Fantasy Island (1977)

Watchseries; I watched a few episodes of this show when I was a kid and it most certainly was not a show I enjoyed all that much. It was one of those shows that the others in the household enjoyed watching, and when there is only one television you have no other choice than to watch it yourself or go play in your room by yourself. I usually chose to go into my room and play, but I watched a fair amount of episodes during my day. Not enough to rate the show, mind you, but enough to make a short review anyway. The most memorable thing about this show was when Herve Villechaize as Tattoo would announce the arrival of the plane bringing more unsuspecting dupes to the island where they were hoping to live out their fantasy, but usually ended up learning a valuable lesson instead. This show had many genres that could be attached to it including comedy, drama and even horror so while it was not a favorite of mine, I will say it did manage to at least be different. One never quite knew what to expect when the plane would drop the visitors off because the show could vary wildly. I remember one where the island had some sort of evil spirits floating around. So that is the thing, the show did things differently and was not by the numbers, so while not a favorite I can still acknowledge that it was unique for the time.

I watched a few episodes of this show when I was a kid and it most certainly was not a show I enjoyed all that much. It was one of those shows that the others in the household enjoyed watching, and when there is only one television you have no other choice than to watch it yourself or go play in your room by yourself. I usually chose to go into my room and play, but I watched a fair amount of episodes during my day. Not enough to rate the show, mind you, but enough to make a short review anyway. The most memorable thing about this show was when Herve Villechaize as Tattoo would announce the arrival of the plane bringing more unsuspecting dupes to the island where they were hoping to live out their fantasy, but usually ended up learning a valuable lesson instead. This show had many genres that could be attached to it including comedy, drama and even horror so while it was not a favorite of mine, I will say it did manage to at least be different. One never quite knew what to expect when the plane would drop the visitors off because the show could vary wildly. I remember one where the island had some sort of evil spirits floating around. So that is the thing, the show did things differently and was not by the numbers, so while not a favorite I can still acknowledge that it was unique for the time.

Fantasy Island watchseries. Never rated anything else in my life, but if it were for anything here, it would be the concept for the show ... and the music. Perhaps the episodes could have done with a little polishing on the cutting room floor. Perhaps there were too many manufactured. Along with the 48 minute limit on the stories, the low budget, the passing parade of stars and the eternal happy endings. It doesn't matter. Of all the dross that made it on to the commercial channels in those days, this magical production stood out like a 3-bar chevron. The theme by Rosenthal created purely for Fantasy Island is given the best treatment by the studio orchestra and dubbing crew. It is a masterpiece among show themes of the 20th Century but sadly to-date there is no published compilation of its many variations. Encore!

I grew up watching this show and I loved it!! I hope to see the entire series become available on DVD or on a streaming service.

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?

Let's be honest, if this were remotely realistic it would probably get banned by the content of the fantasies alone.

However, it's not remotely realistic, it is uplifting and funny, and that is so much better, so much more welcoming and relaxing. And despite the lack of realism, it still comes across as honest and true stories that are told exceptionally well for a program this old on network television.

It is just amazing.

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.