Mr. Roarke's Own Theory Suggests ‘Fantasy Island’ Was a Much Darker Place

When people say, “You couldn’t make this show today,” they’re usually talking about something horrifically bigoted that, everything aside, absolutely could get made today, but Fantasy Island really couldn’t get made today. It was literally just a mysterious island where mysterious people mysteriously showed up, met by a mysterious man who could mysteriously create their wildest fantasies. These days, audiences would demand to know how it all worked, who was footing the bill and why one of them was inexplicably French. You just didn’t have to explain these things back then. Audiences in the ‘70s were happy to shrug their shoulders and make “De plane, boss” jokes.

Of particular curiosity was that boss guy’s whole deal. Mr. Roarke was ostensibly a human man who happens to be in charge of an all-powerful dreamland, but it’s suggested that he’s several hundred years old, in possession of his own supernatural powers and acquainted with all manner of legendary beings. When the devil shows up on the island, they greet each other as old adversaries and compete for a guest’s eternal soul. The devil is played by Roddy McDowall. It’s lit as hell.

That might be a less metaphorical description than intended, if Ricardo Montalbán, who played Mr. Roarke, is to be believed. He, for one, wasn’t buying the “just go with it” attitude toward his character. “I said, ‘Why is it that he can grant these fantasies — he can go back in time, forward into the future, he can do all kinds of things?’” he told The Television Academy Foundation. “What is he? He’s not God, certainly. There’s only one God. He’s not the devil, no.” 

He eventually “decided this man, it was an angel that still had a little bit of (the) sin of pride in him, a little too proud,” he continued. “I played up sometimes when Tattoo would say, ‘Can we do that, boss?’ ‘Of course we can do that, Tattoo.’ You know what I mean? … So he is in charge of purgatory, (where) people go through tests, some for the better and some for the worse.”

It’s definitely true that not everyone came out the other side of their “fantasies,” so it matches up to some interpretations of purgatory as a place for souls to be tested and sent either on to heaven, back to earth, or worse. It would also explain Mr. Roarke’s relationship with the devil — they’re old coworkers. 

If nothing else, take heart, classic TV viewers. It’s definitely a better explanation than Westworld fans got.