User Reviews

This is quite entertaining for what it is. It has 3 stories and lasts more than 1 hour. The lady looking like Mona Robinson from Who's the Boss is actually Juliette Mills, Grease 2's protagonist's wife. She stars in the less interesting story: a knockoff of The Great Race, with Tony Curtis and Natalie Wood. It was ok, not too boring at all, and wrapped up early and first.

The 2nd was the most interesting, as it had to do with the supernatural. Mr. Roarke gives a pianist a haunted emerald ring, whereby he is possessed by his murdered brother. I have never liked Dennis Cole: I wanted to, being that he was married to the lovely Jaclyn Smith, but he's always disappointed me in his acting. He has the better story here and, surprisingly, I wasn't watching the clock this time, whenver he appeared. (Please skip his Jungle Man episode: it's an embarrassment!) He wasn't great, as per usual, but his story was compelling, and he wasn't half bad here. His wife is played by Mary Ann Mobley, one of the most pleasant repeat actresses of Fantasy Island. Sadly, she barely has anything to do here (as in many of her guest starring episodes, sadly!) I did not like Erin Gray in this at all.

Finally, and for the other famous faces: Dack Rambo (another repeat guest star) thankfully doesn't have to contend with Lisa Hart here. He is cast opposite Chalene Tilton. I thought this story was going to be the most boring, but it was alright, with some poignant scenes, courtesy of Mr. Roarke towards the end, which brightened up this segment, especially when evil characters turn good. I didn't understand why she stole the other skater's boyfriend (an unknown lady whose acting was a bit subpar) and she didn't mind giving him up, after Mr. Roarke's speech. Weird. This had a bit the element of supernatural as well due to some magic skates have belonged to Sonja Henje, whose skating films I have enjoyed in the past, especially those costarring S. Z. Sakall.

Few nitpicking details: when the 2nd set of candles is knocked over, they are visibly extinct before they fall, yet they cause fire in the bungalow! Dennis Cole is shot in the shoulder yet stands there, bleeding (or with a blood stain on his shirt) while he and Mr. Roarke watch the ghost amidst the fire, instead of being rushed to the hospital, LOL! Yeah, that fire scene was quite convoluted. And it's the same bungalow we've seen many times before, the one with the set of stairs against a wall of boulders with flowers. Cheap production's set decor costs.

All in all, this was a watchable hour, very well paced and the highlight of the show would be when Mr. Roarke talks to the evil skater and she turns good, which propels another random act of kindness from her rival at the end. 7/10 for what it is, which is better than most stories, which I tend to overrate anyway.

This is another one of those typical episodes that has one fluffy, and one darker segment, with the latter being more of my personal preference. There's tons, although probably too many, familiar faces that include Dennis Cole, Erin Gray, Dack Rambo, Mary Ann Mobley, Bradford Dillman, Charlene Tilton, Allen Luden, and Peggy Fleming, who wasn't too bad trying her hand at acting. There's a third story named "The Last Great Race" that was edited if you're watching on cable these days. As is usually the case, I won't get into much detail, but I'll mention some interesting things that stood out to me. An odd shot that stuck with me is when Charlotte(Tilton)is gliding with her magic skates, she sticks her tongue out while smiling; it was probably a missed edit, because it did look silly. It's also very obvious that a double is doing the actual skating, but other than a weird appearance by Ludden, nothing too memorable happens here. The better story has Jeremy(Cole), looking to see how his famous pianist brother died, but he's warned that he will become his dead brother and seek revenge. There's a few corny special effects, but when Jeremy becomes his brother, it makes for a few interesting scenes.