Jencyclopedia

Mellie Grant wants to eat all the food.
A terminally ill woman wants to be young for the weekend.

I watched this live on Tuesday night, taking notes during the episode, and then I watched it again on Wednesday evening, taking more notes. Then I deleted the episode, because I need to do other things with my life. (But then I realized it was on Global TV’s website so… yeah.)

The episode titles don’t really strike me as Fantasy Island-esque titles; the original series rarely had characters’ names in the titles. However, I think it’s very clear which stories these titles are about. The original series had a lot of titles that I found it very hard to connect to the actual story, like 5×10 “A Very Strange Affair”, which was the angel episode.

The very first scene is of one of our guests, Christine Collins, in her real life. We never saw the guests in their real lives in the original series, so this is a bit weird. It’s also a weird choice because we’re starting the entire series with someone who’s only going to be in this episode. I wonder if all the episodes will start this way.

After that, we’re on the island. This scene had already appeared in the Behind the Scenes feature, and the scene includes a shot of Elena meditating in front of some old photos. In Behind the Scenes, one of the photos was of Ricardo Montalban; in the actual episode though, they’ve changed the photo, so now it’s actually a picture of Mr. Roarke. Good choice.

I didn’t notice this the first time I watched, but in the background of one shot, there are some little white benches that looked very similar to the benches on the original series. Let’s see if this episode is online… yep, it’s on Global TV’s website, and holy shit. They’re the same benches. 😍😍😍

Elena gets into the jeep and drives through the island. The sequence is very reminiscent of the original series’ opening credits sequence. I like it. Although, wait… is the music that’s playing on her car radio the theme song? I thought I read somewhere that this series’ theme song was inspired by the original theme, but I don’t hear the original theme in it at all.

Elena Roarke: I’m Elena Roarke, and this is my island. Like my great uncle before me, I make fantasies come true. […] My family have been the guardians of this island for generations.

Originally, in the press releases, Elena was a “descendant” of Mr. Roarke, but now we have official confirmation that he is her great uncle. I had to look this up: that means that Roarke was her grandparent’s brother. In 6×6 “The Beautiful Skeptic”, Tattoo made a reference to Roarke having an aunt, and I just took it as a joke, but hey, maybe Roarke really does have a family.

Elena calls the pilot “captain”, and I want to somehow connect this to Star Trek, but if I do, it doesn’t end well for Elena.

Javier: We had a moment.
Elena Roarke: Oh, we had a moment. But… it passed.

I wonder if we will ever see this “moment”. Also, as far as I know, Javier doesn’t have a last name; it would be kind of funny if it stays that way.

Elena Roarke: Smiles, everyone!

I like that Elena actually goes and greets the guests personally. In the original series, it did always seem a little weird that Roarke and Tattoo were basically gossiping about the guests right in front of them. And it must have been awkward for the guests — like you get your lei and drink, and then you have to stand around for five minutes while Roarke and Tattoo whisper to each other?

Unfortunately, this does mean we don’t get any Ominous Roarke here.

Also, in the original series, there were occasionally clues that seemed to indicate Fantasy Island was near Hawaii. Since this series is filmed in Puerto Rico, I wonder if that will change.

The very first scene after the dock scene is in Roarke’s office. Perfect. (I do wish there was a gold box on her desk though.)

Christine Collins: My fantasy is to eat and eat and eat.

When Christine says this line, Elena makes a very Roarke face — a kind of sarcastically intrigued face that he often did.

Elena Roarke: But this is Fantasy Island —

Elena Roarke: — and I can make your most outrageous wish come true, and that’s what you want? A buffet?

Yes! There were so many guests on the original series who had fantasies like “let me have five minutes to pitch my business idea to an investor” (1×4 “Bet a Million”) — like no, why would you pay all that money for five minutes?!

There was a brief shot in one of the trailers that showed someone who was just barely in the shot wearing a white jacket. I speculated about who it could be, because you can’t just put someone in a white jacket on Fantasy Island. Well, it turns out it was a waiter; I guess I forgot there are other valid reasons for people to wear white jackets.

I love that the exact box of donuts from the first scene appears again in the fantasy. (In this series, instead of Location Recreation, we’ve got Donut Recreation.)

Elena Roarke: Tell me, how did you hear about Fantasy Island?
Mel Akuda: Well, we still get the newspaper. The kind that’s actually on paper.
Ruby Akuda: We saw this little ad with a phone number, something inside said call, and here we are.

I don’t think any guests ever talked about how they found Fantasy Island in the original series. In the first episode of Fantasy Island (1998), Roarke stated guests are not allowed to talk about Fantasy Island.

Elena Roarke: I need to be clear — even I can’t cure your cancer.

This is consistent with what Mr. Roarke has always said.

Elena Roarke: This map leads you to the place where the fantasy will begin.

Oh no. Don’t give me a map already.

When I saw the trailer, I thought it didn’t make sense for them to just find the waterfall on their own, but Mr. Roarke did occasionally give guests maps and let them find their own way to their fantasy (or let their fantasy find its way to them), so this works.

Maybe this is just wishful thinking, but the lagoon kind of reminds me of the original lagoon — if it wasn’t fake. The colour of the water feels the same to me. Also, there are red flowers. Not the Fantasy Island red flowers, but red flowers nonetheless.

Now, my mom is not a fan of the original series. On Monday, when I was like “oooh, Fantasy Island starts tomorrow” she said something sarcastic like, “oh, great”. But she watched the episode with me on Tuesday night, and she said she actually liked it and would keep watching.

Mom: It’s not like the original, where their fantasy was like to have a harem —

Me: Yeah, but Paul Williams asked to be in a harem, so Roarke made him part of a harem of men. (5×6 “A Night in a Harem”)
Mom: No, no, there was another one where the guy had a harem —
Me: Yeah, the one with Arte Johnson (2×1 “The Sheikh”). Well, yeah… I guess he did have a harem…
Mom: No, no, the one with that Jeffrey Epstein guy.
Me: Ohh, you mean the one with James Darren (3×11 “The Victim”). That wasn’t his fantasy though; he lived on a neighbouring island, and Roarke had nothing to do with him, so that wasn’t Roarke’s fault.

Mel Akuda: There’s a beach party tonight.

Fantasy Island does not have beach parties. Fantasy Island has luaus.

What is making the food slide down the table? I’m gonna assume there’s some kind of conveyor belt under the tablecloth, because otherwise, that feels like an overly gratuitous use of magic, and Mr. Roarke never frivolously used magic.

It’s weird — good weird — watching Fantasy Island with such high production values. It’s like the jump in quality between ENT and DIS (except this looks more real than DIS).

I don’t think we ever had a guest see their past self before; the closest thing I can think of is 4×11 “Elizabeth’s Baby”.

The way they handle transporting here is weird. I don’t know if I like it. I’m used to the guests transporting only through the magic door, magic pathway, etc. Christine was pulled into the giant cake and brought into the past. Then, she asked Roarke to send her back, and she woke up in the tub filled with chocolate. I feel like I would have a lot of questions if I was a guest. Walking into a cavern and ending up in prehistoric times feels more believable (eg. 6×22 “Love Island”). Although, in 6×12 “Tallowed Image”, the guest did transport to Victorian England by lighting a candle, which was a little weird.

Now we’ve got the classic mid-episode scene of the guest visiting Roarke’s office to complain. Nice.

Christine Collins: You keep poisoned fruit on your desk?

I like this. I don’t think Mr. Roarke would have done that (probably because he knows Tattoo would try to eat it), but this is Roarke-esque behaviour.

Christine Collins: I have been craving something, but I cannot put my finger on what.

Concentrate…

Elena Roarke: Enjoy the island magic.

Over the last few months, I wasn’t sure whether I should have watched the trailers and analyzed them frame-by-frame, because I was worried it would spoil the series for me, but that definitely hasn’t been the case; the trailers were very short, so they didn’t give away that much from the actual episode. I think watching all the previews was actually a really good decision; I’ve already accepted that they’ve chosen to make the island magic — even though I still don’t agree with it — so now, I can just enjoy the show without complaining about “this isn’t Lost, dammit!”

(Anyway, on my second watchthru, I realized “island magic” is apparently the name of a Fantasy Island brand drug? So she wasn’t talking about literal magic here. It makes sense that there’s a Fantasy Island drug though, considering how often Mr. Roarke made people see pretty colours.)

Elena is hanging out on a patio. I hope it’s outside her office, but I can’t really tell.

I think one of the things that makes this show look a lot different from the original series is that there are a lot of closeups, which unfortunately means I can’t get a good look at the bungalow. Pretty sure there’s no rock wall though. 😥

Wow, um… I was definitely not expecting a dead dude on a spit. That was actually kind of shocking.

Elena Roarke: I have a big family, but I haven’t seen them in a really long time.

Elena Roarke: The island chose me for this role.
Ruby Akuda: You didn’t want it?
Elena Roarke: I tried to say no. I was young. I was in love…

I’m just writing out any quotes that seems interesting, but I don’t know what to think about this yet.

There’s a bit of talk in the episode and online about “The Roarkes”. It kind of reminds me of 4×20 “Delphine” and “The McNabs”.

Oh godammit. I just realized Ruby got a tattoo earlier.

Elena Roarke: I’m sorry ’cause I don’t usually talk about myself. At all.
Ruby Akuda: Must be the company.
Elena Roarke: No, no, actually… I don’t think so.

This is very Roarke/Tattoo type banter.

Ruby Akuda: I’ve got some dying to do.
Elena Roarke: Ruby —

I haven’t been paying attention, but did Elena call Christine by her first name, or only Ruby? Old Mel did tell Elena to call them Mel and Ruby, and Elena did tell Young Mel and Ruby to call her Elena; I can’t recall anyone in the original series ever asking Mr. Roarke to call them by their first name (but if they did, I’m sure he ignored them).

I’ve only seen a bit of Fantasy Island (2020), but I do believe the “Tattoo” character in that movie also had a tattoo. I’m pretty sure Original Tattoo did not have any tattoos; 3×3 “Tattoo: the Love God” may confirm that.

I feel like everyone thinks Tattoo is a nickname, but I think it was supposed to be his last name, because he was called Mr. Tattoo several times (eg. in 2×9 “Mr. Tattoo”), and his mail was also addressed to Mr. Tattoo (2×1 “Homecoming/The Sheikh”).

Christine Collins: Breakfast? No, thank you. I’m not hungry.

But breakfast is the most important meal of the day! You shouldn’t skip breakfast. Christine has probably skipped breakfast many times in the past, but she shouldn’t be reverting to her old ways now.

Elena Roarke: In the past, people in my position, they have had a second, a right hand.

Elena Roarke: You’re Tattoo. Your tattoo.

Elena Roarke: What made you choose it?
Ruby Akuda: I don’t know. I was drawn to it.
Elena Roarke: You know, it’s an island symbol of rebirth. It’s reserved only to those who hold the position that I’m offering to you. I truly believe the island was speaking to you, and to me.

I think Roarke’s suit has real pockets. 😍

Wait, the fantasy is over already? So… uh… did she actually murder a dude? I feel like this wasn’t totally explained — which is how I felt at the end of some original series episodes too, to be fair, so I can’t complain there. Oh, okay, Elena explained it all; he was already long dead, and it wasn’t really him.

Christine leaves the island in a good mood, and she says she’s gonna “work on being happy for real, not just on TV”. Buuut if she does that, she’s probably gonna lose her job, unfortunately.

Christine didn’t, but Mel turned around on the dock and waved. Nice.

This ending scene just feels right. They’ve really kept the spirit the same as the original series, but they’ve also modernized it.

It’s pretty substantial that the very first episode includes a black couple as guests; in the original series, I don’t think we had any major black characters until 2×6 “War Games”. Also, I just realized, I don’t think we ever had any Asian guests in the original series. Almost all of the guests were American; the family in 4×24 “Paquito’s Birthday” were from Mexico, and Charo’s character in 6×14 “Charo” was from Spain, but I think that might be it for non-Americans.

Overall, I like it. I’m still not crazy about the whole ~the island is magic~ thing, but alright. Maybe the island always was magic, and Roarke just liked to pretend he was magic. I’d believe that. At the very least though, Roarke knows how to use the magic — we saw Tattoo try and fail to use magic in 5×17 “Tattoo, the Matchmaker” — so even if we’re gonna say he’s not magic, Roarke was still special.

I don’t think Elena said “indeed” at all, but I hope she does at some point. I also really want a “your fantasy is over” and of course, a “but I must warn you”. Like I know Elena and Mr. Roarke are different people, but still. Fanservice, man.

I also hope we get some actor, any actor who was on the original series. It would also be great if they were playing the same character, but that’s not strictly necessary. It would also be amazing if they had a throwaway line about an employee named Wally; they make little obscures references like that in Star Trek all the time.

I also hope we get little shenanigans scenes of Elena, Javier, and Ruby at the beginning and/or end of each episode. Having Ruby as a new employee makes it absolutely make sense that, when they’re watching the guests arrive, she could ask Roarke “who’s that? he looks shy”, and Roarke has a good reason to need to explain things to Ruby.

One of the articles I read mentioned they get to play with a lot of different genres on this show, since each episode has different stories. I do hope Roarke gets to put on a disguise and pop up in someone’s fantasy at some point, but this series seems a little too serious to do that.

I feel like halfway through the original series, they decided the series was about love, and every other episode ended with Roarke preaching about how love was the most important thing. I wonder if they’re gonna keep that going here.

I’m seriously starting to think about making a Fantasy Island website. I’m thinking of calling it the Lilac Bungalow, but I really want a red and white theme, and calling it Lilac Bungalow would necessitate it be lilac. When do we find out whether a series is getting renewed or not? If this gets renewed, I’ll make a site; if not, then I’ll probably be done with my Fantasy Island obsession once I finish the ’98 series.

• Similar episodes:
  • “Hungry Christine”: Old people who want to be young again: 3×6 “Young at Heart”, 4×13 “World’s Most Desirable Woman”, 5×2 “Ziegfeld Girls”, 6×10 “Candy Kisses”
  • “Mel Loves Ruby”: Terminally ill guests: 2×7 “The Tiger”, 3×7 “The Wedding”, 4×11 “Elizabeth’s Baby”, 6×19 “Extraordinary Miss Jones”
• Employees:
  • Captain Javier, the pilot (although, did anyone actually say his name?)
  • Ash
• Recurring phrases:
  • Elena Roarke: But this is Fantasy Island, and I can make your most outrageous wish come true, and that’s what you want? A buffet?
• Time travel: Christine Collins travels back in time to her mother and stepfather’s wedding day.
• Surprise guest: Christine Collins’ stepfather, Landon Greene
• Fantasy Island brand: Island Magic drugs
• First name basis: Ruby
• Not leaving on the plane: Ruby Akuda
• Age gap:
  • Roselyn Sanchez: 48 / John Gabriel Rodriquez: ? = ?
  • Stephanie Berry: ? / David Moses: ? = ?
  • Kiara Barnes: ? / Adain Bradley: ? = ?
  • Kiara Barnes: ? / María Gabriela González ? = ?
  •