Island of Dreams (TV series)

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Television series
Original title Island of Dreams
Country of production Germany
original language German
Year (s) 1990-1991
length 45 minutes
Episodes 21 in 2 seasons
genre Drama , romance
idea Wolfgang Rademann
music Hans Hammerschmid
First broadcast January 12, 1991 on ZDF
occupation

Island of Dreams was a TV series by ZDF and ORF , which was produced between 1990 and 1991 and was directed by Hans-Jürgen Tögel .

Plot / concept

Prof. Satorius (1st season, episodes 1 to 12) and Julian Cortese (2nd season, episodes 13 to 21) receive a guest on a tropical island who has been traumatized by a certain event in the past. With the sound of a waterfall, this event is processed in the form of a dream, which shows the guest what actually happened. Host Sartorius and his daughter Sandra serve their visitors as conversation partners and advice.

The concept of the series largely follows its American model Fantasy Island . As in the original series (1977–1984), the island guests experience processes of self-knowledge and inner purification during their stay. In contrast to Fantasy Island, in which the guests had to pay the owner of the island the stately amount of 50,000 dollars (at the time) and had to leave the island after three days at the latest, the German adaptation does not mention such aspects. Rather, the host of the island of dreams is reportedly acting out of sheer selflessness and the compassionate need to make the magical powers of the waterfall accessible to everyone seeking help.

In the ZDF program, the series was broadcast on Saturdays in the evening program between 7.30 and 8.15 p.m., was designed as a successor to the Black Forest Clinic and was largely shot by the same production team.

Guest stars

A number of well-known German actors appeared as guest stars in the series. These included Mario Adorf , Peter Bongartz , Hans Clarin , Sky Dumont , Ruth-Maria Kubitschek , Hans Paetsch , Günter Pfitzmann , Friedrich Schoenfelder and Irina Wanka .

criticism

Speculations of Scientology messages

The series came under fire in 1991 because of the involvement of the avowed and leading Scientologist Anita Mally, subliminal Scientology messages were assumed (Mally wrote the scripts for three of the 21 episodes). In Renate Hartwig's book Scientology: I accuse! it says in section 9.3 .: Auditing on ZDF :

“The program“ Die Trauminsel ”shows how people travel to an island because they cannot deal with negative experiences. A doctor lives on this island and he first talks to these people [...] The same grid is used for auditing. Because auditing supposedly serves the Scientologists to resolve negative experiences ("engrams of aberrations"). An auditing assistant (this would correspond to the role of the doctor) leads the "pre-clear" (ie a person who has not yet reached the state of "clear" with the Scientologists) back into his past with the help of auditing ... "

The ZDF, as it is said in the same place, did not respond to a " fire letter " from a former Scientologist in November 1991.

Other voices

Incidentally, the series was largely ignored by the criticism. After the Traumschiff and the Black Forest Clinic , the Insel der Träume was already the third adaptation of an American series by Wolfgang Rademann and the approach to depicting melodramatic stories in front of the picturesque backdrops of well-known vacation spots according to a familiar knitting pattern had by then been sufficiently criticized. At most, the unusual idea of ​​a problem-solving, mystical waterfall led to ironic comments. In February 1991 , Der Spiegel referred to the start of the first season in three short, snappy sentences:

“As of now, ZDF is no longer the only head of culture and long-distance healer Karl Schnelting responsible for the supernatural. If it serves the audience, the entertainment department can now also freak out . As a private scholar Satorius, Rolf Henniger deals with the magical powers of a waterfall, and ZDF looks wet for twelve episodes. "

The start of the second season in the autumn of the same year was announced in the same tone, referring with some malice to the fact that the island of dreams was ultimately not popular with earlier series either:

"The dream of the ratings drove the real ZDF with its sober artistic director to shoot another nine episodes of the psychedelic nothing."

In a content- related discussion of the Deutsches Ärzteblatt , the superficial presentation of a doctor was criticized who fell in love with his patient after a malpractice, survived the intrigues of an evil chief doctor and finally took over his father's country doctor's practice with the former victim of his malpractice at his side:

“Anyone expecting a serious discussion of an important topic will surely be disappointed by this shallow, trivial story. But if you love fairy tales, the series is just right for you. Good and love win, evil is punished, and there are also a lot of clever sayings and wisdom, such as: 'Love forgives everything' or 'Everyone has a different truth'. "

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ meant island of dreams
  2. ↑ Der Spiegel , No. 2/1991, p. 180.
  3. ↑ Der Spiegel , issue 45/1991, p. 352.
  4. ↑ Deutsches Ärzteblatt , 88/1991, A-4238.

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