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The Movie: "The Plane! The Plane!" That call will likely be familiar for fans of "Fantasy Island", the popular series that ran for six years before calling it quits. The show starred Ricardo Montalban as Mr. Roarke, a wealthy and mysterious owner of an island resort who charges people $50,000 to visit his paradise for a weekend and live out their fantasies. Helping Roarke is Tattoo (Hervé Villechaize), his midget assistant. While the series is certainly campy and corny (not to mention quite dated at this point), at least the series offers a bit of an edge with the fact that Roarke always lets his guests know that their fantasy is their own doing, and once it is set into motion, it will play itself out - good or bad. The series provided a wealth of guest stars, as new guests came to the Island each week to explore their fantasies and maybe learn something about themselves along the way. Watching it now, "Fantasy Island" seems a bit dated and goofy, but still pretty watchable, thanks to fine performances. This set contains both the first season and the two TV movies that came before the series started. 0- 1 14 Jan 77 Fantasy Island (1) 0- 2 14 Jan 77 Fantasy Island (2) 1st Season Winter 1978 1- 1 20 Jan 78 Return to Fantasy Island (1) 1- 2 20 Jan 78 Return to Fantasy Island (2) 1- 3 28 Jan 78 Escape / Cinderella Girls 1- 4 4 Feb 78 Bet a Million / Mr. Irresistible 1- 5 11 Feb 78 The Prince / The Sheriff 1- 6 18 Feb 78 Family Reunion / Voodoo 1- 7 25 Feb 78 Lady of the Evening / The Racer 1- 8 11 Mar 78 Treasure Hunt / Beauty Contest 1- 9 18 Mar 78 The Funny Girl / Butch and Sundance 1-10 25 Mar 78 Superstar / Salem 1-11 1 Apr 78 Trouble, My Lovely / The Common Man 1-12 15 Apr 78 The Over the Hill Caper / Poof! You're a Movie Star 1-13 29 Apr 78 Reunion / Anniversary 1-14 6 May 78 King for a Day / Instant Family 1-15 15 May 78 Fool for a Client / Double Your Pleasure 1-16 20 May 78 Call Me Lucky / Torch Singer The DVD VIDEO: "Fantasy Island" is presented in its original 1.33:1 full-frame aspect ratio by Sony Pictures Home Video. The first movie looks surprisingly good for its age, with a pleasing level of definition and only a little bit of dirt and shimmering present on occasion. However, once past that point, "Fantasy Island" looks a bit less dazzling. Sharpness and detail are average, with some noticable moments of softness. Colors have a bit less snap and some scenes show noticable dirt and the occasional instance of artifacts. The second movie is not in the same kind of shape that the first film is in, but the episodes themselves offer adequate image quality. Overall, "Fantasy Island" looks about as good as one can expect. SOUND: Audio was also fine, as the 2.0 audio was basic, but certainly offered dialogue, music and effects in a clearer fashion than I'd expected, given the age of the series. EXTRAS: The final disc offers two featurettes - "Spending a Day at Fantasy Island" and "Creating the Fantasy", which offers interviews with the producers of the series, who discuss filming the episodes and what inspired the creation of the series. These aren't too in-depth (coming in at just under 25 minutes), but they at least offer some good tidbits for fans. Also included here are previews for a few episodes and promos for other titles from the studio. Final Thoughts: "Fantasy Island" looks rather dated at this point and it does certainly have its corny moments, but the series still remains watchable, as the performances and stories are generally enjoyable. The DVD set offers satisfactory audio/video quality and a few supplements. Recommended for fans. |