Ilha da Fantasia

As a teenager in the 70's, this was one of my favorite TV shows. I thought it had a truly unique and amazing idea for a show and there was nothing else like it on TV. I remember being instantly hooked on the show and looked forward to seeing the different guest stars each week fulfill their fantasies or dreams. Each fantasy was like a different show within that hour long period and each fantasy never seemed to turn out the way you thought it would which made the show even more interesting. Ricardo Montalban and (Da Plane!, Da Plane!) Herve Villachaize were great in their roles as hosts of Fantasy Island. I still love watching it and see it has fun and nostalgic. And in my opinion I still think it holds up well for that unique style all its own. After all it must've been a little special to last seven seasons and I hope eventually they all make their way to DVD!

In my final two years of high school one of the local broadcast broadcast station was re-airing various 70s shows at 6AM, they'd run every episode back to back over the course of a few weeks then switch to another. One of them was Fantasy Island. While I never caught every episode of those runs I caught a few. The fantasies of the guests could border on ridiculous, petty, strange etc. Mr. Roarke, the ever mysterious proprietor would fulfill their wishes with his trusty employee Tattoo. To them it was the business and they'd often share some humorous exchanges. Sometimes there'd be a twist or lesson for the guest, sometimes a happy ending. Many stars cameo in guest roles on the show. Recently the series has popped up on streaming with almost every episode in 16x9 Widescreen HD and gone are the scratchy old syndication copies replaced with crisp almost Technicolor prints dripping with color that almost makes things seem all most like a fantasy captured in time. Not the greatest show ever produced but an odd endearing quality about it which no doubt spurned the reboots.

Notwithstanding a liberal dose of 70's cheese, I loved and love Fantasy Island--I actually learned a lot from the show, since they would occasionally base plots on Wuthering Heights, The Picture of Dorian Gray, The Most Dangerous Game, and so forth. Mr. Roarke made an interesting God figure, an idea they played up in a few episodes. Most compelling of all is the idea that people go off on vacation to get what they want, and end up instead with what they need. Trite? Yes-- despite the rotating guest stars, it was basically a series of mini-soaps. Mockable points? Bunches, especially if you enjoy that sort of thing. And all those people you just saw goofing about on the Love Boat suddenly turning up and doing something semi- serious for a third of an hour could produce a fair amount of cognitive dissonance. But I maintain the show was still iconic.

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.

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.