Bob Denver once said in an interview that the producers wanted Gilligan to find a living dinosaur on the other side of the island, but when it was brought to their attention how much it would cost to put Gilligan and the dinosaur in the same frame, they quickly dropped the idea.

Watching these shows on DVD, the special effects are simply INCREDIBLE especially for the time they were done. (Well, at least most of them are).

I was watching the episode Gilligan's Personal Magnetism where he became invisible. The special effects were awesome, especially when Gilligan was partly wrapped in bandages.

You're right, they were. In Gilligan vs Gilligan you can hardly see the split screen when Gilligan is talking to his spy double at the end.

On the other hand there were some really cheesy special effects like the cartoon bolt of lightning that hits him in Gilligan's Personal Magnetism, and the lava returning to the volcano in Operation Steam Heat. But I think they were purposely made to look that way :)

Look at the time and effort they put into building all the props for Gilligan's Island. Right down to a bamboo shopping cart that we probably only saw in one episode... and the bamboo car!

You're right, they were. In Gilligan vs Gilligan you can hardly see the split screen when Gilligan is talking to his spy double at the end.

On the other hand there were some really cheesy special effects like the cartoon bolt of lightning that hits him in Gilligan's Personal Magnetism, and the lava returning to the volcano in Operation Steam Heat. But I think they were purposely made to look that way :)

Look at the time and effort they put into building all the props for Gilligan's Island. Right down to a bamboo shopping cart that we probably only saw in one episode... and the bamboo car!

You are so right. I wonder how much bamboo the set creators ordered each time. Here is a shot where the special effects where lacking...

I guess they never figured we'd all have DVDs and pause buttons and Hi Definition and we'd be able to spot a dummy or a stand in straight away!

But that's what makes Gilligan's Island so precious. They all must have had so much fun, cast and crew alike. (Maybe not Tina so much, lol.)

I guess they never figured we'd all have DVDs and pause buttons and Hi Definition and we'd be able to spot a dummy or a stand in straight away!

But that's what makes Gilligan's Island so precious. They all must have had so much fun, cast and crew alike. (Maybe not Tina so much, lol.)

HA! So TRUE. That image of the Skippers dummy was only a second in time.

But now captured for all eternity in a damning screencap, haha.

There's a really unintentionally creepy moment when Bob Denver's stand-in is sitting in a tree during ... oh gosh I can't remember which episode it is. But anyway he's kind of lying along the branch and it's so obviously not Bob Denver and it's quite jarring if you're not expecting it.

And Ginger's stand-in is pretty obvious when she's doing judo on the Japanese sailor in Diogenes Won't You Please Go Home. Fair enough, Tina Louise probably wasn't a black belt in martial arts.

But nothing tops the fakery of the giant spider in The Pigeon. Props to them all for acting frightened of a big cushion on a piece of string!