Many of the episodes in the South Pacific involve interactions with native islanders. The most colorful is Polynesian chief and witchdoctor, Pali Urulu (Jacques Aubuchon), who is as shifty and scheming as McHale and his men. When McHale and the crew are in Urulu's village, the chief displays a portrait of President Franklin D. Roosevelt; when the Japanese troops arrive, Urulu turns it over to reveal a portrait of Japanese Emperor Hirohito (in another episode he does the same thing with the Japanese and American flags). Though "primitive," Urulu is like Gruber (from whom he learns a lot, usually to Gruber's regret)-- a hustler who is always looking for ways to make money or swindle money from the Navy. In the episode titled "We Do The Voodoo," after Binghamton refuses to pay Urulu for damage to his coconut grove, Urulu uses his powers to put a curse on Binghamton, who then has a streak of bad luck. In "The Balloon Goes Up," Urulu displays the sign "Gone Headhunting" when he leaves his hut and is called a cannibal by Binghamton and McHale (no indication that it is meant to be taken literally). Aubuchon also played the Russian sailor Dimitri in "McHale's Navy Joins the Air Force."