[2] The series stars 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.

His hands and feet are webbed, his eyes are unusually sensitive to light, and he swims using his arms and legs in a fashion suggestive of an underwater butterfly stroke or dolphin kick.

The supporting cast includes Belinda J. Montgomery as Dr. Elizabeth Merrill (who had nursed Mark Harris back to health) and Alan Fudge as C. W. Crawford, Jr., both of the Foundation for Oceanic Research.

Tigar and Beir did not appear in the weekly series, and the Cetacean now inexplicably seemed to be under the command of Mark himself despite the fact he was not a naval officer.

The series added an ensemble cast as "The Crew of the Cetacean", variably consisting of Richard Laurance Williams, J. Victor Lopez, Jean Marie Hon, Anson Downes, Penelope Willis and Brandyn Artise.

[4] The tone of the weekly series shifted away from the relatively serious science fiction tone of the TV movies and further into escapist fantasy, not too dissimilar to Star Trek with Mark as the adventurer captain of the Cetacean like Captain Kirk was of the USS Enterprise (Man from Atlantis producer and co-creator Herbert Solow was one of the people responsible for bringing Star Trek to the screen in the 1960s).

[5] In the 12th episode, a new female lead character, Dr. Jenny Reynolds (played by Lisa Blake Richards) briefly replaced Elizabeth Merrill.

[6] The Foundation for Oceanic Research headquarters building was represented by the Point Fermin lighthouse in San Pedro, California.

[10] It was at the time when the "Gang of Four" lost power to Deng Xiaoping, and science research began to get attention, along with economic development.

In the United Kingdom, Man from Atlantis was shown, in most regions, in an early Saturday evening slot on ITV starting 24 September 1977.

[15] At the same time as Marvel, the British children's magazine Look-In began publishing a comic strip; this one was drawn by Mike Noble (and later John Cooper for one story).

[18] Series star Patrick Duffy wrote a sequel novel, titled simply Man from Atlantis, which was published in June 2016.