MovieChat Forums > Dusty's Trail (1973) Discussion > Gilligan's Wagon Train?

Gilligan's Wagon Train?

posted 16 years ago by TinyTophat
7 replies | jump to latest

Good lord! I couldn't believe it when I saw one of thes shows. It's just "Gilligan's Island" in a wagon! I'm surprised they even bothered to change the characters' names.

Me-ow.

[–] Hoohawnaynay 15 years ago

Yes, Gilligan's Trail WITHOUT the humor or the charisma of the original cast. No one except Lori Saunders had any charisma on this show. The jokes were tired and stale. How any of them could keep a straight face is beyond me.

[–] jgs1935 15 years ago

Are you implying that Bob Denver lost his charisma in the years following GI?

Anyway, I thought Jeannine Riley and Forrest Tucker were well-cast. Cort was rather bland, and one can take or leave Ivor and his on-screen wife -- though I thought all of them did respectable work.

In my opinion, some of the better episodes hold up fairly well. I must be in the small minority that likes both DT and GI, but I do. There just aren't ANY modern TV series as fun as those!

[–] dmann80 14 years ago

Yeah...this show must have really bombed out. I think the Shwartz's must have sat around the table one day brainstorming and trying to come up with a new idea. Someone must have said..."Well, Gilligan's Island was a big hit so let's do the same concept with.....uhhhh uhhhhh....OY!!!I KNOW!!!! A WAGON TRAIN!!!" They changed the names a little and substituted Forrest Tucker for Alan Hale and used Bob Denver as Dusty in the same type of dimwitted character. Then they even had the rich couple who were obviously the Howells, some other dill rod who is in the professor's role, and two hot looking little cleavers in lieu of Mary Ann and Ginger. The idea of Gilligan's Island was great but it wasn't something they could get away with a second time.

[–] SataiDelen 9 years ago

I have to agree with you. Though, I simply assumed that this show was Bob Denver's idea, rather than the creators of Gilligan's Island. Perhaps they all came up with the idea together. Whatever the cause, the effect failed. This was a terrible show. But then, I never liked Gilligan's Island, either.

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[–] SealordJohn 12 years ago

For me, it was kind of like watching three different shows at once. There was Bob Denver from "Gilligan's Island", Forrest Tucker and his hat from "F Troop", Jeannine Riley and Lori Saunders from "Petticoat Junction".

[–] LarrupinLou 9 years ago

For me, it was kind of like watching three different shows at once. There was Bob Denver from "Gilligan's Island", Forrest Tucker and his hat from "F Troop", Jeannine Riley and Lori Saunders from "Petticoat Junction".

Yep, but the combination of the three is not as good as any of the originals, IMO. It does have its moments, though.

No blah, blah, blah!

[–] wallacesawyer 8 years ago

I'm not sure what convinced Schwartz to make this show the way he did. Perhaps he hoped to recreate the success of GILLIGAN'S ISLAND, or perhaps recycle ideas from the original show's unproduced Fourth Season. I don't know.

I actually enjoy the film. Maybe because it's so much like GILLIGAN'S ISLAND is one of the reasons I like it. Sort of a fun homage.

Unofficially I like to think of this show as a prequel series. Dusty is merely Gilligan's ancestor. Were it not for ownership issues at the time, it would have been nice to see one of the GILLIGAN'S ISLAND TV movies somehow unite the characters, like through time travel. Bob would essentially be playing a dual role of arguably the exact same character, but I would have loved to see it.

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