| Fantasy Island | |
|---|---|
Title card of the first installment of Fantasy Island. |
|
| Format | Drama/Fantasy |
| Created by | Gene Levitt |
| Starring | Ricardo Montalbán Hervé Villechaize Christopher Hewett Wendy Schaal Kimberly Beck |
| Country of origin | United States |
| No. of seasons | 7 |
| No. of episodes | 158 (including 1977 pilot) |
| Production | |
| Running time | 45–48 minutes |
| Production company(s) | Spelling-Goldberg Productions Columbia Pictures Television |
| Broadcast | |
| Original channel | ABC |
| Audio format | Monaural |
| Original run | January 14, 1978 – May 19, 1984 |
Fantasy Island is the title of two separate but related American fantasy television series, both originally airing on the ABC television network.
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Before it became a long-running original television series, Fantasy Island was introduced to viewers in 1977 through two highly-rated made-for-television films. Airing from 1978 to 1984, the original series starred Ricardo Montalbán as Mr. Roarke, the enigmatic overseer of a mysterious island somewhere in the Pacific Ocean, where people from all walks of life could come and live out their fantasies, albeit for a price.
Roarke was known for his white suit and cultured demeanor, and was initially accompanied by an energetic sidekick, Tattoo, played by Hervé Villechaize. Tattoo would run up the main bell tower to ring the bell and shout "The plane! The plane!" to announce the arrival of a new set of guests at the beginning of each episode. This line, shown at the beginning of the show's credits, became an unlikely catchphrase because of Villechaize's spirited delivery and French accent (he actually pronounced it, "De plane! De plane!"). In later seasons, he would arrive in his personal go-kart, sized for him, and recklessly driven to join Roarke for the visitor reception while staff scrambled to get out of his way. From 1980 to 1982, Wendy Schaal joined the cast as another assistant named Julie. In a highly unpopular move with both fans and the cast, the producers fired Villechaize from the series before the 1983–1984 season (which ended up being its last) and Tattoo was replaced by a more sedate butler type named Lawrence, played by Christopher Hewett. Lawrence's personality was exactly the opposite of Tattoo's in many ways. For instance, Lawrence was also responsible for the bell ringing, but instead of climbing to the tower he simply pushed a button outside to have the bell ring automatically.
A Grumman Widgeon aircraft was used for the series.[1] As each visitor exited the plane Roarke would describe to Tattoo (or another assistant) the nature of their fantasy, usually with a cryptic comment suggesting the person's fantasy will not turn out as they expected. Roarke would then welcome his guests by lifting his glass and saying: "My dear guests, I am Mr. Roarke, your host. Welcome to Fantasy Island." This toast was usually followed with a warm smile but sometimes (depending on the nature of a guest or their fantasy) his eyes would show concern or worry for a guest's safety.
Roarke's personal vehicle was an orange Dodge Aspen station wagon with a Safari top with the stance of a modern-day sport utility vehicle.
Very little is known about the man known as Mr. Roarke and it isn't clear if that's his first, last, or only name. Although most guests know him as "Mr." Roarke, many people close to him, including past lovers, have referred to him only as "Roarke", which suggests he may not have any other names. He is the sole owner and proprietor of Fantasy Island.
Roarke's actual age is a complete mystery. In the pilot film, he comments how the guests who come to his island are "so mortal" and there are hints throughout the series that suggest Roarke may be immortal. In "Elizabeth", a woman from Roarke's past appears, but it's revealed that she died over three hundred years ago. Another episode even suggests that he was once intimate with Cleopatra. However old he is, Roarke has come to know many seemingly-immortal beings over his time on Earth, including ghosts ("The Ghost's Story"), a genie ("A Genie Named Joe"), the mermaid Nyah ("The Mermaid", "The Mermaid Returns", "The Mermaid and the Matchmaker"), the goddess Aphrodite ("Aphrodite"), and even Uriel, the Angel of Death ("The Angel's Triangle"). In two episodes ("The Devil and Mandy Breems", "The Devil and Mr. Roarke"), Roarke even faces The Devil (played by Roddy McDowall), who has come to the island to challenge him for either a guest's immortal soul or his. It is mentioned this is not the first time they have confronted each other and Mr. Roarke has always been the winner. In the second story, the Devil himself was one of the island's guests, claiming he was only there to relax and had no interest in Roarke's soul at the time. However, this turned out to be yet another ruse.
Roarke had a strong moral code, but he was always merciful. He usually tried to teach his guests important life lessons through the medium of their fantasies, frequently in a manner that exposes the errors of their ways, and on occasions when the island hosted terminally ill guests he would allow them to live out one last wish. Roarke's fantasies were not without peril, but the greatest danger usually came from the guests themselves; in some cases people actually got themselves killed due to their own negligence, aggression or arrogance. When necessary, Roarke would directly intervene when the fantasy became dangerous to the guest. For instance, when Tattoo was given his own fantasy as a birthday gift, which ended up with him being chased by hostile natives in canoes, Mr. Roarke suddenly appeared in a motorboat, snared Tattoo's canoe with a grappling hook and towed it away at high speed to help his employee escape. With only a few exceptions, Roarke always made it quite clear that he was powerless to stop a fantasy once it had begun and that guests must play them out to their conclusion.
In the pilot film, Roarke was actually a rather sinister figure, but once the series went into production, he was depicted as more benevolent.
In later seasons, there were often supernatural overtones. Roarke also seemed to have his own supernatural powers of some sort (called the "Gift of the McNabs" in "Delphine"), although it was never explained how this came to be. In one episode, when a guest says "Thank God things worked out well", Roarke and Tattoo share a very odd look and Roarke says in a cryptic way "Thank God, indeed". In the same episode, Roarke uses some mysterious powers to help Tattoo with his magic act. Actor Ricardo Montalban would claim in interviews that he had a definite opinion in mind regarding the mystery of Mr. Roarke, and how he accomplished his fantasies, but he would never publicly state what it was.
The usual format of each episode consisted of an introduction in which Roarke would describe to Tattoo (or another assistant) the nature of each person's fantasy, usually with a cryptic comment suggesting the person's fantasy will not turn out as they expected. The episode would then alternate between two or three independent story lines as the guests experienced their fantasies and interacted with Roarke. Often, the fantasies would turn out to be morality lessons for the guests (for example, one featured a man who clamored for the "good old days" to be taken back to the Salem witch trials), sometimes to the point of (apparently) putting their lives at risk, only to have Roarke step in at the last minute and reveal the deception. It is mentioned a few times that a condition of visiting Fantasy Island is that guests never reveal what goes on there. A small number of guests decided to make the irrevocable choice to stay permanently, living out their fantasy until death; one such person was an actor who had been in a Tarzan-type television series in the 1960s. Aside from a "clip show" ("Remember...When?") the only episode with a single storyline was "The Wedding", in which terminally ill Helena Marsh returned to Fantasy Island to spend her last days as Roarke's wife.
In the first film, it was noted that each guest had paid $50,000 (about $185,000 in 2010 dollars) in advance for the fulfillment of their fantasies and that Fantasy Island was a business. In Return to Fantasy Island, Roarke told Tattoo that he sometimes dropped the price when a guest couldn't afford the usual fee because he believed everyone should be given a chance to have their fantasies fulfilled. Afterwards, it became clear that the price a guest paid was substantial to him or her, and for one little girl whose father was one of Roarke's guests, she had emptied her piggy bank—less than ten dollars—to have her fantasy with her father fulfilled. On numerous occasions, a guest had not paid for the trip at all but instead won it as a result of a contest.
The nature of a fantasy varied from story to story and were typically very personal to each guest on some level. They could be as harmless as wanting to be reunited with a lost love to something more dangerous like tracking down a cold-blooded killer that murdered someone close to the guest. Usually, the fantasy would take an unexpected turn and proceed down a quite different path than the guest expected. He or she would then leave with some new revelation or renewed interest about themselves or someone close to them. Many times, Roarke would reveal in the end that someone they met during the course of their fantasy was another guest living a fantasy of their own. Both guests often left the island together. However, one guest (Don Knotts) had no particular fantasy and was simply there to relax and enjoy himself.
Although some fantasies were rooted in the real world, many others involved supernatural (such as ghosts, demons, or witchcraft) or mythological (mermaids, genies, Greek goddesses) elements. Time-travel was often a required element - if not a specific request - to fulfill one's fantasy.
Often a fantasy might involve supernatural elements or even time-travel. Roarke often preceded particularly risky fantasies with a stern warning, word of caution, or even suggestion that the guest select another fantasy instead. He would then inform his guests that he was powerless to stop a fantasy once it had begun and must allow the fantasy to play out until its ultimate conclusion. However, in life-or-death cases, he would inevitably intervene and ensure his guests' safety.
The show was broadcast every Saturday night on ABC at 10 p.m., after The Love Boat, which was also produced by Aaron Spelling. Like several other series of the era, such as the previously mentioned The Love Boat and Murder, She Wrote, Fantasy Island employed many celebrity guest stars, often bringing them back repeatedly for different roles.
The series was filmed primarily in Burbank, California, with the opening scenes of the enchanting island coastline being that of Kauai, Hawaii. The house with the bell tower, where Tattoo rings the bell, is the Queen Anne Cottage, located in the Los Angeles County Arboretum and Botanic Garden in Arcadia. The plane, "arriving" with the guests, was filmed in the lagoon behind the Queen Anne Cottage. Sometimes, outdoor scenes were filmed at the Arboretum.
| Fantasy Island (1998) | |
|---|---|
| Format | Dramedy, fantasy |
| Created by | Bob Josephon |
| Starring | Malcolm McDowell Mädchen Amick Louis Lombardi Edward Hibbert Fyvush Finkel Sylvia Sidney |
| Country of origin | United States |
| No. of episodes | 13 |
| Production | |
| Running time | 45–48 minutes |
| Production company(s) | Sonnefeld Josephon Worldwide Entertainment Columbia TriStar Television |
| Broadcast | |
| Original channel | ABC |
| Original run | September 26, 1998 – January 24, 1999 |
In 1998, ABC revived the series in a Saturday time slot. The role of Mr. Roarke was filled by Malcolm McDowell and, unlike in the first series, the supernatural aspect of his character and of Fantasy Island itself was emphasized from the start, along with a dose of dark humor.[2] Director Barry Sonnenfeld, known for his work on The Addams Family movies, was a chief creative force on the new series. Another departure from the original involved filming location, with the new series filmed in Hawaii, rather than in California. The remake followed the fantasies of at least two of Roarke's guests with an additional subplot involving members of his staff - usually Cal and Harry. Whereas the original series featured a separate writer and title for each subplot, the new series was written as several stories but featuring a unified theme and title.
The supporting cast was also expanded for the new series. There was no attempt to reinstate Tattoo, with Roarke instead having a team of assistants — one of whom was a beautiful female shape shifter named Ariel — who were assigned to help create and maintain the various fantasy worlds created on the island. Apparently these assistants were imprisoned on the island in order to pay off some debt (or earn a second chance at life), sometimes hinting that they were in some kind of Limbo, with many parallels between the regulars and William Shakespeare's The Tempest. In this aspect, the show was similar to another short-lived series - Nightmare Cafe. It was strongly hinted that the island itself was the source of Roarke's mysterious powers as his assistants have been shown wielding its magic with varying degrees of success. Miranda, Roarke's adopted daughter was human but grew up on the island with the ability as well. The series was canceled midway through the season with the remaining episodes airing on Sci Fi. This version also aired on UPN.
In an attempt to contrast this series with the original, the new Mr. Roarke usually wore black; in the first episode, he picked the single black suit out of a closet of white ones and ordered that the rest be burned. Also during the first episode, an assistant came into Mr. Roarke's office, shouting "The planes! The planes!" Mr. Roarke ordered the assistant to never do that again.
Episodes of the revived series regularly opened and ended with a sequence set in a travel agency that actually books the fantasies, operated by two elderly travel agents played by Fyvush Finkel and 1930s silver screen leading lady Sylvia Sidney (in her final acting role). Roarke gave them their assignments by stuffing contracts into a pneumatic tube that somehow connected the island with the travel agency and the outside world.
Mark Burnett and Sony are teaming up to turn the classic series into a reality show, in which contestants will compete to become a real-life Mr. or Ms. Roarke, Variety reported. On the new series, 12 contestants will greet guests to a tropical island on a weekly basis and try to turn their guests' fantasies into reality. The guests will judge the wannabe Roarkes and one contestant will be eliminated each week. Survivor creator Burnett, whose credits include The Apprentice, and Sony do not have a U.S. TV deal in place yet, but will be shopping the series around domestically and internationally.[3]
In Canada, episodes of the original series are aired during primetime some evenings and again on the weekend on TV Land (as of January 15, 2009). In Greece, episodes are aired very early in the morning (sometimes 04.00-04.30) every day on Mega Channel.
Selected episodes from the first, second and third seasons are available free at Hulu. Selected Minisodes from seasons one, three, four, five, and six are available free at Crackle, along with complete episodes from seasons one, two, and three.
Sony Pictures Home Entertainment has released Season 1 of the original series on DVD in regions 1, 2 & 4. Due to poor sales, no further seasons have been released. It is unknown if the remaining seasons will be released at some point. The release includes the 1977 pilot Fantasy Island and 1978's Return to Fantasy Island.
According to Entertainment Weekly, Tattoo is one of the "greatest sidekicks."[4]