L'homme de l'Atlantide

I have fond memories of The Man From Atlantis. I remember wishing how I could swim like him when I saw this show and hearing some children wanting to emulate him as well.

Patrick Duffy was the last survivor of an underwater civilization. He was named Mark Harris by the human world and went to work for the Foundation for Oceanic Research. Soon after, he battled the usual array of villains and monsters, his archenemy being the almost likeable Mr Schubert.

There was a Marvel Comics character who had been around since 1939 called Namor the Sub-Mariner. He was from an underwater civilization and was similar to Mark Harris. I don't know how true this is but I believe Marvel were going to make a Namor the Sub-Mariner film but this series kind of made that idea redundant.

The show was certainly enjoyable-not taxing on the brain and entertaining enough whilst it lasted, which wasn't for many episodes.

When I saw these TV series again on PinkTV a couple of weeks ago it only took me a fraction of a second to identify it and it revived very old memories in me. I was barely six when I first saw it in the very early eighties but I never forgot Mark, with his yellow swim suit, and distinctive swim, which I always tried to imitate in the pool and sea. Although I couldn't understand a word of what was said at that time, I nevertheless still remember many of the episodes, characters, and just complete scenes. I still didn't understand what was said in the run in PinkTV as it was dubbed in French, but I enjoyed it no less, and it was nice to find out that my friends have the same fund childhood memories. I'm glad I know the series name at last :-)

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.

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!

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.