Barry Sonnenfeld has revamped the Aaron Spelling classic and Mr. Roarke will never be the same.

Can these men make your dreams come true?

"Fantasy Island" airs Saturdays at 9 pm on ABC.

When I heard they were bringing back "Fantasy Island", I thought, "How is that going to work?" The original show, for me anyway, is such a touchstone of the late 70s and early 80s, I just couldn't see how it could be successfully resurrected in the late 90s. After all, half the fun was seeing Sonny Bono end his voyage on the Love Boat and immediately disembark at Fantasy Island.

I was eleven years old when "Fantasy Island" went off the air in 1984. Since I'm pretty sure I stopped watching it long before then, I'm going to avoid specific comparisons between the old and new. They're two (basically) completely different shows from completely different producers (the original was done by Aaron Spelling, the new one by Barry Sonnenfeld). Besides, how can the Malcolm McDowell of my twenties compete with the Ricardo Montalban of my preadolescence? The original "Fantasy Island" (like "Charlie's Angels", "Dukes of Hazzard" and the original "Love Boat") has a certain patina to it lent by my own childhood associations. Today's shows can't compare to them any more than the shows themselves could withstand a critical re-viewing. So we'll leave the original in the past and deal strictly (or almost strictly) with the new version.

Fantasy Island is an exclusive resort where a guest (for a price) can realize his or her dearest fantasy. An extremely competitive sister can defeat her sibling in front of their entire family on "Jeopardy!" An average woman can become the most beautiful woman in the world. A married man can "bump into" the one who got away and rekindle the romance. The operation is run by one Mr. Roarke, a white-haired Malcolm McDowell (as always, slightly sinister). He wears black Armani suits and can control the weather. He receives his assignments from a small mysterious travel agency (run by Fyvush Finkel and Sylvia Sidney) via one of those pneumatic tubes they use in bank drive thrus. He also makes veiled threats to the hired help, Edward Hibbert and Louis Lombardi. There are vague references to Mr. Roarke returning them to where he found them and subsequent looks of horror and chagrin. Then there's Mädchen Amick who plays the shape-changing Ariel. Unlike the original, the new show focuses far more on the behind-the-scenes happenings on the island (such as Cal and Harry's dispute with the trash collector). Apparently, Fantasy Island is a purgatory for its staff (including Mr. Roarke), who must fulfill others' fantasies while awaiting their own redemption. (If you're wondering about the similarities to the Tempest, the producers seem to be writing it off as an affectation. We'll just have to wait and see.)

The common description used to differentiate the new show from its predecessor is "dark and quirky." In the premiere episode, a man who lives for extreme sports comes to the island looking for the ultimate rush. He's recently married and apparently a little bored with domesticity. Ultimately, he's impaled by an ice stalagmite, a position of which Mr. Roarke takes full advantage to lecture him on the excitement of ordinary life. The man pleads with Mr. Roarke to be allowed to live and take up the challenge. A little cruel (but effective, I guess).

After viewing this first episode, I had little hope for the series. It was cruel and smug and Mr. Roarke was a monster. McDowell's Mr. Roarke is portrayed as a Machiavellian control freak who uses his fairly freaky powers to not only fulfill fantasies, but often teach his guests a hard lesson, as well. Also in the premiere, a woman wants to be granted knowledge of everything so she can compete with her otherwise more knowledgeable sister and win. (Mr. Roarke admits he finds knowing everything to be quite painful, by the way.) The woman wins her "Jeopardy!" match by revealing that her fiancé slept with her sister (she knows everything now, remember?). What was that, Mr. Roarke? Something about being careful what we wish for? Ouch! Please don't hit us over the head like that!

Don't trust this man if he tries to sell you a vacation.

In the old show (I know I said no comparisons, but this one is relevant), Mr. Roarke was sympathetic to the basic human fantasies he helped fulfill and he guided the guests to enlightenment that, although not comfortable, was bearable. In the new version, judging from that first episode, Mr. Roarke seems to think these people need discipline rather than careful guidance. He forces enlightenment down their throats. The basic fantasies haven't changed much from the morality tales of the old show, but the tone of the show made me feel like the guests stepping off of that bi-plane were Roarke's dinner. I felt like he was going to create "The Most Dangerous Game" at any moment.

I've watched a couple of more episodes since then, though, and I think things are looking up on "Fantasy Island". Sure, Malcolm McDowell still isn't Ricardo Montalban (he addressed one guest as a know-it-all and told one of the staff, "Cal, you don't know what hell is... yet."). But I don't think the old Mr. Roarke would be appropriate for the 90s, anyway. All in all, the new Mr. Roarke isn't quite as monstrous as the premiere had me believing. He's just far more complex than the Mr. Roarke we were all expecting. There's a soft spot to him somehow and he has definite romantic tendencies (especially when he's in close proximity to Ariel). In last night's episode, a young man named Nathan, a horror novelist obsessed with death, wants to sleep in a haunted house. He finds, however, that the ghost who haunts the house needs his help to move on. Mr. Roarke guides him to that realization, characteristically without kid gloves, but with a definite sense of compassion for the ghost and a desire to see Nathan also move on past his obsession with death.

In one of the sweetest story lines this season, a man arrives at the island with his wife ostensibly to pitch in a World Series game, but is taken with an acute case of appendicitis. Mr. Roarke, since he cannot accommodate the husband's fantasy, offers the wife her own. After first turning down the offer, she finally admits she simply wants to dance like Ginger Rogers. They give her lessons and throw a fancy ball, where her husband arrives (after some lessons of his own) to twirl her around the floor. I got the definite impression that this was the husband's plan all along.

"Fantasy Island" may have what it takes to survive the season, if it can fight off the competition (it's up against CBS's "Martial Law" starring Sammo Hung) and maintain its footing ratings-wise (both "Fantasy Island" and "Cupid" have been dropping slightly from their premiere numbers). My fear is that, although it has the potential to be a quality show, it may not have that certain something that makes people remember to watch it, especially on Saturday nights. It clearly isn't as good a show as "Cupid", ABC's 10 p.m. show. I would like to see it succeed, if for no other reason than that so much this season has already failed utterly. And, after all, a "dark and quirky" Mr. Roarke who is slightly sadistic and very impatient is better than no Mr. Roarke at all.

Date: October 18, 1998

Copyright © 1998 by Lisa McInnis