Talk:De plane! De plane!

The heading "Ze actual plane"
As I said before, that's a fun heading but it's inappropriate for an encyclopedia article. The fact that it has been left unchanged on the article page for more than three years is no reason not to change it now. --Simon Peter Hughes (talk) 15:51, 3 April 2013 (UTC) 71     [20:27]  I have to laugh at this one when seeing the first heading 72	[20:27]  http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ze_plane!_Ze_plane! 75	[20:29]  XD "Ze Actual Plane"
 * Certainly humor of any type must be used judiciously on Wikipedia, but its absolute absence would also extinguish some of the joy of knowledge. There is evidence that editors have reviewed the heading and did not think it appropriate to change.  One example for a well-trafficked Wikipedia IRC discussion group: (archived at gnaa which cannot be linked)
 * The article has been viewed over 7,000 times in the past 90 days, and multiples of that over the past 3 years. Surely it was inevitable someone would come along and suggest in good faith that it should be changed, but let's not ignore all those who silently approved of it.
 * And in any event, "ze" is actual word, an English eye dialect variant of the word "the", intended to portray the use of a French accent. Certainly the use of eye dialect should be exceedingly spare, but I believe its single use here in the context of an article using "ze" in its title is acceptable.--Milowent • hasspoken  17:19, 3 April 2013 (UTC)
 * Put me down for a vote that the entire article doesn't belong here at all but at www.know-your-meme.com; but as long as such a silly piece of pop trivia is hanging around and is being placed at such a silly pop trivia namespace (instead of under whatever actual VIN the actual plane uses) [edit: N4453] there's no reason whatsoever to be humorless bores about the section heading. The section makes precisely as much sense as the entire article and should be dealt with in the same manner. — Llywelyn II   14:26, 5 November 2018 (UTC)

I've removed the "ze" from the heading. Wikipedia is written in formal English, and "ze" is not appropriate apart from the whole term's actual usage, such as the article title. It's fine to be funny on a talk page, but generally not in an article, per WP:HUMOR. - BilCat (talk) 02:17, 23 March 2019 (UTC)

Much earlier origin of the phrase
The phrase "de plane, de plane!" is exclaimed, by a Pacific Islander character, long before "Fantasy island" in the the 1962 Spencer Tracy-Frank Sinatra film, "The Devil at 4 O' Clock" and is so similar in context to Herve Villechaize's delivery that it must have been an inspiration for it.

I'd add that to the article but I don't know how to do it without it appearing as "original research".

It's obviously there in the movie, as obvious as the sun rising in the east, but i don't have a source for it except for the fact that it's obviously there in the movie. — Preceding unsigned comment added by 23.119.204.117 (talk) 00:07, 28 December 2015 (UTC)

actual pronunciation
It is not Ze plane or even De plane, but Da plane. I can't cite a source because my source is actually listening to it many times while watching the DVD set. Anyone who actually hears it will be hearing Da plane! Da plane! Please don't disagree with me until you have actually heard it. Tupelo the typo fixer (talk) 18:13, 28 January 2016 (UTC)
 * I've just been binge-watching old Fantasy Island episodes on Sony Crackle. I've probably now watched more than a dozen episodes in a fairly short time, and seen the opening sequence that many times.  To me, it's a bit ambiguous whether he is correctly pronouncing the TH at the beginning of each &ldquo;the&rdquo;, or whether he's pronouncing it as something between that and a D sound.  It's definitely not a full D sound; and it's absolutely not the Z sound commonly cited, as in the title of this article.  Based on what I am hearing, I'd cite the line as &ldquo;The plane!&rdquo; and not as &ldquo;Ze plane!&rdquo; nor &ldquo;De plane!&rdquo; nor &ldquo;Da plane!&rdquo;.
 * I've edited the main Fantasy Island article to reflect what I have been hearing. &mdash; Bob Blaylock (talk) 15:16, 17 January 2020 (UTC)
 * I've edited the main Fantasy Island article to reflect what I have been hearing. &mdash; Bob Blaylock (talk) 15:16, 17 January 2020 (UTC)

Bad title, since article is NOT about the catchphrase...
The vast majority of this article is about the aeroplane itself, and not about the catchphrase. So, as discussed above, the title is inaccurate as well as silly, and the article must be moved. 2A00:23C5:FE0C:2100:A828:E4D6:3668:27ED (talk) 05:03, 3 June 2021 (UTC)


 * The title of the article was not discussed above, rather the title of a heading. Anyway, the phrase is well-known, and a suitable title for the article as a whole. The aircraft wouldn't be noteworthy without the connection to the phrase. BilCat (talk) 05:20, 3 June 2021 (UTC)

Wrong title for this article
We've got six citations for "Ze plane". One I can't check. Three say "De plane", two say "The plane", and none of them say "Ze plane". This article and the quote should be changed to either "De plane" or "The plane". GA-RT-22 (talk) 20:21, 3 October 2021 (UTC)
 * Agreed. A quick Google search for "'Ze plane! Ze plane!' AND 'fantasy island'" produces far fewer hits than the comparable search for "de plane" or "the plane". I think "the plane" is probably the best option, since the line is meant to be that and any different form is a variation on the original word "the". RunningTiger123 (talk) 19:31, 14 October 2021 (UTC)

Paging:,. GA-RT-22 (talk) 20:06, 14 October 2021 (UTC)


 * The article is really more about the aircraft than the catchphrase. I'm not sure the aircraft is really notable apart from the catchphrase and show appearance, however. As to the catchphrase, I think "De plane" is probably more recognizable than "The plane". BilCat (talk) 21:59, 14 October 2021 (UTC)