Plot

Around the turn of the 20th century, British archaeologist Professor Aitken and his son, Charles, have chartered a ship called the Texas Rose to take them out to sea. There, they plan to dive underwater in a diving bell designed by American engineer Greg Collinson. Although everyone aboard the ship, including Greg, thinks that the Professors Aitken are just going to look at fish, Charles and his father are secretly searching for proof of the existence of the lost city of Atlantis. He and Greg find it on their first dive, and then some. First, they are attacked by a reptilian sea monster, which comes through the bottom of the diving bell, but Greg is able to fend it off by sticking a live wire into its mouth, electrocuting it.

Immediately following this, Greg and Charles discover a statue made of solid gold, which is then hoisted up to the Texas Rose. Deckhands Grogan, Fenn and Jacko desire the gold statue for themselves and hatch a scheme to steal it. Grogan cuts the line to the diving bell, trapping Greg and Charles at the bottom of the sea, and then someone (we don’t see who but are meant to think it was one of the three mutinous sailors) shoots the elder Professor Aitken in the back. As Grogan goes to attack the Texas Rose’s captain, Daniels, a gigantic octopus known as the Sentinel, sent by the inhabitants of Atlantis, attacks the ship. Daniels, Grogan, Fenn and Jacko are kidnapped by the octopus and taken to Atlantis along with Greg and Charles in the diving bell.

The six castaways find themselves washed ashore within a vast, air-filled cavern beneath the ocean floor. Here they are greeted by Atmir, one of the Atlantean ruling class, and the helmeted, spear-wielding Guardians, who promise to take them “to safety”. En route, Greg, Charles and the others are told by Atmir that Atlantis is not just one city, but seven cities, the first three of which have been “lost beneath the waters of the outer limits forever.” Atmir takes the surface-dwellers through the causeway, a prehistoric swamp inhabited by a millipede-like monster called the Mogdaan, and then on to Vaar, the fourth city. Once here, Greg and the others are thrown into a dungeon — all, that is, except for Charles. As a scientist, he is deemed intelligent enough to be granted an audience with Atraxon and Atsil, the king and queen of Atlantis in Chinqua, the fifth city. They wish to make Charles one of them, and explain how they originally came from Mars and are using their mind powers to shape human history.

Meanwhile, Greg and the Texas Rose’s crew make friends with Briggs, the captain of the Mary Celeste and unofficial leader of the Atlanteans’ human slaves, and his daughter, Delphine. Briggs informs them they are to be slaves to protect Vaar from the constant attacks of creatures known as Zaargs. They will be given gills so they can never leave Atlantis and return to the oxygen-rich surface world, as the Atlanteans, being originally from Mars, breathe a different atmosphere. A convenient Zaarg attack allows Greg and the others to escape their cell, but also claims the life of Briggs. Her father dead, a distraught Delphine helps Greg and the crew escape from their cells and shows them a way into Atraxon’s palace in Chinqua through the sewers so they can rescue Charles.

Greg, Daniels and Grogan go with her, leaving Fenn and Jacko to guard the tunnel entrance. Charles is enjoying his newfound status amongst the intellectual Atlanteans and may not even want to be rescued, especially once they show him the “utopia” they aim to create on Earth, leaving him drunk with power. Even if they manage to find and rescue him, they still have to get out of the city, through the causeway past the Mogdaan, and then figure out how to get back up to the surface world. There’s also the matter of figuring out just who shot Charles’ father.

Cast

Doug McClure as Greg Collinson

Peter Gilmore as Charles Aitken

Shane Rimmer as Captain Daniels

Lea Brodie as Delphine

Hal Galili as Grogan

John Ratzenberger as Fenn

Derry Power as Jacko

Michael Gothard as Atmir

Daniel Massey as Atraxon

Cyd Charisse as Atsil

Robert Brown as Captain Briggs

Donald Bisset as Professor Aitken

Novelization

The novelization by Paul Victor was published in 1978, as a tie-in to the film, by Futura Publications Limited. Told entirely from the point of view of Greg Collinson, it follows the movie more or less faithfully. Notable changes, however, include the addition of a fourth crew member, Chuck, and the attack by flying fish — which in the film occurs as the surface-dwellers are escaping across the causeway — happens much earlier during their approach to Vaar.

Release Date: 1978

Duration: 96 min

Source: Wikipedia

Plot

A Greek fisherman named Demetrios (Sal Ponti, under the screen name of Anthony Hall) and his father rescue Princess Antillia (Joyce Taylor) from a shipwreck without knowing that in fact she is from the technologically advanced civilization of Atlantis. Upon returning her to her civilization, Demetrios is placed into slavery.

It turns out that the King Cronus (Edgar Stehli) is being manipulated by an ambitious usurper, Zaren (John Dall), using an evil sorcerer (Frank DeKova) who wishes to use the resources of Atlantis to take over the world. The slaves of Atlantis have been mining crystals which absorb the sun’s rays and can then be used to fire heat rays.

Through the help of a kind, spiritual high priest named Azar (Edward Platt), Demetrios is able to rescue the princess from the wicked spells of the sorcerer and his malicious pretender to the throne, and escape from the spectacular destruction of Atlantis in the climactic finale.

Cast

Sal Ponti (as Anthony Hall) as Demetrios
Joyce Taylor as Princess Antillia
John Dall as Zaren
William Smith as Captain of the Guard
Edward Platt as Azar the High Priest
Frank DeKova as Sonoy the Astrologer
Berry Kroeger as Surgeon
Edgar Stehli as King Cronus [Kronos]
Wolfe Barzell as Petros, Demetrios’ Father
Jay Novello as Xandros the Greek Slave
Paul Frees as Narrator/multiple voices

Release Date: 1961

Duration: 90 mins

Source: Wikipedia

The story is very loosely based on the children’s novel, The King’s Fifth, by Scott O’Dell.

Left to right: Pedro, Sancho and Mendoza

The series is a mix of ancient South American history, archaeology, and science fiction. The characters discover many lost technological wonders of the Mayans, Inca, and Olmecs, including a solar powered ship (the Solaris) and The Golden Condor, a huge solar-powered airship, capable of traveling considerable distances under the sun’s power alone. They are constantly pursued by antagonists Gomez and Gaspard, who are also in search of the Cities of Gold.

The Cities of Gold, of which there are seven, were built by the Emperor of Mu out of fear of a global war which would destroy civilization. Such a war indeed broke out, destroying the Empires of Mu and Atlantis when they used the “weapons of the sun” (implied to be thermonuclear weapons). The Seven Cities of Gold hold copies of books in their “Universal Libraries” as well as powerful artifacts, including the “Great Legacy”, a portable fusion reactor. Other elements of this technology turn up in unexpected places, like the Solaris in Tao’s home island, Esteban’s and Zia’s medallions as keys to the Cities, or Tao’s jar as an important piece of the Great Legacy.

Reminiscences of this ancient story are present in Inca legends written on golden Quipu, which only Zia can read. This triggers an obsessive quest for the Cities of Gold on the part of the Spaniards Mendoza (very loosely based on Pedro de Mendoza), Gomez, Perez and Francisco Pizarro.

	Solar ship Solaris, in conventonal propulsion mode

Esteban seeks his long-lost father and is tied to Mendoza (who rescued Esteban from a sinking ship as a baby): he might know the whereabouts of Esteban’s father and holds half of Esteban’s medallion. Esteban seems to have a magical ability to make the Sun appear, which proves an invaluable asset throughout the series.

Zia also seeks her father, from whom she was taken as a very young girl. She has a medallion similar to the one Esteban carries.

Tao seeks signs of his ancestors; he possesses an encyclopedia about their lost technology and a “mysterious jar which no one can open” (the Great Legacy’s cooling or control rod system).

The Golden Condor
English logo

The Olmecs are descendants of survivors of the global war who hid under their mountain. Only their elite were able to survive, suspended in cryogenic hibernation. The Olmecs do not appear to be human (or if they were Human, it is implied they have horribly mutated from the fallout of the Nuclear war that destroyed their ancestors); they are short, thin and have pointed ears and enlarged frontal bones. Much of their facial characteristics resemble to chimpanzees and they are shown to shriek and scurry like these animals. They are highly intelligent but devious and selfish. Lead by their king, Menator, the Olmecs seek an artifact called the “Great Legacy” in order to power their cryogenic systems, as well as samples of healthy cells from the children to combat their mutations and sterility. Their technology is generally inferior to that of the modern day, with weapons such as spears and swords used. They do however maintain some elements of their advanced technology heritage such as the stasis and medical technology used to keep the elite of the Olmecs in suspended animation until such time as they can be revived, powered by what appears to be a geothermal power system. This power system is destroyed in an escape by the Children and Mendoza, starting a frantic search by the Olmecs for the fusion reactor core (the Great Treasure) hidden in the City of Gold.

They also have a single flying machine that appears to use very similar technology to that of the Golden Condor, however it is armed with some kind of particle beam or focused heat weapon of great power. The more senior of the Olmecs are also very familiar with the technology inside the Mysterious city of Gold, manipulating it easily to liberate their Great Treasure…but in the process setting off automated defense systems which engage and cripple the Olmecs flying machine, forcing them to beat a hasty retreat.

Eventually, the Olmecs succeed, at great cost, in taking control of the Great Legacy, but it begins to melt down without the moderation provided by Tao’s jar. A Chernobyl-like accident is avoided by the personal sacrifice of Esteban’s father who, acting as the High Priest of the Cities, dies replacing the jar.

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