L'homme de l'Atlantide

"The Man From Atlantis" (1977 - 17 episodes of 60 minutes), is a cult TV series created by Herbert F. Solow and Mayo Simon for NBC. The pilot episode begins when a man (the actor Patrick Duffy) is found unconscious on a beach after a storm. Taken to a hospital, the doctors discover that this man is not a simple victim of drowning. The Doctor and sea biologist Elizabeth Merril (the actress Belinda Montgomery) is called to investigate the case and find evidences that the mysterious man has characteristics of amphibians. Impressed by her discovery and with the desire of helping her new friend, she decides to take him to the scientific foundation of aquatic research for which she works and she decides to call him Mark Harris. The sea abilities of Mark attract the attention of everybody, including the Navy, and Doctor Merril thinks that he is probably one of the last survivors of the legendary Atlantis. From there, the man of Atlantis lives many adventures with Doctor Merril in a submarine, that travels into the great depths, always investigating the mysteries and the dangers related to the oceans. Mark had membranes in his hand fingers and his eyes was extremely sensitive to the light. The series made success in Brazil and Patrick Duffy became famous, years later, in "Dallas". As the series had more success in the foreign countries than in the U.S.A., "The Man From Atlantis" was canceled after only one year of exhibition.

I watched this show in P.R.China many years ago during a time when there was nothing else entertaining on Chinese TV. It was the first American TV show aired in China and everyone who had access to a TV set watched it. I have fond memories of the show, it was interesting and had enough action to be entertaining. Considering the alternatives at the time, which were communist propaganda films, it was quite a treat.

But even then, a portal at the bottom of the ocean that leads to a city where Romeo and Juliet lived still seemed to be quite a stretch. So I understand why it only lasted one season.

But this show will always have a special place in my heart for being the first American entertainment program that I have seen.

I have only seen the pilot for this series, but I thought that it was surprisingly good. Certainly better and more interesting than some of its contemporaries, like "The Six Million Dollar Man" and "The Incredible Hulk." The plot wasn't perfect, but it was nuanced and interesting, and the scenes filmed underwater were believable. There was a sparing use of special effects, and those that were used were decent enough by 70's standards. I don't know how long a show could survive where the hero's only gimmick is that he could breathe underwater, but the pilot's plot didn't feel forced or contrived. It was a good movie, in and of itself. I am forced to wonder, though, with the popularity of Marvel properties at the time: "The Incredible Hulk," "Spider-Man" and things like the "Dr. Strange" TV movie, if this wasn't originally an effort to bring the Sub Mariner to television. He bears a striking similarity to Patrick Duffy's character: both have amnesia, are from Atlantis, and are looking for their home.

I won't go critic on this, because the last time I have watched it was the very first time I've had, and that belongs to another time, older time, so.. let's reminisce.

It was the first half of the 1980s. I was pretty young, maybe 7 or 8 year old. And I remember well that I was amazed and amused.

The submarine was a hero apart. I was waiting it with passion, seeing it as sophisticated vehicle to discover the unknown. Though, the vehicle that owned my imagination at the time, forcing me to build a copy of it, randomly of course, was the plane of Tales of the Gold Monkey!

Mark was interesting character for me back then. I even used to call the show "Mark's show", or "Mark: man came from Atlantis". His hands in specific had my head spinning. Now, know this: I went to fill our bathtub with water, nearly daily, then put my hands in it for a long long time, just for the sake of having hands like mark's. Somehow I believed that being in water for some time gives you those correlated, frog's kind of, fingers!

Else matters fascinated me about Mark, like the way how he didn't produce bubbles underwater from his nose and mouth. Plus, his eyes. They never blinked underwater. Apparently, a lot of efforts were spent to perfect tricks like these.

As for Mark's girl, something like "they wouldn't get married" used to come across my mind. I don't remember why, but maybe because he's a guy who loves to be in the water longer than anybody?, maybe because he looks too different, coming from - literally this time - another world!

Everything was tame, I don't remember something spooky or violent. It managed to be surprising and dreamy in every episode. And it made me love scientists as guys who live pretty cool life, have adventures for all the time, and meet new worlds every day.

One episode I won't forget, it was about that magical man who causes everybody he shakes hands with a hysteria of laughing; it was original, funny, and surprising too; because I wouldn't imagine that such a nice guy might be evil as it turned out to be. I doubt that that character was played by Pat Morita, best known later as Mr. Miyagi (I'll look this up now).

It was, as I love to call it, the childhood of the American TV. Those ideas were pure and simple. Now, I don't find that a lot, or at all. The TV, along with the world maybe, becomes darker as time goes by I think!

a legendary series. itself a mix of legends. because it propose the story of a special man , a lot of adventures, seascapes and few scientific references, a sort of love story and references to the myth of Atlantida. and, more import today, a Patrick Duffy before Bobby Exing. so, a series who , for its public, remains a nice memory. sure, in contemporary perspective, it seems be naive and almost childish. but it is not real the right verdict. because it has the gift to remind the flavor and the colors and emotions of the air from the Jules Verne books or from The Amphibian Man. and the ball of legends is , always, a good gift. so, Man from Atlantis.