Fantasy Island is The Village

Science Fiction TV Show Guides Forums British Sci Fi Series The Prisoner Fantasy Island is The Village

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  • #39517
    Anonymous
    Inactive

    Welcome to Fantasy Village, where all your dreams, your nightmares come true…

    We have the idea that No. 6 is really John Drake due to an earlier series. I have a theory that No. 1 is really Ricardo Montalban’s character, Mr. Roarke, as evidenced by a later series, Fantasy Island — Fantasy Island is the Village some years down the road (or more likely, another one of their Villages, but I’ll disregard that theory for the moment).

    The similarities between the shows are startling. Both the Village and Fantasy Island deal in dreams and fantasies (think of A. B. & C., or Living in Harmony for just two of many examples). Both have a diminutive “butler,” and a mysterious boss (Montalban is seen throughout the series, but there’s still something mysterious about him). Tattoo refers to Roarke as “boss”, and Number 6 said, and I quote, “Number 1’s the boss!” Coincidence? But then the question is also raised by Who’s The Boss? Yes, I suspect that Mr. Roarke’s power and influence is so great that he is the boss there too!

    Both places are strange and mysterious, and both take place in a remote and beautiful location (No. 6 often thinks he’s on an island). Although Fantasy Island purportedly acts to fulfil the wishes of its clients (for a price too), whereas the Village seeks to extract information, has anyone else suspected a more sinister agenda on Fantasy Island? Certainly both “resorts” gain sensitive details about the “clients” lives which gives them tremendous powers over the “individuals” (to extort etc.), and both places secretly manipulate them (purportedly for different ends, but are they really so different?)

    I believe that after the rocket was launched, The Village could have changed greatly, and it would not surprising that they would be forced to change location (so one can expect differences). Some of the differences: planes in Fantasy Island, rather than helicopters. The Butler says nothing, whereas Tattoo says, “Look boss, da plane, da plane.” White Panama suits, rather than the more common Prisoner black ones. The Village deals more with people in sensitive government positions, whereas Fantasy Island deals more with people in sensitive business positions. The Villagers are numbered, whereas Fantasy Island just plain numbs! Villagers are imprisoned for life, whereas the Fantasy clients are released, after being “conditioned” that is and, of course the Fantasy Island Rovers are only made out of the finest “rich, Corinthian leather.”

    Okay, if anything Fantasy Island is another Village set up to deal with different people in a different way; which means that Montalban is another Number 1. Hmm, but in many ways I see Montalban’s urbane character as more Number 2ish… At the very least I do believe the show was quite influenced by The Prisoner. 🙂

    And what about the mysterious Charlie from Charlie’s Angels, what is his role in the Village?

    What shows do you see as a sort of extension of The Prisoner universe?

    #69133
    Anonymous
    Inactive

    Come one, someone must have some equally lame and preposterous theories. But to quote 6, “Don’t knock yourself out.” 😛 🙂

    #69192
    pet
    Participant
    Logan wrote:

    Come one, someone must have some equally lame and preposterous theories. But to quote 6, “Don’t knock yourself out.” 😛 🙂

    AAAARRGHH!

    2x I’ve lost a long reply to this. &%$##&$ anti-camping filter! So here you go:

    Nowhere Man

    The rest of it is gone… 😥 Next time I’m typing it in word and copying.

    83

    #69357
    Anonymous
    Inactive

    I usually right-click and copy my response before hitting that submit button…

    As for Nowhere Man

    That there are definite Prisoner parallels, symbolism, and references in Nowhere Man, and that it was Prisoner inspired is incontrovertible. There are many shows that remind me, however vaguely, of The Prisoner – sometimes due to similarities and sometimes because of the stark contrasts. I can’t help myself, I’m a Prisoner to Prisoner association. 😛 One can, of course, find similarities AND even “evidence” to support a claim that something was Prisoner inspired in just about any post-Prisoner show, and EVEN pre-Prisoner ones if one tries hard enough/ is deranged enough 😛 — it’s like comparing apples and oranges. Easy to do, they’re both fruit and both delicious, but I was trying for something a little flakier and less nutritious. “Dead thing pie” anyone? 😉

    How about comparing and contrasting ‘Cheers’? Whenever I think of that theme song, “You wanna go where everybody knows your name,” I am reminded of “I am not a number, I am a person,” but then that Prisoner line gets me thinking about the Elephant Man, “I am not an animal, I am a human being” Sorry if I digressed, but as a “free man” I felt free to.

    Let’s take a deeper look at that song…

    The Cheers Theme

    Making your way in the world today
    Takes everything you’ve got;
    Taking a break from all your worries
    Sure would help a lot.
    Wouldn’t you like to get away?

    {Get away, like on a vacation? Good idea! 💡 Better start packing, how ‘bout somewhere sunny?}

    All those nights when you’ve got no lights,
    The cheque is in the mail;
    And your little angel
    Hung the cat up by it’s tail;
    And your third fiancée didn’t show;

    {Darned Village controllers cut the lights at night – cheap bastards! On a more positive note, got the cheque already, as we only get local mail it took no time at all. 😀 About the cat, I had to restrain it, doncha know you can “never trust a female, even the four-legged variety?” Shame about the fiancée. Did my darling forsake me? 😥 But seriously, I gotta be a free man, I don’t need no stinkin ball and chain. It had nothing to do with my orientation! :evil:}

    Sometimes you want to go
    Where everybody knows your name,
    And they’re always glad you came;
    You want to be where you can see,
    Our troubles are all the same;
    You want to be where everybody knows your name.

    {Well, everybody knows my number… Not like I had any choice, but “Always glad I came”? Tell that to the old Number 2s. Bwahaha! 😈 … Our troubles are all the same; too bad most of you have accepted your situation and will die here like rotten cabbages!}

    Roll out of bed, Mr. Coffee’s dead;
    The morning’s looking bright;
    And your shrink ran off to Europe,
    And didn’t even write;
    And your husband wants to be a girl;

    {“Rise and shine, it’s another beautiful day in the Village!”
    Like I care about my shrink, as if I need more people poking around inside my head. Erm, what’s that about my husband wanting to be a girl? 😕 Really, I’m getting pretty tired of these cracks about my masculinity, and that goes for my husband too! :evil:}

    Be glad there’s one place in the world
    Where everybody knows your name,
    And they’re always glad you came;
    You want to go where people know,
    People are all the same;
    You want to go where everybody knows your name.

    You’re not thinking of Tahiti, are you? Hmm, not even all my loyal fans can agree on my name. As for being the same… Haha, Instant Social Conversion doesn’t work on a man of steel! 8) Someday I’ll show you unmutual and disharmonious: “I’m going to escape, come back, wipe this place off the face of the planet, and you with it!” Still glad I came? 😈

    By the way, for those that haven’t figured out my name by now, and there’s been much speculation, I’ll let you in on a little top-secret. ➡ *whispering* It’s John Drake

    Now I’m off to the Cat and Mouse for a drink.

    “I think this one’s going to be a challenge” (The Norm No. 2)

    #69360
    Fatguy
    Participant
    pet wrote:

    Logan wrote:

    Come one, someone must have some equally lame and preposterous theories. But to quote 6, “Don’t knock yourself out.” 😛 🙂

    AAAARRGHH!

    2x I’ve lost a long reply to this. &%$##&$ anti-camping filter! So here you go:

    Nowhere Man

    The rest of it is gone… 😥 Next time I’m typing it in word and copying.

    83[/quote]

    You know, that has happened to me a lot; perhaps Sadgeezer’s log-on cookie times out and drops the post when you submit the response. What I do is submit a partly finished reply with “cont…..” – and keep updating. I will try Logan’s way and see how that goes.

    As for the prisoner parrellel; I originally watched The Prisoner hoping to see a skit of a man trapped in a Rubit’s cube box tormented by people…..don’t ask!

    Maurice

    #69979
    Anonymous
    Inactive

    was just scanning through the old posts of the forum (ah, the hip-hoppin’ glory days) and came across Phi’s reference to Ricardo Montalban as No. One HERE. Sorry Phi, it seems that due to Enhanced hypnosis, a variation on the speed learn technology, Mytol and a bevy of other mind-bending Village techniques that subconsciously make one susceptible to suggestion (83 is the tech. expert), I may have absorbed your idea of Montalban as Number 1, forgot about it, and then had it emerge as my own self-professed theory… Or something like that… I’m sleepy – more Village trickery. :angry: Anyway, just realised. 😀

    Two other shows, okay so I’m pushing it, that fit into the Prisoner universe are Gilligan’s Island and The Fresh Prince of Bel Air (ah, now you might get the hip-hoppin reference). The Gilligan’s ISland similarities are obvious: a tale of a fateful trip; foiled escape attempts every episode; sea; ships; rafts; the skipper; sexy girls; monkeys and monkey business. Not to mention the coconut phones and hilarious banana skin pratfalls etc.… (still, I’ll probably expound on it some time).

    Less obvious are the Fresh Prince of Bel Air similarities:

    Now this is the story all about how my life got twisted upside down and I’d like to take a minute just sittin right there I’ll tell you how I became the prince of a town called Bel-Air…

    I pulled up to the house about seven or eight and I yelled to the cabby “Yo home, smell you later” looked at my kingdom I was finally there to sit on my throne as the prince of Bel-Air.

    “Throned at last”(click) More than nuff said.

    ”Phi” wrote:

    As for the prisoner parrellel; I originally watched The Prisoner hoping to see a skit of a man trapped in a Rubit’s cube box tormented by people…..don’t ask!

    I’m guessing you’ve seen Cube.

    #69996
    sgtdraino
    Participant

    How about Northern Exposure? Especially the early days.

    Dr. Fleischman gets transfered to Sicily, Alaska, and then the town won’t let him leave, and weird stuff keeps happening to him!

    #70043
    Anonymous
    Inactive

    Yes … Not to mention the dream episodes… and of course the village of Cicely is very multi-cultural, and the Village is “very cosmopolitan.” That was a good show, went downhill a bit after the first couple of seasons.

    The show that keeps twisting around my head when I think of Prisoner[/I]esque[/I] television is Twin Peaks…Also got that dreamy quality… “This is a dreamy party” (No. 6).

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