Thoughts from the Gilligan's Island Episode V is for Vitamins (1966)

Synopsis: The lack of citrus fruits in their diet has led to a severe vitamin deficiency for the castaways. Their only hope is to grow trees from the last orange on the island.

My Thoughts:

The Professor's (Russell Johnson) death order seems a bit off. Maybe he was right about people dying in order of their overall weight and was probably right about the order the men would die in. However, I'm not convinced Mrs. Howell (Natalie Schafer) is heavier than either Ginger (Tina Louise) or Mary Ann (Dawn Wells). If anything, I would describe her as the smallest person on the island.

What about pineapples? Maybe they aren't technically citrus fruits, but I am fairly certain they are just as full as vitamin C as an orange. And, they had one sitting right in the middle of their table at one point in this episode.

The orange tree idea seems a bit unlikely. Just how fast does the professor seem to think orange trees grow? Unless they happen to be from those radioactive seeds they received in another episode, I think they would be long dead before those trees were old enough to produce fresh fruit.

The Professor tends to be a bit of a pervert in Gilligan's dreams, at least when he dreams the professor is an old man. He was a big flirt in the meteor episode dream and, in this dream sequence, lied about being a prince to get a kiss from Mary Ann. It really makes me wonder what goes through Gilligan's head sometimes.

To be fair, the castaways didn't ask the right question. When Gilligan found that orange, they were only concerned if there were more oranges. Had someone thought to ask him "did you see any other fruit," there would have been no more concern when he revealed there were also grapefruit and lemons. Of course, I still wonder how it is Gilligan is able to find stuff like that but nobody else seems to notice. Is he the only one who goes in that jungle?

Final Opinion: I probably would have liked this episode better had there not been a vitamin-filled grapefruit being used as a table decoration. As a result of that, I feel like the dream sequence might be the only reason making this worth watching.

My Grade: C