Movies - TV
The Twilight Zone Sent A Gilligan’s Island Star Travelling Through
Time Twice
By DEBOPRIYAA DUTTA
Russell Johnson played the Professor in “Gilligan’s Island” and also appeared in "The Twilight Zone," where he was in two separate episodes that involved time travel as a theme.
These two episodes were "Execution," based on George Clayton Johnson's unpublished novel, and "Back There," written by “The Twilight Zone” creator Rod Serling himself.
In "Execution," Johnson plays Professor Manion, a scientist who uses a time machine to extricate a killer cowboy named Caswell to the present before Caswell was about to be hanged.
Manion realizes that he has let a killer on the loose, and as he tries to send Caswell back, the latter kills him. Just when Caswell thinks he can walk free, a thief strangles him.
Johnson also starred in "Back There” as Engineer Peter Corrigan. It starts with a group of socialites discussing the possibility of altering history by traveling back in time.
Corrigan leaves the club of socialites to find himself in the past: The streets look different, with gas lamps and horse-drawn carriages, and his own clothes are from the same era.
Baffled, he soon realizes he’s been transported to the date of Abraham Lincoln's assassination. Frantically, he attempts to change the past, but ultimately is unsuccessful.