Gilligan's Island : Our Vines Have Tender Apes (1967)
Directed by David Orrick McDearmon
Share on
Synopsis by Hal Erickson
Denny Miller, who'd guested on Gilligan's Island's first season as a musclebound (and muscleheaded) surfer, makes a return appearance in this episode, this time as a Tarzan clone named Tongo the Ape Man (ironically, Miller had previously been one of the movie Tarzans in the early 1960s) . The Castaways become aware of Tongo's presence when he begins stealing food and supplies from their huts. Turns out that the "ape man" is actually an unemployed actor who has come to the island to prep himself for a possible film role--a circumstance complicated by the untimely arrival of a gorilla, who isn't at all interested in show business!