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| Fantasy Island | |
|---|---|
 Title card of the first installment ofFantasy Island | |
| Genre | |
| Created by | Gene Levitt |
| Starring | |
| Country of origin | United States |
| Original language | English |
| No. of seasons | 7 |
| No. of episodes | 152, plus 2 TV movies(list of episodes) |
| Production | |
| Running time | 45–48 minutes |
| Production companies | Spelling-Goldberg Productions Columbia Pictures Television |
| Original release | |
| Network | ABC |
| Release | January 14, 1977 (1977-01-14) – May 19, 1984 (1984-05-19) |
Fantasy Island is an Americanfantasydrama television series created byGene Levitt. It aired onABC from 1977 to 1984. The series starredRicardo Montalbán as the mysterious Mr. Roarke andHervé Villechaize as his assistant, Tattoo. Guests were granted so-called "fantasies" on the island for a price.
A one-seasonrevival of the series aired in 1998, and ahorror-themed prequel film was released on February 14, 2020. The same year, it was announced that asequel of the series was being produced atFox;[1] it premiered on August 10, 2021.[2]
Before it became a television series,Fantasy Island was introduced to viewers in 1977 and 1978 through twomade-for-television films. Airing from 1978 to 1984, the original series starredRicardo Montalbán as Mr. Roarke, the enigmatic overseer of a mysterious island somewhere nearDevil's Island,French Guiana, in the Atlantic Ocean, where people from all walks of life could come and live out their fantasies—for a price.
Roarke is known for his white suit and cultured demeanor, and he was initially accompanied by an energeticsidekick, Tattoo, played byHervé Villechaize. Tattoo ran up the main bell tower to ring the bell and shout "De plane! De 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 series' credits, became acatchphrase because of Villechaize's spirited delivery and French accent. In later seasons, he arrives in his personal go-kart, sized for him, and recklessly drives to join Roarke for the visitor reception while the staff scramble out of his way. From 1981 to 1982,Wendy Schaal joined the cast as an assistant named Julie; in the season five story "The Case Against Mr. Roarke", Roarke says Julie is his goddaughter. The producers dismissed Villechaize from the series before the 1983–84 season, its last, and Tattoo was replaced by a more sedatebutler type named Lawrence, played byChristopher Hewett, who presses an electronic button to ring the bell rather than climb the tower.
AGrumman Widgeon aircraft was used for the series.[3] Just before guests alight from the plane, Mr. Roarke addresses his assembling employees with the phrase "Smiles, everyone! Smiles!" As each visitor disembarks, Roarke tells 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 expect. Roarke then welcomes his guests by lifting his glass and saying: "My dear guests, I am Mr. Roarke, your host. Welcome to Fantasy Island." The toast is usually followed by a warm smile, but sometimes—depending on the nature of a guest or their fantasy—his eyes show concern or worry for a guest's safety.
Mr. Roarke's age is unclear. In the pilot film, he says the guests who come to his island are "so mortal", and there are hints throughout the series that Roarke may be immortal. In "Elizabeth", a woman from Roarke's past appears, but it is revealed that she died over 300 years ago. Other episodes suggest that he was friends withHelen of Troy andCleopatra. Roarke is also shown to know many seemingly immortal beings over his time on Earth, includingghosts ("The Ghost's Story"), agenie ("A Genie Named Joe"), themermaid Princess Nyah ("The Mermaid", "The Mermaid Returns", "The Mermaid and the Matchmaker"), the goddessAphrodite ("Aphrodite"), andUriel theAngel of Death ("The Angel's Triangle"). In "The Devil and Mandy Breem" and "The Devil and Mr. Roarke", Roarke faces theDevil (played byRoddy McDowall), who has come to the island to challenge him for either a guest's immortal soul or his (in the latter storyline, the soul on the line is that of Julie). It is mentioned this is not the first time that they have confronted each other and Mr. Roarke has always been the winner. In the second story, the Devil was one of the island's guests, claiming that he was only there to relax and had no interest in Roarke's soul, but this turned out to be a ruse.
Roarke has a strong moral code, and is always merciful. He usually tries to teach his guests important life lessons through the medium of their fantasies, often in a manner that exposes the errors of their ways, and on occasions when the island hosts terminally ill guests he allows them to live out one last wish. Roarke's fantasies are not without peril, but the greatest danger usually comes from the guests themselves. In some cases, people are killed due to their own negligence, aggression, or arrogance. Roarke intervenes when the fantasy became dangerous to the guest:
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 the guests must play them out to their conclusion.
In later seasons, there were oftensupernatural 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 the episodes "Reprisal" and "The Power" he temporarily gave the guest psychokinetic abilities and in "Terrors of the Mind" the power to see into the future. In one episode, when a guest says "Thank God things worked out well", Roarke and Tattoo share an 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. Ricardo Montalbán 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. Years after the series was off the air, in an interview with the Academy of Television Arts and Sciences, Montalbán finally revealed that his motivation was imagining Roarke as a fallen angel whose sin was pride and that Fantasy Island wasPurgatory.
Each episode would alternate between two or three independent storylines as the guests experienced their fantasies and interacted with Roarke. When reruns of the series went into syndication, a half-hour version was offered, in which each hour-long original show was split to two separate half-hour shows in which only one guest's story was told in each half-hour episode. This made it obvious that the original episodes had been planned in such a way that each guest or family got off the plane separately, did not interact with the other guest or family, and was given almost exactly half the time of the original episode.
The typical episodes on the series' regular timeslot focus on adult guests with fantasies geared for them. However, there were two episodes aired in Season 2 that were broadcast on early Sunday night called,Fantasy Island Sunday Special. In these variant episodes, kids arrive at the island on ahot-air balloon to have fantasies provided by Mr. Roarke that are designed for their age.
Often the fantasies would turn out to be morality lessons for the guests, 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. For example, one episode featured a couple who clamored for the "good old days" being taken back to theSalem witch trials. 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 aTarzan-type television series called "Jungle Man" in the 1960s. Aside from aclip show ("Remember...When?") the only episode with a single storyline was "The Wedding", in which terminally ill Helena Marsh (Samantha Eggar) returned to Fantasy Island to spend her last days as Roarke's wife.
Another episode, "Nurses' Night Out" (from the show's seventh season) was the only episode where all of the fantasies, while separate, were linked by one thread. In this case, a mysterious and wealthy guest (Peter Graves) inviting three nurses to live out each of their fantasies on the island.
In the first film,Fantasy Island (1977), it was noted that each guest had paid $50,000 (about $201,000 in 2024 dollars) in advance for the fulfillment of their fantasies and that Fantasy Island was a business. In the second film,Return to Fantasy Island (1978), Roarke told Tattoo that he sometimes dropped the price when a guest could not afford the usual fee because he believed that everyone should be given a chance to have their fantasies fulfilled. Afterwards, it became clear that the price a guest paid was substantial to them, and for one little girl whose father was one of Roarke's guests, she had emptied her piggy bank (which contained less than $10) 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. Those who came by winning contests were usually the unknowing beneficiaries of rigged contests in order to disguise to them and others the real reason for their coming as part of someone else's fantasy.
The nature of a fantasy varied from story to story and was 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 who 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. Some resolve in "The Monkey's Paw" style. They 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, in one episode, one guest had no particular fantasy and was simply there to relax and enjoy himself. In another episode, the fantasy of one guest (played byDon Knotts) was to play the part of aprivate investigator. At the end of the episode, he discovers that his "suspects" were actually a company of actors who had asked Mr. Roarke to act out theirwhodunnit play in a realistic setting.
Although some fantasies were rooted in the real world, many others involved supernatural (such as ghosts,demons, orwitchcraft) or mythological (mermaids, genies, goddesses) elements.Time travel was often a required element, if not a specific request, to fulfill one's fantasy.
Roarke often preceded particularly risky fantasies with a stern warning, a word of caution, or even a 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 that they must allow the fantasy to play out until its ultimate conclusion. Despite this, on rare occasions, Roarke would appear halfway through a fantasy to offer a guest one more opportunity to terminate their fantasy, warning that continuing the current fantasy might lead to serious consequences, possibly even death. However, at that point, the guest would decide on their own to see the fantasy to its end, either for selfless reasons (regarding someone they had met during the fantasy) or naïveté of what is in store for them. In the most serious cases, however, Roarke would invariably intervene and ensure his guests' safety.
Occasionally, some of the fantasies would take place on adjoining islands or parts of Fantasy Island that, according to Roarke, he had no jurisdiction over, thereby heightening the risk factor for the guests. Even then, when Roarke intervened in these cases, he often revealed that he had close connections with the local officials or prominent figures on those islands, who would grant him permission to rescue his guests.
| Season | Episodes | Originally released | Rank | Rating | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| First released | Last released | |||||
| TV movies | 2 | January 14, 1977 (1977-01-14) | January 20, 1978 (1978-01-20) | — | — | |
| 1 | 14 | January 28, 1978 (1978-01-28) | May 20, 1978 (1978-05-20) | 17 | 21.4[a] | |
| 2 | 25 | September 16, 1978 (1978-09-16) | May 13, 1979 (1979-05-13) | 22 | 20.8 | |
| 3 | 23 | September 17, 1979 (1979-09-17) | May 17, 1980 (1980-05-17) | 28 | 20.1 | |
| 4 | 24 | October 25, 1980 (1980-10-25) | May 23, 1981 (1981-05-23) | 17 | 20.7[b] | |
| 5 | 22 | October 10, 1981 (1981-10-10) | May 8, 1982 (1982-05-08) | 30 | 18.3 | |
| 6 | 22 | October 16, 1982 (1982-10-16) | May 14, 1983 (1983-05-14) | 37[4] | — | |
| 7 | 22 | October 8, 1983 (1983-10-08) | May 19, 1984 (1984-05-19) | 49[5] | 15.3[6] | |
Executive producerAaron Spelling admitted the original pitch was a joke. Spelling said he and production partnerLeonard Goldberg were pitching ideas to ABC executive Brandon Stoddard. After the executive rejected all of their plans, at least six in all, Spelling blurted out: "What do you want? An island that people can go to and all of their sexual fantasies will be realized?" Stoddard loved the idea.[7]
The network wantedOrson Welles for Mr. Roarke, but Spelling rejected him, knowing of his irritable nature on sets.[7] He also rejected the idea of a sexy female sidekick to join Roarke and Tattoo.[7]
The show was broadcast every Saturday night on ABC at 10:00 p.m., afterThe Love Boat, which was also produced by Aaron Spelling. Like several other series of the era, such asThe Love Boat andMurder, She Wrote,Fantasy Island employed many celebrity guest stars, often bringing them back repeatedly for different roles.
The series was filmed primarily inBurbank, California, with the opening scenes of the enchanting island coastline that ofKauai, Hawaii (theNa Pali coast andWailua Falls). The house with the bell tower, where Tattoo rings the bell, is theQueen Anne Cottage, in theLos Angeles County Arboretum and Botanic Garden inArcadia. The plane, "arriving" with the guests, was filmed in the lagoon behind the Queen Anne Cottage. Sometimes, outdoor scenes were filmed at the Arboretum.
Interior sets were filmed on Stages 26 and 17 at Warner Bros. Studios in Burbank.[8] At some point, the production of exterior scenes moved to the Warner Ranch a short distance away from Warner's main lot.B-roll was taken from theCoco Palms Resort in Kauai.
TheFantasy Island theme music was composed byLaurence Rosenthal.[9]
In 1998, ABC revived the series in a Saturday time slot. The role of Mr. Roarke was played byMalcolm McDowell in the revival, and in contrast to 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.[10] DirectorBarry Sonnenfeld, known for his work onThe Addams Family movies, was a chief creative force on the new series. Another difference was that the new series was filmed inHawaii instead ofCalifornia. 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.
A horror-themed prequel film adaptation of the television series starringMichael Peña as Mr. Roarke was released bySony Pictures and produced byBlumhouse Productions. Director and screenwriterJeff Wadlow directed the adaptation from a script by Wadlow, Chris Roach, and Jillian Jacobs.[11] The film was released on February 14, 2020, to overwhelmingly negative reviews.[12]
A series was greenlit in December 2020 as a sequel to and maintainscontinuity with the original 1977 series, slated for a mid 2021 release onFox. The series was a co-production between Sony Pictures Television andFox Entertainment.[1] In April 2021, it was announced that Kiara Barnes and John Gabriel Rodriguez were cast, as part of the main cast of the series.[13] That same month, it was announced thatRoselyn Sánchez joined the cast of the series as Elena Roarke, a descendant of Mr. Roarke.[14] The series premiered on August 10, 2021 and aired for two seasons.[15]
Selected episodes from the first, second and third seasons are available free atHulu. SelectedMinisodes from seasons one, three, four, five, and six are available free atSony Crackle, along with complete episodes from seasons one, two, and three.
Digital multicast television networkCozi TV announced the series would be airing on the network beginning fall 2013. Episodes of the original series were seen on Fridays on sister cable networkUniversal HD, until July 2017, when the network changed to theOlympic Channel.
In Canada, the entire series with all seven seasons is available for streaming on the CTV App, with the first five seasons remastered in High Definition, the first three seasons have been enhanced to 1.78:1 aspect ratio.
In May 2021, it was added to the streaming serviceTubi, with all seven seasons.[16]
In August 2021, it started airing on digital multicast television networkgetTV on Saturday and Sunday nights (4:00 am ET).[17]
In 1988, Star Classics released the pilot episode of the series on VHS in the United States and Canada.
In 2005,Sony Pictures Home Entertainment released season one of the original series on DVD in regions 1, 2 & 4. The release included the 1977 pilotFantasy Island and 1978'sReturn to Fantasy Island. However, due to poor sales, no further seasons were released.
In February 2012, it was announced thatShout! Factory had acquired the rights to the series in Region 1; they subsequently released the second season on DVD on May 8, 2012.[18] Season 3 was released on October 23, 2012.[19]
In 2013, Mill Creek Entertainment announced they had obtained the rights to re-release the previous season sets ofFantasy Island on DVD.
| DVD Name | Ep # | Release Date | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Region 1 | Region 2 (UK & Ireland) | Region 4 | ||
| The Complete First Season | 16 | November 15, 2005 | December 10, 2007[20] | December 2, 2015[21] |
| The Complete Second Season | 25 | May 8, 2012 | TBA | TBA |
| The Complete Third Season | 23 | October 23, 2012 | TBA | TBA |