A whale of an event for the SS Minnow

The three-hour tour that became the three-year series that became the three-decade-plus rerun staple has now, on its 40th anniversary, been enshrined on DVD -- “Gilligan’s Island: The Complete First Season” -- and in honor of the occasion Warner Home Video threw a party Tuesday at the FantaSea Yacht Club in Marina del Rey. “Quite amazing to me,” said Bob Denver, a.k.a Gilligan, of the show’s enduring popularity. “When you get done with a series, you think, ‘OK, it was really fun to do,’ and you hope maybe the next thing you do will be as much fun. Years later, it’s like, ‘Hmm, it doesn’t seem to be going away.’ ”

The “moooovie star,” Tina Louise, who spent the rest of her career trying to shake her association with the program, was absent -- a pair of celebrity impersonators represented her character -- but the other surviving castaways, “Mary Ann” Dawn Wells and “The Professor” Russell Johnson, along with series creator Sherwood Schwartz, were duly shuttled from photo op to photo op. “I go where they send me,” said Schwartz. “I come, I pose, I talk.”

The highlight was the big gather-round on the dock next to the SS Minnow, really only a Minnow-like vessel whose real name had been papered over.

Then everyone sat down to a pasta buffet dinner, while the bar mixed “Lovey’s Favorite Tropical Drinks” and a dessert stand (set up under a grass hut) served “Mary Ann’s Famous Coconut Cream Pie.” Many guests opted for the free half-hour harbor ride on a large yacht, also temporarily labeled SS Minnow, where the rarely seen pilot episode screened on board. Others took snapshots next to the “Island Charter” sign (you know, the one the skipper leans his elbow on in the opening credits), and a few guys simply stalked the rent-a-Gingers through the hall.

Of course, there was more ‘60s sitcom talent here than just the denizens of TV’s most famous uncharted island. Kathy Garver -- Cissy from “Family Affair” -- showed up along with Ken Osmond, who played Eddie Haskell on “Leave It to Beaver,” and Butch Patrick, better known as Eddie Munster. “Yeah, I’m part of the Nickelodeon/TV Land club,” Patrick joked. “Everyone keeps asking me when will ‘The Munsters’ be on DVD, so I figured I would come and ferret my way to the right people and make it happen.”