GILLIGAN'S ISLAND - DVD SEASON & SERIES SETS (2004-2012) - Pros, Cons, Incongruities & Imponderables (2 Viewers)

[Tony Bensley]

Having recently given the 1965 "The Little Dictator" (Season 2, Episode 3) episode a fresh viewing, I decided to look up Nehemiah Persoff, partly to find out when he had passed away. Much to my delight, I discovered that this fine character actor, who did his only ever comedic turn on this GILLIGAN'S ISLAND episode is still with us, and is nearly 97 (His Birthday is August 2, 1919, the year of my Dad's birth!) years young!

This has inspired me to start an informal list of GILLIGAN'S ISLAND Guest Stars who are still among the living.

Here's a few off the top of my head (Not literally, of course!):

Larry Storch (Born 1923) (1)
Kurt Russell (Born 1951) (1)
Nehemiah Persoff (Born 1919) (2)
Les Brown, Jr. (Born 1940) (2)
Don Rickles (Born 1926) (3)

The number in parentheses represents the season each actor first guest starred in.

Mr. Persoff is easily the oldest among the living GILLIGAN'S ISLAND Guest Stars I've listed so far! Can anyone come up with any others?

CHEERS!

 

[FanCollector]

Didn't Zsa Zsa Gabor guest star once? She's older than Persoff, I believe.

 

[B-ROLL]

Didn't Zsa Zsa Gabor guest star once? She's older than Persoff, I believe.

Yes and per IMDB born February 6, 1917

 

[Brent S]

June Foray ("Good Night, Sweet Skipper"), 98, 9/18/17
Roman Gabriel ("Topsy-Turvy"), 76, 8/5/40
Michael Forest ("Slave Girl"), 87, 4/17/29

 

[Tony Bensley]

Didn't Zsa Zsa Gabor guest star once? She's older than Persoff, I believe.

Oh, how did I manage to forget Zsa Zsa?

I'm thinking on the other end of the age spectrum that Kurt Russell (Born March 17, 1951) was the youngest GILLIGAN'S ISLAND guest star, still living or not!

CHEERS!

 

[bmasters9]

Yes and per IMDB born February 6, 1917

With her centennial to come on that date in 2017!

 

[Tony Bensley]

To be clear the original individual sets had a choice of either B&W or Color but not both. Mill Creek has the original black & white only option, both in the individual 2 season sets or the complete series. If you have the complete Sony set you can try to find the B&W exclusives or get the Mill Creek volume 1-2 (though they have more compression).

Somebody indicated the B&W versions were the "color" versions with the chroma channel turned off. If that was the case then it would only be a flag that indicates there is the chroma there that would need to turned on or off with a button click for the same versions to be on one disc.

Bewitched has only 2 seasons in B&W and IDOG has one season (IDoG) was on NBC which went "All Color" in Fall 1965. Bewitched was on ABC and they went "All Color" in Fall 1966

I didn't pick up on this in my previous reading of this post, but I DREAM OF JEANNIE did debut on NBC in the fall of 1965, so NBC didn't have "ALL" Color programming in that season's prime time lineup, despite any then contemporary "All Color" claim to the contrary!

This may seem odd, but when viewing IDOJ in syndication back in the 1970s, I don't recall any of the episodes being in Black & White, and unlike BEWITCHED, the broadcast station in our region didn't omit any seasons of IDOJ, as I do recall viewing the very first episode, in which Tony discovers Jeannie! I must have simply misremembered it being in Color, as Colorization definitely wasn't even around back then!

CHEERS!

 

[BobO'Link]

I didn't pick up on this in my previous reading of this post, but I DREAM OF JEANNIE did debut on NBC in the fall of 1965, so NBC didn't have "ALL" Color programming in that season's prime time lineup, despite any then contemporary "All Color" claim to the contrary!,

This may seem odd, but when viewing IDOJ in syndication back in the 1970s, I don't recall any of the episodes being in Black & White, and unlike BEWITCHED, the broadcast station in our region didn't omit any seasons of IDOJ, as I do recall viewing the very first episode, in which Tony discovers Jeannie! I must have simply misremembered it being in Color, as Colorization definitely wasn't even around back then!

CHEERS!

NBC had *two* BW series in prime time that season - I Dream of Jeannie and Convoy, a 13 episode WWII series. Jeannie because of the expense of filming the visual effects in color and Convoy due to the high use of stock footage of WWII in the series. I don't think NBC ever touted the 1965 fall season as "All color" but simply that it would be *almost* entirely color. They'd been calling themselves "The Color Network" or "NBC Living Color" since the late 50s. IIRC, ABC and CBS had a bit over 50% of their prime time schedules in color in the 1965/66 season. Even then, color TV penetration (households) was less than 5%.

 

[Robbie^Blackmon]

Having now heard the season 3 version of the opening theme, I do now vaguely recall it. In addition, the lightning bolt looks thicker in the original season 3 opening, so there also appears to be a subtle difference, visually! It's too bad this version never made it to commercial VHS or DVD! Perhaps this error could be rectified for a future Blu-ray issue?

Does anyone know whether this was corrected on the season 3 HD remasters? In addition, was the season 3 closing any different from that of season 2?

CHEERS!

It wasn't corrected for the HD releases on Itunes/Amazon. The visual differences between the openings, like the swapped portraits of the Professor and Mary Anne, zoom-in and static shots of the Minnow with and without rippling water, remain. You do get more visual information as the picture is slightly less cropped than the dvd.. But the audio for the second and third season intros is the second season theme.

Not 100% sure about the end theme, but I think it is the season 3 version used for both season 2 and 3. I'll need to review my 16mm prints from the original run to be sure. They may have been the same originally, save for that last season 2 episode that used season one's audio.

Also, for the eagle-eyed dvd viewer, a couple of intros in season 2/3 were not completely touched up on the dvds-- they retain a very grainy, film-y look without the over saturated colors and dnr featured in the majority of the episodes. Annnnd, a couple of episodes on dvd have issues with faded/blooming director/writer credits as the episode starts. These issues are not present on the HD files.

Here's the third season theme direct from my original network 16mm print ("Take a Dare", actually. And the credits came after the episode "tease".) laid over one of those un-retouched dvd intros:


To further beat this to death, the HD masters do have a few extra "new" scratches here and there (those original negs must have been beaten to death by now!) and a handful of sequences have a just barely noticeable vertical "bounce" to them, as if there is some new damage or age issue with the elements. Sometimes there's grain, sometimes not so much.


The missing 7 seconds from "It's a Bird.." is restored in HD, btw. Below is the swapped portraits title from season 3, from 1080p, now on my very own blu ray:

Episode 3 Pass The Vegetables Please.mkv_snapshot_00.56_[2018.04.01_11.11.31]

• Robbie^Blackmon
• Apr 1, 2018

The Professor has hairy hands, here on Gilligan's Isle!

 

[Tony Bensley]

It wasn't corrected for the HD releases on Itunes/Amazon. The visual differences between the openings, like the swapped portraits of the Professor and Mary Anne, zoom-in and static shots of the Minnow with and without rippling water, remain. You do get more visual information as the picture is slightly less cropped than the dvd.. But the audio for the second and third season intros is the second season theme.

Not 100% sure about the end theme, but I think it is the season 3 version used for both season 2 and 3. I'll need to review my 16mm prints from the original run to be sure. They may have been the same originally, save for that last season 2 episode that used season one's audio.

Also, for the eagle-eyed dvd viewer, a couple of intros in season 2/3 were not completely touched up on the dvds-- they retain a very grainy, film-y look without the over saturated colors and dnr featured in the majority of the episodes. Annnnd, a couple of episodes on dvd have issues with faded/blooming director/writer credits as the episode starts. These issues are not present on the HD files.

Here's the third season theme direct from my original network 16mm print ("Take a Dare", actually. And the credits came after the episode "tease".) laid over one of those un-retouched dvd intros:


To further beat this to death, the HD masters do have a few extra "new" scratches here and there (those original negs must have been beaten to death by now!) and a handful of sequences have a just barely noticeable vertical "bounce" to them, as if there is some new damage or age issue with the elements. Sometimes there's grain, sometimes not so much.


The missing 7 seconds from "It's a Bird.." is restored in HD, btw. Below is the swapped portraits title from season 3, from 1080p, now on my very own blu ray:

Episode 3 Pass The Vegetables Please.mkv_snapshot_00.56_[2018.04.01_11.11.31]

• Robbie^Blackmon
• Apr 1, 2018

The Professor has hairy hands, here on Gilligan's Isle!

Wow! The differences in the Season 3 openings from Season 2s are really more pronounced in your high quality transfer, Robbie! I also previously failed to pick up on the reversed Dawn Wells and Russell Johnson opening credits!

Thank you so much for sharing this! What a shame these will probably never be fixed in any future Blu-ray release, if and when this ever occurs.

CHEERS!

 

[Tony Bensley]

Having recently given the 1965 "The Little Dictator" (Season 2, Episode 3) episode a fresh viewing, I decided to look up Nehemiah Persoff, partly to find out when he had passed away. Much to my delight, I discovered that this fine character actor, who did his only ever comedic turn on this GILLIGAN'S ISLAND episode is still with us, and is nearly 97 (His Birthday is August 2, 1919, the year of my Dad's birth!) years young!

This has inspired me to start an informal list of GILLIGAN'S ISLAND Guest Stars who are still among the living.

Here's a few off the top of my head (Not literally, of course!):

Larry Storch (Born 1923) (1)
Kurt Russell (Born 1951) (1)
Nehemiah Persoff (Born 1919) (2)
Les Brown, Jr. (Born 1940) (2)
Don Rickles (Born 1926) (3)

The number in parentheses represents the season each actor first guest starred in.

Mr. Persoff is easily the oldest among the living GILLIGAN'S ISLAND Guest Stars I've listed so far! Can anyone come up with any others?

CHEERS!

Just to update things to April 1 2018, two of the GI guest stars that were older than Nehemiah Persoff, whom I missed, Zsa Zsa Gabor and June Foray (Both born in 1917, with Zsa Zsa having been several months older!), sadly have since passed away, along with Don Rickles!

Nehemiah Persoff is still with us, although IMDB now includes a some sources say 1920 [Instead of 1919] parentheses, regarding Nehemiah's birth year in his bio. He's the current oldest living GI guest star either way!

CHEERS!

 

[upperco]

A little bit confused regarding the various versions of the opening theme. @Robbie^Blackmon, maybe you can help clarify this for me.

Am I correct in believing that the original SECOND SEASON arrangement and recording of the opening theme is used for both Seasons Two and Three on DVD? I do hear the difference between what's released and what's been provided here from original third season 16mm prints. But this is where I'm confused...

The opening credits sourced from third season prints that I've seen online -- and the matched audio to video opening that you uploaded above -- use the version of the titles where Russell Johnson is on the left and Dawn Wells is on the right. This reflects what's used on the DVDs for Season TWO, not Three.

The Season Three DVDs have the reverse -- Wells on the left and Johnson on the right. Is this what was originally seen during the original broadcasts of Season Two, meaning that the DVDs switched them up?

That is, am I correct in believing that while the DVDs use the second season audio for both Two and Three, they've actually reversed what was seen in the credits -- the third season titles are now on DVD for Two and the second season titles are now on DVD for Three?

Or do the DVDs actually have the credits right, and just the audio wrong (for Season Three)?

And, lastly, about the closing theme...

You suggested there were two different versions of the closing theme in Seasons Two and Three as well. Which one is used on the DVD? And can we hear/see the alternative?

ETA: One more question. The anomaly of "Meet The Meteor" using the first season closing theme on the DVD was mentioned above. Do we know if this mistake was in the original broadcast of the episode? (Or any original broadcasts from the color years?)

 

[Robbie^Blackmon]

It had been suggested that the closing theme for seasons 2 and 3 hand subtle differences. I have compared the two from original 16mm network prints using audio software and found no difference in the arrangement.

Without an original print of Meet The Meteor, I can't say for sure, but having the 1st season end theme is how I remember it. I always assumed it was a throwback and cutesy way to close the season.

The season 3 theme has been missing from syndication since at least the mid-80's when Viacom prepped a final set of syndie prints on 16mm and, subsequently, began supplying stations with video tape copies. Why was it dropped? Probably just a quick choice/laziness-- there's very little difference, someone may not have noticed and just used the best copy on hand which happened to be from season 2.

Season 2 and 3 on dvd use the very same audio for the opening of season 2 for all episodes. The visuals for the credits change slightly and the dvds get it mostly right where appropriate-- there is one version with a zoom-in on the minnow, one already zoomed in a static shot, and one that stays at a distance. Wells and Johnson's credits flip-flop, maybe as a contractual thing? Maybe an equal billing solution?

What is often not right on the dvd is the placement of the credits which should mostly appear after the opening tease of the show during season 3. Some of this was corrected for the HD version.

A little bit confused regarding the various versions of the opening theme. @Robbie^Blackmon, maybe you can help clarify this for me.

Am I correct in believing that the original SECOND SEASON arrangement and recording of the opening theme is used for both Seasons Two and Three on DVD? I do hear the difference between what's released and what's been provided here from original third season 16mm prints. But this is where I'm confused...

The opening credits sourced from third season prints that I've seen online -- and the matched audio to video opening that you uploaded above -- use the version of the titles where Russell Johnson is on the left and Dawn Wells is on the right. This reflects what's used on the DVDs for Season TWO, not Three.

The Season Three DVDs have the reverse -- Wells on the left and Johnson on the right. Is this what was originally seen during the original broadcasts of Season Two, meaning that the DVDs switched them up?

That is, am I correct in believing that while the DVDs use the second season audio for both Two and Three, they've actually reversed what was seen in the credits -- the third season titles are now on DVD for Two and the second season titles are now on DVD for Three?

Or do the DVDs actually have the credits right, and just the audio wrong (for Season Three)?

And, lastly, about the closing theme...

You suggested there were two different versions of the closing theme in Seasons Two and Three as well. Which one is used on the DVD? And can we hear/see the alternative?

ETA: One more question. The anomaly of "Meet The Meteor" using the first season closing theme on the DVD was mentioned above. Do we know if this mistake was in the original broadcast of the episode? (Or any original broadcasts from the color years?)

 

[Lecagr]

I have the original Gilligan's Island DVD sets with the flipper discs. I've considered upgrading to the set with single sided discs but haven't yet done so.

Aside from the sneaky little edit in the "It's A Bird, It's A Plane" episode, are any other episodes on the DVD's edited? Most episodes are a little over 25 minutes, but some are a little shorter at around 25:00 and a few others are only around 24:30 so I'm curious to know if the shorter ones are edited.

 

[bmasters9]

I have the original Gilligan's Island DVD sets with the flipper discs. I've considered upgrading to the set with single sided discs but haven't yet done so.

Then I would advise so doing-- I conceive that the upgrade would make the discs far easier to handle!

 

[BobO'Link]

I have both and prefer the SS release for the better cases and single sided discs, although I never had any issues with the DS discs other than them being flippies. It's exactly the same program. IIRC it's the same menus.

 

[bmasters9]

I have both and prefer the SS release for the better cases and single sided discs, although I never had any issues with the DS discs other than them being flippies. It's exactly the same program. IIRC it's the same menus.

So you mean that despite the originals being doubles, the discs work as reliably as the later singles do?

 

[Tony Bensley]

I have both and prefer the SS release for the better cases and single sided discs, although I never had any issues with the DS discs other than them being flippies. It's exactly the same program. IIRC it's the same menus.

Yep, right down to the 'Flip To Side B' to access these features, or something along that line.

CHEERS!

 

[BobO'Link]

So you mean that despite the originals being doubles, the discs work as reliably as the later singles do?

Mine did. Guess they still do but I've not played them in several years.

 

[BobO'Link]

Yep, right down to the 'Flip To Side B' to access these features, or something along that line.

CHEERS!

That's what I remembered but wasn't going to put it out there without double-checking. Thanks, Tony!