I saw a GI episode online I've never seen before. Honest to God. I'm sure everyone else here has. It turned out to be the one where Gilligan tells the Skipper how he saved his life in the navy. It starts out with the castaways celebrating Christmas on the island. It has a scene of Gilligan fishing, and reeling in a shark which bites on the arm. He cataches a load of fish, one of which has swallowed the radio, and another the transmitter. Most of the episode looked like it had been filmed outside, not on a set.

ANyway, at the end of the episode, a man in a santa claus costume shows up, and everyone, including myself (I didn't see this before, remember?) thought it was the Skipper in disguise. But as soon as "santa" leaves, the Skipper shows up. He wonders why everyone is staring at him. It was far too early for hi to have changed out of the santa costume.

So who was it in the Santa suit? Another visitor to the island who was unaccounted for?

If it's really santa, then there's a direct supernatural element at work here.

Oh there's a supernatural element at work here all right.

Oh there's a supernatural element at work here all right.

I've always thought there was something magical about that island.

The flashbacks are scenes from the unaired pilot episode that was filmed in Hawaii. You can see it in its entirety on the DVD set. Perhaps the episode doesn't get aired as often because they save it to show at Christmas.

So who was it in the Santa suit ?


I alway thought it was supposed to be Santa Claus himself . I think The Unofficial Gilligan's Island Handbook by Joey Green put Santa Claus on his list of visitors to Gilligan's Island . It WAS definitely Alan Hale in a Santa Claus suit, but it was supposed to be Santa Claus . He took time out to give the castaways a little pep talk . Santa Claus knows everything, including where Gilligan and his friends were .

How about this -- Santa Claus makes it his business to give people what they want, and the castaways wanted to be rescued . Why didn't he take them back to Hawaii ? If he was too busy on Christmas Eve, why didn't he come back on December twenty -- eighth ? He could have at least taken one of the castaways back to the United States, where he could arrange for the others to be rescued . That WOULD have ruined the show, but it's a question worth asking .