Fantasy Island: Difference between revisions

m
(Spelling grammar)
 
(7 intermediate revisions by 3 users not shown)
Line 1:
{{work}}
{{Multiple Works Need Separate Pages}}
{{cleanup|There are a lot of non-tropes in the tropelist. These need to be moved to the appropriate subpages.}}
[[File:Fantasy_Island.jpg|frame]]
 
{{quote|''The plane! Boss! Boss! It's the plane!''}}
 
The original '''''Fantasy Island''''' was introduced to viewers via two made-for-television films in 1977. Those went on to spawn a highly popular series that ran from 1978 to 1984 and which starred Ricardo Montalban as Mr. Roarke, the mysterious, charming, white-suited figure who ran the eponymous island. Assisting Mr. Roarke was his earnest, vertically (and verbally) challenged sidekick, Tattoo (played by Hervé Villechaize, also famous for playing [[The Man with the Golden Gun|Nick Nack]]), who kicked off every episode by running up to the island's bell tower, ringing the bell and loudly exclaiming "Da plane! Da plane!"
 
The plane he was talking about, of course, was the one that was delivering new arrivals to the island, each of whom had lain down a sizable sum of money to have his or her personal fantasies fulfilled. Mr. Roarke would take it upon himself to greet every guest as they stepped onto the island and then [[Mr. Exposition|describe]] to Tattoo in an [[As You Know]] fashion, the nature of their fantasy request. Of course, being a supernaturally-powered [[Trickster Mentor]], Mr. Roarke very rarely allowed his guests' fantasies to play out in the way ''they'' expected them to. And quite often the fantasies themselves were used to teach each guest an important moral -- one intended to open their eyes to some facet of their own lives they might have been neglecting. Or to teach them to appreciate what they have. Or just simply, to [[Be Careful What You Wish For]]. But rather often, everybody just had a good time, even if it wasn't what they were expecting.
Line 27 ⟶ 29:
* [[Evil Twin]]: In "Look Alikes", a guest (Ken Berry) wishes to meet his non-related twin (Ken Berry).
* [[Fish Out of Temporal Water]]: Many guests are sent back in time -- and sometimes figures such as King Arthur, Don Juan and Jack the Ripper ended up in the 70s.
* [[Freaky Friday Flip]]: One episode finds a bickering couple (Vic Tayback and Katherine Helmond) swapping bodies for the weekend.
* [[Functional Magic]]: After a few episodes that tried to play the fantasies straight as elaborate set-pieces and full-immersion games run somewhere on the island, the writers just gave up and made everything magical.
* [[Gender Bender]]: In 1998's "Estrogen".
Line 41 ⟶ 43:
* [[Little People Are Surreal]]
* [[Man in White]]: Mr Roarke's wardrobe in the original, subverted in the Remake (see [[Limited Wardrobe]] above).
* [[Mr. Exposition]]: Mr Roarke, explaining the guests' backstories to Tattoo.
* [[Mysterious Past]]: Rourke's full past was never revealed, but we know he's several centuries old, counts Camelot's Merlin as 'a dear old friend', that he can be killed if he willingly suspends his powers, and that The Devil wants his soul very badly. Fan theories are that he's either an angel or a man granted powers by a [[God]] to help people by granting their wishes.
* [[Our Mermaids Are Different]]: Michelle Phillips as Mermaid Princess Naya in three separate episodes.
Line 48 ⟶ 50:
* [[Secret Test of Character]]: This is what most of the Fantasies granted actually were; the customers learned an important lesson whether they wanted it or not.
* [[Shakespeare in Fiction]]: In the episode "Room and Bard", William Shakespeare (Robert Reed) is brought to the 70s to write a play for a horror film star wanting to become a serious actress.
* [[Sherlock Holmes]]: "In "Save Sherlock Holmes!", a security guard (Ron Ely) gets to work with The Great Detective (Peter Lawford) and Dr Watson (Donald O'Conner).
* [[Shout-Out]]: In one episode three secretaries want to be their favorite detectives - ''[[Charlie's Angels]]'' (both shows were produced by Aaron Spelling).
** In the 1998 series, one guy's fantasy wife complained about him almost breaking her Ricardo Montaban plate.
Line 56 ⟶ 58:
* [[Trickster Mentor]]: Mr. Roarke.
* [[Two Lines, No Waiting]]: The hour-long episodes followed the exploits of two separate Guests. Most of the time, the A Story and the [[B Story]] had nothing to do with one another; in fact, the two plot threads were usually written by ''two different scriptwriters''.
* [[What Happened to the Mouse?]]: During the Tattoo/Julie year we see Julie see the plane and run off to greet it. While some of the episodes with Tattoo give a short mention that Julie is busy with another fantasy, others show her leave to greet the plane, then disappear completely from that episode without explanation.
** Also we never find out why Julie and Tattoo leave before the Lawrence episodes.
* [[Woobie of the Week]]: New guests are brought in every week to learn some sort of lesson.
* [[World War OneI]]: A bumbling locksmith and Boy Scout troop leader (Don Adams, in full [[Get Smart|Maxwell Smart]] mode) wants to experience World War I and ends up fighting the [[Red Baron]].
* [[You Look Familiar]]: Wendy Schaal played different characters in two separate stories before returning the next year to play Tattoo substitute Julie.
 
{{reflist}}
[[Category:World War One{{PAGENAME}}]]
[[Category:The Seventies]]
[[Category:World War One]]
[[Category:American Series]]
[[Category:FantasyWorks Islandby Aaron Spelling]]
[[Category:AaronFantasy SpellingSeries]]
[[Category:TV Series]]
[[Category:Live-Action TV of the 1970s]]
[[Category:Live-Action TV of the 1980s]]