Fantasy Island (TV Series) Escape/Cinderella Girls (1978) User Reviews

Good intro episode to the series

[shakspryn · 8/10 · 26 October 2023]

This was the first regular episode of the famous series, after two TV-movies. And it carries out the premise of the show, which is: people asking to have a fantasy fulfilled, and encountering unexpected twists as it plays out.

Now, for those who may never have seen the show, one major point to understand is, this is a show that requires a big-time suspension of disbelief! Mr. Roark has amazing powers to create elaborate situations--as if he were a very powerful genii, say. So, whatever world, time or situation he places the guests of the week into, you have to just accept that.

In this first episode, Georgia Engel and Diane Canova are blue-collar working girls who want to spend a weekend as glamorous high society types. Both are very charming and likeable, and each has a nice romance. Diane Canova's character gets more development than Georgia Engel. John Saxon, always a fine and reliable actor, is the romantic interest for Diane.

Our other story involves Bert Convy, playing a famous stage magician who wants to have a great escape; Mr. Roark puts him on Devil's Island, where--in some really nice casting--his cell mate is Robert Clary, who was a regular on Hogan's Heroes. (Another note for new viewers of this show: it always had two separate stories going with different sets of characters). The Devil's Island adventure is notable for the always-menacing presence of Reggie Nalder, one of the most memorable bad guys you will ever see; as I recall, he was the assassin in the 1950's Hitchcock film, "The Man Who Knew Too Much." This episode succeeds in what it wants to do: provide the viewer with some pleasant and diverting entertainment. I watched it tonight on dvd (it looks great, by the way--sharp and clear). After a long day of work, relaxing on Fantasy Island, in the company of the handsome and suave Ricardo Montalban, was just what I needed! This is an enjoyable episode and worth watching.

Watch for Reggie Nalder

[stones78 · 31 May 2012]

In case you don't know who Reggie Nalder is, he portrays Duprez, the head of Devil's Island, who holds many prisoners, including Gregory Udall, played by Bert Convy. Udall is a magician(those crazy 70's)who apparently has a fantasy of upstaging his father, who was also(you guessed it)a magician; regarding Nalder, his memorable role was Mr. Barlow from the epic Salem's Lot(1979), a hideous looking vampire who wrecks havoc on the small town. I don't know much about him, but his "normal" face is rather scary looking as well, and it adds to the intrigue as well; his accent almost matches his face, but to me, he was the best aspect of this tame episode, and watch for an appearance of Robert Clary(Hogan's Heroes), who portrays fellow inmate Ipsy. As you can guess, they both escape the prison, which supposedly has a track record of preventing such things, but they got out anyway.

The other segment revolves around Ann(Diana Canova), and Maxine(Georgia Engel), with her annoying voice, and their wish is to be snobby jet-setters, which is basically to be amongst a group of wealthy people. The only real notable aspect here was the insertion of John Saxon(Roger), who's a fine actor, but he's given a very bad accent for some reason; another thing I noticed was the location of this segment, which looked the same locale from the Rockford Files, with the cliffs hanging over the ocean. To make a long story short, Maxine leaves on a yacht with a man named Rudolph, played by Howard Caine(Hogan's Heroes yet again); he isn't the most attractive man in the world, but she likes him and tells him the truth about her real persona. It turns out that Roger had a fantasy too, as he wanted to be among the wealthy in order to get donations for his clinic(he is also a child doctor in real life), which is struggling financially. After Ann spills her guts that she's in fact not wealthy at all, but lives in a trailer, Roger then tells her that he was struggling also, and they leave the island together.

Overall, I wouldn't call this a great episode, but I'm probably one of the few out there that watched this just to see Reggie Nalder in a rare appearance, as he has more lines than I would've expected.