Jencyclopedia

Three women are celebrating their fiftieth birthdays together: one wants to be swept off her feet, one wants a new body, and one just wants to sleep.

I’ve started taping this show on Tuesday nights and watching it on Wednesday after work. When I checked the PVR on Wednesday and saw two episodes, I was confused. They played a new episode on Sunday, and then another new one on Tuesday. It sounded like the show wasn’t doing well in the ratings, so I wondered if they’re trying to just air all the episodes that have been made to make room for another show?

Ruby: Everyone needs friends.
Elena: I am not everyone.

Ruby: Oh, we’re having a girls’ night. I’m not going through my 20s again without getting drunk off box wine and waking up to a bad manicure.
Elena: Why would anyone wanna do that?

I almost relate to Elena on the same level that I relate to Spock.

Nettie wants to be swept off her feet, and she runs into a hunky doctor dude. I kind of want him to not to be the guy she’s supposed to fall in love with, and then Roarke and Ruby have to spend the rest of the episode trying to set her up with the right guy. Actually, it would be more like Roarke tells Tattoo he’s setting her up with This Guy, and then when Tattoo sees she’s fallen for That Guy, Tattoo spends the episode trying to set her up with This Guy, and Roarke just sits back, all smug, because he knows she’s really supposed to fall in love with That Guy.

Elena: I am willing to entertain this girls’ night thingy, but I’m planning it. No manicures and absolutely no box wine. Okay, we’re doing this, we’re gonna do it my way.

This is just like me at my ninth birthday: I planned that thing, and then Alyssa went and brought blo-pens, and Shirley and Katherine played Bop-It all night, and no one even cared about my carefully planned schedule.

Elena: You know, this place doesn’t leave room for anybody or time for other people. My great uncle, he dedicated his entire being to this island, and now that’s my job.

Mmm, no, he still had time to get married, and flirt with Helen of Troy and Elizabeth Bathory and an angel and Cyd Charisse, and say things like:

I haven’t done my thorough analysis on time travel in Fantasy Island yet, but I think the original series was pretty consistent with saying that you can’t change the past (and if you think you did change the past, then it was really supposed to happen all along). The only episodes I can recall where we looked into the future were 3×19 “Terrors of the Mind”, where Roarke was pretty clear the future could not be changed, and 4×11 “Elizabeth’s Baby”, where Roarke intentionally allowed the guest to change the future. So I don’t know how I feel about Margot making phone calls and doing things to prevent herself from dying young; I’ll have to write my analysis first and see if this is consistent. I suspect it’s probably fine, and Roarke could have chosen to show her a fake future anyway, to spur her into action.

I don’t like when they do what they did in 1×3 “We’re Not Worthy” and have different actresses playing the real guest and the young/beautiful/skinny version of the guest. But I guess in this case, it kind of makes sense, because she didn’t just want to be young/beautiful/skinny; she wanted to have a different body, because her body had cancer.

Wait, was that a Sunday special? (2×23 “Cornelius and Alphonse/The Choice” and 2×25 “Amusement Park/Rock Stars”) Was that why it was on Sunday? That’s a pretty obscure reference to make, so I can’t believe that was possibly what they intended. Then again, those benches that matches the original series benches were pretty impressive…

• Guests:
  • Margot, Camille, and Nettie
• Similar fantasies:
  • High school friends: 1×13 “Reunion”; 6×15 “No Friends Like Old Friends”
  • Three girls: 7×3 “Nurses Night Out”; 7×11 “Games People Play”; 7×14 “Lady of the House/Mrs. Brandell’s Favorites”
  • Body transformation: 3×6 “Young at Heart”; 4×13 “World’s Most Desirable Woman”; 5×2 “Ziegfeld Girls”; 6×10 “Candy Kisses”; 1×3 “We’re Not Worthy”
  • Seeing into the future: 3×19 “Terrors of the Mind”; 4×11 “Elizabeth’s Baby”; 1×5 “Twice in a Lifetime”
• Cancelling the fantasy: (sorta)
  • [Margot has just seen herself in a coffin.]
    Margot: Was that real?
    Elena: As of this moment? Yeah.
    Margot: Well, change it. I can’t leave my kids without a mom. And I don’t want to die. Okay, please. I will do anything.
    Elena: It’s not up to me, Margo.
• Disappearing act: Elena does this, but I didn’t keep track of it.
• Age gap:
  • Laura Leighton (Nettie): 53 / LaMonica Garrett (Tristan): 46 = -7 years
• IMDb notes:
  • Daniel Lugo plays Segundo, but there are two different Daniel Lugos on IMDb, so this episode is credited to a different person than 1×4 “Once Upon a Time in Havana”.