Fantasy Island – The Complete First Season

When you step out of your seaplane onto the wooden dock at Fantasy Island, you are greeted by charming natives in colorful island garb; they offer you a tropical drink. It is pleasantly warm, palm trees soar high overhead, a white gingerbread house overlooks the scene, your host awaits you at the end of the path; his name is Mr. Roarke . . . .

If you are Mr. Roarke, you have many secrets. You maintain an aura of mystery about you, leaving others guessing: are you a magician; are you superhuman; did you truly know Alexander-the-Great? Sometimes, just a simple word will do … indeed. You have even managed to mystify your little Cherubic attendant Tattoo . . . .

If you are Tattoo, you take care of many details for Mr. Roarke, most of them are financial; you express your displeasure when he grants a fantasy for free; he chides you for having a cash register for a heart. Mr. Roarke is more than your boss; you are profound friends. Occasionally a guest’s fantasy will hit upon one of your favorite fantasies: the pursuit of beautiful, single women . . . .

There was that time, when a guest – before committing to just one woman – wanted to see what it would be like to be irresistible to women. At the end of his fantasy, you absconded with the little bottle of the magic cologne; alas, Mr. Roarke took it away from you. And then, there was that Alaskan pipeline worker, his buddies paid for a fantasy they all shared: to spend a weekend with 2 beautiful women … Wow!

Note: the Featurette, “Creating the Fantasy”, is worth a look. Insight into where ideas, for a great series, comes from.

Picture (DVD): 3.5 to 4+, except for the fuzzy “Return to Fantasy Island.” Subtitles: Portuguese & Spanish ( no English.) Languages: the pilot: English only; the “Return to Fantasy Island”: English & Spanish; the rest: English, Portuguese & Spanish.

This show is a little dated but holds up fairly well for the most part. It’s really fun to watch older shows from the 1970s when everything seemed less uptight. This set includes 4 discs and all the movies/episodes are presented full screen and all have Spanish & Portuguese subtitles. Each epsiode has English, Spanish & Portuguese language options except the 2 TV movies. The extras are 2 featurettes and the original promotional teasers.

Disc 1 – Fantasy Island (pilot) – 1977, 95 mins, English & Spanish, Guests: Bill Bixby, Sandra Dee, Peter Lawford & others
Return To Fantasy Island – 1978, 97 mins, English, Guests: Adrienne Barbeau, Karen Valentine & others
Escape/Cinderella Girls – Guests: Robert Clary, Bert Convy, Diana Canova, Georgia Engel & others

Disc 2 – Bet A Million/Mr. Irresistible – Guests: Henry Gibson, Jane Powell, John Schuck
The Prince/The Sheriff – Guests: Lisa Hartman, Dack Rambo, Harry Guardino & others
Family Reunion/Voodoo – Guests: John Gavin, Juliet Mills, Gary Collins, Lauren Tewes & others
Lady Of The Evening/The Racer – Guests: Carol Lynley, Christopher George, Alan Hale, Carol Lawrence & others
Treasure Hunt/Beauty Contest – Guests: Michael Callan, Jo Ann Harris, Maureen McCormick & others

Disc 3 – The Funny Girl/Butch & Sundance – Guests: Marcia Strassman, Christopher Connelly, James MacArthur & others
Superstar/Salem – Guests: Tommy Lasorda, Vera Miles, Leslie Neilsen, Stuart Whitman & others
Trouble, My Lovely/The Common Man – Guests: Bernie Kopell, Nancy Walker, Don Knotts & others
The Over-The-Hill Caper/Poof, You’re A Movie Star – Guests: Ray Bolger, Foster Brooks, Barbi Benton & others

Disc 4 – Reunion/Anniversary – Guests: Pamela Franklin, Lucie Arnaz, Jim Backus & others
King For A Day/Instant Family – Guests: David Doyle, Jane Wyatt, Diane Baker & others
Fool For A Client/Double Your Pleasure – Guests: Rich Little, Lana Wood, Ken Berry & others
Call Me Lucky/Torch Song – Guests: Richard Dawson, Kathryn Holcomb, Edd Byrnes & others

I was excited to see Fantasy Island, and found that the quality of the dvd was good, considering the technology at the time the series was made. I remember being enthralled by this series as a kid, and it is still a fun series to watch, although I can say that the period was decidedly more sexist than today, and the series is a product of its time. I notice things now that I would not have noticed when I first saw it, but if you can take that with a grain of salt, the shows are still neat. It is also neat to see cameos by a lot of stars that became iconic of the era.

I remember this show, and watch it for the nostalgia factor. However, TV viewers have become a lot more sophisticated over the years, and I find that the shows I remember being “great” are a lot cheesier than I remember. A person watching ANY series from this period for the first time may find it a bit simplistic, but this show has the advantage of the incomparable Ricardo Montalban, who pulls off the mysterious, sometimes slightly sinister, Mr. Roarke as no one else could. The fantasies generally run in such a way that the client gets what they NEEDED, but not necessarily what they thought they WANTED, and there is usually a happy ending for them, but the middle can be a bit dark, and the eerie mix of benevolence and (apparent) chilling indifference to the fates of the clients makes the stories much more suspenseful. (Along the lines of:
“Mr. Roarke, you have to get me out of here, I changed my mind!”
“Oh no, Mr. ___, once you the fantasy has begun, there is no way to stop it.”>look of polite concern<
“But they’re gonna KILL me!”
“Well, then Mr. ___, if you don’t find a way to meet their demands, it would appear that you will die…” >professional smile< )
Of course, the back-and-forth with ever-present Tattoo adds the warmth and comedy that keeps you from feeling that Mr Roarke is in any way evil, and lets you know that it will all work out in the end, so the show ends up being a feel-good program.

Sony Pictures listed on their brochure (version 10) of available TV shows on DVD, that “Fantasy Island” Seasons 1 and 2 were produced. This week I noticed that their version 11 now listed only Season 1 as available. I and others are disapponted, especially after reading that Season 2 was produced and ready for sale. Sony, please get it straight! We are waiting patiently for additional seasons of this great show.

When I reflect on classic TV shows other than comedies or “good guy/bad guy” dramas, “Fantasy Island” rates among the very best. Great cast, very well written stories with fresh content each episode. How nice it was to enjoy great programming like this without concern for language and scenes that would require shielding our kids/grandkids from inapproriate content. Also as I viewed Season 1, I remembered the quality guest stars that were hosted. “da plane. da plane!”

Again Sony, please give us the entire series.

UPDATE 4-2-2009: Well it is now over two years since I wrote my review, and STILL waiting for Season 2! I sure hate it when Sony and others produce a Season 1, get us excited that one of our favorite TV series will be revisiting our homes, and then just as our appetites whets for more, our hopes for additional seasons diminish more each year we wait. Look at “Quincy, ME”; it has takem 3+ years for Season 3 to be announced. C’mon studios, this is like tempting a dinner guest with a great steak dinner, and then after their 1st fork-full, snatching their plate away.

Niente italiano

One of the definitive TV shows of the 1970s originally aspired to the dark moral complexity of anthology shows like The Twilight Zone. Even diehard fans will have to admit Fantasy Island fell short of its goal–but that didn’t stop it from becoming hugely popular, lasting for seven powerhouse seasons. All the most iconic elements were present from the beginning: Diminutive Tattoo (Herve Villechaize, The Man with the Golden Gun) shouting “De plane! De plane!”; infinitely gracious Mr. Roarke (Ricardo Montalban, Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan) commanding “Smiles, everyone, smiles,” before delivering pages of exposition with his implacable Latin gravitas; the white suits; the tropical island that somehow has all the vegetation and weather patterns in the world; the pageant of celebrities from Jim Backus to Karen Valentine, Barbi Benton to Don Knotts–it all added up to sneakily addictive television. After all, wish-fulfillment–be it a schlub who wants to be irresistible to chicks or kids who want their separated parents to reconcile or a former cheerleading team who want to relive their high school glory days–had a built-in narrative hook, even though the resolution (various versions of “be careful what you wish for”) was never in doubt. Almost every episode bubbled over with sex, revenge, ambition, and regret, delivered with a shameless lack of subtlety. Over the course of the first season, the interplay between Montalban and Villechaize–each armed with an intriguing exotic accent–became more and more prominent, with Mr. Roarke becoming increasingly supernatural while Tattoo oozed the mortal sins of greed and lechery. Turn on any episode; you’ll find it hard to stop watching, no matter how cheesy or ludicrous the storyline. This four-dvd set includes the original TV movie pilot, its sequel, and the 16 episode first season, as well as a couple of largely bland featurettes enlivened by the occasional barbed comment from executive producer Leonard Goldberg.
Product Description
Ricardo Montalban delivers as Mr. Roarke, the host for the experience that people dream about in their wildest fantasies the impossible wish they pray will come true and are willing to pay for it! Look for the “da plane, da plane” and relive the fantasies that came true on this megahit show’s debut season. Also stars Herve Villechaize as Roarke’s assistant Tattoo. Includes all 16 first-season episodes. 1978 (12 hours 46 minutes).