User Reviews

And I also recall that Roarke was definitely toned down for the series, which I didn't like. Love Boat was light-hearted fun, but I didn't want the same thing on land. I wanted the Fantasy.

Now Bixby's fantasy was to relive the love of WWII (Bixby was made up old for the 'present). He accidentally killed the girl, then ended up recreating it in the present. Roarke told him he didn't kill a girl in the present tho. Very convincing bit.

I take it Hugh O'brian wanted to see what it was like to be hunted. The Most Dangerous Game. Best line from Roarke at the end of this 'fantasy'.

Now the final one was a woman wanting to attend her own funeral. Carol Lynley and Peter Lawford were trying to kill her, but the final bit with this trio on the cliff, . . . . . oops! What I can't recall is who went where. I think the woman who wanted her own funeral was Sandra Dee, as I want to say I recall the person being called Francesca. I think Eleanor Parker was not well enough to do all the physical action required for the mystery woman who wanted to see her funeral.

And Victoria Principal or Tina Sinatra? I can't recall which girl Bixby kills. Or was one the present and the other the past victim? I thought it was the same actress.

The show was never like the movie. The first time Mr. Roarke made it rain on the show, I was turned off.

The movie would end with three more guests arriving, and one of them wanted to be Dr. Frankenstein. My brother always wanted to see those fantasies.

I think that would have been fun, too.

Those familiar with "Fantasy Island" from the regular series that showed on Saturday (and sometimes Sunday) nights may be shocked at the first pilot.

This pilot movie has three intertwined plotlines. The first, with Bill Bixby, is sad but silly because at bottom it's inexplicable in a bad way. The second, with Eleanor Parker, Carol Lynley and Peter Lawford, is superior but predictable. Only the third, featuring Hugh O'Brian (Wyatt Earp) and Victoria Principal, has any life. Perhaps the third story is more satisfying because I always considered Bixby and Lawford better actors than O'Brian. Here, that's not the case. But while O'Brian is excellent, Principal is simply lovely and little more.

The biggest surprise were the characters of Roarke and Tattoo. As usual, Roarke is never less than smiling and amiable. But he has a hard line as well, and perhaps a malicious streak. Montalban's Roarke in the pilot seems more like a panderer than the gracious host. For fifty thousand dollars he lets cases that interest him live out their fantasies; but like the devil in "Bedazzled" he always finds a loophole that guarantees his clients a bad or deadly time. He's more a demolisher of illusions, and his smiling face seems to hide a darkness seen best in the O'Brian episode.

Then there's Tattoo. He's more impish in the pilot than the regular series, where he comes off as a bit childish. At one point he shoots Roarke a wink that implies a vicious complicity. He's less like the mascot-character he became than a warlock's familiar.

Overall, Roarke and Tattoo keep the show going, but the writers let the pilot down with limp stories. After my first viewing on DVD, having missed it forty years before, I fast-forwarded through to O'Brian's story, and to any bits with exchanges between Roarke and Tattoo. Herve Villechaize comes off as a much better actor here than the later series allowed him to be.

One quibble about Roarke: from the start he professes to be non-judgmental about his clients, but toward the end he pronounces the sort of moral often found as a tag in '70s shows.

One final note: while Carol Lynley made eleven visits to "Fantasy Island" and Hugh O'Brien made five, Victoria Principal moved to Dallas and never reappeared on Mr. Roake's playhouse.

Yes this review has Plenty of Spoilers!

Just watched tis pilot on Netflix last night. First time ever. Watch it First Before reading on. Fantasy Island Pilot/Movie : My conclusion? I love the Dark Themes. Almost like a quasi horror episode.

Murder, Revenge, Time Travel, Psycho, Sex, Suicide, Redemption, Love. Greenwood Did kill the actress playing Francesca.

The look on Rourke's face tell it all. He lied when he says Francesca left on a plane. There are a lot of subtle expressions that says more than what he'd voice out. Remember 'Francesca' shouted 'Rourke! This is Not Real!' When Arnold was chasing her in the flat. And as Rourke promised, Greenwood's fantasy will be recreated 'Exactly'. Unfortunate for the person playing Francesca; whose head was probably also bash in by a beam, just like what happened 30 years ago. One of the Dark sides of Fantasy Island. Rourke letting someone die to recreate a sad guy's Fantasy.

Not sure how he got Michelle to be the Suicidal Hunter's evening companion, but at least they might become a couple after leaving the island. How quaint they don't show couples in bed naked after their deed, but dressed up and ready for the morning's hunt. I just imagine Tattoo dressing up the two lovers and getting a kick out of it.

As for Eunice keeping her weak husband around? That's either twisted or brilliantly diabolical. At least her brother really loves her.

I kinda like the Dark tone of this pilot episode. I distinctly remember the series beling like an Island Love Boat, guess I just never saw this pilot episode before so was pleasantly surprised with this pilot's themes.

Cool show.

I fondly remember watching this show as a child on Saturday nights after Love Boat, and being intrigued by the parables that offered.

Fortunately, I think the show evolved as it went into production, but its first foray as a TV movie was downright awful in my opinion. I think the hardest thing to fathom about this TV movie is the attitudes expressed by, too and about women here (and I say this a man).

The Bill Bixby storyline.is downright offensive. Four decades after a brief wartime romance, Bixby's character longs to reconnect with his lost lover, only we discover that she lied about being unmarried and he flies into a rage and murders her. Given the second chance to relive the brief affair, he murders her again, because, well that is what one does when you discover a woman you just met has lied to you, you murder them. But don't worry, this time, you only think you murdered her, but you actually didn't, so no harm no foul. To make matters worse Roarke expresses sympathy for this guy because he seems torn up about it now. Never mind the fact that you seem to be a serial murder who cannot stop himself from repeating the same act of murdering a woman who have known for a matter of hours because she lied to you.

The Henley Hunter story is not much better. Victoria Principal is inserted into this "most dangerous game" scenario as a "paid" companion (sex worker) who is then handcuffed to Henley for the first hunt. When she protests to Roarke, he dismisses her objection by saying that because she was compensated to be his companion so she also consented to put her life at risk and participate in the hunt. She screams for 20 minutes, passes out when she comes face to face with a chained tiger, Henley ofcourse saves her from death and what does she do? She becomes a rabid cheerleader for Henley and encourages him to voluntarily continue for the second and third hunts which culminates in Henley acknowledging his contrition for nearly killing a child while drunk driving, and ruining the marriage of another man. "Dont worry" Roarke says, the child's dad was drunk too and that married woman was a :used up" anyway and so you are off the hook. What a relief!

The final storyline is a hard edged business woman who fakes her own death to learn what people really think about her. No surprise here, everyone hates her because successful women by definition belong in a category that rhymes with "riches". Her sister and husband plot to kill her as they learn of her scheme, sister dies, and she takes back the husband that had participated in conspiracy. Why? Because being married to someone who wanted and agreed to kill you is better than being a divorce unmarried woman. The one and only redeeming character in all of this is her brother who acknowledges that she ran the family business well and much better than he could have done, and that he did in fact love his sister.

In all, the values, the judgment, the ideas expressed here in this episode are painful to watch, horribly dated, and incredibly anti-woman. These truly abhorrent people come to this island, we see how awful they are and they fly home without consequence as the plane drops off new passengers for the island. Thank goodness someone sat down and gave the format of this show a hard rewrite. This is a dark, angry and sad episode of television.

I also remember this movie. I always thought it was the pilot for Fantasy Island, but maybe it was a well received movie that led to creation of the series. It fascinated me because of the sense of universal justice being doled out to the participants. The hunt scene was the most frightening/interesting to me. As I remember it Victoria Principal was hand-cuffed to Hugh O'Brian when he woke up the morning after his arrival. I think she stayed cuffed to him while he was being hunted. I vaguely remember the Bill Bixby character as being so different from the nice guy he played on Eddie's Father. The fight near the cliff sounds familiar, but apparently the plot and the good looking actors in the hunt story made the biggest impression on me.