Poseidon Quickies: Oh "Man..."

You know, I really pride myself on having unpredictable content and coming up with surprises along the way; unexpected subjects that seem to pop up out of left field. But lately I seem to have fallen into a definite pattern, spinning my wheels like a bald tire during the height of a Detroit winter! Ha ha! I've been caught in the continuing spiral of a whirlpool of 1970s sci-fi television. So here we go again with a photo essay on a show I never, ever watched during its initial run, but which recently caught my (roving) eye.

When the prime-time soap Dallas premiered in a five-part miniseries in April of 1978, revitalizing the genre and emerging as "must see" television, one of its stars was young Patrick Duffy. Heretofore only having done bit roles and TV commercials, Duffy had been given the lead in his own television series, Man from Atlantis, the year before. Thus, viewers who were attempting to become familiar with Bobby Ewing on Dallas were also (possibly, since there weren't too many of them!) seeing him wriggle around in the water on Atlantis, which aired through June of '78! It was only the premature cancellation of Man from Atlantis that freed Duffy up to portray Bobby, a career-defining role on a staggeringly successful show. I watched Dallas from its inception, but for whatever reason had never once seen Man from Atlantis. Until last week...!

Inspiration for Man from Atlantis sort of sprang from attempts at getting a rendition of Namor, The Sub-Mariner onto TV screens. The half-human/half-Atlantean anti-hero had been created in 1939 and endured with slightly-tweaked incarnations through the years. One issue facing creators was the fact that Mr. Spock of Star Trek (then killing it in syndicated reruns) had a similar look, with arched brows and pointy ears. It was feared that confusion might come about if he were represented on screen the way he appeared in comics. (If it matters, the cover price of this book was actually $0.12, not $0.02. It was cropped too closely.)

While some folks were worrying about just how to work out any potential Namor show, another project with several similar attributes came to light. (This comic came after the show was developed. The show wasn't based on a print character.) A series of TV-movies were developed with Patrick Duffy as a man washed ashore who is discovered to have webbed hands and toes and who breathes water (but can eventually remain outside of it for limited periods of time.)

The movies were rated high enough that a regular series was created, with Duffy continuing his role. Before it even premiered, it was met with a certain level of derision by critics (as many sci-fi series were then, even in the wake of Star Wars, 1977.)

Sadly, the character on the series never wore a skimpy suit like the one shown in the comic adaptations! He was virtually always in a mid-thigh-length, terry-cloth suit. But, as I have recently found out, that unusual suit did occasionally have its own benefits. Let's begin the exhibit!

As you can see from this moment in the first TV-movie, Duffy was in exemplary physical condition for this role.

He was compelled to shave his chest (and more) for the part, initially doing so in the shower with a razor, but later switching to an electric model.

This type of fine-tuned physique was atypical of most actors, even leading actors, at that time.

Not only did Duffy need to eat right and work out to stay in shape. He suffered many other physical torments. He had to wear large green contact lenses which depicted the change between his time underwater and on the surface (the character had sensitive eyes in harsh daylight, at least initially.)

Then there were his hands, which in some shots had to be outfitted with the webbing his character possessed as a sort of mer-man.

Needless to say, he also spent a fair amount of time underwater, always with his eyes open (and with those contacts in!) and often in murky-looking water that one wouldn't be thrilled to expose one's eyes to! He also had to demonstrate a particular dolphin-like swim, which was pretty unusual (though had been previously seen from Burr DeBenning in City Beneath the Sea, 1971.)

Furthermore, in an effort to appear as though he were inhaling water, he would hold water in his nostrils and mouth to avoid any sign of air bubbles! I mean, the man was dedicated to his task at hand and it was not easy...

More than a few times, he was subjected to having to walk barefoot over rocky, rugged, dirty terrain, too! If you direct your eyes to his feet here, you're a better man than most. Ha ha!

He's seen here with series costar Belinda J. Montgomery, who was so displeased with the project that she had her lawyers work to excise her from her contractual duties. She was out of the picture after the twelfth episode, though only two more followed in any event.

Blessedly, there were quite a few instances in which Duffy was seen taking long walks towards the camera, his li'l trunks barely concealing his own buried treasure.

Sometimes certain setups unintentionally gave the hilarious impression, for a moment or two at least, that Duffy was walking around naked, almost like those old gags on variety shows and sitcoms about visits to a nudist colony!

Or take this instance with guest star Sharon Farrell (giving it her best Farrah Fawcett attempt) positioned in a way that gives Duffy a Cosmopolitan magazine centerfold appearance!

Here's what he looked like without the obscuring figure in the way.

Increasingly, Duffy might don regular street clothes or even go undercover for a given situation. Even then he looked pretty good in his jeans.

But more often than not, he could be found in his basic uniform of clingy, terry-cloth trunks with an Atlantean symbol on one thigh.

Child of the '70s & '80s that I am, I far prefer the tan look he developed after having worked outside with practically no clothes on for several months.

 

I'm general of the mind that leading men on TV (or in movies for that matter) should always wear as few articles of clothing as possible!

Here, Duffy is showing his stick to guest star Ted Neely. (Jesus...!)

We call this "The Wet Look."

One installment had Montgomery and others being kidnapped and held in a compound where exposure to a certain fountain/spa led to mind control. All the musclebound henchmen there went around shirtless at all times.

At the climax, all of the gents wound up in the fountain together!

How I missed this show in its initial airing I will never know...

Before we get to the end of this post, I did want to mention that Duffy did eventually wind up sporting several bikini-style swim trunks on Dallas if he didn't on Atlantis. He kept his figure (and allowed his body hair to grow back.)

We close with one of those long walks I referred to earlier. This one was my favorite.

I'm not sure precisely what he wore under these trunks, but it couldn't have been too much.

Ya gotta love '70s TV...!

Which brings us to, you guessed it...

The End!