Scooby Doo on Gilligan's Island

I saw this image of Scooby Doo and Shaggy with Gilligan and the Skipper. It got me thinking how much fun it would be if they appeared together in something, and then I remembered that the current Scooby Doo series is called Scooby Doo and Guess Who, with each episode featuring some famous guest. Why not an episode where the Scooby gang ends up on a deserted island where they meet the cast of Gilligan's Island! I threw on a Scooby Doo and Guess Who logo onto the image, and now I'm super excited to see this happen!

Gilligan's Island Comic Books

Back in the early 90's Harvey Comics got back into funny books in a big way! They got the licenses for Tom & Jerry, Woody Woodpecker, Caster the Ghost, Baby Huey, Richie Rich and others. I was excited to have all these new funny books to buy each month, but it got me thinking about my favourite TV show of all time, Gilligan's Island, and more specifically the cartoon series that followed the three years of the live action show, The New Adventures of Gilligan. It would make an great comic book, and it seemed like it would fit in nicely with the stuff that Harvey was publishing at the time, so I decided to write them with my great idea! I was excited and not to surprised to received a reply that said my idea was great, but that the idea didn't fit into their 'present publishing plans'. Knowing what I do not about the show and mess with its rights, I realized it was not to be. But, it would have been my favourite title every moth if it had come out as a comic book!

Shown here is the letter I received from Sid Jacobson, along with the cool envelope with embossed Casper just below the word Entertainment. The letter from July 2, 1993, reads: Thanks so much for your suggestions about Gilligan's Island. I'm sorry but the idea doesn't fit into our present publishing plans. I with it would... It would be fun. But I'm afraid it would be to difficult for us to reach the appropriate market. Sincerely Sid Jacobson.
Also shown is the New Adventures of Gilligan comic book cover I threw together in Photoshop. Anybody else here want to buy a copy of this first issue!

Stuck on Gilligan's Island!

Below are scans of the membership form I received in the mail when I first wrote to The Original Gilligan's Island Fan Club back in the 90's. As you can see from the form they sent me, for just $15 you received a subscription to the quarterly newsletter "Island News" a membership card and a "Stuck on Gilligan's Island" t-shirt. I wore my shirt until just recently when it finally started falling apart beyond repair. I decided to take a few photos before I shoved it into a bottle and sent it out to sea (OK, I actually folded it up and put it into a box with a bunch of my other Gilligan's Island collection).
My actual shirt is in pretty rough shape, with a few holes, a really worn out collar and lots of fading, but with a little Photoshop magic, I was able to take the logo that I photographed from my ratty old shirt and add it to a brand new shirt that looks just like it did when it showed up in my mailbox over 20 years ago.

At some point this summer I might finally get around to scanning in a few of the Island News newsletters to post here on my blog.

New Adventures of Gilligan on DVD

Advertising works on me. I finished reading Detective Comics #52 and was putting it away when I noticed the ad on the back page. I believe I may have made some sort of "Ooh" sound as I saw the Warner Archive ad advertiging The New Adventures of Gilligan, the complete series Now on DVD!
I am a huge fan of Gilligan's Island, and remember watching the Groovie Goolies show before school every morning in the 70's and 80's hoping to see an episode of The New Adventures of Gilligan. It may not have been the best cartoon on TV, but I have been waiting for this to come out as an official release for years. Back in the 90's while I was a member of the Gilligan's Island Fan Club, I managed to purchase a few episodes of this animated series that had been transferred from 16 mm film. Then some time around 2000 I purchased a DVD off the Internet that had 16 (of the 24 total) episodes in watchable, but not great condition. It took all of 20 minutes after seeing this ad to have my copy ordered and on its way to my mailbox.
Now I just need them to release the three Gilligan's Island TV movies, and a CD with the music from the TV show (and cartoons) would be great, as the music still fills my head all these years later.