Fantasy Island (TV Series) Roarke's Sacrifice/The Butler's Affair (1983) User Reviews

Not even Cyd Charisse can save this one, due to terrible production values.

[imdb-25288 · 9/10 · 24 October 2022]

Where is the cool music score that tied scene to scene? Where is the good lighting?

Where are the beautiful sets, clothes and keeping the story's pace? It is all dull looking here and directed with a disjointed pace, as typical for S7! I wish I could give it an 8, like those ratings of the 2 rather crass summaries that came before me, but alas... I can only give it a 5/10!

I am not sure what went wrong. It is a joy to watch Cyd Charisse and Ricardo Montalban together again. (For those fans of old films, you'll know what I mean.) Seeing those 2 together deserves a 10/10 for old times sakes!

I had to look up who were the other 2 actors. Ah! Efrem Zimbalist Jr., Mona's father in Who's the Boss, (and naturally stolen by envious Fran Drescher to become C. C.'s date in The Nanny, since she had to copy every element of WTB? For TN!) Also known as the real daddy of Stephanie Zimbalist, from Remington Steele. (The one who looks a cross between Man From Atlantis' Belinda Montgomery and Laura Ingalls! She actually reminds me of someone else but can't quite place her... Melinda Culea, perhaps?) And his boss was played by the secretary in Barnaby Jones.

Well, I love old folks stories. I always have, ever since a little kid. I'm closer to their ages now than the age I was when I originally watched this. Of course. We all are! But this story was dull as rocks. I don't know why. The Mr. Roarke script was promising but it fell flat. I blame the director, editors, lightning people and cameraman, plus the costumers. It just was badly rendered.

Notice at the end Mr. Roarke talking about sacrifices? What the what? Are those extreme looney Christians right, those who claim that all those who achieve fame in Hollywood do so by sacrifices?

(Blood sacrifices is that they claim.) Is Mr. Roarke written more like Satan than a god, here? If the Out of Shadows guy is correct, what was Ricardo Montalban's real life sacrifice, then?! Hmm... Things that make your mind go to places it never ought to, while watching this show.

Again, it's a 10/10 for the old folks, and a special mention of Cesar Romero who was always pleasant in old movies as well, but was mostly decorative here.

Highlights of the show: Cyd Charisse dancing. Cyd Charisse & Ricardo Montalban kissing. The interesting "sacrifices" mention. Just what did the guest for all other seasons have to sacrifice, Roarke!? Just the $50K? Hmm... This kinda rewrites the whole entire series, doesn't it?!

Now, if someone could tell me whether Fernando Lamas ever stopped by Fantasy Island?! Cos all I ever saw was his look-alike, Peter Mark Richman, and he fooled me every time in thinking that was Lamas. (Perhaps a real-life rivalry here between him & Montalban...? More things I need to research!)

8 (for a season 7, thats like a 200)

[mikeholmes-48012 · 8/10 · 12 March 2016]

This was for a season 7 story pretty good. I always complain that season 7 is nothing but episodes about love. These were about love but i found them interesting. Maybe its cause i started drinking beer at 6 pm and its 11 pm, im not sure but it caught my attention. So we got one story where a rich widow comes to the island to tell her butler she loves him (rich people spend money on stupid crap) and a story about a dancer Rourke loved and caused her to need a cane, who wants to dance again. It's odd the dance thing, today i heard George Michaels "never going to dance again" song , i know the lyrics due to hearing it so much at a college job. "Guilty feet with no rhythm so i m never going to dance the way i danced with you whoo hooo. oh no" So i think George Michael may have seen this episode before writing those lyrics. She loved Rourke and is back. He seems to be keen on her, which is odd, he had no problem rejecting that seductive Mermaid that was hot one episode. then it went to commercial. it was a ad for hearing loss with the Dallas Duffy guy. that made me feel dumb. anyhow...

So this older lady with a cane loved dancing and wants to dance again and its seems to be Rourke did something that injured her. not sure what it was , i missed it. dropped her on a dip, stepped on her hip, whatever. So he is able to heal her for two days, and how she dances, and he hugs her with his big hands. all is well. but it wont last. Drama drama drama, that seems to go on with dancing happens and then she has her big show. but it "comes at a price" as Rourke would say. So she dances with 4 guys, in this bizarre to me dance. I think a few of them may have been gay. then she is carried off stage, Rourke pets her hair oddly when she isn't looking, she is so into dancing that he makes it so she can dance forever at a price, her not remembering his love and her love for him. they dance again, the guys prance off, belvedere is tickled pink to run flowers to her, and Rourke stands there sad. She leaves the Island and Belvedere notes she is leaving like they are just casual friends. very sad.

THe other story, i thought was all over the place, like some confused 23 year old woman wrote it was a rich widow that wants to let her Butler know she is into him and date. His name in real life was effrem zimbalist and it was a JR. lol. that caught my attention. anyhow this was a special belvedere request. Remember that sick and perverted Tattoos requests for fantasies? Belevedere is better, if i wasn't 7 at the time , i would have made bumper stickers and posters saying that. so they find out each other likes each other. some gossip hen ladies show up that know them, see they are eating together , make fun of them, then they are like go to hell. but then they are like this wont work, then they are like who cares what anyone thinks., then they are like we care, then shes into him and hes doing her but then is like, i should just be a butler ,then they seem to do it, then he is like my dad and my dad s dad and his dads dad are all butlers so thats what i am and we cant date, but pay no attention my dad, and my dads dad and his dads dad must have had sex to have kid butlers and then she is like i don't care but he is concerned with his lack of not being a butler , how will he be able to support her if he doesn't have the job of making money from her as her butler. They'd go broke. think about that one carefully. they leave the island holding hands and that makes belvedere happy. SO crazy stupid i enjoyed it, reminded me of dating.

Catwoman's Wild/The Joker's Mild

[QContinuum178 · 8/10 · 4 October 2021]

Two unsatisfactory resolutions end this episode about two women willing to steamroll over the men they claim to love in order to get what they want.

Lee Meriwether has been in love with her butler, Efrem Zimbalist, Jr., for a while now and is sure he feels the same way. She wants a weekend on the island to explore those feelings. Zimbalist readily admits his mutual attraction, but the class struggle is harder for others to accept. Meriwether's gossipy contemporaries threaten to ruin Fantasy Island's reputation if he doesn't put a stop to the relationship. Roarke deftly handles this by threatening to reveal the scandalous details he's learned about them via the significant vetting he does of guests before their arrival on the island (besides, of course, the endless criminals that somehow manage to end up there). Lawrence is equally insistent with the women's resentful servants that this is none of their business. Zimbalist cannot proceed with this romance if he cannot be on equal footing with Meriwether by being able to hold his own monetarily, something hard to do for a man trained as a butler. She leaves the island with him vowing to keep working on him...which essentially means she's going to sexually harass her employee.

Meanwhile, Roarke probably got snippy with Meriwether's friends because Cyd Charisse's whiny selfishness is getting on his last nerves. Cyd is an old flame and former dancer who has to use a cane because she was in a terrible accident for which Roarke wrongly blames himself. She wants to dance one more time. Roarke can do that easily. Less easy to deal with is Cyd's determination that she can still have Roarke at the same time. He cannot convince Cyd that he does love her, but cannot leave Fantasy Island and still be the man she thinks she knows. Is this an admission that Roarke and the island have some kind of symbiotic relationship? Does he not have his powers when he leaves the island? She doesn't care about any of that and wants to be able to have her cake and eat it, the frosting, sprinkles and celebratory writing and all. He cautions her that being able to use her leg permanently would require a big sacrifice. She barely ponders this before asking for the trade without bothering to ask what she would have to sacrifice to get it. It's Roarke's love and her memory of loving him. He makes the trade and she doesn't seem the worse for the wear, leaving to star in Cesar Romero's new Broadway show. It's hard to believe this woman is Roarke's type. As rushed and implausible as I felt Roarke's romance with Helena Marsh was in season 2, at least she had the virtue of a life selflessly devoted to others.

I finally pinned the Roarke/Lawrence relationship in this episode. Lawrence is a butler with privileges. Unlike the hero-worshipping Tattoo who shared a mutual friendship and trust with Roarke, Lawrence is an employee. He's willing to question Roarke's judgment and offer a bit of wisdom here and there, but, in the end, he's Roarke's butler. We see him constantly serving Roarke meals and drinks. The series may have lost a difficult actor when it ditched Herve, but it also lost the linchpin of the series - the friendship between Roarke and Tattoo.