X Marks the Spot

a number of times in this episode the location: 140 degree latitude and 10 degrees longitude.

I think this has been reversed as latitude doesn't go higher than 90 degrees.

the north pole is 90 degrees north latitude for example. The equator is zero.

I THINK , therefore, they meant to say: 140 degrees longitude and 10 degrees north latitude.

despite this, I did enjoy the episode.

also the plane in question, at least as it goes away is a B45 Tornado, one of the earliest jet bombers of the USAF and also used a Recon plane.

remember latitude is like a ladder that you climb north or south of the equator

longitude is the LONG lines on the globe starting at zero which runs through Greenwich England, the PRIME meridian of Longitude!

"X Marks the Spot" was the final episode actually scripted by series creator Sherwood Schwartz himself, in collaboration with son Elroy, which begins in unusual fashion at the Pentagon in Washington, preparing to launch a nuclear warhead called Operation Powderkeg, its destination in the South Pacific bound for Gilligan's Island, ready to destroy everything within a 100 mile radius. Fortunately the actual explosive is removed due to a technical fault, but the castaways aren't made aware of that, surprised that it fails to detonate upon landing in the lagoon. The Professor deduces that only Gilligan can crawl inside the warhead to defuse the bomb, once he identifies the wires that need disconnected. Schwartz again miraculously mines laughs out of a serious situation, no easy task for a premise that CBS executives still despised. Good old fashioned slapstick with the Skipper and Gilligan both hit in the face by a pie, as earnestly as if they were Laurel and Hardy.

Growing up (in the days with NO cable) you had a choice; either I LOVE LUCY or GILLIGAN'S ISLAND.

After all these years, it's still fun. And often it's been said the pairing of the Skipper and Gilligan is a take off on Laurel and Hardy. There's one scene where the Skipper gets hit with a sloppy pie in the face, just like Oliver Hardy. Who baked the pie, and so quickly?

Without fail, everybody is in trouble again... The powers that be in Washington decide to launch a nuclear warhead, as a test, and Gilligan's Island is the target, hence the title X MARKS THE SPOT. Note some really cool props. Near the end of the episode, check out the missile that Gilligan happens to be sitting on??? Likely a combo of cardboard and plastic, but it sure was a neat prop. The artistic award, however, goes to the designer of the island huts, which were ingenius, replete with curtains and bamboo furniture.

The Radford Studios (as they are called, named after the street) are still there in Studio City, CA, but years ago they filled in the Gilligan Island mini lake to make way for CBS television studios. Gone but not forgotten.

Happy 60th birthday, 1964-2024

SEASON 1 EPISODE 19 remastered color dvd box set. First season collectors edition.

During the height of the cold war, and not long after the Cuban missile crisis, the US was seeking to produce smaller, and much higher yield H-bomb warheads to fit on its missiles, to use against the Soviets in the event of a war. There was serious talk of a 35 megaton warhead for the Titan II. Some proposed even larger yield warheads. This episode fits into that mindset well.

On the radio, it is announced that the US is going to test launch a new missile, in an operation called "Operation Powder keg. The missile evidently had some new type of VERY high yield Nuclear warhead, probably 100 megatons or so, because they claim that it will destroy EVERYTHING within a 100 mile radius!!. Needless to say, the missile is going to be launched at an "uninhabited island" so that no injuries or major fallout concerns will arise(although in reality ANY warhead of that capability would produce A LOT of fallout that would reach a LONG way from the detonation...but it is a TV show...) Of course..that island is "Gilligans island". upon realizing this...at first the castaways think they are doomed. THEN..the professor remembers that before any test of a nuke, the military sends out a "search plane" to make sure "all is clear". The castaways then try and put together a mirror, to signal the pane when it passes, but Gilligan manages to break it, and this fails. All hope then appears to be lost..and there is nothing to do but wait. Since they have no way to leave the island in a boat, there is no way to get clear of the blast..so they just wait for the inevitable.

Meanwhile, a military officer reports to the commanding officer in charge of the launch that there is a "technical problem" with the nuclear warhead. However--the test WILL proceed.. This will test the accuracy and reliability of the guidance and propulsion systems--but the missile will be unarmed. However--this is NOT announced on the radio!!

The radio reports that the missile has been launched..and it is a "perfect shot". Soon, the castaways start looking to the sky for the missile. They see it coming in...and prepare for the brief flash that will signal their, and the islands, demise. However..the missile impacts near the water, with a small inertial explosion, from its mass, but NO nuclear blast. "It didn't detonate", screams the professor. "And it didn't explode either" replies Gilligan, evidently not knowing what detonate means!!

Still- not realizing that the missile is unarmed, the Professor is worried that the warhead STILL could go off, and that SOMEONE needs to try and disarm it..but only Gilligan can fit inside the access panel...and HE is given the task of "disconnecting the right wires" to the missing warhead. This does NOT go according to plan...and Gilligan causes a short, which fires the missiles engines and sends it screaming around the island wildly!!

In the end..the castaways realize that the missile was unarmed..and breathe a sigh of relief..till the next "adventure".

Funny episode, but SERIOUSLY wrong in many technical ways. A Ballistic missile of the type launched would NOT land "intact", but only send the nose cone , or "reentry vehicle", which carries the warhead, to the target area. All of the other stages would have been dropped, as they ran out of fuel. Also, the fallout issue I discussed earlier, restarting the engines after impact, and other such things. But then..Gilligans island is NOT Mission impossible, and such obvious errors are forgivable, and not usually picked up by its audience.