[meteorite-list] Gilligan's Island - Meet the Meteor

From: Richard Kowalski <damoclid_at_meteoritecentral.com>
Date: Thu, 15 Oct 2009 00:59:06 -0700 (PDT)
Message-ID: <366557.52548.qm_at_web33907.mail.mud.yahoo.com>

A while ago some friends & I had a discussion about how meteor(ite)s are portrayed on TV and in the movies. It sparked a memory about the meteorite that fell on Gilligan's Island. (If you aren't familiar with the program, see here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gilligan%27s_Island)

Recently I got the DVD from Netflix that contained the episode and grabbed a few frames from the key points in the show and thought I'd share them with the list.

For those who have forgotten the plot of "Meet the Meteor", (How could anyone forget such a classic?) I'll write some reminders to go along with the images.

After Gilligan spotted the falling fireball, he and the Skipper went to investigate and found the glowing, perfectly spherical object in a nice, small crater.

http://www.fullmoonphotography.net/images/Meteorites/GI/fall.jpg

The Professor built a crude Geiger counter to check the meteorite for radiation. He found "none", but determined that the meteorite was giving off Cosmic Rays, so they refined lead ore (where they would find that on a coral atoll is beyond me), and coated their clothes in lead, made lead based make-up to protect their skin and a screen to shield themselves from the Cosmic Rays, all of which apparently worked as expected. (Could the Professor do anything less?)

http://www.fullmoonphotography.net/images/Meteorites/GI/lead_protection.jpg

As they left, Gilligan trips over a sapling. Only a minute later they hear something strange. On their return they find the screen has turned to saw dust and the sapling is now a fully grown tree, as can be seen to the right of the frame.

http://www.fullmoonphotography.net/images/Meteorites/GI/accel.jpg

The Professor determines they need to blow up the meteorite to save everyone's life. Gilligan has a dream about them all aging while they await the next lightning storm, only to be awaken by said storm. He runs with the lightning rod the Professor created, trips, but it ends up being stuck in the meteorite, which then attracts lightning bolts, which eventually cause the meteorite to explode into nothingness, again as expected.

http://www.fullmoonphotography.net/images/Meteorites/GI/lightning.jpg

I guess one could say this episode is just about as realistic as any other show or movie about meteor(ite)s... Strange though that I've yet to see a photo of Mike Farmer, Greg Hupe' & Robert Ward out in the field coated in lead!

:)

--
Richard Kowalski
http://fullmoonphotography.net
IMCA #1081
      

Received on Thu 15 Oct 2009 03:59:06 AM PDT