RED SHIRT TALES

Since 'Star Trek' is known as a TV show in Toobworld, everybody is familiar with the concept of the red shirts. Boone brought it up in an episode of 'Lost' - that the person wearing the red shirt on the sci-fi series was bound to die.

Boone:

"Ever watch Star Trek?"

Locke:

"Nah, not really."

Boone:

"The crew guys that would go down to the planet with the main guys,

the captain and the guy with the pointy ears,

they always wore red shirts.

And they always got killed."

And 'Astro-Quest', the series that ripped off 'Star Trek' (as seen on 'CSI'), always had a red-shirt killed off in the first five minutes of an episode.

So how was it possible that Gilligan lasted as long as he did on the island?

Captain Franklin Howe, Rebecca's father, visited her at the bar 'Cheers', and he quickly grasped this situation:

"As a man who has thirty years of naval experience, I can say with all confidence that if that crew got together and shot Gilligan, they'd have been off that island in a week. Problem solved."

And yet Gilligan survived to finally escape the island (not "The Island") with the other six castaways.

He's probably dead now, however. The actor who played him, Bob Denver, passed away when he was 70 years old, and I think this is one case where it would be fitting if both of them left the world stage together.

And it would probably be safer for the world as well.....

BCnU!
Toby O'B