News: Patrick Duffy's MAN FROM ATLANTIS Novel Due 2016

Patrick Duffy, star of the short-lived 1976-77 Man From Atlantis television series, has long talked about writing a novel based on the series, exploring the origins of his character, Mark Harris. Now it appears that he's finally done so, with the book scheduled for release in June of 2016.

Dive deeper than ever before and discover the origins of The Man from Atlantis.

When TV unveiled the series Man from Atlantis no one knew the how, where and why of Mark Harris.  Over time the show’s star Patrick Duffy formulated his own version of the history of Mark and his people.  Here at last is the book that gives every reader and fan of the show the life and mythology of Atlantis, who they were and where they came from. Patrick Duffy’s close connection to his fictional character makes this a behind the scenes fantasy story.

Mark Harris, the Man from Atlantis, has been quietly living under the protection of Dr. Elizabeth Merrill who saved his life in 1976. By studying his abilities the two have contributed countless advances for mankind’s development. Only a select few know his true identity.

Jason the whiz kid of the science lab.

Stacy the bright young intern–who is constantly flustered by Mark’s presence.

Dr. Nagashima, a master of oceanic knowledge who Elizabeth lured from Japan to join her inner circle.

Then their California ocean side laboratory is shaken when several attempts are made upon Mark’s life. He discovers the assailants have powers similar to his and he is lead into the uncharted depths of the oceans. As he discovers his past Mark’s origins and genealogy finally come to the surface

The novel, simply titled Man From Atlantis, is already available for pre-order through online booksellers like Amazon.

MAN FROM ATLANTIS: My Review From '77

Apparently, I was destined to author this blog. On a recent visit to my parents' house, my mom presented me with this recently unearthed, Junior High-era essay that I wrote in the Autumn of 1977, reviewing the Man From Atlantis television series. Attached to this grammatically-challenged document was a first place ribbon - so, obviously, this was written for some sort of classroom competition.

I think my grammar is slightly better these days, but I'm surprised at how otherwise familiar my writing style appears here. I'm also quite pleased at my note that the show had a lousy time slot; at 13, I was clearly reading enough TV Guides and Starlogs to understand the role of scheduling on a series' success or failure.

July's Space Babe: Jean-Marie Hon

July's Space Babe is pretty Jean-Marie Hon, who co-starred in two Space: 1970 favorites: Ark II and Man From Atlantis. On the Saturday morning Filmation series, Ark II, Jean-Marie portrayed the youthful and idealistic scientist Ruth, who traveled a post-Holocaust America with her equally-idealistic companions Jonah, Samuel, and talking chimp, Adam, bringing technological and humanitarian aid to the scattered remnants of civilization. On Man From Atlantis, she was Jane, communications officer aboard the advanced research submarine, Cetacean, providing back-up support for aqua-mariner Mark Harris's undersea adventures.

I've been able to find out very little about the lovely Ms Hon online. She was born in 1955 in San Francisco, and acted on television from 1976 (Ark II) through 1985, appearing in TV movies and in guest shots on shows like Hawaii 5-0 and The Hardy Boys. According to what little I've been able to uncover in my Internet safaris, she retired from acting to raise a family and became a pharmacist. She appeared in the supplemental interview material on the Ark II DVD set from BCI a few years back, and still looked beautiful.

MAN FROM ATLANTIS (1977) Tie-In Paperbacks

As I've mentioned before, as an avid reader from age five, one of the few Space:1970-era collectibles I really made an effort to buy as a kid (and still do) were the film and TV tie-in paperbacks. In those pre-home video/pre-cable days, it was virtually the only way to re-experience the movies and TV shows you enjoyed (well, a lot of us made audio recordings on cassette, too). Fortunately, pretty much all of the major 70s TV sci-fi properties got tie-in novels: Star Trek, Space: 1999, Battlestar Galactica - even Buck Rogers got two, and the Planet Of the Apes show got four.

In 1977, Dell Books commissioned veteran tie-in author Richard Woodley (The Bad News Bears, Slap Shot, Con Air) to pen four paperback novelizations of the NBC Man From Atlantis telefilms: Man From Atlantis, Death Scouts, Killer Spores and Ark Of Doom (The Disappearances). The first two of these books hit the racks just around the time the weekly series premiered in Autumn, and I remember saving up my Junior High allowance of 50¢ a week to buy them when they came out. Woodley was a solid wordsmith, so they're pretty decent adaptations - and good reads, too.

The second two volumes, Killer Spores & Ark Of Doom, didn't make their way to bookstores until 1978, and the show was already off the air. This probably explains why they were published without the MfA logo or numbering. The nicely painted cover artwork by Vincent DiFate (replacing the photo covers of Volumes 1 & 2) does portray the likeness of actor Patrick Duffy, but otherwise appear to be designed to attract the eye of general sci-fi readers rather than just fans of the recently-cancelled show.

I didn't pick up these last two books in '78 (I wonder if their distribution was less pervasive than the earlier books?), but have added them to my library recently, thanks - in part - to Star Kid "Caeric ArcLight," who kindly sent me a nice copy of #3.

MAN FROM ATLANTIS (1977) "Killer Spores" TV Promo

Here's a fun YouTube find! An original 1977 promo for the third Man From Atlantis telefilm, "Killer Spores," starring Patrick Duffy! Enjoy!

MAN FROM ATLANTIS (1977) Comic Art By Mike Zeck

From the first issue of Marvel Comics' Man From Atlantis comic book (dated February 1978) comes this pin-up portrait of the crew of The Cetacean submersible by the great Mike Zeck. I like it, but I'm not sure who he was using as a model for Dr. Elizabeth Merrill - it's certainly not Belinda Montgomery!

MAN FROM ATLANTIS (1977) Jigsaw Puzzle Art

Apparently manufactured and released only in England, these jigsaw puzzles based on the Patrick Duffy aquatic adventure series, Man From Atlantis, sported some funky - and fantastical - artwork. If only the show had presented such spectacles as a giant squid octopus attacking the Cetacean, or Mark Harris duking it out underwater with the Creature from the Black Lagoon's oceanic cousins outside their futuristic sea-city....

I know it's a longshot - but does anyone know who the artist was?

MAN FROM ATLANTIS 1979 British Annual

Another short-lived 70s genre show that garnered a hardcover UK "Annual" was Man From Atlantis, starring Patrick Duffy as the titular undersea adventurer. As with the Space: 1999 Annuals that I recently covered here on the site, I've never actually seen this book in person, but I presume that its contents were the usual mix of comic book-type stories and short articles about the cast and characters.

Someday, I'd like to track down all of these books and add them to my Space: 1970 library....

MAN FROM ATLANTIS (1977) Promo Art

Here's an unusual bit of promotional art for the Man from Atlantis television series. I'm not sure where it was used (although I'm guessing it was a magazine cover or interior illustration), nor can I quite make out the signature. Still, it's pretty cool!

If anyone has more information on this piece, please post it in the comments - I always like to know where this stuff comes from!

DVD Review: MAN FROM ATLANTIS - THE COMPLETE TELEVISION SERIES (1977)

In 1977, NBC followed-up four TV movies about the water-breathing superhero known as "Mark Harris" with a single-season, hour-long weekly television series of 13 episodes. Now, Warner Archive has brought that series to Manufacture-On-Demand DVD with the 4-disc, Man From Atlantis - The Complete Television Series set.

As the series begins, there have been some changes made in the format used in the TV movies (reviewed HERE). Mark Harris (Patrick Duffy) has become more acclimated to the surface world and has taken on a more active role with the government-allied Foundation For Oceanic Research. No longer just a test subject for scientist Dr. Elizabeth Merrill (the lovely Belinda J. Montgomery, who, inexplicably, is absent from the final two episodes), he now commands the Foundation's deep-sea submersible, The Cetacean, and carries out missions at the behest of Foundation Director C.W. Crawford (Alan Fudge). Many of these missions consist of foiling the evil plans of capricious capitalist Mr. Schubert (the great Victor Buono) to accumulate wealth and power from the sea.

With the Cetacean's newly-redesigned command deck and presence of a regular bridge crew (including Communications Officer Jean-Marie Hon of Ark II), the weekly Man From Atlantis somewhat resembles an underwater Star Trek (the show's creators had strong ties to that seminal sci-fi series), but the overall tone of the show was much lighter than either its interstellar inspiration or the preceding Man From Atlantis teleflicks. In fact, while the show looks great - with consistently nice photography, great sets (the interior of the Cetacean submersible and the Foundation's underground headquarters are both really slick, by 70s TV standards), and marvelous, Old School miniature effects - the stories are no longer science fiction, and tend instead toward aggressively non-violent, kid-friendly fantasy.

With stories featuring mischievous imps, friendly (and unconvincing) sea beasts, misunderstood giants, mermaids, pirates and magical time-travel, as well as far too much Mister Schubert (who figures in 5 of the first 7 episodes) - a character that had been slightly menacing in the first TV movie, but was too genial, comic and physically unimposing to present much of a threat on the series - the weekly Man From Atlantis lacks any semblance of dramatic weight or real sense of adventure. The cast remains appealing, and the character of aqua-man Harris is very likable, but the weekly show is a definite step down from the four TV movies that preceded it, and just reeks of network interference based on timidity and/or condescension.

Guest stars in this single season include Laurette Spang (Battlestar Galactica), Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, Dee Wallace, Pat Morita, Ted Cassidy, Dick Gautier, Pernell Roberts, Rene Auberjonois, John Shea and Billy Barty, among other familiar faces.

Warner Archive's presentation is remarkably nice. I don't know how much actual remastering was done on these episodes, but the 1.33:1, "full frame" transfers are surprisingly bright and clean, with only minimal occurrences of visible speckling or other detritus. The episodes are complete and uncut, and spread across four discs. The Dolby Digital 2.0 Mono audio is clear and free of distortion or distracting hiss.

If you grew up with Man From Atlantis and have the same sort of nostalgia for it that I do, the technical quality of these Warner Archive MOD discs is very nice, and definitely worth the somewhat higher price. But if you've never seen the show, or memories of it are somewhat vague, I'm not sure how well it will hold up. It is very much a 70s genre show aimed at a young audience, and while it's kinda fun and definitely charming, it's not really good science fiction. I enjoyed revisiting it and am pleased to have it in my collection; your mileage may vary (as they say).

BUY:  Man From Atlantis:  Complete Television Series  (Remastered, 4 Disc)

DVD Review: MAN FROM ATLANTIS: THE COMPLETE TV MOVIE COLLECTION (1977)

In the spring of 1977, NBC aired a made-for-television science fiction movie about a mysterious man who was discovered washed up on a California beach after a storm. He nearly dies, but a beautiful marine biologist is able to save his life when she realizes that he breathes underwater. No one - not even the aquatic stranger himself - knows where he comes from; the best guess the government super computers can make is that he might be the last survivor of the sunken continent of Atlantis.

 

That telefilm, Man From Atlantis, buoyed by the charismatic Patrick Duffy (pre-DALLAS) as the amnesiac sub-mariner, was a ratings hit, and the network commissioned three additional 2-hour movies, which aired throughout that Summer, followed by a weekly, hour-long series in the Fall. Now, Warner Archive has remastered and packaged those first four installments as "The Complete TV Movies Collection," and fans of the series should be very pleased with the result.

In the first, Man From Atlantis, the sea-born stranger adopts the monicker "Mark Harris," and helps the U.S. Navy foil the diabolical plans of super villain Mister Schubert (the always entertaining Victor Buono), who intends to conquer the world. In the second film, Man From Atlantis II: Death Scouts, Mark - now working for the independent Foundation For Oceanic Research with his lovely savior, Dr. Elizabeth Merrill (Belinda J. Montgomery), must deal with a pair of hostile extraterrestrial body-snatchers - the vanguard for an alien invasion force. In Man From Atlantis III: Killer Spores, a returning space probe brings a lethal microscopic life-form back to Earth, and in Man From Atlantis IV: The Disappearances, the world's top scientists - including Elizabeth - are kidnapped by a mysterious organization.

All four TV movies are fairly entertaining, if a bit slow by today's standards, with decent scripts grounded in science and pseudo-science. Much mileage is gotten out of Mark's naivete/innocence and his "stranger in a strange land" situation. Duffy's charisma carries the flicks pretty well, and there's plenty of rather amazing (for the time) underwater action sequences, and plenty of classic, Old School special effects. Most notably, the unique submersible vehicle called The Cetacean, which is introduced in the pilot film as property of the villain, but is soon co-opted by the heroes, becoming Mark's mobile base of operations.

The two-disc, manufactured-on-demand DVD-R set from Warner Archive sports newly-remastered, "full-frame" 1.33:1 transfers. Picture quality is pretty remarkable for TV films of this vintage; there are a few minor nicks, specks and scratches, but nothing particularly distracting. Colors are surprisingly bright, and details are quite sharp. The 2.0 Dolby mono audio is clear and crisp, with no notable hiss or pops. Overall, it's a high-quality TV-on-DVD presentation.

Obviously, like most everything else I cover on this blog, I loved these movies when I was 13, and I am very aware that my childhood nostalgia for the Man From Atlantis colors my opinion of these TV movies today. If you grew up with the show back in the late 1970s - or just have a fondness for genre television from that era - you may want to pick these discs up. The presentation is extremely good, considering that the source material is 34 years-old. I happen to think they're a lot of fun, and you might, too.

Note: The complete 13-episode weekly series is available from Warner Archive, too, and my review of that DVD set will be posted here and at my DVD Late Show site shortly.

BUY: Man From Atlantis:  Complete TV Movies Collection  (Remastered, 2 Disc)

Diving Into The MAN FROM ATLANTIS (1977)

I received my Man From Atlantis DVDs - both the TV Movies Collection and Complete Series set - from Warner Archive (thanks, Matt!) last Friday, and spent a large chunk of my weekend submerged in its 70's retro TV charms. I will be posting a full review later this week, both here (with screenshots) and at my DVD Late Show site (without screenshots), but I wanted to make a few observations here that might not make it into my formal review.

One thing I noticed was that while the 90-minute TV films were science fiction, and had plots based around scientific (or pseudo-scientific) elements, the weekly television series was pretty much pure fantasy, with amnesiac aqua-mariner Mark Harris gallivanting around through time and space, often without even any attempt to rationalize or explain his travels. In one episode, "Shoot-Out At Land's End," he meets his identical, water-breathing twin in the Old West, but the time-shift is completely unexplained. In another, "The Naked Montague," he magically finds himself in the midst of Shakespeare's fictional Romeo and Juliet - and it's portrayed as being a "real" experience.

While the TV movies seem to be aimed at a family audience, with a little something for both parents and kids, the weekly series - probably by network dictate - seems to be purely a kid's show. There is virtually no violence at all in most episodes (even fist fights), and stories tend to be wrapped up in the most remarkably anti-climactic manner; usually by Mark just being infuriatingly calm and reasonable. For one example - "Imp," which stars Pat (Karate Kid) Morita as a mischievous - and utterly inexplicable - magical troublemaker who wreaks havoc and causes several deaths over 40 minutes... only to (SPOILER) meekly apologize and go away (to wherever he came from) once Mark gets a chance to talk to him for 30 seconds and reasonably explain to him the damage he's caused. Sigh.

The weekly show looks great, though, with consistently nice photography, great sets (the revamped interior of the Cetacean submersible and the Foundation's underground headquarters are both really slick, by 70s TV standards), and marvelous, Old School miniature effects. There's even some little bits of stop-motion here and there, handled by Gene Warren's (The Land Of the Lost) effects house.

Patrick Duffy is always likable and engaging, and Belinda J. Montgomery (who unfortunately sees her role drastically diminished once the show goes to series - and is absent entirely from the final two installments) is beautiful and sexy-smart. Victor Buono is amusing as Mark's recurring nemesis, Mr. Schubert, but he's frankly overused (he appears in five out of the first seven episodes) and far too genial to be much of a threat. In fact, he's so nonthreatening, that it really drives home the idea that NBC saw Man From Atlantis as a prime-time kiddie show, rather than a general audience science fiction adventure.

Again, I'll be writing full reviews for later in the week, but I will say that Warner Archive's "remastered" DVDs look really good. There's still plenty of specks and bits of debris on the prints, but overall picture quality is very stable and strong, with bright colors, and generally excellent detail. Stay tuned.