Man from Atlantis is an American science fiction television series produced by Herbert F. Solow and starring Patrick Duffy as an amnesiac man given the name of Mark Harris, believed to be the only surviving citizen of the lost civilization of Atlantis.
He possesses exceptional abilities, including the ability to breathe underwater and withstand extreme depth pressures and superhuman strength.
The series ran for 13 episodes on the NBC Network during the 1977-1978 season, following on from four made-for-television movies that aired in 1977.
The series originally aired in South Africa on the old SABC service in the early 1980s. It later aired on TopTV's Fox Retro channel.
Man from Atlantis premiered on Fox Retro on Monday 7 February 2011, at 19h40. The first four episodes are 100 minutes long; thereafter the remaining 13 hour-long episodes air in a double bill, weekly.
Fox Repeats
Mondays: 02h45, 11h45
Saturdays: 20h30
Sundays: 12h35
Synopsis
After a heavy storm, a young man (Patrick Duffy) is washed up on a Californian beach, where he is discovered by beautiful Dr Elizabeth Merrill (Belinda Montgomery). The doctor rushes him to a naval hospital and soon realises that this is no ordinary specimen.
He is, in fact, the Man from Atlantis, last survivor of the lost continent, with piercing green eyes, gills instead of lungs and webbed hands and feet. He can also swim faster than a dolphin and has superhuman strength and senses.
When his health returns, she christens him Mark Harris and recruits him to join her at the Foundation for Oceanic Research.
Together they take to the deep in super-sub Cetacean to do battle with extraterrestrial life, evil scientists and threats of any kind to the US government.
The villain of the piece is mad scientist Mr. Schubert (Victor Buono), who hatches evil plots in a habitat several miles below the sea.
Time travel takes our hero back to the Wild West and Romeo and Juliet's Italy, while a mudworm develops human characteristics and the wicked Mr Schubert melts the polar ice caps.