"Man from Atlantis" The Naked Montague (TV Episode 1977) Poster

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5/10
Romeo and Juliet and Mark Harris
ODDBear1 July 2013
Warning: Spoilers
Didn't William Shakespeare have a rough first draft of his classic "Romeo and Juliet" where a mysterious water-breather popped up and rectified things in the end? Well if he didn't; he should have :))

This is another "Man From Atlantis" episode where Mark gets transported back in time. It worked like a charm with "Shoot-Out at Land's End" so why not give it another go! Here; Mark gets trapped in an underwater cave and suddenly wakes up in the 14th century just when Romeo and Juliet are about to tie the knot.

It was a bit silly in "Shoot-Out..." but it was an excellent, fast paced and funny episode. Here it's mostly just silly, not that funny and oh so weird. But give full credit to Duffy as he plays this absolutely straight when Mark gets caught up in this classic and tragic love story. Decent support is given by familiar names like John Shea (the future Lex Luthor in "Lois and Clark"), Lisa Eilbacher ("An Officer and a Gentleman") and Ahna Capri ("Enter the Dragon") who all perform admirably in what is essentially a very strange and silly entry in this wholly uneven adventure series.

I'll admit the sets are good and there's a plausible aura of authenticity in it's 14th century setting. Duffy and the rest look sorta' funny in those tights and medieval garb but the costumes are solid. If you let yourself get into the story it's actually fairly well played out and it's nice to see Romeo and Juliet have a happy ending for once.

But don't kid yourself; you're going to be rolling your eyes at least a few times in disbelief. But this is, I guess, part of the charm with a series like "Man From Atlantis". You never know what they're gonna come up with next and it must have been a hoot for viewers to tune in when this aired initially.

If I were able to transport myself back to '77 and had a whole lot of cash to spread around I'd easily bankroll another season of this show just to see what they'd come up with.

Not a good episode per se but it sure is interesting and fun in many ways.
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4/10
Definitely one of the strangest episodes. Of anything. Ever.
RikerDonegal19 August 2015
Definitely one of the strangest episodes. Of anything. Ever. This is the one where Mark finds himself in the world of Romeo and Juliet?! The guest cast are terrific, and obviously enjoying themselves, but the story doesn't really work. Both in terms of how Mark came to be involved, and in terms of the mechanics of what happens between the characters. The feud is used to drive the conflict and results in the villain being a one-note caricature, which is boring to watch. The Juliet-fakes-her-death idea is added without an real effort to make it make sense and (for no good reason) the Friar makes the choice to keep the truth from Mark. All of this is just frustrating to watch. As is the moment where Mark and Romeo are locked up in prison. Mark wasn't doing anything, and Romeo was only defending himself. And they had plenty of witnesses.

The scenes of the crew back at the Cetacean are uniformly terrible. Flat and badly acted. And speaking of the Cetacean… every time I watch an MFA episode (and it's been a couple of years, I think) I am fascinated by the command structure on that submarine. I mean, who exactly is in charge down there? It seems like Mark is the captain every time he comes aboard, but in his absence it seems like Elizabeth is in charge. Expect that CW (who is not even on the sub!!) completely overrules Elizabeth's orders in this one.

Speaking of CW there's a small subplot where CW contacts the Russians to get help. This storyline pops up a couple of times and… then vanishes. Nothing comes of it.

The shots of Jomo underwater clearly aren't underwater.

Marks leaves the world of Romeo and returns to the Cetacean. And, a few scenes later, makes another journey to the world of R&J to try to bring the story to a happy ending. Upon returning to the Cetacean yet again, nobody (of course) believes his odd tale. However, since it seems really easy for Mark to travel back and forth we can safely assume that anybody could travel back with him. But, no, this is never mentioned. And, instead, the conversation is played for laughs. This kind of woolly thinking is one of the major problems the series has.

4/10
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10/10
Enjoyable episode
glenn-whitelaw19 July 2021
I enjoyed this episode tbh. This was a great series when it first aired in the UK in the 70s and has lost none of its charm although the premise becomes more scifi. Alot of people may dismiss it but think of how star trek used history and real people and then you realise it isn't so far fetched.
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