Fantasy Island

Fantasy Island TV Show

Fantasy Island was a fantasy drama that ran from 1977 to 1984 on ABC, with a short-lived revival in 1998.  The show was introduced to viewers via two made-for-TV movies in 1977, with the series starting in 1978.  The show starred Ricardo Montalban as Mr. Roarke, and Herve Villechaize as his sidekick, Tattoo.

Fantasy Island was actually a resort, headed up by Mr. Roarke (Motalban) and his sidekick Tattoo, who would announce the arrival of new guests with a ring of the bell and the words "the plane, the plane".  The resort was called “Fantasy Island” because patrons would pay a large sum of money to have their fantasies fulfilled.  The fantasies varied greatly from guest to guest, and Mr. Roarke somehow made them happen, often by some supernatural means.  Some were as innocuous as trying to reunite with a lost love, while others were more serious, such as trying to get revenge against a killer.  In nearly all cases, the fantasy would not play out exactly as the guest envisioned, and Mr. Roarke would use the deviation as a teaching experience.