The pilot was produced by Aaron Spelling, and you know what that means, right? A cast of beautiful young people! This included Paul Sersey, Vicky Pratt, and Grayson McCouch as U.S Marines. The switch is that these beautiful actors are playing smart, thinking characters. Even Varda the Supermodel goes against type. That is, at least she's a composed and insightful leggy supermodel instead of just a leggy supermodel.

This ain't your average, run-of-the-mill tropical island! There's no coconut picking or sun tanning on plane debris here. No, this island has a supernatural ability to make everyone's minds go wiggy.

Judge for yourself. Did THIS ever happen on Gilligan's Island?

Pretty kooky, eh? But I reject the notion that this is weirdness just for the sake of it. In fact, this kind of stuff becomes quite a fun, multi-layered mystery, especially because the story gives you a bag full of hints as to what exactly is happening to them: Have they been sucked up by some kind of Bermuda Triangle-like vortex? Are they just tripping on some psychopathic drug and being used as guinea pigs for a secret military experiment? Or... are they all already dead? Forbidden Island covers all its bases.

There can also be a flip side to having Aaron Spelling's name attached. Any bets, UPN was expecting their very own Baywatch -- Melrose Place On Sexy Beach. So off they send of a crew to New Zealand to get a little T&A. Instead, they get suburban homes falling from the sky onto sand dunes. They get intimidated by its boldness. Now you'd think the smaller networks would be the ones taking the risky chances. But they're also the most unstable. Perhaps the UPN just couldn't maintain a budget for such an ambitious series?

Or perhaps not! Some critics weren't very forgiving. One person actually described this pilot as "laughable." That really only leaves two possible scenarios. The first has to do with the fact that a great script doesn't necessarily equal a great moving picture. And Forbidden Island treads a fine line in its tone -- sometimes whimsical, sometimes downright spine-tingling. Easily mistranslated without a delicate directorial hand, and somewhat oddball, but in a good way, sensibilities. Face it, genius and originality in Hollywood many times equals weird and who knows? Maybe the director was neither. Nothing personal, mind you. It's just my belief that most eccentrics do their best work with other established eccentrics. Like-minds and all that. Imagine what all the Red Room scenes in Twin Peaks would look like had David Lynch not directed them? I shudder at the thought. The second conclusion is much simpler (and therefore more probable) -- it turned out just fine. The network heads just didn't get it.

When Twin Peaks was canceled nearly a decade ago, Mark Frost spoke some very smart words to the Minneapolis/St. Paul Star Tribune that continue to ring true today: "In a business that's driven purely by economics, the fact that one or two unique shows happen to get on and reach the public for a brief time doesn't constitute a trend." Frost is a realist about how the networks work, but he doesn't have to take it lying down. After all he did sneak through such quality shows as American Chronicles, On the Air and Buddy Faro, even if for only a brief time. I bless him for trying anyway.