Man from Atlantis
As said; I‘m a big Cult movie fan and my interests extend into the TV realm. A lot of interesting stuff was produced in the 70‘s and probably among the greatest experimentation was a short lived series called „Man From Atlantis“ which aired from 1977-1978.
The series starred Patrick Duffy („Dallas“), Alan Fudge and Belinda Montgomery and it had an interesting run. Four feature length Pilots were aired before a regular series was commissioned and then only 13 episodes were produced until it was cancelled.
In my opinion the show had a huge identity crisis and could never settle on a proper format for the hero; a mysterious man with webbed hands who has massive physical strength and can breath underwater. It‘s suggested that he could be the last of his kind from the city of Atlantis.
It was short and sweet; 4 films and 13 episodes and the Man from Atlantis vanished. Patrick Duffy hit it big in „Dallas“ but his interest with the character persisted and the actor published a novel in 2016 where he covered his origins. Duffy explained that if the novel would sell in large numbers he would be interested in doing a trilogy about this aquatic man who‘s possibly from Atlantis.
Five years ago I spent my hard earned cash on the Complete TV Movies collection and the Complete Television Series on DVD of the „Man From Atlantis“. I had a great time watching this relic of a show and I religiously wrote down reviews for each episode and posted them.
So if you‘re in an adventurous mood I‘d recommend Cult afficionados seeking this out; It‘s a genuine hoot of a show!
Here‘s my opinion of each Pilot film and episode of „Man From Atlantis“.
Man from Atlantis – Pilot #1
A man washes up on shore…
…and he’s apparently the last citizen of Atlantis.
Man from Atlantis – Death Scouts
“The Death Scouts” is an enjoyable sit-through for people interested in 70’s Sci-Fi/Adventure on the TV scale. There’s nothing impressive in the special effects department but there’s quite a lot of imagination running loose here.
Man from Atlantis – Killer Spores
The third TV movie leading up to the short lived series; this one, again, suffers from not enough material to stretch to feature length. There’s a bit of “Invasion of the Body Snatchers” here as the sci-fi aspect is put front and center but this seems better suited to the hour (i.e. 48 mins) long format of weekly episodes.
Man from Atlantis – The Disappearance
Dr. Merrill (Montgomery) is kidnapped and shipped to an island far far away. Mark (Duffy) and fellow workers at the Foundation for Oceanic Research deduce where she’s being held and head into the super sub to save her.
