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Welcome to Fantasy Island. This popular show of the 70s and 80s started life as two made-for-TV movies, the first airing in January 1977. Aaron Spelling’s idea of a beautiful island with a mysterious man who can make your fantasies come true captured the imagination of audiences. A year later, the second film aired, and a week after that, the series was off and running.

 

Reprising his role from the films, Ricardo Montalban played Mr. Roarke, the caretaker and fantasy-giver. His tiny assistant Tattoo was played by Herve Villechaize. Roarke was portrayed as slightly menacing in the original movies, a trait which was toned down for the TV series. But his background remained a mystery – no one ever discovered how he came to the island and how he made people’s fantasies come true.

 

Each episode generally showed that one’s fantasy was not necessarily as wonderful as one might dream it to be, and that what you already have might be the best thing you could wish for. If a woman wished she were more beautiful, or a man wanted to go back in time to be with a lost love, the outcome was often that these fantasies were not all they were cracked up to be. The episode would feature two different stories, with the action going back and forth between each. Other characters on the island were Julie, Roarke’s goddaughter, and Lawrence, who replaced Tattoo in the last season.

 

A new version of the show aired in 1998 and starred Malcolm McDowell as Mr. Roarke. Apparently, a remake of the show wasn’t anyone’s fantasy, and this version didn’t last very long.