09-10T15:58:01Z")
> [@Bosda\_Di\_Chi\_of\_Tricor](#): > > This may be one of those things that “everybody knows”, that simply isn’t so. Like Timmy trapped in the well. ---
**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 10, 2022, 4:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/at-what-point-do-you-kill-gilligan/971290/31 "2022-09-10T16:11:03Z")
> [@The\_Other\_Waldo\_Pepper](#): > > 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._ The Professor was writing a book called _Fun with Ferns_. If he was a botany professor, then perhaps he could be forgiven for not knowing how to repair a boat. ---
**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 10, 2022, 4:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/at-what-point-do-you-kill-gilligan/971290/32 "2022-09-10T16:22:27Z")
> [@Jackknifed\_Juggernaut](#): > > In the original song, the Professor and Mary Ann weren’t even named. They were “and the rest” after “the movie star”. True. But even that’s not the original song. In [the original song](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qx7A4sxJi7c&t=91s), Gilligan, The Skipper, Thurston, and “Lovey” were mentioned. Ginger, The Professor, and Bunny were not mentioned. ---
**Author:** ![MrAtoz](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/45deac/32.png) [@MrAtoz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MrAtoz)\ **Post date:** [September 10, 2022, 6:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/at-what-point-do-you-kill-gilligan/971290/33 "2022-09-10T18:11:17Z")
> [@Crafter\_Man](#): > > The Professor was writing a book called _Fun with Ferns_. If he was a botany professor, then perhaps he could be forgiven for not knowing how to repair a boat. Being a 60s TV character, the Professor’s degree was in SCIENCE! Any scientific fact, in any field, the Professor knew it. That’s how science worked in those days. ---
**Author:** ![Jackknifed\_Juggernaut](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/9de053/32.png) [@Jackknifed\_Juggernaut](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jackknifed_Juggernaut)\ **Post date:** [September 10, 2022, 6:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/at-what-point-do-you-kill-gilligan/971290/34 "2022-09-10T18:55:32Z")
Had no idea. Good thing they didn’t stick with the real original. ---
**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 10, 2022, 7:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/at-what-point-do-you-kill-gilligan/971290/35 "2022-09-10T19:04:37Z")
> [@Bosda\_Di\_Chi\_of\_Tricor](#): > > I do not recall Gilligan screwing up the rescue in the first (black and white) season, **at all.** For inscrutable reasons the pilot episode was chopped up into a prelude to “Two Men on a Raft” and then a Christmas episode where their first days on the island were told in flashback. In a flashback we see Gilligan drop an armload of firewood on the transmitter they had managed to repair. ---
**Author:** ![rippingtons\_fan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/rippingtons_fan/32/11767_2.png) [@rippingtons\_fan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/rippingtons_fan)\ **Post date:** [September 10, 2022, 7:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/at-what-point-do-you-kill-gilligan/971290/36 "2022-09-10T19:15:14Z")
I recall the pilot episode as having a different theme song, and different cast members for the Professor, Mary Ann and Ginger, who were both secretaries as I remember. ---
**Author:** ![Maserschmidt](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/maserschmidt/32/18829_2.png) [@Maserschmidt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Maserschmidt)\ **Post date:** [September 10, 2022, 7:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/at-what-point-do-you-kill-gilligan/971290/37 "2022-09-10T19:27:12Z")
> [@MrAtoz](#): > > Being a 60s TV character, the Professor’s degree was in SCIENCE! Hey, watch it, that’s a plural! He had a B.A. from USC, a B.S. from UCLA, an M.A. from SMU, and he received his Ph.D from TCU at the age of 25! ETA: it’s actually even more impressive: > Dr. Hinkley, a 35 year old high school Professor, holds 6 degrees in the fields of chemistry, botany, biology and geography. He has a B.A from USC, a B.S. from UCLA, an M.A. from SMU, and received his Ph.D from TCU at the age of 25. He also holds a master’s degree in psychology, and can speak fluent Marubi, Papuan, and Katubi, to name a few. ---
**Author:** ![DrDeth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b487fb/32.png) [@DrDeth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DrDeth)\ **Post date:** [September 10, 2022, 7:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/at-what-point-do-you-kill-gilligan/971290/38 "2022-09-10T19:41:13Z")
There is also Herb from WKRP, Matthew (Andy Dick) from NewsRadio, Kramer, and many more, people that are so very annoying and totally inept and useless, that IRL they’d be dead or fired. or eaten. Gilligan served _some_ sort of purpose. ---
**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 10, 2022, 7:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/at-what-point-do-you-kill-gilligan/971290/39 "2022-09-10T19:47:44Z")
> [@DrDeth](#): > > There is also Herb from WKRP, Indeed, there was an episode in which, after reviewing the station’s lackluster ratings, program director Andy Travis says that he should have simply fired Herb and Les right at the beginning. ---
**Author:** ![DrDeth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b487fb/32.png) [@DrDeth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DrDeth)\ **Post date:** [September 10, 2022, 7:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/at-what-point-do-you-kill-gilligan/971290/40 "2022-09-10T19:50:42Z")
Les, apparently, does the Hog, etc news very _very_ well. So, he has one good skill. Keep Les for a morning Hog report. fire Herb. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/at-what-point-do-you-kill-gilligan/971290.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/at-what-point-do-you-kill-gilligan/971290.md?page=3)