"Gilligan vs. Gilligan" opens with our hero finding an empty pie tin, only to be accused of eating the entire pie without asking. Determined to prove his innocence, Gilligan is shocked to see on the other side of a stream his own duplicate licking his lips and carrying a gold pocket knife. No one will believe his fantastic story, while the imposter is revealed to be a Soviet agent transformed by plastic surgery, his 48 hour mission to determine what kind of plot the castaways are hatching. There's less to enjoy than one might think, with the famous mirror routine from The Marx Brothers' 1933 "Duck Soup" recreated in the Howell hut, far more difficult to pull off with the same actor on both sides! Bob Denver's dual performance isn't as much of a stretch as it could have been, with the unbilled voice of Henry Corden as the Soviet Commandant: "you better do better!"
3 Reviews
WILL THE REAL GILLIGAN PLEASE STAND UP!
tcchelsey10 September 2023
Joanna Lee wrote this imaginative episode, behind many classic sitcoms in the 60s, though her claim to fame was playing one of the aliens in Ed Wood's cult classic, PLAN 9 FROM OUTER SPACE. That story alone is sitcom material.
Gilligan has a twin, but not an ordinary twin -- a Russian spy? One thing about the series, and it may have been influenced by the times, Russians seemed to make the best bad guys and always stepped onto the island to start some sort of trouble. Their thick accents were fun and the Russian version of Gilligan is always shouting orders! Of course, this all gets the real Gilligan in a mess as he now has a kooky twin strutting around the island. The story goes that the agent underwent plastic surgery to spy on the castwaways, begging the question WHY them???
The highlight, as noted by other reviewers, is a classic MARX BROTHERS mirror routine between Gilligan and his double. The only debit is its too short.
Behind the scenes notes indicate Bob Denver, during filming, had a bad case of the flu. You can notice that in some early scenes as he looks a bit tired and worn. In fact, he would wrap himself in blankets between takes and keep active so he would not pass out. In the final scene, Gilligan is resting in his hammock, and I think it was done that way to get him off his feet.
Well directed by old pro Jerry Hopper, who was a WWII hero, awarded the Purple Heart. Hopper did a ton of tv shows, also dramas, such as PERRY MASON and the FUGITIVE. He was the cousin of movie star Glenda Farrell.
Best prop slash invention is the spoon and fork combo transmitter the professor discovers that belonged to the Russian spy.
SEASON 3, EPISODE 2 remastered dvd box set.
Gilligan has a twin, but not an ordinary twin -- a Russian spy? One thing about the series, and it may have been influenced by the times, Russians seemed to make the best bad guys and always stepped onto the island to start some sort of trouble. Their thick accents were fun and the Russian version of Gilligan is always shouting orders! Of course, this all gets the real Gilligan in a mess as he now has a kooky twin strutting around the island. The story goes that the agent underwent plastic surgery to spy on the castwaways, begging the question WHY them???
The highlight, as noted by other reviewers, is a classic MARX BROTHERS mirror routine between Gilligan and his double. The only debit is its too short.
Behind the scenes notes indicate Bob Denver, during filming, had a bad case of the flu. You can notice that in some early scenes as he looks a bit tired and worn. In fact, he would wrap himself in blankets between takes and keep active so he would not pass out. In the final scene, Gilligan is resting in his hammock, and I think it was done that way to get him off his feet.
Well directed by old pro Jerry Hopper, who was a WWII hero, awarded the Purple Heart. Hopper did a ton of tv shows, also dramas, such as PERRY MASON and the FUGITIVE. He was the cousin of movie star Glenda Farrell.
Best prop slash invention is the spoon and fork combo transmitter the professor discovers that belonged to the Russian spy.
SEASON 3, EPISODE 2 remastered dvd box set.
Gilligan doubles our pain.
Ralphkram12 June 2018
The second of the three infamous doppelgänger episodes is just as ill-conceived and preposterous as the other two. The plot doesn't make a lick of sense; the humor is scattered; the castaways do very little outside of our lead; and the final act is a big fizzle. This episode isn't just out of left field; it isn't even in the ball park.
In the cold open, the Skipper and the Professor eagerly await Mary Ann's latest pie, but she reports disgustedly it's missing. Gilligan wanders in at that moment with an empty pie tin and is pegged for the theft based on circumstantial evidence. He begins an immediate investigation to clear himself, and, faster than you can say doppelganger, runs into a guy who looks exactly like him with pie all over his face.
Of course, as usual, no one believes his story of seeing a double, despite his track record of always being right.
Our fake lead, meanwhile, is a Soviet spy with a pretty handy pocketknife. He uses that knife to communicate with his superior and provide the audience with his backstory: he underwent plastic surgery to look like Gilligan to infiltrate the island and learn the castaways' darkest secrets. (How the Soviets learned of the castaways in the first place is not explained).
Our real lead adds seeing the knife to his tale to entice the Professor and Skipper into coming along with him on his search. Shortly after they separate, Gilligan gets the Mr. Howell treatment and is knocked out by his double, who smoothly takes his place.
The castaways finally get a couple of obligatory scenes where they're questioned by the Soviet. The standout scene is definitely his questioning of Ginger; it's a fun role reversal to see the actress scared off by his aggressive Pepe Le Pew romancing of her.
His strange behavior causes them to take their complaints to the Professor. Without examination, he diagnoses Gilligan as having suffered some kind of nervous breakdown. The solution, as usual, is to humor him. The real Gilligan frees himself (just like Mr. Howell did) just in time to be humored by the others. This gag is quickly brushed aside, though, to get to the final confrontation between the two Gilligans.
They square off in the Howell's conveniently empty hut. To say their showdown is a big disappointment is an understatement. First, they dust off the old mirror gag that falls way short of the epic one in Duck Soup, followed by a short, very subdued, and anticlimactic face off at the lagoon. The scene ends meekly with the Russian Gilligan being as dumb and forgetful as the real one.
Gilligan dismisses that this whole plot ever existed, which the audience wishes it could do as well.
COCONOTES:
The Professor looks creepy waiting for the pie. By the way, how do they make those tins?
The unseen Russian superior, guest voiced by Henry Corden, is funnier than the Russian Gilligan.
That whistle and Gilligan's reaction to it gets old and very annoying.
Don't know what's more egregious: that the Howells have a chess set never seen before, or they let Gilligan play.
Despite Gilligan's warning about the knife, no one notices it in plain sight during their interviews.
In the cold open, the Skipper and the Professor eagerly await Mary Ann's latest pie, but she reports disgustedly it's missing. Gilligan wanders in at that moment with an empty pie tin and is pegged for the theft based on circumstantial evidence. He begins an immediate investigation to clear himself, and, faster than you can say doppelganger, runs into a guy who looks exactly like him with pie all over his face.
Of course, as usual, no one believes his story of seeing a double, despite his track record of always being right.
Our fake lead, meanwhile, is a Soviet spy with a pretty handy pocketknife. He uses that knife to communicate with his superior and provide the audience with his backstory: he underwent plastic surgery to look like Gilligan to infiltrate the island and learn the castaways' darkest secrets. (How the Soviets learned of the castaways in the first place is not explained).
Our real lead adds seeing the knife to his tale to entice the Professor and Skipper into coming along with him on his search. Shortly after they separate, Gilligan gets the Mr. Howell treatment and is knocked out by his double, who smoothly takes his place.
The castaways finally get a couple of obligatory scenes where they're questioned by the Soviet. The standout scene is definitely his questioning of Ginger; it's a fun role reversal to see the actress scared off by his aggressive Pepe Le Pew romancing of her.
His strange behavior causes them to take their complaints to the Professor. Without examination, he diagnoses Gilligan as having suffered some kind of nervous breakdown. The solution, as usual, is to humor him. The real Gilligan frees himself (just like Mr. Howell did) just in time to be humored by the others. This gag is quickly brushed aside, though, to get to the final confrontation between the two Gilligans.
They square off in the Howell's conveniently empty hut. To say their showdown is a big disappointment is an understatement. First, they dust off the old mirror gag that falls way short of the epic one in Duck Soup, followed by a short, very subdued, and anticlimactic face off at the lagoon. The scene ends meekly with the Russian Gilligan being as dumb and forgetful as the real one.
Gilligan dismisses that this whole plot ever existed, which the audience wishes it could do as well.
COCONOTES:
The Professor looks creepy waiting for the pie. By the way, how do they make those tins?
The unseen Russian superior, guest voiced by Henry Corden, is funnier than the Russian Gilligan.
That whistle and Gilligan's reaction to it gets old and very annoying.
Don't know what's more egregious: that the Howells have a chess set never seen before, or they let Gilligan play.
Despite Gilligan's warning about the knife, no one notices it in plain sight during their interviews.
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