# Gilligan's Island **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [February 6, 2014, 4:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gilligans-island/680641 "2014-02-06T04:45:48Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 5
**Author:** ![terentii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/terentii/32/212_2.png) [@terentii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/terentii)\ **Post date:** [February 9, 2014, 2:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gilligans-island/680641/81 "2014-02-09T02:09:33Z")
> [@Amateur\_Barbarian](#): > > (_Love_ your member title.) In engineering, doesn’t Sigma represent an unknown quantity? 😉 ---
**Author:** ![Skywatcher](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/skywatcher/32/254_2.png) [@Skywatcher](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Skywatcher)\ **Post date:** [February 9, 2014, 5:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gilligans-island/680641/82 "2014-02-09T05:37:40Z")
> [@Attack\_from\_the\_3rd\_dimension](#): > > Hm. Flagpole looks further away, but you’re right the whole area has changed. Indeed. [Here’s an aerial view from '63.](http://www.historicaerials.com/aerials.php?scale=8E-06&lat=21.2926481040928&lon=-157.85791756836&year=1963) ---
**Author:** ![Skywatcher](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/skywatcher/32/254_2.png) [@Skywatcher](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Skywatcher)\ **Post date:** [February 9, 2014, 5:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gilligans-island/680641/83 "2014-02-09T05:44:48Z")
> [@Icerigger](#): > > The trouble is there are multiple other polls in the picture and it’s hard to tell which one the flag is attached. The other poles may be the masts of boats or other flag poles with none flying. If the flag is attached to the big pole with the “cross bar” then it’s defiantly at half mast, if is attached to the one to the right it’s about 80% mast. In full screen HD, the crossbar looks to me like it belongs to the pole with the flag. ---
**Author:** ![Harvey\_The\_Heavy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/c5a1d2/32.png) [@Harvey\_The\_Heavy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Harvey_The_Heavy)\ **Post date:** [February 9, 2014, 6:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gilligans-island/680641/84 "2014-02-09T06:18:32Z")
Can anyone tell if it’s even a U.S. flag? ---
**Author:** ![cochrane](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cochrane/32/10441_2.png) [@cochrane](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cochrane)\ **Post date:** [February 9, 2014, 6:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gilligans-island/680641/85 "2014-02-09T06:18:34Z")
> [@Icerigger](#): > > The trouble is there are multiple other polls in the picture and it’s hard to tell which one the flag is attached. The other poles may be the masts of boats or other flag poles with none flying. If the flag is attached to the big pole with the “cross bar” then it’s defiantly at half mast, if is attached to the one to the right it’s about 80% mast. > [@Amateur\_Barbarian](#): > > Which is “half-mast” by many references including the Marine Flag Guide. If it’s in compliance with the Marine Flag Guide, then it’s not “defiantly” at half-mast. 😃 ---
**Author:** ![lawoot](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/35a633/32.png) [@lawoot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lawoot)\ **Post date:** [February 9, 2014, 8:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gilligans-island/680641/86 "2014-02-09T08:16:51Z")
Just to be kind to the OP, I DO remember the Gilligan’s Island ‘boat in a storm’ footage being used again - in a 1974 TV movie called [_Hurricane_](http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0071638/?ref_=fn_al_tt_9). I remember seeing it at the time (I was ten or so and an avid _Gilligan’s Island_ watcher) and thinking ‘hey - that’s the _Minnow_ from _Gilligan’s Island_!’ ---
**Author:** ![sir\_viks](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/4af34b/32.png) [@sir\_viks](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/sir_viks)\ **Post date:** [February 10, 2014, 8:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gilligans-island/680641/87 "2014-02-10T20:09:29Z")
> [@Skywatcher](#): > > [Found a HD version](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lJRzdHl7nTc) and there is a crossbar barely visible. From watching this video, is there an eighth person inside the boat? I count three in the bow, two in the stern, two on top the boat & one inside the boat. What ever happened to the eighth person? ---
**Author:** ![Amateur\_Barbarian](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/59ef9b/32.png) [@Amateur\_Barbarian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Amateur_Barbarian)\ **Post date:** [February 10, 2014, 8:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gilligans-island/680641/88 "2014-02-10T20:18:44Z")
> [@sir\_viks](#): > > From watching this video, is there an eighth person inside the boat? > > I count three in the bow, two in the stern, two on top the boat & one inside the boat. > > What ever happened to the eighth person? Uh… heh. That’s funny. Everyone’s fussing over a foot this way or that on the flag and misses this elephant in the room. The Howells and the Professor (who would be the first actor, not Russell Johnson) are on the bow, the Skipper and Gilligan are up top, and the girls (one of whom would be the other replaced actor) are in the stern. Reality: the real pilot is in the cabin and no one thought anyone would notice or care. Continuity: This was the DEA agent they threw overboard so the Howells could complete their drug deal? ---
**Author:** ![Doug\_K](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b5ac83/32.png) [@Doug\_K](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Doug_K)\ **Post date:** [February 10, 2014, 8:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gilligans-island/680641/89 "2014-02-10T20:23:32Z")
> [@sir\_viks](#): > > From watching this video, is there an eighth person inside the boat? > > I count three in the bow, two in the stern, two on top the boat & one inside the boat. > > What ever happened to the eighth person? Speargun accident. ---
**Author:** ![terentii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/terentii/32/212_2.png) [@terentii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/terentii)\ **Post date:** [February 10, 2014, 8:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gilligans-island/680641/90 "2014-02-10T20:44:19Z")
> [@sir\_viks](#): > > What ever happened to the eighth person? Harbor pilot? 😕 ---
**Author:** ![Bryan\_Ekers](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bryan_ekers/32/183_2.png) [@Bryan\_Ekers](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bryan_Ekers)\ **Post date:** [February 10, 2014, 9:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gilligans-island/680641/91 "2014-02-10T21:04:12Z")
> [@sir\_viks](#): > > What ever happened to the eighth person? The bellhop stole him. ---
**Author:** ![ElvisL1ves](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/5daacb/32.png) [@ElvisL1ves](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ElvisL1ves)\ **Post date:** [February 10, 2014, 9:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gilligans-island/680641/92 "2014-02-10T21:09:09Z")
> [@sir\_viks](#): > > What ever happened to the eighth person? That’s why they couldn’t go back to the mainland right away. There’d be too many questions. Besides, what else could they eat? Pineapples and bananas? They needed protein too. ---
**Author:** ![Telemark](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/telemark/32/372_2.png) [@Telemark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Telemark)\ **Post date:** [February 10, 2014, 9:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gilligans-island/680641/93 "2014-02-10T21:46:51Z")
> [@Steerforth](#): > > Bye-bye. I’m out of here. Have fun storming the castle! Seriously, everyone understood the question, we’re just having a little fun, admittedly at your expense. Give us another chance, huh? ---
**Author:** ![sir\_viks](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/4af34b/32.png) [@sir\_viks](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/sir_viks)\ **Post date:** [February 10, 2014, 10:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gilligans-island/680641/94 "2014-02-10T22:01:28Z")
> [@Steerforth](#): > > I\*\* > Bye-bye. I’m out of here.\*\* Too late. The cat’s out of the bag. This firecracker has just been lit. What seemingly started as a simple inquiry into flags and film clips has evolved into a full-blown conspiracy. “Five passengers that sailed that day?” Clearly, there were six. Even in the intro for the show’s [later years](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jng-cqOQsY4), EIGHT people depart. SEVEN land on the island. Yet no one talks about this. This is bigger than the grassy knoll, or thermite in the twin towers. It’s on par with Chuck disappearing from Happy Days. No, your obvious smokescreen to have us look elsewhere ALMOST worked. Now we’re onto the bigger picture, taking us further down the rabbit’s hole. And you just may have gotten away with this, too . . . if it wasn’t for us meddling kids! ---
**Author:** ![Doug\_K](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b5ac83/32.png) [@Doug\_K](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Doug_K)\ **Post date:** [February 10, 2014, 10:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gilligans-island/680641/95 "2014-02-10T22:23:57Z")
Not only that, but “set sail that day?” It wasn’t even a sailboat. ---
**Author:** ![Amateur\_Barbarian](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/59ef9b/32.png) [@Amateur\_Barbarian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Amateur_Barbarian)\ **Post date:** [February 10, 2014, 10:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gilligans-island/680641/96 "2014-02-10T22:53:44Z")
> [@ElvisL1ves](#): > > Besides, what else could they eat? Pineapples and bananas? They needed protein too. They had plenty of… (wait for it)… Ginger. > [@Telemark](#): > > Have fun storming the castle! “Kessel.” Get it right. > [@sir\_viks](#): > > What seemingly started as a simple inquiry into flags and film clips has evolved into a full-blown conspiracy. Final proof of the [drug-deal interpretation](https://www.sff.net/people/adam-troy/Random/theories.htm), IMVHO. > [@Doug\_K](#): > > Not only that, but “set sail that day?” It wasn’t even a sailboat. More than one dictionary defines the phrase as “to begin a trip on a boat or ship.” Now go dial your phone. ---
**Author:** ![simster](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/simster/32/1047_2.png) [@simster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/simster)\ **Post date:** [February 10, 2014, 10:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gilligans-island/680641/97 "2014-02-10T22:59:55Z")
I still want to know what difference it makes if the flag was at half staff - or not - on the day it was filmed. WHile it’s an interesting question “was it” - I still want to know why I give a crap if it was or wan’t. ---
**Author:** ![FoieGrasIsEvil](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/foiegrasisevil/32/16638_2.png) [@FoieGrasIsEvil](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FoieGrasIsEvil)\ **Post date:** [February 10, 2014, 10:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gilligans-island/680641/98 "2014-02-10T22:59:59Z")
> [@silenus](#): > > Don’t tell the OP about the Easter Bunny. It’s just a guy in a suit! ---
**Author:** ![Amateur\_Barbarian](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/59ef9b/32.png) [@Amateur\_Barbarian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Amateur_Barbarian)\ **Post date:** [February 10, 2014, 11:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gilligans-island/680641/99 "2014-02-10T23:02:00Z")
> [@simster](#): > > I still want to know what difference it makes if the flag was at half staff - or not - on the day it was filmed. > > WHile it’s an interesting question “was it” - I still want to know why I give a crap if it was or wan’t. The entire point of the trivium is that these sequences were filmed in the days right after the JFK assassination, which is not debated. The half-mast/-staff/-assed flag is apparently evidence of the timing, and mildly interesting for that reason. Or maybe it’s really at half-mast because of a harbor pilot “lost at sea” that day… :eek: ---
**Author:** ![simster](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/simster/32/1047_2.png) [@simster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/simster)\ **Post date:** [February 10, 2014, 11:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gilligans-island/680641/100 "2014-02-10T23:04:48Z")
ok - seemed that the OP was saying “and this meant x conspiracy” - thanks. thanks [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gilligans-island/680641.md?page=4) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gilligans-island/680641.md?page=6)