"Rescue from Gilligan's Island" came out 11 and a half years after the series ended. The movie was a huge hit on TV simply due to the show's gazillion of fans, multiplied by a decade of syndicated reruns. Unfortunately, the film doesn't measure up to the zany-but-excellent series, particularly the last two seasons.For one, at 95 minutes it seems to have a lot of filler. Many of the scenes could've been cut down by about 40%. It also seems rushed at times, like the actors learned their lines an hour before filming; and a lot of the humorous situations/dialogue aren't entirely successful, to put it nicely. Also, Tina Louise refused to return as Ginger, evidently because they didn't offer her enough money (which is funny because she wasn't exactly an in-demand actress at the time; the only significant role I remember her in after Gilligan's Island was in the 1975 film "The Stepford Wives"). The woman they got to replace Tina looks fine but she comes off as an airheaded bimbo and Ginger was never a bimbo. She's a sexy starlet, yes, but also smart.Most of the cast look pretty good a dozen years later and Mary Ann (Dawn Wells) looks incredible. Surprisingly, it's Gilligan (Bob Denver) who has aged the most, which is strange since he was supposed to be a "boy" of about 19-21 during the original run. As such, he should only be about 30-32 during this movie, but he clearly looks to be in his mid-40s or older (in real life Bob Denver was 29-31 during the series and was 43 at the time of this movie). Still, this isn't a big deal.BOTTOM LINE: "Rescue from Gilligan's Island" comes across as a lame version of the series with too much filler, but it's worthwhile for fans of the show because, of course, we have to know how they finally got rescued after almost 15 years as castaways. But, as they say, you can never go home again and neither can the castaways; they became their own family on the island, which is one of the reasons the show was so endearing.GRADE: C

When a decaying Russian satellite crashes on the island, the Professor uses a key component for a barometer. With that device, he learns that a massive wave is going to swamp the island. In desperation, the castaways lash their huts together into one structure in order to have any chance to ride the disaster out. The wave strikes the island and the hut is swept out to sea. Once there, Gilligan accidents starts a fire trying to cook a meal and nearly burns the floating hut down. Occupied with stopping the fire, the gang fails to notice that the smoke caught the attention of a naval helicopter who summoned a ship to rescue the castaways. In triumph, they return to Hawaii, only to learn that things have changed over the years and they will have trouble fitting in. To further complicate matters, two Russian spies are after that the key component that Gilligan now wears as necklace.I loved Gilligan's Island as a kid. This feature falls short on lots of levels. First and foremost, no Tina Louise who really makes the character of Ginger. The new Ginger is absolutely horrible. Then there is the incessant filler to make this a feature film. It's a half hour show expanded by three times with filler material. Then there is the fact that the actors are just walking through their parts. They lost the spark of the TV show.But there IS Dawn Welles, who is hot as ever.

Where to start? First you need to know that a very important aspect was missing when this movie was filmed. Well, several aspects actually... Using a REAL camera to film the movie would have been very helpful. Instead it looks like they used Bob Denver's Betamax video cam he no doubt owned in that era. They also must have assumed that using a mid 1970s cassette tape recorder to record the audio would have enhanced the reality of spotty audio that no doubt would have been the case in reality. Then to make matters worse they seemed to have forgotten to have brought any LIGHTS to film with. The opening sequence looks like they used Bob Denver's Zippo lighter held next to the betamax camera to supply the lighting element. Then the transfer to DVD must have been done by some kid with a DVD recorder from Wal Mart who found the Beta master sitting in the back seat of one of the cast member's cars in the direct sunlight. OK, I could have just said the video, audio and transfer quality suck hideously. No fear of this one ever coming out on Blu-Ray.The plot is unfortunately as bad as the film quality. For a series that developed such a following and was well in demand you could tell how obviously small the budget was for it. The film starts out with the threat of a storm wiping the island off the map (what map?) so only then do the castaways get the idea that they can tie the huts together to make a big raft. You do have to wonder for castaways who have not had a working radio in over a decade how they kept up with the times in terms of hair style. all the men seem to have sideburns now and Ginger is doing her best Farrah hair imitation. Mr. Howell seems to have had an eye doctor visit somehow as he has prescription glasses now. Not to mention his clothes seems to fit despite his weight gain. This is true of Skipper also who has put on a few lbs. Not to mention their clothes not only seem to never show 15 years wear, but Skipper seems to be wearing a completely different shade of blue shirts now. the never ending supply of fresh clothes was a mystery when they were on the island after just 6 months. When they are on the ocean in their hut raft they figure using a sail would make them move in one direction. Subsequently everyone offers up their clothes to make a sail. a moment later we see a huge sale made of clothes but not one castaway has lost any clothes despite them saying seconds earlier of how they will be happy to remove their clothes to make a sail. I guess we forgot the episode that never aired where a freighter of clothes destine for Sears Robuck no doubt loses several tons of clothing cargo while passing the island. The plot once rescued seems absolutely goofy and not goofy good. throw in some nonsense about a pair of Russians chasing Gilligan around because he's wearing a storage disc full of sensitive data around his neck. The plot is wasted on this silly pursuit. The plot could have been a lot better but we are talking the imagination of writers in the late 70s. Not exactly our finest hour in terms of film history. But it all gores down to budget. had they put in just a couple hundred thousand more the film would have no doubt been worlds better..One would do well to watch the docudrama made around 2000 with Bob, Russell and Dawn participating in a recreation of how the show evolved. Much better film and though its not really a remake of any kind its still quite interesting to watch.

Yet another poor tape-to-DVD transfer done 'on the cheap'!! There are several companies selling this 1978 TV film, because Sherwood Schwartz, the 'GILLIGAN' creator obviously doesn't retain the copyright to this Gilligan project! I'm glad to finally see this reunion TV movie on DVD, but damn, the quality is poor! Yes, it's obviously poorly edited, and I dunno what the deal was to get to show this on DVD! They obviously don't care about the quality! OK,.... so it only cost me a dollar!!!! I'm so glad the Gilligan series is finally seeing an 'official' release on DVD!!!! It's an old favorite of mine! I have found several TV episodes/old TV movies/theatrical films for 1 dollar on DVD, and it's cool to have them even if the quality stinks, but....Again, why must we endure this assembly line garbage DVD quality? I feel badly for the producers and artists of the original works. They got ripped off because somebody didn't think these TV shows/TV Movies/Movies were good enough to retain the copyrights so we could see a decent DVD copy of 'em!!!!Oh well....So goes the usual money grubbing in the entertainment business!!!! There is a disturbing trend amongst the 'quickie' DVD manufacturers, and it kinda stinks! They obtain use/rights of old TV shows/movies that have expired copyrights, and then transfer them to DVD's and sell them for next to nothing! I bought it for a dollar brand new!