A three hour tour

[dar512]

You could buy the S.S. Minnow. Scroll down to description.

I would, but I've spent my pocket money for this week.

[Pangloss62]

Why is it that almost eveything I see from the 1950s or 1960s just looks so cool? Gilligan's Island pretty much raised me when I came home to an empty house after school. These days I just ponder it's cultural significance and write postmodern analyses of the series in my head. I would buy it if I could.

The other day I watched the Kon Tiki documentary (1947-51) that was made to compliment Thor Heyerdahl book of the same name. I truly believe the whole idea for GI came from that book and movie. Balsa-log rafts have so many advantages over boats, not capable of sinking being the most important.

[glatt]

Originally Posted by Pangloss62

Why is it that almost eveything I see from the 1950s or 1960s just looks so cool? Gilligan's Island pretty much raised me when I came home to an empty house after school. These days I just ponder it's cultural significance and write postmodern analyses of the series in my head. I would buy it if I could.

The other day I watched the Kon Tiki documentary (1947-51) that was made to compliment Thor Heyerdahl book of the same name. I truly believe the whole idea for GI came from that book and movie. Balsa-log rafts have so many advantages over boats, not capable of sinking being the most important.

Balso logs, huh? I seemed to remember it was mad of reeds. So I Googled it, and of course you are right. Obviously, since you just watched the thing. It was his next boat, the Ra, that was made of reeds.

[Pangloss62]

It was his next boat, the Ra, that was made of reeds.

Did he ever go out on that one? He liked to use indigenous technology to prove that so-called "primitives" (he even used the word himself) were not so stupid. The reed raft must have been for reedy peoples of...where? SE Asia?

[dar512]

Egypt, I think. Actually not reed but papyrus.

[Madman]

Who can forget these seven stranded castaways on Gilligans isle?

Ya'll remember the theme song?

Chime in if you dare.
......................................................

Just sit right back and you'll hear a tale...

[xoxoxoBruce]

Originally Posted by dar512

Egypt, I think. Actually not reed but papyrus.

Reeds, papyrus is the paper they made from those same reeds.

[Tonchi]

Originally Posted by Pangloss62

Balsa-log rafts have so many advantages over boats, not capable of sinking being the most important.

A little bit of Spanish trivia for you: the word BALSA has gone into the language in this hemisphere to mean RAFT. (Even if it is an Army surplus rubber dingey, they call it a balsa.) Because this tree only grows in tropical South America north to parts of Mexico, it would have been the logical choice for the PreColombian civilizations to use if they had really been inclined to ocean voyages. It was perfectly possible for one of their craft to have been blown across the Pacific to Polynesia or even farther. A boat with 3 Mexican fishermen who were given up as lost at sea has showed up in the Marianas, near Australia, after floating for 9 months.

Not just any reed will make a seaworthy raft, as Heyerdahl discovered. His first effort sank after becoming waterlogged to the point that it was unsailable. I have seen documentaries on Univision which show where the "Inca" reeds used for boats come from; the entire villages are floating on mats of reeds in fact. To make his Ra craft with the same materials, Heyerdahl must have stripped that entire swamp of vegitation.

[xoxoxoBruce]

Wasn't Heyerdahl trying to figure out how people got to South America (and it's islands), from Polynesia and from Africa?

[Pangloss62]

Wasn't Heyerdahl trying to figure out how people got to South America (and it's islands), from Polynesia and from Africa?

Actually, no. Heyerdahl was intrigued by iconongraphic similarities he saw between the primitive art of South America and that of the natives of the Polynesian Islands. He surmised, and went on to prove, that people could indeed travel across the Pacific from Peru to the Islands of the South Pacific. I don't think his thesis that Polynesia was settled by South Americans has been accepted, however. Maybe someone on this BBS knows the answer. I few minutes of googling would probably work too.

[Griff]

According to this site Pangloss is right. South America may have had contact, as witnessed by the presence of the sweet potato, but the people came from the west (which is the East ).

[xoxoxoBruce]

Originally Posted by Pangloss62

Actually, no. Heyerdahl was intrigued by iconongraphic similarities he saw between the primitive art of South America and that of the natives of the Polynesian Islands. He surmised, and went on to prove, that people could indeed travel across the Pacific from Peru to the Islands of the South Pacific. I don't think his thesis that Polynesia was settled by South Americans has been accepted, however. Maybe someone on this BBS knows the answer. I few minutes of googling would probably work too.

Damn, I had it ass backwards. I thought he sailed the kon Tiki from Polynesia toward the Americas. I"ll have to read it one day.

[Ibby]

Has anyone heard... Stairway to Gilligan?

Try it sometime. Find the MP3... or just sing the theme along with Stairway to Heaven...

[wolf]

I remember hearing that years ago on Doctor Demento, before Led Zepplin's publisher exerted it's copyright on the music, which dropped it out of the Top 100 Demented songs of the year, although it still got honorable mention, but could no longer be played on the radio.

Overall, we owe a lot to Gilligan's Island, including helping us memorize certain bits of Shakespeare ...
"Neither a borrower, nor a lender be ..."

[shoot]

Ive actually been to the real Gilligans Isle. Its a little island down in the Bahamas that one of the cruise lines(Carnival I believe) owns or did own mm 15 years ago. They would shuttle people over there for the day and have food and drinks snorkeling ect... the lagoon looks just like it did in the opening credits of the show was kinda strange but enjoyable,though the reef had been totally ravaged by novice snorkelers.