I think I heard that the show was colorized, but when I saw the show today on TV...well...it sure looked like natural color to me.

Why was this done in B&W for the DVD or was only the 1st season colorized and originally B&W?

Thanks for any info!

Season One was filmed in B&W. If you've seen it in color, it was colorized.

I'm guessing then the color I saw today was from Season 2 or 3.

Oh well.

I'll wait for Hogan's Heroes on DVD. =)

Oh my God. I am going to run screaming through the streets> Please folks let's learn some history.

Skip

Ex-friggin'-actly.

To be fair, that seems to fall more under the category of "trivia" than "history."

And, "please folks let's learn some history," isn't that what he was trying to do?

This ranks up next to that moran at best buy asking if they had the set in WIDESCREEN.....

Just so you don't have to ask. The 1st Season of Lost in Space is also in Black & White and is not Widescreen.

Skip

I think the first episodes will play in color, but only if you use your DVD player that's made out of coconuts and bamboo.

I tried that, but I got too tired pedaling that damn bike to make it work.

Geeze, some of you guys are dicks.

To the person who is waiting for Hogan's Heroes on DVD because the Gilligan set is in B&W, be advised that the Hogan's Heroes pilot episode is also B&W (!)

The first season of GILLIGAN'S ISLAND was actually was colorized by Ted Turner, and those versions aired extensively on TBS and TNT throughout the 90s. A number of colorized shows were also released on VHS, two to a tape.

In recent years, TV Land and now Hallmark have been running the original B/W versions.

word.

the guy made a simple mistake and ppl are doggin' him like he just killed someone.

It's good to see that in-depth knowledge of "Gilligan's Island" is considered a barometer of intelligence in these parts...

Masamune's asking about a show that started in black and white and later switched to color -- something just a handful of shows did. It's a totally natural question. Not everyone knows the episode-by-episode history of every Sherwood Schwartz show (thank God).

Masamune even makes the correct assumption that "the 1st season [was] colorized and [was] originally B&W." It's not the same as asking why Gilligan's Island isn't in widescreen.

It'd be nice if some of you guys would try to be helpful -- and not just look down your noses at people who aren't as brilliant as you are -- just once.

I'm really pissed.

Gilligan was originally shot in 2:35 and I see the released version is in 1:85!!

Back in the mid-80's, comedian Harry Anderson (Night Court, Dave's World) appeared in TV commercials for GE. One of the blooper programs aired outtakes from an ad for GE's new stereo TV's. As Anderson screwed up, he joked, "Who wants to watch Gilligan's Island in stereo?"

A few years later, I was watching Gilligan on TBS and there was a stereo logo on-screen.

Doesn't it scare you when the jokes start coming true?

And for the record, the original show was in mono.

The best explantion I ever saw for the black-and-white thing was from an old Calvin and Hobbes comic strip. Calvin's father tells him that before 1945 or so, the whole world was in black and white. It was only after the detonation of nuclear weapons in the 40s that the color scheme changed and everything had different degrees of color.

I've used that one on my young nephews so many times.

Wait a sec... Let me get this straight... Since Season One is black & white, you're not buying? Now THAT'S what I'm curious about... Not knowing it was filmed in B&W is one thing (and no big deal), but not buying it - when you cared enough to ask the question - because it is B&W?

These crazy kids and their newfangled color televisions...

this thread belongs here

Bewitched, I Dream of Jeannie, My Three Sons, Andy Griffith and Gomer Pyle all had early seasons in B&W only.

Further info...

The Get Smart pilot was also shot in B&W.

Does anyone know the reason for the post-production zoom in the first episode (not the pilot)-- it's right as Skipper and Gilligan are about to launch their raft (sorry for the spoiler)...

Ginger and Mary Anne are saying goodbye in a two-shot, which is back and forth with Skipper and Gilligan in a two-shot. But on the final shot of Ginger and Mary Anne, the frame is obviously zoomed (and badly composed) on just Ginger-- Mary Anne is awkwardly cropped out. What makes it even more awkward is much of this brief shot is Ginger listening to Skipper reply to what she had just said.

What were they trying to fix/replace? Removing Mary Anne requires some explaining, in my book.

If this stirs up the usual "not the director's vision=no sale" zealots, sorry.

Ah, you have a keen eye for composition ...

This was (partially) explained in the book Gilligan's Island - A Retrospective (page 23).

Dawn Wells who played Mary Ann Summers was earning money at the time doing commercial TV work for a local L.A. car dealership owned Jerry Earle (Earle Chevrolet). Earle had already cast Ms. Wells in several TV commercials before she landed the Gilligan's Island opportunity. Earle was good friends with Howard Duff who was married to Ida Lupino. Ida was an accomplished actress as well as director, having directed Bewitched as well as other TV shows before directing some Gilligan's Island episodes. Lupino was good friends with G.I.'s creator Sherwood Schwartz.

Lupino asked for a favor of Schwartz wanting a shot of Dawn Wells (in the character of Mary Ann) for a cut-out for a promotional display for Earle's on-sales-floor dealerships. Rights needed to be transferred for the CBS-owned property. This was the shot of Mary Ann in the first episode that was edited out of Dawn's first episode.

Further explaination comes from a Gilligan's Island fan site:

http://www.gilligansisle.com/main.html

With rights transferred, the problem was not editing the material back into the episode but obtaining rights to the material. Earl and his heirs are no longer in the car dealership business and rights to the image could not be found to be transferred back.

From Schwartz's on-line discussion with the show's fans:

Btw, from the book:

It said that it was untrue that Raquel Welch auditioned for the part of Mary Ann.

That the part of Mary Ann was based on the character of Dorothy from the Wizard of Oz.

Also, Mary Ann is not with an 'e'