Man from Atlantis

Lore & Background

The show was produced by Herbert Franklin Solow's Solow Production Company in association with Warner Bros. Television. The Foundation for Oceanic Research headquarters was represented by the Point Fermin lighthouse in San Pedro, California. The Cetacean submarine's voyages were shown through miniature work by Gene Warren's special effects team. The weekly series introduced a Seabase with a moving cradle and enclosed walkway to avoid diving and surfacing effects.

Reader's Guide

Man from Atlantis is significant primarily for its historical role as the first American television series broadcast in the People's Republic of China on March 1, 1980, at a time when Chinese television was dominated by propaganda. Its impact in China was so high that the start time of a foreign pianist's concert was changed to avoid conflict. Academic Nick Stember noted in 2014 that many Chinese who grew up in the 1980s still remember the series with fondness. In the United Kingdom, the series aired opposite Doctor Who and actually beat it in ratings during its transmission.

Critically, the show received mixed reviews: Tom Shales of the Washington Post said it lacked adult appeal, and The New York Times criticized its campy aspects. The series is now largely forgotten in the US, as noted by Stember in 2014. It has been released on DVD and Blu-ray by Warner Archive, and was broadcast in numerous countries including Brazil, Portugal, Kuwait, the Netherlands, Germany, France, Turkey, South Africa, Italy, Norway, and Israel.

Did You Know?

• The series' producer, Herbert Solow, was one of the people responsible for bringing Star Trek to television in the 1960s.
• The pilot film was released on VHS (though the exact release date is not widely confirmed) and on Blu-ray on March 12, 2019.