Watch the Original Theme Song to Gilligan's Island

Watch the Original Theme Song to Gilligan's Island

Like the familiar song, the rejected tune lists the characters. Four of the seven are the same (Gilligan, Skipper and the Howells), but the other three are "two secretaries and a high school teacher."

Here's the scoop (per Wikipedia):

The pilot episode was not broadcast because of casting changes and restructuring of characters. In the pilot, the part of the Professor was played by John Gabriel. Instead of the movie star and the Kansas farm girl, the pilot had two secretaries: Ginger, a practical redhead played by Kit Smythe, and Bunny, portrayed by Nancy McCarthy as a cheerful, stereotypical "dumb blonde".

The pilot had a different theme song by John Williams, with a Calypso beat and singer and a slightly longer opening credits, including brief shots of Gilligan carrying the Howells' luggage to the boat and spilling coffee on the Skipper during the storm. The episode proper begins with the castaways waking up on the beached boat and deals mostly with practical problems: exploring the island, trying to fix the transmitter, building huts and finding food. Contrary to some descriptions, there are no detailed accounts of the characters' backgrounds.

The scene with the radio report is one of two scenes that reveal the names of the Skipper (Jonas Grumby) and the Professor (Roy Hinkley); the names are used in a similar radio report early in the series. The name Jonas Grumby appears nowhere else in the series except for an episode in which the Maritime Board of Review blames the Skipper for the loss of the ship. The name Roy Hinkley is used one other time when Mr. Howell introduces the Professor as Roy Huntley and the professor corrects him, to which Mr. Howell replies, "Brinkley, Brinkley."

The plot for the pilot episode would eventually be recycled into that season's Christmas episode, "Birds Gotta Fly, Fish Gotta Talk," in which the story of the pilot episode, concerning the practical problems on landing, is related through a series of flashbacks. Footage featuring characters that had been recast was reshot using the current actors. For scenes including only Denver, Hale, Backus, and Schafer the original footage was reused.