Man from Atlantis story
After a violent storm at sea, the inert body of a man is found on the beach near the Naval Undersea Center. Equipped with webbed hands and gills instead of lungs, he can breathe underwater, swim faster than a dolphin and dive to depths of at least seven miles. He is nursed back to health by Doctor Elizabeth Merrill and given the name of Mark Harris. In return, Mark agrees to help the United States Navy recover a lost missing submarine carrying top military officials. Deep in the ocean, Mark discovers an enormous undersea habitat constructed by Mr. Schubert, a maniacal scientist who has gained the assistance of kidnapped scientists from various nations via mind-control bracelets and plans to destroy all the nations of the world with their own nuclear weapons. Mark foils this plan by flooding the undersea habitat and helping the scientists escape, although the fate of Schubert is unknown. He decides to return to his aquatic life but, when reflecting on his recent encounters with humans, returns to a delighted Dr. Merrill, declaring, "I have not yet learned enough."
9 total · 6 major · 3 minor
| Theme | Level | Motivation |
|---|---|---|
| aquatic ability | major | Mark had this ability in spades. |
| human vs. captivity | major | Mark the merman agreed to go on a dangerous mission to rescue submariners stranded at the bottom of the Marianas Trench in exchange for being granted his freedom from Navy confinement. In a way he was held doubly captive, because he was again held captive by Mr. Schubert in his compound on the ocean floor. |
| merpeople | major | The film followed the events surrounding the astonishing discovery of a merman who had washed up on the beach after a violent sea storm. |
| misanthropy | major | Mr. Schubert was of the conviction that humankind was beyond redemption and resolved to annihilate everyone on the surface in a nuclear conflagration. |
| nuclear holocaust | major | Mr. Schubert was of the conviction that humankind was beyond redemption and resolved to annihilate everyone on the surface in a nuclear conflagration. |
| nuclear weapons | major | Mr. Schubert hatched a nefarious plot to take remote control of all the sea going nuclear armed vessels in the world and fire off all their bombs. |
| coping with saying goodbye forever | minor | There was a tearful goodbye between Mark and Elizabeth. Well, tearful for Elizabeth at any rate, as Mark didn't have the ability to cry. |
| voyage under the sea | minor | Mark and an experienced Navy diver went to the bottom of the sea where they found Mr. Schubert's secret base. |
| World War III | minor | Mr. Schubert likened his plan to annihilate humankind in what he referred to as a final war. |