The Harlem Globetrotters on Gilligan's Island Warning - this review contains spoilers. We recommend you watch the previous two films Rescue from Gilligan's Island and The Harlem Globetrotters on Gilligan's Island before reading it...

The last, and I feel the best of the three TV movies. The Harlem Globetrotters on Gilligan's Island sees the castaways leading a joyful existence as the co-owners of their island resort (as established in the previous Castaways TV movie). But trouble is on the horizon as just offshore in their luxury yacht lurk evil financial mastermind J.J. Pierson and his sexy scientist sidekick Dr. Olga Schmetner (played by real life husband and wife team Martin Landau and Barbara Bain). Together they are planning to steal the ownership of the Island away from the castaways so that they can exploit an incredibly rare and powerful mineral that exists in abundance on the island. A mineral that will enable them to control the world! At the same time the legendary Harlem Globetrotters and their coach (played by Scatman Crothers) are flying aboard their personal jet near the island, on the way to a basketball game. But the jet has mechanical problems and they are forced to crashland in the ocean. They climb aboard an emergency dinghy and row their way to the safety of the island, where they are eventually discovered by Gilligan.

J.J. Pierson and Dr. Olga Schmetner are plotting to steal the island

And so we have the recipe for a madcap episode which I feel captures the spirit of the original series perfectly. But sadly all was not perfect. Almost immediately we are made aware that Mr Howell is not present on the island. But his SON is! Howell Jr. has taken over managing the island for his daddy who is temporarily back in the United States on business. The reason for this was that Jim Backus was very ill at the time and had to sadly say no to appearing in the film. The actor who played Howell Jr. (David Ruprecht) did a pretty good job but he was simply not in the same league as the great Jim Backus. We also had a new face playing Ginger. Judith Baldwin from the previous two TV movies was not present, and we had actress Constance Forslund in her place. I must say that Forslund was excellent in the role (I feel better than Baldwin), but it just made the loss of Tina Louise all the more obvious, as to have had Judith Baldwin present in all 3 movies would at least have given the TV movies some consistency.

But getting back to the positives, the cast and guest stars were all in perfect form, the story was classical Gilligan's Island and even the Harlem Globetrotters got to shine in a funny finale where they play a life and death basketball game against the evil J.J. Pierson's team of unbeatable super robots. On another delightful note, a last minute miracle occured which brought warm feelings to fans of the show. Jim Backus's wife contacted Sherwood Schwartz near the end of filming to tell him Jim's health was slightly improved and that he would like to try to do a small cameo. Schwartz immediately rewrote the final scene and so Mr Howell does appear in a wonderful cameo at the film's finale. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Trivia: - As established in the original series, Mr and Mrs Howell never had a son. - Dreama Denver (Bod Denver's wife) has a significant role as the Howell's personal secretary. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------

The new Ginger with Mary Ann and The Professor

Again, as with the previous Rescue and Castaways movies, the DVD options are poor. One is limited to taping a TV airing or searching for low quality TV recordings online, or buying copies that have been "burned" to disk. We can only hope for proper studio releases in the future.