The pilot episode was not broadcast, because of casting changes and restructuring of characters. In the pilot, the part of the Professor was played by John Gabriel. Instead of the movie star and the Kansas farm girl, the pilot had two secretaries: Ginger, a practical redhead played by Kit Smythe, and Bunny, portrayed by Nancy McCarthy as a cheerful, stereotypical dumb blonde. The pilot had a different theme song with a Calypso beat and singer and somewhat longer opening credits shots, including scenes of Gilligan carrying the Howells’ luggage to the boat, and spilling coffee on the Skipper during the storm.
Will they ever get off the island? Its a Saturday thing.
All the episodes, along with a bunch more old series can be found on http://www.hulu.com
#1. A most excellent link…..thanks.
This looks more like a “presentation” used for internal studio purposes than an actual pilot.
That was the longest opening credits I’ve ever seen.
And that calypso theme was written by non other than John Williams of Star Wars and Jaws fame.
This pilot aired on cable years ago. Probably TVLand, but don’t hold me to it. As fun as it is the Lost in Space “lost pilot” is far more interesting. The changes were ….. oh the pain, the pain!
Geeze, no wonder I don’t watch those old shows anymore. It just seems so lame today.
This pilot was also included with First Season Gilligan’s Island DVD set (one of the reasons I bought it). I agree with Cliffton about the early episodes of “Lost In Space” being much more interesting. Most interesting was that Dr. Smith began as an extremely dangerous ice-cold villain.