* The Professor's sexual desires seem sublimated in his work, with extreme results in phallic imagery. In Episode 8, his efforts to create usable nails result in nails that either droop or explode. In Episode 65, he creates a huge needle with which to inoculate himself and the other castaways against their "allergy" to Gilligan.
* The Professor's sexual politics suggest that it is not just his scholarly demeanor that keeps him from getting women. In Episode 20, he emphatically tells the women that only men make crucial decisions in society.
* For a man who spends little time with women, the Professor has an inordinate amount of knowledge about perfume. In Episode 8, looking for a solvent to break down some glue, the Professor sniffs Ginger to detect what kind of perfume she uses. (Or maybe that's just his excuse for nuzzling Ginger--see below.) In Episode 22, the Professor suggests that a gorilla is attracted to Mrs. Howell's perfume.
* The Professor's most obvious desires (which are somewhat requited) are for the overtly sexy Ginger. In Episode 18, when the castaways think their island will be destroyed by a rocket, the Professor briefly bares his soul to Ginger. (In Episode 59, Ginger returns the favor when she confesses to the Professor that she is not the seer she claimed to be.) In Episode 43, in a scene they are filming for a silent movie, the Professor is coached by Director Howell to passionately kiss Ginger, a scene at which the other castaways marvel at a later screening of the movie. In Episode 73, when Ginger, trying to rouse the Professor from a spell, performs a "native dance" that turns out to be a rain dance, the Professor is left alone in the middle of an (ejaculatory?) rain. And in Episodes 51 and 54, the Professor and Ginger kiss with no holds barred.
* The Professor also shows some hidden desire for Mary Ann. In Episode 38, the Professor (out of nowhere) decides that Mary Ann is the most beautiful castaway and coaches her for a beauty contest. When he attaches a fishing pole's line to Mary Ann's bathing suit to provide pull while she is swimming away from him, Gilligan inadvertently mistakes the Professor's actions for a "big catch" and helps him to pull in his prize--Mary Ann's bathing suit. (Was the Professor secretly hoping to disrobe Mary Ann?) In Episode 54, he tries to woo Mary Ann in the persona of Cary Grant (but only to help her forget being jilted by her hometown boyfriend). In Episode 65, when the mad doctor exchanges the castaways' personas, the Professor and Mary Ann's personas are exchanged, with Mary Ann suddenly confident and scholarly, and the Professor dithering like someone who cowers atop a stool after seeing a mouse. In Episode 92, the Professor soothingly comforts Mary Ann, who mistakenly believes she is Ginger.
* Finally, Mrs. Howell. In Episode 67, the Professor nails the last of the female castaways, having a dinner date with Mrs. Howell. And in Episode 74, the Professor inadvertently (subconscious desire, perhaps?) drops a boulder from a cliff and nearly kills Mr. Howell below.
* In Episode 51, visiting socialite Erica Tiffany Smith brings out previously undisclosed passion in the Professor, to the point that he asks Ginger for advice on how to woo the millionairess.
* The series' dream sequences say a lot about the Professor's sublimated desires. The dream sequences in Episodes 66 and 68 present an aged Professor as an anti-scholarly, dirty old man.
Go to the page for:
Gilligan
Ginger Grant
Mr. Howell
Mrs. Howell
Mary Ann
The Skipper
The Female Castaways
Gratuitous Dream Sequences
Home page
