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Mark goes undercover to investigate members of a carnival planning to break into a museum. The only way to break into the museum is through an underwater tunnel of which only Mark can swim. When he is approached, he refuses. The owner of the carnival is then kidnapped and threatened unless Mark helps.
Patrick Duffy, who later played the younger brother in the Ewing family in the hit series "Dallas" was the main protagonist of this show.
This show in many ways reminded me of another show that aired decades later, the "Invisible Man" series that the Scifi channel created.
Both shows have a lead/hero that has a special power. And a certain weakness. I guess that is sort of a formula for a super hero.
In the "Invisible Man", that weakness is that the hero needs regular injections of a special substance called quicksilver (definitely not mercury, in this case). If he goes very long without the shots, he goes insane for a while - and then he dies.
In the case of "The Man From Atlantis", Patrick Duffy's character had to get into water regularly. If he didn't then he would die. He didn't go insane, though. He did come close to death pretty frequently at the hands of some criminally insane bad guys on the show, however.
In water he could swim very fast. He had webbed fingers, which helped his speed. The character - not the actor!
A decade after "The Man From Atlantis" TV series dubuted, Patrick Duffy's parents were murdered. They owned a tavern. The tavern was robbed by two teenagers who shot the couple and killed them both. The teens were caught and sentenced to very lengthy prison sentences.
Patrick always played the good guy and he looked the part. He seemed like a younger version of the truly ageless and transparently good-natured actor, Bill Bixby. In every show he was in you always get the impression that he is a good guy, determined to do what is right and full of compassion for other people.
That makes the untimely death of his parents seem all the more unfair. They got the chance to enjoy the success of their son in staring "The Man From Atlantis" and, later, costarring in the megahit "Dallas". But they didn't have the chance to savor it in their golden years as long as they should have.
His performances are timeless, though - and will no doubt inspire audiences in 2016 or 2026 or whenever. In other words, whatever year they are viewed, Patrick's shows will give people a chance to lift up their chins and see a good guy in action. So in that way, they are immortalized in a way by his work.
And so is he.
Gislef
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Red_Saber
CaptainMidnight
expatriot
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