Beware.....

[lm]

This is kind of a public service announcement. I was watching some of the cartoons, which I hadn't seen in ages, and thought I'd pass this on to you. Episode guides for the cartoons had listed events that did not at all happen--related to MAG, specifically. Now, I haven't reviewed all of the cartoon episodes to which this applies, but I can see where it is going. The events were things such as Maryann dreaming of marrying Gilligan, watching him eat a pie she baked for him, and Gilligan wishing to kiss Maryann. Now, I had thought it a bit odd that the MAG thing would come out much more obviously in the cartoon but the things listed were innocent enough and very feasible, I felt. So far, none of these things were in the cartoons, themselves!

Now, for my warning. Really be careful of episode guides. If you want to know what an episode is about, the best way is to watch it yourself or to ask the many fans you can find online. Even episode guides in books are inaccurate. Schwartz's book even has errors in this way. For example, in "2nd Ginger Grant," Maryann does not begin to act sexy with all of the men, only with Gilligan and in "Slave Girl," there is nothing about the women being jealous of Kalani's beauty at all. It is, of course, a possibility that these were originally intended parts of the scripts, which can go through many changes. I believe Stoddard's book also has errors--I think she said M and G in "Matchmaker" have no interest in each other (I'm not sure if it was her book) so it doesn't work. Huh? OK--this can be relegated to a misinterpretation but--be careful when you are writing an episode guide. Joey Green's book presents pretty thorough analysis. I have in no way read all of these episode entries in all of these books but I think Green's are pretty good, if I recall correctly, because he just watched and watched the show--the best way to know what is going on! Stoddard's episode summaries are also notoriously incomplete. Surprisingly, even on the Original Fan Club website, there is a summary for the GI/Baywatch episode. The overhanging thing in that episode that moves the very plot along in the dream is that Gilligan and Maryann are in love with each other--yet, this "fact" is not even mentioned in the GI fan club summary! I can see the Baywatch fans perhaps neglecting this detail, but the GI fan club?!?!?!

Sorry for soapboxing but beware--watch for yourself or ask a fan!

[callensensei]

Bravo! I'm so glad you pointed this out. I read those cartoon episode guides too and remembered even from my childhood viewing that none of the episodes from "The New Adventures of Gilligan" had plotlines like that! Whoever wrote them obviously just made them up, based on the episodes' titles. Their summaries of the "Gilligan's Planet" episodes were just as inaccurate.

I also agree with your praise of Joey Green. Not only has he produced the most comprehensive and faithful episode guide, he also manages to interview all of the actors (thankfully, they were all still around at the time!) and gets them to reveal fascinating insights into their characters.