Shortly after the Professor went to think about how to contact the E.T.'s spaceship the little creature began to show it was hungry. So Mary Ann and Ginger took it back to their hut and fed it a piece of coconut pie they had made.
"I must say you're so different from the aliens I've seen in movies," said Ginger as she and Mary Ann were alternately putting pieces of pie into E.T.'s mouth with a fork. "In the movies they were all either very strange or warlike, but you're so cute and cuddly I could just eat you up with a spoon!"
E.T. seemed to choke on a piece of the pie he was eating.
"What's wrong?" asked Mary Ann. "Don't you like it?"
"What is it anyway?" asked E.T. with with cream all over his mouth.
"It's coconut cream pie," she explained. "Coconuts are what we have most of on the island."
"It tastes funny," he said. "E.T. cannot eat organic minerals. He is a vegetarian."
"Well what sort of vegetables would interest you," asked Mary Ann.
"Well, when E.T. was under the water he tasted some delicious long green growing organisms," he replied.
"That must have been seaweed," said Ginger.
"We'll get you some," said Mary Ann.
"We will?" asked Ginger.
"Of course we will," said Mary Ann. "Let's go find Gilligan."
"E.T. likes the fork," said E.T. as he picked it up and seemed to be studying it.
"You do? Well, then you can keep it," said Mary Ann.
So E.T. kept hold of the fork and the three of them went to look for Gilligan and they found him by the palm trees with the Skipper beside him and giving him instructions.
"Okay, little buddy," said the Skipper. "Just cut through the middle with this saw and then quickly jump over to the other side so it doesn't fall on you."
"Okay, Skipper!" said Gilligan as he took the saw. He then began sawing through the middle of the large palm tree and once he had sawed it through he yelled, "Timber!" and then quickly jumped over to the other side.
"Gilligan! Look out!" cried the Skipper.
But it was too late for the cut half of the tree began swaying and then it fell over on the left side, right on top of Gilligan's head.
"Ouch!" Gilligan whimpered as he lay in the sand with the sawed off tree resting on top of him.
The Skipper quickly lifted the tree off of Gilligan as the girls hurried up to them and they each took Gilligan by an arm and lifted him up from the ground.
"Are you alright, Gilligan?" asked Mary Ann concerned.
"I'm alright," said Gilligan. "But my head hurts and I feel all dizzy now."
"Ouch," Gilligan heard a soft voice from beside his feet.
"Huh?" Gilligan bent down beside E.T. so that his head was in level with the extra-terrestrial.
E.T. held up his left forefinger and it began to glow a bright white light like a bright star and then gently touched it to the top of Gilligan's head.
Gilligan stood erect again and looked astonished. "Well, what do you know?" he exclaimed. "My head doesn't hurt anymore!"
"E.T. like saw," said E.T. as he picked up the saw by the handle and studied it.
"You do? Well you can have it," said Gilligan.
"Gilligan, we were hoping you could go down to the lagoon and get some seaweed for E.T.. It's what he wants to eat," said Mary Ann.
"Sure, girls," replied Gilligan cheerfully. "Anything for my own little buddy."
So Gilligan went down to the lagoon and reached under the water and pulled out large quantities of fresh green seaweed. He brought it back to E.T. and the little guy began eating to his heart's content. Gilligan watched him in awe that he could find something he once tasted and found repulsive as delectable.
Soon the Skipper came up to them carrying the radio. "Listen to this!" he exclaimed excitedly.
E.T. and Gilligan listened to the radio as the announcer of the latest news flash spoke out of it. "Following the strange reports of sightings of an unidentified flying object seen glowing in the night skies and leaving brief rainbows in its wake, this just came in: A farmer by the name of Ewan McGregor reported hearing strange noises last night as he laid in his bed and when he woke up a few of the crops he had just planted were missing. He says he suspects them being abducted by aliens. Tune in for further reports on this latest first kind of close encounter with extra-terrestrials."
"Gosh, that sounds just like our own E.T. here!" exclaimed Gilligan in amazement.
"E.T. like radio," said E.T. as he picked up the radio and studied it.
"You do? Well then just listen to this!" exclaimed Gilligan as he turned it to one of his favorite stations.
"You're listening to KC Radio where we bring all your old classic favorites all the time," said the station announcer. "And now here's What a Wonderful World by Louis Armstrong.
"I see trees of green, red roses too I see them bloom for me and you And I think to myself, what a wonderful world I see skies of blue and clouds of white The bright blessed day, the dark sacred night And I think to myself, what a wonderful world The colors of the rainbow, so pretty in the sky Are also on the faces of people going by I see friends shakin' hands, sayin' "How do you do?" They're really saying "I love you" I hear babies cryin', I watch them grow They'll learn much more than I'll ever know And I think to myself, what a wonderful world Yes, I think to myself, what a wonderful world" "
And it is a wonderful world," said the Skipper.
"E.T. want to go home!" E.T. wailed. "E.T. phone home!"
"He's right, you know Skipper?" said Gilligan. "He has to go home."
"Alright, Gilligan. Let's go see if the Professor has thought of a way to contact his ship yet," said the Skipper.
So the Skipper and Gilligan along with E.T. carrying the items he had collected went to the Professor's hut where the found him sitting at his desk with the old rusted transmitter sitting on top of it. He seemed to be deeply concentrated on it.
"Well, Professor, have you thought of any ideas yet?" asked the Skipper.
The Professor sighed rather exhaustedly. "I'm afraid not. "I've been working on this transmitter all day and I still haven't been able to get through with it. You see, if we could somehow convert the transmitter into sending out signals through the atmosphere we could probably help our little friend."
E.T. stepped up to the the Professor's desk and reached up and took hold of the transmitter. "E.T. like transmitter," he said in fascination as he studied it closely.
"You do? Well you can have it," said the Professor. "I hope you'll have better luck with it than I've had."
Just then the Professor noticed the radio, fork, and saw E.T. had brought with him. "Why look at these!" he said in astonishment. "If the transmitter could work then we could use this fork and this saw to cut through the telecommunications and send aerial signals into outer space, if we also had the right antenna for it and also something round and circular to hold the transmitter on."
While the Professor began pondering what they could use they sounded heard a frivolous aristocratic voice ring out, "Yoo hoo!" as the door opened and in stepped Mr. and Mrs. Howell.
"Greetings Professor, and crew, and alien," greeted Mr. Howell jovially. "Lovey and I had been looking through our spare luggage and we found this, our record player! We thought you might be interested in it."
"I am indeed, Mr. Howell!" declared the Professor in astonishment.
"Just listen to this, one of our favorite records, Bellucci!" He turned on the record player and the record on top of it began spinning around as a deep booming Italian opera rang out of it.
The Professor wasn't really listening to the music, he was closely studying the way the record turned around and around and was held in place by a small needle. "Why I'll be! This is it! This is what I've been searching for!" he exclaimed in triumph.
"Well, of course it is!" said Mr. Howell proudly. "After all, no society however small should be without culture."
"We can disassemble this record player and the transmitter and reassemble them together and then use this saw and this fork to cut through to outer space and contact E.T.'s spaceship," the Professor explained.
"Yes, of course we can disassemble the... WHAT?" Mr. Howell bellowed.
"Mr. Howell, do you want to save E.T. or don't you?" asked the Professor pointedly.
Mr. Howell grimaced slightly as he seemed to be struggling inwardly. "Well... yes, of course I do. But do you have any idea of how much money a record player like this one cost?"
"What is money?" asked E.T. curiously.
Mr. Howell looked positively stricken at E.T.'s ignorance. "Why, this is money!" he said as he took out his wallet and showed E.T. the inside of it. "It is what holds our whole economy together! Isn't it what holds yours together?"
"No," replied E.T. calmly. "What holds us together is our heartlights which we use to communicate internally with each other and let us know we love and care about one another. The stuff you have looks more like dead palm leaves."
"Why, how terribly middle class!" Mr. Howell pouted.
The Professor all this time had been looking at the parasol Mrs. Howell had with her. A light seemed to come into his eyes as he spoke. "Mrs. Howell, could you do me the honor of loaning me your parasol?"