Jencyclopedia

A girl wants to be free of her family for the weekend, so Roarke sends her back in time to hang out with… her grandparents.

I… I’m not sure if this is the show or not. It started with a screen saying “Miami 2011” and a girl drumming in her room.

It’s been a couple minutes now, and I’m still not really sure if this is Fantasy Island. The Spanish makes me think maybe, but I don’t know about that subtitle font.

Okay. It is Fantasy Island. That was… weird.

Alma Garcia: I love my family, I do. But my fantasy is just to be free of them.

Yeaaah, this is gonna go well.

Ruby: There’s no such thing as a dumb fantasy.

Mmm…

• 1×4 “Bet a Million” – Henry Gibson wants to spend a few minutes with a millionaire to pitch an idea to him.
• 3×14 “Lookalikes” – Ken Berry wants to switch lives with someone, anyone who looks like him.
• 4×4 “The Sex Symbol” – Phyllis Davis wants to be sexually harassed.
• 5×1 “Slamdunk” – Sonny Bono wants to be a basketball player so Jenilee Harrison will fall in love with him, but he never thought to ask her if she’s even into basketball players (spoiler alert: she’s not).

Ruby: Isn’t that right?
Elena: Um, well… you know… I think I’ve seen a few.

Alma Garcia: So, uh, what’s through this door?
Elena: A world where you family as you know it doesn’t exist.

Waaah! The magic door! 🥰

I don’t know anything about 1967 Cuba, but I feel like the clothes here are not overly ’60s. Like when most shows do a ’60s scene, it is obnoxiously ’60s.

Elena: There’s a few things that need to be taken care of here.
Ruby: Yeah, well, I mean, that’s why I’m here.
Elena: Excellent, okay. I’m gonna give you a list.

“Repair gazebo roof, collapsed from weight of snow and ice…”

Is this Elena’s first disguise? Wee, this scene is so very like the original series.

My dad made a comment at the beginning of the episode about them making Elena wear a lowcut dress. I said I wasn’t upset about that so much as I’m upset that she has more than one outfit. He said, well, at least all her outfits are white, but I said no, they’re not, because she had a light blue top when she had Ruby over for dinner in 1×2 “His and Hers/The Heartbreak Hotel”. When she showed up in a red dress in Alma’s fantasy, my dad asked if we have to stop watching this show now, but I said no, because she’s allowed to wear other colours when she’s in a disguise.

Then I started thinking, how often did they put Ricardo Montalban in sexy outfits? I mean, there were those little swim trunks in 3×7 “The Wedding”, but most of the time, his disguises were kind of silly (cough cough 5×13 “King Arthur in Mr. Roarke’s Court”)… but Roarke and Tattoo’s fashion is another post for another day.

So uh… maybe this is just me and where my brain’s at right now, but there’s something about the guy who plays Martino that reminds me of a young Ricardo Montalban.

Elena: Have you missed me?
Oscar: How long has it been? A year?
Elena: About.

This scene feels a bit like Roarke and Helen of Troy’s scene in 4×24 “Technical Advisor”… except on a much shorter time scale.

I don’t like it when there’s only one fantasy per episode, agggh.

Okay, I guess Ruby’s story is the other story this episode. That’s okay actually. That’s what I would have wanted to original series to be. It’s like Harry and Cal’s scenes in the 1998 series, except that I actually like Ruby.

Segundo: I am Segundo, the caretaker of the island.

Hmm.

Ohh, come on, you couldn’t properly fill out the passport?

Officer: Did you hear his new song, “Suspicious Minds”?

“Suspicious Minds” was released on August 26, 1969; I’m not an Elvis fan, and I wasn’t even alive then, but I still knew that timing was off. The original series was (technically) accurate with the ’60s songs in 2×7 “Let the Good Times Roll”, but I think they did slip up in another episode, so I’ll let them use the excuse that this is an homage to the original series’ anachronistic tendencies… but in 2021, Wikipedia exists, so there’s really no excuse to get that wrong.

Ruby: I got a note from Roarke to talk to you.

Tattoo always called Roarke “boss” or “Mr. Roarke”, I think. “Ms. Roarke” would be overly formal for Ruby and Elena’s relationship (unless she was talking to a guest), and I feel like girls don’t tend to call their girlfriends by their last names, so Ruby calling Elena “Roarke” feels a little weird to me.

Ruby: I miss being seventy five years old.

Me too. I can’t wait to be old enough to hang out at home all day with no one hassling me to get a life.

In the behind the scenes featurette, they talked about how they aren’t filming on a set, because they’re actually on an island. Which yes, that’s great for island scenes, and for when people time travel to island-y places. But when someone wants to be a cowboy, they probably don’t have a pre-existing western set conveniently located down the road. I wonder if the filming location will be restrictive about what kind of fantasies they can fulfill.

Also, I wonder if we’re less likely to see as many former stars as we did in the original series because it’s harder to get to Puerto Rico than to just drive down the road to Burbank. Like I think the guy who played Mr. Eko left Lost because he didn’t like filming in Hawaii and being away from his family or something like that. And with COVID, I feel like some actors who would otherwise appear on this show might turn it down. My parents said they were hoping to see more guest actors who they recognized, like on the original series. So far, I’ve only known Bellamy Young from Scandal.

Ruby: Do you live here full time?
Gina Delgado: I’m on a neighbouring island.

This line probably isn’t as funny as a think it is; I know I use “neighbouring island” when I’m keeping track of those locations, but I don’t think the original series actually used that phrase that often. “The other side of the island” is the more classic phrase, I think.

This fantasy really deserves a “your fantasy is over”… but nope.

I don’t really get why Alma’s mother and grandmother suddenly accept her. I guess we’re supposed to believe it’s because she’s now playing music with her heart, but… I don’t buy that. Eh. A lot of original series episodes wrapped up quickly and unconvincingly too, so I’ll allow it.

It’s really weird to not have a dock scene at the end of the episode though. Like at least give me a cheesy freeze frame so I know the episode is over.

From what I see on Twitter, it sounds like Fantasy Island isn’t doing great in the ratings, which makes me sad. I don’t want to it to be cancelled.

I quit watching hockey because I didn’t want to deal with my favourite players being traded; I forgot that you kind of get the same kind of feeling when you watch current TV shows (instead of shows that ended thirty years ago).

I don’t remember if there were any recurring guest actors in the first season of the original series (maybe one?), but if this show does continue for another season, I wonder if we’ll see any of the same actors back again playing different characters? It’s not Fantasy Island unless Carol Lynley shows up twice a year.

IMDb credited Daniel Lundh as Segundo, but Segundo looked a lot older than that guy. If he’s wearing makeup, they did an extremely good job. Ah, the end credits show he’s actually played by Daniel Lugo, so Fantasy Island isn’t pulling a trick on us. But now I have to go back and check the other episodes.

Alright. The other episode cast credits are fine. Good.

• Guests:
  • Alma Garcia
• Magic  door:
  • Alma Garcia: So, uh, what’s through this door?
    Elena: A world where your family as you know it doesn’t exist.
• Time travel: Alma Garcia travels to (approximately) February 11, 1967 Havana, Cuba.
• Disappearing act:
  • Elena disappears from Ruby’s room after she tells Ruby she is going away for a couple of days.
  • Elena disappears after talking to Alma.
• Employees:
  • the head bartender
  • Segundo, the caretaker of the island
  • Gina Delgado, the island doctor
• Surprise guests: Alma’s mother, Evelyn, and grandmother, Lily.
• Character notes:
  • Alma and Evelyn’s last name is Garcia.
  • Martino, Raul, and Lily’s last name is Valdez.
  • Gina’s last name is Delgado.
  • Felipe’s last name is Rodriguez.
  • Javier does not actually appear in this episode (as far as I can tell), so that’s why he’s uncredited.