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The similarities between Lost In Space and Gilligan's Island

posted 9 years ago by Metafizzypop
30 replies | jump to latest

For those of you familiar with both shows, have you ever thought about all the things they have in common? I thought it was pretty striking. I doubt it was done intentionally, but it's interesting. I made a list of the things I noticed, and I'd love to hear what people think. I'd also like to hear about similarities that other people find.

What the two shows have in common:

1. Both shows are about castaways. On one, the people are stranded on an uncharted island. On the other, it's an uncharted planet.

2. It was a storm that caused their vessel to go off course, which brought them to their planet/island. On GI, it was a storm at sea, a hurricane or similar. On LIS, it started off where the uninvited Dr. Smith had his extra weight affect the ship, which steered them into a meteor storm. This subsequently put them off course.

3. There are seven castaways on both shows. And in both cases, it's four men and three women. (I don't count the robot on LIS because even though it has a personality and a role, it isn't human.)

4. The plot lines of most episodes revolve around a visitor to the
planet/island. Sometimes the visitor is in a position to help the
castaways get home, but they never do it. The castaways never get any help, even though they have countless beings coming and going.

5. There's lots of discussion about how much they'd like to get back home.

6. Both shows have one character that is constantly screwing things up. On GI, it's Gilligan. On LIS, it's Dr. Smith.

7. There are no hardships regarding food or clothing. Even though they are stranded and cut off from everything, they live fairly well. Both programs even show washing machines.

8. Everyone is perfectly groomed. The men are all consistently clean shaven, and the women's hair is always perfectly done.

9. On both shows, the women consisted of a blonde, brunette, and redhead.

10. More of a technical issue than one about content: both shows shot the first season in black and white, and the rest in color.

That's what I have so far. Please let me know if you found any mistakes! And if you find more similarities!

☔

[–] smudge358 8 years ago

Both shows had one married couple.

Both shows had robots. (GI had a robot parachute onto the island)

Both shows had an episode where a character got wishes (GI had Gilligan getting 3 wishes. LIS had Dr. Smith finding a wish machine.)

Both shows lasted three seasons (I think).

Both shows had show cast members appearing on Family Feud with Richard Dawson. Oddly enough, they played against each other.

[–] smudge358 8 years ago

I just found out that Carroll O'Conner (Archie Bunker) was considered for both the roles of Skipper on GI and for Dr. Smith on LIS.

[–] paulfreed 8 years ago

And obviously the "wishes" failed to get them home. Dr. Smith "wished" for a Jupiter 2 and got a model (actually looked really cool) and Gilligan's "wished" them off the island, and the ground broke away.

[–] wearetheborg-1 8 years ago

Both shows had a character that was a professional actress. Judy and Ginger.

[–] smudge358 8 years ago

Both series featured abnormal carrots. GI had radioactive seeds that grew carrots that looked like an udder and LIS had a talking carrot.

[–] rceditor2 (5) 5 years ago

This is more of a quirk, but both shows refer to the other cast members as "the others" in conversation. You'd think that on LIS, John Robinson would occasionally say "my family" instead of calling them "the others".

[–] CoriSCapnSkip (2243) a year ago

Both shows had a change in theme song although Gilligan's Island consisted of merely changing "and the rest" to "the Professor and Mary Ann" while Lost in Space got a whole cool new theme song.

Both shows had a character who not only constantly screwed up but was the brunt of others' anger, but was forgiven and regarded fondly even when that might not have happened that way in real life.

Both shows had food issues. On Gilligan's Island there was much ado about an orange.

Both shows had no or only sporadic news from the outside world/civilization/earth.

Lost in Space spent pretty much two seasons stranded on the same two planets. Not until Season Three did they try to be like Star Trek.