Surprising Stories from the Set of Gilligan’s Island

Believe it or not, producers once toyed with adding a pet dinosaur to the castaways’ island life. The idea popped up as the show got sillier with each season, and the writers thought a friendly prehistoric sidekick might amp up the fun and chaos.

But the dream fizzled fast. The special effects needed to bring a dinosaur to life were way too expensive for a lighthearted sitcom. So the castaways stayed dino-free, leaving fans to imagine the wonderfully weird episodes that might have been—Gilligan and his pet brontosaurus, anyone?