"Surviving Gilligan's Island: The Incredibly True Story of the Longest Three Hour Tour in History," as well as fitting alongside "Rascals and Robbers: The Secret Adventures of Tom Sawyer and Huck Finn" and "The Positively True Adventures of the Alleged Texas Cheerleader-Murdering Mom" in the realm of TV movies with unbelievably long titles, is part documentary, part dramatization, part comedy and part nostalgia trip. Accordingly, it's also part successful.Hosted by Dawn Wells, Russell Johnson and Bob Denver - the latter with "And Special Appearance By" credit, although he appears throughout the movie - this is shown from the off to be one for the fans, when the still-cute Wells boards a plane and the passengers break into the show's indelible theme song (she says this really did happen to her, and it's impossible to doubt it). It's especially hard to believe that many UK viewers will fully appreciate it; though it has aired in the UK, "Gilligan's Island" isn't as well known here as other American TV shows that have also been the subject of telemovies (like "Charlie's Angels" and "Batman"), but then again who's in a hurry to see ones about "The Good Life" or "Man About The House"? Especially as the most repeated series on British TV may well be "The Phil Silvers Show." But I digress. (Then again, maybe I don't - Silvers guested on the show once, and Gladasya [which made the show with United Artists for CBS] was his production company. Not many people know that.)The movie's need to cram so much story into so little time means it plays like a Reader's Digest version of a book about the making of the series; it's rather jarring when an anecdote about a friend of Natalie Schaefer's having a mastectomy comes up. And though Tina Louise isn't too flatteringly portrayed here, it doesn't really come across as mudslinging (Louise has always been keen to distance herself from the series - she didn't even lend her voice to the cartoons "The New Adventures of Gilligan" and "Gilligan's Planet"). The constant cutting between the other three surviving cast members and the actors playing the original cast is an odd conceit, with every wall in sight broken when Dawn Wells gives Samantha Harris a crash course in Mary Ann's look ("This is a two-hour movie... let's cut to the chase"). But with the fine recreations – with a particular nod to Steve Vinovich as Jim Backus – and Laura Karpman's music in tune, as it were, with both the series and the period, it works. It works in fits and starts, admittedly – the scenes where it gets serious are very hit and miss, especially considering that the original series was not renowned for its sentimentality – and it's ultimately more for people with a massive interest than the casual viewer (it bothers me a bit that the aforementioned animated spinoffs aren't mentioned - more understandably, neither is the next series Bob Denver did with Sherwood Schwartz, "Dusty's Trail"). Still, at least this approach is more original than a bigscreen movie, and this is a nicely put-together effort that serves both as a valentine to the show and a potted history, with some good laughs as well. It would have been good if the story of how Schwartz pitched the idea to CBS by writing the theme song first and singing it to the board (as related in the book "TV's Greatest Hits") had been included, but at least the Professor finally answers the question of how someone so smart couldn't fix a hole in a boat - as the man says, if YOU were stuck on a desert island with Ginger and Mary Anne, would you fix it?

Mine will probably be the ONLY complaint, if you don't count other reviews. But I think what they did to Tina was just awful, and very unprofessional. Ms.Wells claims this is not a movie about rumors, does she really know the definition? Ok, the movie was alright, the actors were ok. Actually! the actor portraying Alan Hale looked amazingly identical to him! I give my compliments on that casting job. The good thing about Tina Louise is that I think she is above the whole thing, shes not the kind to go back and get revenge for how they made her look. so 2 me, she's a better person! and to the person who posted a message here a while ago saying that Tina is Ginger even if she doesnt like it, that is a horrible thing to say! don't you know that that is why she wanted to get away from "Ginger" because Ginger isn't real! but Tina is! and it's really a shame that some people don't see that! it's typical type-casting. and to those people who have no respect for Tina Louise, I feel sorry for you, because your missing out on someone great! it's your loss! definitly my gain.

Well this was one of the stranger things I have seen, a psueo-'Behind the Show' type Bio on the Gilligan's cast, with the three surviving ones both narrating and occ. playing themselves. Intercut are re-enactments of the show, off-camera stuff and whatever, with these eerie scenes of Dawn Wells walking right into a scene and talking to 'herself'(played by someone else) in Wardrobe. Strange.I enjoyed the tributes/portrayals of Alan Hale Jr., Backus and Schaefer the best. It was fun, esp. as the actors were all familiar TV faces. How much of this rings true, well, it's up to the viewer. No mention of Bob Denver's bust of late, or for that matter of how goofy the whole enterprise was-it's nostalgia, pure and simple.I didn't like the one sided slant on Tina Louise, by the way, comes off as prima donna #1, all insulted by being on the show and all that. From what I can tell, it's more 'she doesn't do any reunions or anything with us so we will slag her for it', which isn't exactly fair. She was right, being on the show meant their careers were toast afterwards. Why should she wanna relive what amounted to career suicide?Typecasting, the old demon of TV.Overall, though, it was a good watch, not something you see everyday.**1/2 outta **** stars.

At first, I thought two hours was going to be a little long for this nostalgic look at the cast and making of the evergreen series, "Gilligan's Island." However, the retrospective was delightful! Mary Ann, Gilligan, and the Professor share their stories from this early sixties series that almost wasn't. The show is particularly funny when it's not pulling punches about Tina Louise's attitude toward the show (and it manages to get the digs in in a good-hearted way) and the Mary Ann vs Ginger comparison. The casting for the "then" characters is amazing, especially Eric Alan Kramer's Alan Hale Jr. and Steve Vinovich's Jim Backus. It rides the line between heartfelt and sappy very well and it's great to see how amazing Dawn Wells (Mary Ann), Bob Denver (Gilligan), and Russell Johnson (the Professor) look.