‘Fantasy Island’ is coming back, but with a twist
Time to head back into the television vault and pull out another old favorite for a shiny overhaul. The latest reboot is ABC’s island-y, magical realism classic Fantasy Island (1977-1984) .What’s Fantasy Island, you ask?
The OG show came from Aaron Spelling’s production company and was about a island where all your wildest fantasies could come true — get it? That’s the name of the show! Living on this Fantasy Island were an exotic man named Mr. Roarke and his sidekick, Tattoo, who was a little person. The two guys wore matching white suits. They’d welcome visitors to their island in these matching white suits, after Tattoo yelled “De plane! De Plane!” in a French accent to announce their arrival by seaplane. After the guests’ glamorous de-planing, they would somehow — maybe through magical or supernatural ways, and it was hinted at that Mr. Roarke was immortal — have their very favorite wish fulfilled.
The brand new Fantasy Island, still at ABC, will follow the same kind of story, but with maybe fewer white suits. This time, the island’s emcee will be played by a woman, and the island won’t be an island at all. Instead, it’ll be San Francisco where visitors travel so all their dreams can come true. Fantasy Island is now the name of her company.
All of this sounds good, but it’ll be next to impossible to ever replace the OG Roarke, the late, great Ricardo Montalbán. But, we can totally get behind the idea of a smart and powerful woman running her own flourishing company that makes dreams come true. It’ll also be a great show for a ton of guest stars, seeing as how a group of brand new visitors would arrive on the island at the start of every episode. Back in the’ 70s, it was stars like Lucie and Desi Arnaz, Don Knotts (who—get this—had no fantasy and just went to the island to hang out‚, Maureen McCormick, and even Tori Spelling (thanks to dad).
If all of this sounds very intriguing and you’re like, “but where can I binge the original series from the 70s right now?” Lots of episodes are up on YouTube right now.
Image via ABC