Apparently I'm watching these out of airing order because as it turns out, Tubi has assigned completely different seasons and episode numbers to the ones listed here on IMDb!
So I can tell you right now that this episode is another "warming up of leftovers", rehashing previous scripts, yet again, with different actors. For instance, this is another "Case Against Mr. Roarke", this time played by Connie Stevens instead of Laraine Stephens. (Um.. Coincidence much?! Homophone last names!) and we can see yet another Roarke/female opponent waltz as we saw in "A Genie Named Joe". Plus yet another rehash of "man time travels into a major war, in the past, to prove his daddy/brother/relative wasn't a coward". Done to death. (Literally, LOL!) But... Yawn.
So here we have Steve Kanaly (another of future Dallas fame) completely ruining this segment for me: he's playing such as soured face and nasty character, especially to his brother that I couldn't care less about him. It's like the brother must regret spending "Fifty Kay" to clear out his name. The surprise was this brother actor, whom I knew was making a bad "old voice" and was in bad makeup to appear older, when his youth is revealed when he lands into the past. Wow! No idea who he is but his skin looked great! (Probably was pancake makeup and not moisturizer, LOL! Also there was an extra who was very handsome: he gets one close up, amidst back to back close ups on soldiers' faces, for gravitas emphasis.)
That war story bored me, up until the end, when it became pretty good, and rose my rating from the mediocre five or six which I was going to give it.
The other story was the most interesting to me. Connie Stevens was here Mr. Roarke's foil. (Just the day before, I'd watched "The Challenge/A Genie Named Joe" where a man wants to take F. I. from Roarke. Here we go again! At least, that episode was very good!) Well, Connie, bless her, is a bit smiley here, so kudos to her for not playing it sour faced. And Roarke lays the charm onto her...but will she succumb? Sadly, the "drone view" strikes again, during his waltz with her. (What was that about?! Squishing my characters from the top down?! Couldn't the director tell the cameraman to film a waltz normally, then make close ups on both her and him?!)
Well anyway, the denouement here was exactly the same as in "The Challenge". Hear me out, or you'll miss it watching it. Without any spoilers, the way Connie concedes to Roarke made as little sense as when the "bad guy" conceded The Challenge to Roarke. Both characters arrive on a mission to destroy him and, out of the blue, they make a 180 for no good reason, other than it's time to wrap up the script, we only got fifty min cos we need to squeeze in commercials, too, so let's change these characters personality and outlook. A pity: it would have been more realistic if Connie's character didn't do such a drastic change but, instead, the wife overheard Connie speaking the truth behind her back, and then knew what had truly happened...or hadn't happened.
But I guess this is Fantasy Island and everyone must be happy by the end. (Except for poor David Birney's character: what happened to him was unforgivable! No wonder he never returned! Got a feeling there might have been a clash between these 2 actors, meaning Roarke's.)
Highlights of the show: Grady Hunt was one talented costumer! More and more I'm seeing beautiful clothes. When the young guy arrives in the war zone, the green of his military jacket was absolutely beautiful, in that one semi close up of him. Wow. It really complemented his complexion! And Connie did look beautiful in shades of bronze (a sweater, and then a bangle and belt), and later in a lovely glittery pink number. Her departing costume was an elegant cut, too, but I didn't care for the coral and red colors for her. The hat did flatter her, however.
Tattoo was back but had very little to do, here. (Again, I'm watching out of order: so he's gone today, then back tomorrow! You never know what you're gonna get when you click the next title on Tubi!)
Nitpicks: am I dreaming the following? There was a time when Fantasy Island was hidden from the public. No one knew where it was located. (So I wonder how so many guests heard about it or found it!) Yet, this woman was coming to the island to expose Roarke as a fraud and her cameraman deplaned with portable camera on his shoulder! Weird. Maybe I am remembering wrong? I mean if everyone knew about F. I., let's face it, in 2023, we would all invade it and grab our fantasies whether Roarke liked it or not, LOL!
Also in an early episode, Roarke refers to the USA as "the mainland", as they do in Hawaii. Yet, here he says "that country", instead. (I feel the writers were correct, here and not there, because it's not Hawaii, regardless of where some parts were really filmed! The dancers wear traditional Tahitian costumes, but dance the Hawaiian hula to the Bahamas Calypso steel drums!) No one knows where it is, and yet the guests somehow find it, LOL!
Well, anyway: I'm elevating this to an 8/10 because these people worked hard to entertain us and the denouements for both redeemed the boring parts, in the end. Literally!
So I can tell you right now that this episode is another "warming up of leftovers", rehashing previous scripts, yet again, with different actors. For instance, this is another "Case Against Mr. Roarke", this time played by Connie Stevens instead of Laraine Stephens. (Um.. Coincidence much?! Homophone last names!) and we can see yet another Roarke/female opponent waltz as we saw in "A Genie Named Joe". Plus yet another rehash of "man time travels into a major war, in the past, to prove his daddy/brother/relative wasn't a coward". Done to death. (Literally, LOL!) But... Yawn.
So here we have Steve Kanaly (another of future Dallas fame) completely ruining this segment for me: he's playing such as soured face and nasty character, especially to his brother that I couldn't care less about him. It's like the brother must regret spending "Fifty Kay" to clear out his name. The surprise was this brother actor, whom I knew was making a bad "old voice" and was in bad makeup to appear older, when his youth is revealed when he lands into the past. Wow! No idea who he is but his skin looked great! (Probably was pancake makeup and not moisturizer, LOL! Also there was an extra who was very handsome: he gets one close up, amidst back to back close ups on soldiers' faces, for gravitas emphasis.)
That war story bored me, up until the end, when it became pretty good, and rose my rating from the mediocre five or six which I was going to give it.
The other story was the most interesting to me. Connie Stevens was here Mr. Roarke's foil. (Just the day before, I'd watched "The Challenge/A Genie Named Joe" where a man wants to take F. I. from Roarke. Here we go again! At least, that episode was very good!) Well, Connie, bless her, is a bit smiley here, so kudos to her for not playing it sour faced. And Roarke lays the charm onto her...but will she succumb? Sadly, the "drone view" strikes again, during his waltz with her. (What was that about?! Squishing my characters from the top down?! Couldn't the director tell the cameraman to film a waltz normally, then make close ups on both her and him?!)
Well anyway, the denouement here was exactly the same as in "The Challenge". Hear me out, or you'll miss it watching it. Without any spoilers, the way Connie concedes to Roarke made as little sense as when the "bad guy" conceded The Challenge to Roarke. Both characters arrive on a mission to destroy him and, out of the blue, they make a 180 for no good reason, other than it's time to wrap up the script, we only got fifty min cos we need to squeeze in commercials, too, so let's change these characters personality and outlook. A pity: it would have been more realistic if Connie's character didn't do such a drastic change but, instead, the wife overheard Connie speaking the truth behind her back, and then knew what had truly happened...or hadn't happened.
But I guess this is Fantasy Island and everyone must be happy by the end. (Except for poor David Birney's character: what happened to him was unforgivable! No wonder he never returned! Got a feeling there might have been a clash between these 2 actors, meaning Roarke's.)
Highlights of the show: Grady Hunt was one talented costumer! More and more I'm seeing beautiful clothes. When the young guy arrives in the war zone, the green of his military jacket was absolutely beautiful, in that one semi close up of him. Wow. It really complemented his complexion! And Connie did look beautiful in shades of bronze (a sweater, and then a bangle and belt), and later in a lovely glittery pink number. Her departing costume was an elegant cut, too, but I didn't care for the coral and red colors for her. The hat did flatter her, however.
Tattoo was back but had very little to do, here. (Again, I'm watching out of order: so he's gone today, then back tomorrow! You never know what you're gonna get when you click the next title on Tubi!)
Nitpicks: am I dreaming the following? There was a time when Fantasy Island was hidden from the public. No one knew where it was located. (So I wonder how so many guests heard about it or found it!) Yet, this woman was coming to the island to expose Roarke as a fraud and her cameraman deplaned with portable camera on his shoulder! Weird. Maybe I am remembering wrong? I mean if everyone knew about F. I., let's face it, in 2023, we would all invade it and grab our fantasies whether Roarke liked it or not, LOL!
Also in an early episode, Roarke refers to the USA as "the mainland", as they do in Hawaii. Yet, here he says "that country", instead. (I feel the writers were correct, here and not there, because it's not Hawaii, regardless of where some parts were really filmed! The dancers wear traditional Tahitian costumes, but dance the Hawaiian hula to the Bahamas Calypso steel drums!) No one knows where it is, and yet the guests somehow find it, LOL!
Well, anyway: I'm elevating this to an 8/10 because these people worked hard to entertain us and the denouements for both redeemed the boring parts, in the end. Literally!