Changes: The Ballad of Gilligan's Island

Revision as of 16:00, 20 July 2016

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The Ballad of Gilligan's Island, also known as Somewhere Over the Rerun is the second episode of ALF's second season. It originally aired on September 28, 1987.

Plot

The episode opens with ALF drilling holes into coconuts and speaking some vaguely Hawaiian gibberish. This is because he’s preparing himself for some event television: a rerun of Gilligan's Island. Brian and ALF are both watching an episode of Gilligan's Island but Kate comes in to tell Brian to get ready for bed, and he joins ALF in the Gilligan’s Island quote-fest by forcing his way through history’s most tortured “Aye aye.” Willie comes in and ALF complains to him that he’s only happy when Gilligan’s Island is on. Willie dismissively replies, “That’s four hours every day right there.” There are plenty of jokes at the expense of Gilligan’s Island, and ALF keeps comparing people and situations to that show, but while these things are supposed to be punchlines, all they really do is remind me of how much better Gilligan’s Island was than this. At nighttime, ALF tells Willie and Kate some stories about the show and he knows that the fun never stops.

The next morning, Willie tells Kate that there is no water coming out of the faucet. Willie falls down to the lagoon ALF built and Kate shows up to. ALF tells Kate it was Willie's idea to build all of this and he gets mad. He thinks life is always fun and wacky on Gilligan's Island, where coconut creme pies are plentiful. ALF's transformation of the backyard into the "Great Tanner Reef" and diversion of the house's water main gets him punished by being made to refill the hole. Lynn needs something to do this week, so she brings ALF a glass of lemonade and then promptly ceases to exist.

While asleep from working hard, he has a dream where he actually finds himself on Gilligan's Island. He meets with Gilligan and Skipper, who are fishing. They take ALF to meet Mary Ann and the Professor (it is explained that Ginger and the Howells are on the other side of the island). For lunch, Mary Ann Said that they're going to have mangoes. ALF learns that there are no more coconut creme pies due to the castaways' aging and being concerned about blood sugar (and being tired of them, anyway). ALF also learns that the castaways are depressed from being away from civilization for so long. They are bored and tired from doing the same thing for 23 years like eating fruits, coconut pies, Gilligan get hit on the head with a hat, and being called "Little Buddy" when he's in his 40's, etc. ALF tries to make them be their funny selves, only for them to order him to fill their own lagoon for them to build a miniature golf course (Which they don't plan on sharing with the Howells). Through a makeshift TV built by the Professor, (made from bamboo, transistor tubes and a 19-inch tube that fell off a cruise ship and washed ashore), the castaways watch their favorite TV show, The Tanners, a program about the Tanner family! Gilligan and the castaways pine for a mundane life in suburbia like the Tanners and to once again eat apple pie and meatloaf and take warm bathes. Through the TV, Willie tells ALF that he got more than he bargained for by being on Gilligan's Island.

ALF gushes about how much he loves this place, even though he said exactly the opposite in the scene right before this. But it’s okay because it’s setup for a big joke where ALF says he likes Bonanza now and there’s a stagecoach to return.

Title Reference

"The Ballad of Gilligan's Island" is the title of the theme song to the Gilligan's Island TV series.

@@ Line 7: / Line 7: @@
 At nighttime, ALF tells Willie and Kate some stories about the show and he knows that the fun never stops.
-The next morning, Willie tells Kate that there is no water coming out of the faucet. Willie falls down to the lagoon ALF built and Kate shows up to. ALF tells Kate it was Willie's idea to build all of this and he gets mad. He thinks life is always fun and wacky on Gilligan's Island, where coconut creme pies are plentiful. ALF's transformation of the backyard into the "Great Tanner Reef" and diversion of the house's water main gets him punished by being made to refill the hole. Lynn needs something to do this week, so she brings ALF a glass of lemonade and then promptly ceases to exist. Of course, this scene takes place at night, making me even more confused about why they set the previous scene in the daytime. Falling into pits is something someone might do at night. Bringing someone a glass of lemonade is something that someone might do during the day.
+The next morning, Willie tells Kate that there is no water coming out of the faucet. Willie falls down to the lagoon ALF built and Kate shows up to. ALF tells Kate it was Willie's idea to build all of this and he gets mad. He thinks life is always fun and wacky on Gilligan's Island, where coconut creme pies are plentiful. ALF's transformation of the backyard into the "Great Tanner Reef" and diversion of the house's water main gets him punished by being made to refill the hole. Lynn needs something to do this week, so she brings ALF a glass of lemonade and then promptly ceases to exist.
 While asleep from working hard, he has a dream where he actually finds himself on ''Gilligan's Island''. He meets with Gilligan and Skipper, who are fishing. They take ALF to meet Mary Ann and the Professor (it is explained that Ginger and the Howells are on the other side of the island). For lunch, Mary Ann Said that they're going to have mangoes. ALF learns that there are no more coconut creme pies due to the castaways' aging and being concerned about blood sugar (and being tired of them, anyway). ALF also learns that the castaways are depressed from being away from civilization for so long. They are bored and tired from doing the same thing for 23 years like eating fruits, coconut pies, Gilligan get hit on the head with a hat, and being called "Little Buddy" when he's in his 40's, etc. ALF tries to make them be their funny selves, only for them to order him to fill their own lagoon for them to build a miniature golf course (Which they don't plan on sharing with the Howells). Through a makeshift TV built by the Professor, (made from bamboo, transistor tubes and a 19-inch tube that fell off a cruise ship and washed ashore), the castaways watch their favorite TV show, ''The Tanners'', a program about the Tanner family! Gilligan and the castaways pine for a mundane life in suburbia like the Tanners and to once again eat apple pie and meatloaf and take warm bathes. Through the TV, Willie tells ALF that he got more than he bargained for by being on ''Gilligan's Island''.
 ALF gushes about how much he loves this place, even though he said exactly the opposite in the scene right before this. But it’s okay because it’s setup for a big joke where ALF says he likes Bonanza now and there’s a stagecoach to return.