Fantasilandia

Originally, this show had a dark side to it which quickly disappeared. The dark side was replaced with silly problems brought on by it's "guest stars." Think of any washed up movie star and they made an appearance on this show. The exotic locale helped, with the plane bringing that week's stars to the island, flying over waterfalls, and mountains along the way. Mr. Roarke would always greet his guests and then turn to Tattoo and say something ominous to him about one of this weeks fantasies, just so we'd stay tuned. This was essentially a landlocked "Love Boat." It was harmless fluff and part of my formative years...how scary is that?

I used to love this show as a child. What a wonderful concept, a person pays for a vacation, which acts out his or her "Fantasy". Thankfully this was not part of an adult programming. However, the show had reunions of people meeting loves from high school, and events people wanted. The show's writers had imagination too show what you want can turn into a nightmare. Ricardo mentioned this line in every third show. Ricardo, and Tatoo were well casted. As I matured, I will agree with the other posts that the storylines were thin, the sets cheap, along with rushed directing and scripts. Hard to watch again, but the what kept myself watching for a couple of minutes is some of the neat concepts, and the freshness of having new guests every week. With all television, the ideas became old, and they pushed the series 2 years too long.

I don't know why I liked this show so much as a child. Maybe it was the fantasy island bit where people's dreams and fantasies come true only it was never an ideal. This show was a spin-off of Love Boat again with celebrity guest stars from other shows and a cast that included the wonderful Ricardo Montalban and Herve Villechaise who said the "Plane, the plane" in the beginning sequence of the show. Sadly, Herve killed himself. The show was never the same without him. I think the show provided lots of jobs to actors who probably needed the job outside their own shows. Of course, I remember the episode with Barbi Benton as a mermaid. It was pure fantasy but remember to be careful what you wish for because it might come true and it may not be all that you wanted in the first place. Also I liked the fact that they filmed in Hawaii too.

A very odd and weird fantasy series which were perfect to watch after midnight in the after hours zone where everything seems magic if u get the point. basically in this series those who went to that island got their wish come true but only until the end of the....episode they were on. Dozens of guest stars appeared in this show with Riccardo montalvan (the man who played zack powers of dynasty II the colbys 1985-1987) to be t a great host of the show. that dwarf actor is also one of the most memorable members of this show. if u love fantasy shows then this is for you. by the way seasons 2 and 3 are now available on dvd but seasons 4-7 are still yet to be released. let's hope we get them too soon.

When you set out to create a show like Fantasy Island you have to be well read on history and have one good imagination. Glad to say that Fantasy Island showed a good deal of both in their episodes.

One episode I well remember was a pair of women were real big into the Civil War and desired to go back and live the genteel life that Scarlett O'Hara and her family had on Tara. Fantasy Island brought them back all right, but showed them the downside of that era and I'll say no more on the story. The morale of that show was be happy in your own backyard.

Host and impresario of Fantasy Island was the mysterious Mr. Roarke played by Ricardo Montalban. In interviews Montalban said that he never got the real career role on the big screen that defined other of his contemporaries. But on the small screen Montalban got two of them, Mr. Roarke and Khan on Star Trek which went to the big screen also. What powers Roarke drew on to show his guests what they really thought was ideal was left open to the imagination.

For all but one season Montalban had his dwarf companion Herve Villechaize and these two had a gentle and playful repartee. Villechaize had a sad and tragic life, but Fantasy Island left him with a career role and an identity that will linger.

I could never see this show revived because Montalban and Villechaise had such a special chemistry for the small screen.