Gilligan's Island/The Pigeon

The Pigeon
Season 3, Episode 28
Airdate	April 3, 1967
Production Number	1625-0521
Teleplay by	Brad Radnitz
Story by	Jack Raymond and Joel Hammil
Directed by	Michael J. Kane
Produced by	Robert L. Rosen
← 3x27 It's a Bird, It's a Plane	3x29 → Bang! Bang! Bang!
Gilligan's Island — Season Three

This article about an episode needs to be expanded with more information. Please help out by editing it.

The Pigeon is the twenty-eighth episode of the third season of Gilligan's Island, and the ninety-sixth episode overall.

Starring: Bob Denver (Gilligan), Alan Hale (Skipper)

Also Starring: Jim Backus (Thurston J. Howell III), Natalie Schafer (Mrs. Howell)

and Also Starring: Tina Louise (Ginger Grant)

with Russell Johnson (The Professor), Dawn Wells (Mary Ann)

Special Guest Star: Sterling Holloway (Burt)

Plot Overview

A Pigeon lands on the Island after a night of a severe Storm.The Castaways find the Pigeon to which the Professor discovers it be a Homing Pigeon.The Castsaways decides to attache a note to the Pigeon leg,send it off with the message of help,and they will be rescued.The Professor is all for the idea,but after examining the Pigeon,he finds that the Homing Pigeon has been through an ordeal in the Storm,and can hardly fly.So,he will put the Pigeon a strict diet of Pigeon Food,and hopes that the Pigeon will able to fly back to Civilization in two weeks.The other Castaways are not to happy with this delay of rescue,and do not accept it.Each of the others decide to speed up the rescue from two weeks to hopefully one day.Later that night,Gilligan,and Skipper sneak into the Professors Hut while he is sleeping,and feed the Pigeon a piece of Lemon Marang Pie.The Pigeon is kept in a Cage that The Professor made.They feed the Pigeon the Pie,and the Pigeon consumes it wholeheadely.After he's finished the Pie,Gilligan,and Skipper leave.Seconds later,Ginger,and Mary Ann come to the Hut.They give the Pigeon some Coconut Milk.The Pigeon gulps it down wholeheartedly,after eating the Pie,the Pigeon would naturely be thirsty.After he finishes,they leave.Seconds later,The Howells arrive with a Cart full of Food,enough to feed a King.By Morning,the Castaways happy about what they had done the previous night is certain that the Homing Pigeon will be ready to fly Home with a Rescue note.They all anticipate a surprise for the Professor when he awakens to discover a noe healthy Homing Pigeon.But,the surprise will be theirs.The Professor discovers a now bloated Homing Pigeon.He suspects that his fellow Castaways have been feeding it in the middle of the night.They all confess to the sneaking in the middle of the night,and feeding the Bird.With the Homing Pigeon being as bloated as he is,the Professor will put the Bird on a strict program of execise,and maybe he will be able fly in six weeks.With this fact the Castaways help to get the Pigeon back in shape,so that when the time is right they attach a written note,and send him off.Getting the note attached to the Homing Pigeon is easy,getting a positive reply is another.The Pigeons Owner receives the note,and believes it to be a prank note from a Pen Pal.He sends the Pigeon back with a reply.It is not the reply the Castaways were expecting.Mr.Howell send the next message enclosed with a $100.00 Dollar Bill,and a promise of more Money if the man will help rescue him,and the other Castaways.This message the Man also disbelieves.He sends another reply,and adds that the $100.00 Dollar Bill is being used as a nest for his Pigeons.Not giving up the Castaways will send another message ,only this time along with a picture of the seven of them standing in front of the SS Minnow.This will prove to be a difficult task as Gilligan who put the Pigeon in a Cave to keep it cool,discovers a giant six foot Spider.The other Castaways would get the Homing Pigeon out of the Cave after some difficulties,one of which is getting trapped themselves.The message would finally get sent,only to be returned expectedly.It turns out that Birdy the Man who has many other Pigeons,and keep them in a large Pigeon Coop is himself a Prisoner.A Guard comes to the Roof where he attends to the care of the Pigeons,and informs Birdy that his Parole has come through.Birdy can leave anytime he wants.Birdy is so happy that he throws the Homing Pigeon that the Castaways had sent up in the air,and releases all the Birds that he was taking care of.The Homing Pigeon returns to the Island,and to the Castaways disappointment,find the picture of themselves.Sensing that the message is again ignored,the Castaways give up any further message sending.

=Trivia

Behind the Scenes

Sterling Holloway is believed to have been considered to play Gilligan before Bob Denver.

Memorable Moments

Gilligan,and later the Skippers reaction to seeing the Giant Spider.Gilligan getting trapped in the Spiders trapped.The Men getting trapped in the Cave when the Spider returns.The Womens using a Mirror to scare the Spider by pushing it towards the entrance of the Cave.The Castaways sneaking into the Professors Hut to feed the Pigeon.The ending scene after Birdy releases the Birds showing the Castaways waiting(the scene is the credits scene at the end of the episode).