MAN FROM ATLANTIS I-IV (1977)

 

PHENOMENALITY: *marvelous*
MYTHICITY: *poor*
FRYEAN MYTHOS: *adventure*
CAMPBELLIAN FUNCTION: *cosmological, psychological*

Back in the seventies there was an upsurge in live-action superhero shows. The success of THE SIX MILLION DOLLAR MAN TV-films in 1973 launched the successful series the following year, and 1975's NEW ORIGINAL WONDER WOMAN also spawned its own serial. In 1977 Universal-TV optioned a handful of Marvel characters, but only the first two INCREDIBLE HULK pilot-movies led to a regular show. According to one online source, Marvel's SUB-MARINER was at least considered, and in 1978 a notice did appear in Stan Lee's "Bullpen Bulletins" to the effect that a Prince Namor pilot would be produced-- though no such pilot was ever made. While any number of internal factors could have caused the studio to decline the Atlantean prince, one of those factors could have been that by early 1978 industry insiders *might* have noted that another original-to-TV super-type with an underwater theme was due to be cancelled after four TV-movies and thirteen episodes.

The first film, MAN FROM ATLANTIS, introduced audiences to an amnesiac young man (Patrick Duffy) who's found passed out on the beach. ER doctors can't tell what's wrong with him, but by chance an oceanography expert, Elizabeth Merrill (Belinda J. Montgomery), stops by the ER room and realizes that the fellow's "dessicated lungs" suggest that he may actually be a water-breathing humanoid. Submersion in water does revive the stranger, but he does not know who he is. Through her military connections Elizabeth is able to get the odd man-- who also has webbed fingers-- assigned to her laboratory, where she examines his water-breathing propensities, gives him the name "Mark Harris," and speculates that he may be the last survivor of legendary Atlantis. Though Mark learns English quickly, he understands nothing about surface civilization and usually appears in a state of passive bewilderment. A Navy officer wants to use Mark for undersea missions, and up to a point Mark cooperates, though he's not entirely cool with human disregard for the oceans. 

During one Navy mission, Mark stumbles across an undersea city. However, it's not Atlantis, but a modern construct by an obsessed mad scientist, Mister Schubert (Victor Buono). Schubert is a modern Captain Nemo, so enchanted with the seas that he has no use for humankind and plans to decimate surface populations with the help of his cadre of brainwashed scientists. Mark prevents Schubert's scheme but Schubert escapes to appear in later episodes. A grateful Navy releases Mark from their oversight, and though Mark considers returning to the depths, he's bonded with Elizabeth and a few other surface-dwellers to the extent that he stays with them at the laboratory, investigating oceanic phenomena.

The second outing, "Death Scouts," is possibly the best of the four TV-movies. The audience sees a trio of divers taken over by alien (possibly microbe-sized) beings,  though one of the three perishes. Mark and Elizabeth encounter the two alien-possessed humans and are deceived into believing that they share Mark's origins, partly because they too have webbed hands. The aliens do their best to convince Mark that he's one of them, and that gives the story the most emotional resonance. Mark, despite not being the most emotive individual around, keenly wants to believe that he's found his origins, and he argues with Elizabeth when she points out inconsistencies. In the end the aliens-- whose aims were never clear to me-- perish, as do the bodies of their hosts, leaving Mark with no answers.

"Killer Spores" unfortunately repeats the basic idea of "Death Scouts" with only minor revisions. The titular spores are Earth-organisms that have existed in the sea's depths for generations untold, and though Mark remembers nothing about his own background he remembers having seen the spores conquer animals in the sea. For vague reasons the spores begin preying on surface-humans, whom they can turn into virtual zombies, though sometimes they merely cause strange emotional outbursts. Mark is eventually able to communicate with the spores and talk them into ceasing their assault.

Last comes "The Disappearances," and this one seems to be determined to recycle the "enslaved scientists" trope from the Schubert movie. This obsessed mastermind is the mundanely-named "Doctor Mary Smith" (Darleen Carr), but she isn't concerned with wiping out humankind. She plans to launch an arc into space with her captive scientists in order to colonize a better world, and Mark must find some way to stop her and her gang of henchmen. The daughter of the show's producer has a role as Mary's more virtuous sister.

All of the ATLANTIS movies and episodes were the only items produced by "Solow Production Company," and the regular show's failure presumably led to the company's demise. All of the movies move with a snail's pace because they're horribly underwritten in terms of providing strong plot action and character conflict; the hour-long episodes may be a little better on that score, though I've no real memory of the show from my original viewings. The man with his name on the company was Herb Solow, whose most famous credit was that of a producer on Original Star Trek. Solow was not involved with the creative end of that series in more than minor ways, like suggesting the use of the "Captain's Log" voiceovers. Apparently Solow learned next to nothing from his association with the Roddenberry series, and I must say that my impression of Solow from the "backstage-at-the-Trek" book he co-authored is that he was more concerned with having things run smoothly than providing entertainment for an audience. In these four movies there are only infrequent inspired moments-- the world-weary performance of Victor Buono as Nemo-wannabe Schubert, or the attempt to describe the strange civilization of the Death Scouts. These moments, and a few factoids about the world of the seven seas, keep ATLANTIS from being as brain-dead as a completely ordinary series like THE POWERS OF MATTHEW STARR. But there are not enough bright spots to give these four films more than a poor rating for mythicity.