Seven people find themselves marooned on a small, uninhabited island after their boat washes ashore during a storm.
As in the subsequent series, the pilot episode featured Bob Denver as Gilligan, Alan Hale Jr. as The Skipper, and Jim Backus and Natalie Schafer as the Howells.
In 2001, Dawn Wells co-produced a television film bio-pic, where she, Bob Denver, and Russell Johnson appear as themselves as hosts and remember what life was like during the series.
Jim Backus (Thurston Howell) had only a small walk-on part at the end of the film as he was suffering the advanced stages of Parkinson's disease.
His role on the island was filled by creating "Thurston Howell IV", played by David Ruprecht, the couple's supposed son.