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SHARE ONFOLLOW US ONThe Wild Wild West – western TV show – page 3. The Wild Wild West Full Episode Season 4 Episode 20 – The Night of the Diva Robert Conrad as James T. West Ross Martin as Artemus Gordon Whitey Hughes Supporting Cast Doctor Miguelito Quixote Loveless (Michael Dunn) Colonel Richmond (Douglas. The Case of the Crimson Kiss Fay Allison is getting married in a few days to Dane Grover. Her roommate, Anita Bonsal, is having a clandestine affair with a married man, Carver Clement.

The Wild Wild West is an American science fictionwesterntelevision series^[1] that ran on the CBS television network for four seasons from September 17, 1965 to April 11, 1969. Two comedysatires and a comedysatiricalscience fictiontelevision films^[2][3] were made with the original cast in 1979 and 1980 and the series was adapted for a theatrical film in 1999.

Developed at a time when the television western was losing ground to the spy genre, this show was conceived by its creator, Michael Garrison, as 'James Bond on horseback.'^[4] Set during the administration of President Ulysses Grant (1869–77), the series followed Secret Service agents James West (Robert Conrad) and Artemus Gordon (Ross Martin) as they solved crimes, protected the President, and foiled the plans of megalomaniacal villains to take over part or all of the United States. The show featured a number of fantasy elements, such as the technologically advanced devices used by the agents and their adversaries. The combination of the Victorian era time-frame and the use of Verne-esque technology were accentuated even more in the 1999 film adaptation.

During its four-season run a total of 104 episodes were broadcast. The Wild Wild West blended westerns – hugely popular on television at the time (Gunsmoke, Bonanza, Wagon Train, Rawhide, etc.) – with spy adventure, which came into vogue in the wake of the highly successful James Bond films, resulting in such spy-oriented series as The Man from U.N.C.L.E. TVGuide has every full episode so you can stay-up-to-date and watch your favorite show The Wild Wild West anytime, anywhere.

Despite high ratings, the series was cancelled near the end of its fourth season as a concession to Congress over television violence.

• 2Characters
• 3Production
• 5Episodes
• 7In other media

Concept[edit]

The Bering Sea is now the Wild West as Shawn and Kris battle encroaching miners. Ken's beastly Myrtle Irene continues to invade and operating costs soar. Emily expands her operation but an air malfunction threatens her season. Action Western Movies Full Movie English The Wild Wild West by Richard Sorrell. The Wild Wild West TV Series Music of Richard Shores part 1 by Fish Man.

The Wild Wild West told the story of two Secret Service agents: the fearless and handsome James West (played by Robert Conrad), and Artemus Gordon (played by Ross Martin), a brilliant gadgeteer and master of disguise. Their mission was to protect President Ulysses S. Grant and the United States from all manner of dangerous threats. The agents traveled in luxury aboard their own train, the Wanderer, equipped with everything from a stable car to a laboratory. James West had served as an intelligence and cavalry officer in the American Civil War (1861-1865) on the staff of Ulysses Grant;^[5] his 'cover,' at least in the pilot episode, is that of 'a dandy, a high-roller from the East.' Thereafter, however, there is no pretense, and his reputation as the foremost Secret Service agent often precedes him. According to the TV movies, West retires from the Service by 1880 and lives on a ranch in Mexico. Gordon, who was a captain in the Civil War, returns to show business when he retires as the head of a traveling Shakespeare players troupe.

The show incorporated classic Western elements with an espionage thriller, science fiction/alternate history ideas (in a similar vein to what would later be called steampunk), in one case horror ('The Night of the Man Eating House') and plenty of humor. In the tradition of James Bond, there were always beautiful women, clever gadgets, and delusional arch-enemies with half-insane plots to take over the country or the world.

The title of each episode begins with 'The Night' (except for the first-season episode 'Night of the Casual Killer', which omitted the definite article 'The'). This followed other idiosyncratic naming conventions established by shows such as Rawhide, where each episode title began with 'Incident at' or 'Incident of,' and The Man from U.N.C.L.E., where episodes were titled 'The (Blank) Affair.'

Characters[edit]

Leads[edit]

Robert Conrad starred as James West. Before The Wild Wild West, Conrad played private eye Tom Lopaka in ABC's Hawaiian Eye for four seasons, 1959-63. Conrad claimed to be the 17th actor to test for the role of James West. (Rory Calhoun was initially announced for the part.) Conrad performed nearly all of his own stunts on The Wild Wild West. 'For the first few episodes we tried stuntmen,' Conrad explained, 'but the setup time slowed production down, so I volunteered. Things started moving quicker when I took the jumps and the spills. We started meeting the budget.'^[6] Early on he was doubled by Louie Elias or Chuck O'Brien.

On January 24, 1968, however, during filming of 'The Night of the Fugitives', Conrad fell 12 ft (3.7 m) from a chandelier onto a concrete floor and suffered a concussion.^[7] As a result, production of the series (then near the end of its third season) ended two weeks early. Conrad spent weeks in the hospital, and had a long convalescence slowed by constant dizziness. The episode was eventually completed and aired during the fourth season, with footage of the fall left in. Conrad later told Percy Shain of the Boston Globe, 'I have the whole scene on film. It's a constant reminder to be careful. It also bolstered my determination to make this my last year with the series. Four seasons are enough of this sort of thing.'^[8]

Artemus Gordon was played by Ross Martin. Prior to The Wild Wild West, Martin co-starred in the CBS series Mr. Lucky from 1959 to 1960, portraying Mr. Lucky's sidekick, Andamo. The series was created by Blake Edwards, who also cast Martin in his films Experiment in Terror (1962) and The Great Race (1964).

Martin once called his role as Artemus Gordon 'a show-off's showcase' because it allowed him to portray over 100 different characters during the course of the series, and perform dozens of different dialects. Martin sketched his ideas for his characterizations and worked with the makeup artists to execute the final look. Martin told Percy Shain of the Boston Globe, 'In the three years of the show, I have run a wider gamut than even those acknowledged masters of disguise, Paul Muni and Lon Chaney. Sometimes I feel like a one man repertory company. I think I've proven to myself and to the industry that I am the No. 1 character lead in films today.' The industry acknowledged Martin's work with an Emmy nomination in 1969.

Martin broke his leg in a fourth-season episode, 'The Night of the Avaricious Actuary,' when he dropped a rifle, stepped on it, and his foot rolled over it. Martin told Percy Shain of the Boston Globe, 'In the scene where I was hurt, my stand-in tried to finish it. When the shell ejected from the rifle, it caught him in the eye and burned it. We still haven't finished that scene. It will have to wait until I can move around again.'^[8]

A few weeks later, after completing 'The Night of Fire and Brimstone', Martin suffered a heart attack on August 17, 1968. (This was exactly two years after Michael Garrison died.) Martin's character was replaced temporarily by other agents played by Charles Aidman (four episodes), Alan Hale, Jr. and William Schallert. Aidman said the producers had promised to rewrite the scripts for his new character, but this simply amounted to scratching out the name 'Artemus Gordon' and penciling in 'Jeremy Pike' (his character's name).^[4]Pat Paulsen is frequently thought of as a Martin substitute, but he in fact appeared in one of Aidman's episodes, and his character would have been present even if Martin appeared.

Villains[edit]

The show's most memorable recurring arch-villain was Dr. Miguelito Quixote Loveless, a brilliant but petulant and megalomaniacal dwarf portrayed by Michael Dunn. Initially he had two constant companions: the huge Voltaire, played by Richard Kiel; and the beautiful Antoinette, played by Dunn's real-life singing partner, Phoebe Dorin. Voltaire disappeared without explanation after his third episode (although Richard Kiel returned in a different role in 'The Night of the Simian Terror'), and Antoinette after her sixth. According to the TV movie The Wild Wild West Revisited, Loveless eventually dies in 1880 from ulcers, brought on by the frustration of having his plans consistently foiled by West and Gordon. (His son, played by Paul Williams, subsequently seeks revenge on the agents.)

Though several actors appeared in multiple villainous roles, only one other character had a second encounter with West and Gordon: Count Manzeppi (played flamboyantly by Victor Buono, who played another, different villain in the pilot), a diabolical genius of 'black magic' and crime, who—like Dr. Loveless—had an escape plan at the end. (Buono eventually returned in More Wild Wild West as 'Dr. Henry Messenger', a parody of Henry Kissinger, who ends up both handcuffed and turning invisible with the villainous Paradine.)

Agnes Moorehead won an Emmy for her role as Emma Valentine in 'The Night of The Vicious Valentine'. Some of the other villains were portrayed by Leslie Nielsen, Martin Landau, Burgess Meredith, Boris Karloff, Ida Lupino, Carroll O'Connor, Ricardo Montalban, Robert Duvall, Ed Asner, and Harvey Korman.

While the show's writers created their fair share of villains, they frequently started with the nefarious, stylized inventions of these madmen (or madwomen) and then wrote the episodes to capitalize on these devices. Henry Sharp, the series' story consultant, would sketch the preliminaries of the designs (eccentrically numbering every sketch 'fig. 37'), and give the sketch to a writer, who would build a story around it.^[9] Episodes were also inspired by Edgar Allan Poe, H. G. Wells, and Jules Verne.

Recurring characters[edit]

• Dr. Miguelito Quixote Loveless (Michael Dunn): Ten episodes. The agents' nemesis.
• Colonel Richmond (Douglas Henderson) Ten episodes. West and Gordon's control officer in the Secret Service.
• President Ulysses S. Grant: Seven episodes. (James Gregory in the pilot; Roy Engel thereafter.)
• Antoinette (Phoebe Dorin): Six appearances. Loveless' female companion, often seen playing a piano or string instrument and singing duet with Loveless.
• Jeremy Pike (Charles Aidman): Four episodes. One of several agents paired with Jim during Artemus' absence in the fourth season. Appears in the final Loveless episode, 'The Night of Miguelito's Revenge.'
• Tennyson (Charles Davis): Three episodes. West's butler/valet during the first season.
• Voltaire (Richard Kiel): Three episodes. Loveless' giant bodyguard. (Kiel also played Dimos Buckley in 'The Night of the Simian Terror.')
• Count Carlos Mario Vincenzo Robespierre Manzeppi (Victor Buono): Two appearances. A master of dark magic and leader of a handpicked teams of assassins. (Buono also played Juan Manolo in 'The Night of the Inferno,' the first episode, and Henry Messenger in 'More Wild Wild West,' the final production.)
• Frank Harper (William Schallert): Another agent who worked with Jim in the fourth season. He appears in the series' only two-part episode, 'The Night of the Winged Terror.' (Schallert appeared in two other episodes as different characters.)

Production[edit]

Creation, writing and filming[edit]

In 1954, director/producer Gregory Ratoff purchased the film rights to Ian Fleming's first Bond novel, Casino Royale, for $600, while CBS bought the TV rights for $1,000. On October 21, 1954 the network broadcast an hour-long adaptation on its Climax! series, with Barry Nelson playing American agent 'Jimmy Bond' and Peter Lorre playing the villain, Le Chiffre. CBS also approached Fleming about developing a Bond TV series. Fleming later contributed ideas to NBC's The Man From U.N.C.L.E.

In 1955 Ratoff and Michael Garrison formed a production company to make a 'Casino Royale' film, with Ratoff set to direct and 20th Century Fox set to distribute. Production stalled when Ratoff and Garrison could not obtain financing. In 1960, Hedda Hopper reported that Ratoff's film would star Peter Finch as Bond.^[10] But Ratoff died that December, and his widow sold the film rights to producer Charles K. Feldman for $75,000. Feldman and director Howard Hawks were interested in making 'Casino Royale' with Cary Grant as Bond. Eventually Feldman was offered $500,000 and a percentage of the profits to let Harry Saltzman and Cubby Broccoli make the film with Sean Connery.^[11] Feldman turned them down, and eventually produced the spoof Casino Royale in 1967. By then, Garrison and CBS had brought James Bond to television in a unique way.

The pilot episode, 'The Night of the Inferno', was produced by Garrison and, according to Robert Conrad, cost $685,000.^[12] The episode was scripted by Gilbert Ralston, who had written for numerous episodic TV series in the 1950s and 1960s. In a later deposition, Ralston explained that he was approached by Michael Garrison, who 'said he had an idea for a series, good commercial idea, and wanted to know if I could glue the idea of a western hero and a James Bond type together in the same show.'^[13] Ralston said he then created the Civil War characters, the format, the story outline and nine drafts of the pilot script that was the basis for the television series. It was his idea, for example, to have a secret agent named Jim West who would perform secret missions for President Ulysses S. Grant. (Ralston later sued Warner Bros. over the 1999 film Wild Wild West, which was based on the series.)

As indicated by Robert Conrad on his DVD commentary, the show went through several changes in producers in its first season. This was apparently due to conflicts between the network and Garrison, who had no experience producing for television and had trouble staying on budget. At first, Ben Brady was named producer, but he was shifted to Rawhide, which had its own crisis when star Eric Fleming quit at the end of the 1964-65 season. (That series lasted for another thirteen episodes before it was cancelled by CBS.)

The network then hired Collier Young.^[14] In an interview, Young said he saw the series as The Rogues set in 1870. (The Rogues, which he had produced, was about con men who swindled swindlers, much like the 1970s series Switch.) Young also claimed to have added the wry second 'Wild' to the series title, which had been simply 'The Wild West' in its early stages of production.^[15] Young lasted three episodes (2–4). His shows featured a butler named Tennyson who traveled with West and Gordon, but since the episodes were not broadcast in production order, the character popped up at different times during the first season. Conrad was not sorry to see Young go: 'I don't mind. All that guy did creatively was put the second 'wild' in the title. CBS did the right thing.'^[16]

Young's replacement, Fred Freiberger, returned the series to its original concept. It was on his watch that writer John Kneubuhl, inspired by a magazine article about Michael Dunn, created the arch-villain Dr. Miguelito Loveless. Phoebe Dorin, who played Loveless' assistant, Antoinette, recalled: 'Michael Garrison came to see [our] nightclub act when he was in New York. Garrison said to himself, 'Michael Dunn would make the most extraordinary villain. People have never seen anything like him before, and he's a fabulous little actor and he's funny as hell.' And, Garrison felt, if Michael Dunn sang on every show, with the girl, it would be an extraordinary running villain. He came backstage and he told us who he was and he said he was going to do a television show called The Wild Wild West and we would be called. We thought, 'Yeah, yeah, we've heard all that before.' But he did call us and the show was a fantastic success. And that's how it started, because he saw the nightclub act.'^[17] Loveless was introduced in the show's sixth produced, but third televised episode, 'The Night the Wizard Shook The Earth.' The character became an immediate hit and Dunn was contracted to appear in four episodes per season. Because of health problems, Dunn could only appear in 10 episodes instead of 16.

After ten episodes (5–14), Freiberger and executive producer Michael Garrison were, according to Variety, 'unceremoniously dumped,' reputedly due to a behind-the-scenes power struggle. Garrison was replaced by Phillip Leacock, the executive producer of Gunsmoke, and Freiberger was supplanted by John Mantley, an associate producer on Gunsmoke. The exchange stunned both cast and crew. Garrison, who owned 40% of The Wild Wild West, knew nothing about the changes and hadn't been consulted. He turned the matter over to his attorneys. Freiberger said, 'I was fired for accomplishing what I had been hired to do. I was hired to pull the show together when it was in chaos.'^[18] Conrad said, 'I was totally shocked by it. Let's face it, the show is healthy. I think Fred Freiberger is totally correct in his concept of the show. It's an administrative change, for what reason I don't know.'^[18]

Mantley produced seven (15–21) episodes then returned to his former position on Gunsmoke, and Gene L. Coon took over as associate producer. By then, Garrison's conflict with CBS was resolved and he returned to the executive producer role. Coon, however, left after six episodes (22–27) to write First to Fight (1967), a Warner Bros. film about the Marines. Garrison produced the last episode of season one and the initial episodes of season two.^[19]

Garrison's return was much to the relief of Ross Martin, who once revealed that he was so disenchanted during the first season that he tried to quit three times. He explained that Garrison 'saw the show as a Bond spoof laid in 1870, and we all knew where we stood. Each new producer tried to put his stamp on the show and I had a terrible struggle. I fought them line by line in every script. They knew they couldn't change the James West role very much, but it was open season on Artemus Gordon because they had never seen anything like him before.'^[20]

On August 17, 1966, however, during production of the new season's ninth episode, 'The Night of the Ready-Made Corpse', Garrison fell down a flight of stairs in his home, fractured his skull, and died. CBS brought in Bruce Lansbury, brother of actress Angela Lansbury, to produce the show for the remainder of its run. In the early 1960s Lansbury had been in charge of daytime shows at CBS Television City in Hollywood, then vice president of programming in New York. When he was tapped for The Wild Wild West, Lansbury was working with his twin brother, Edgar, producing legitimate theater on Broadway.

The first season's episodes were filmed in black and white, and they were darker in tone. Cinematographer Ted Voightlander was nominated for an Emmy Award for his work on one of these episodes, 'The Night of the Howling Light.' Subsequent seasons were filmed in color, and the show became noticeably campier.

The Wild Wild West was filmed at CBS Studio Center on Radford Avenue in Studio City in the San Fernando Valley. The 70-acre lot was formerly the home of Republic Studios, which specialized in low-budget films including Westerns starring Roy Rogers and Gene Autry and Saturday morning serials (which The Wild Wild West appropriately echoed). CBS had a wall-to-wall lease on the lot starting in May 1963, and produced Gunsmoke and Rawhide there, as well as Gilligan's Island. The network bought the lot from Republic in February 1967, for $9.5 million. Beginning in 1971, MTM Enterprises (headed by actress Mary Tyler Moore and her then-husband, Grant Tinker) became the Studio Center's primary tenant. In the mid-1980s the western streets and sets were replaced with new sound stages and urban facades, including the New York streets seen in Seinfeld. In 1995 the lagoon set that was originally constructed for Gilligan's Island was paved over to create a parking lot.^[21]

Among iconic locations used for filming were Bronson Canyon ('Night of the Returning Dead' S02E05) and Vasquez Rocks ('Night of the Cadre' S02E26).

Train[edit]

For the pilot episode, 'The Night of the Inferno', the producers used Sierra Railroad No. 3, a 4-6-0 locomotive that was, fittingly, an anachronism: Sierra No. 3 was built in 1891, fifteen to twenty years after the series was set. Footage of this train, with a 5 replacing the 3 on its number plate, was shot in Jamestown, California. Best known for its role as the Hooterville Cannonball in the CBS series Petticoat Junction, Sierra No. 3 probably appeared in more films and TV shows than any other locomotive in history. It was built by the Rogers Locomotive and Machine Works in Paterson, New Jersey.

When The Wild Wild West went into series production, however, an entirely different train was employed. The locomotive, a 4-4-0 named the Inyo, was built in 1875 by the Baldwin Locomotive Works in Philadelphia.^[22] Originally a wood-burner, the Inyo was converted to oil in 1910. The Inyo, as well as the express car and the passenger car, originally served the Virginia and Truckee Railroad in Nevada. They were among V&T cars sold to Paramount Pictures in 1937–38. The Inyo appears in numerous films including High, Wide, and Handsome (1938), Union Pacific (1939), The Marx Brothers' Go West (1940), Meet Me in St. Louis, (1944), Red River (1948), Disney's The Great Locomotive Chase (1956) and McLintock! (1963). For The Wild Wild West, Inyo's original number plate was temporarily changed from No. 22 to No. 8 so the train footage could be flopped horizontally without the number appearing reversed. Footage of the Inyo in motion and idling was shot around Menifee, California, and reused in virtually every episode. (Stock footage of Sierra No. 3 occasionally resurfaced as well.)

These trains were used only for exterior shots. The luxurious interior of the passenger car was constructed on Stage 6 at CBS Studio Center. (Neither Stage 6 or the western streets still exist.) Designed by art director Albert Heschong,^[23] the set reportedly cost $35,000 in 1965 (approximately $250,000 in 2011 dollars).^[24] The interior was redesigned when the show switched to color for the 1966-67 season.

The train interior was also used in at least one episode of Gunsmoke ('Death Train,' aired January 27, 1967), and in at least two episodes of The Big Valley ('Last Train to the Fair,' aired April 27, 1966, and 'Days of Wrath,' aired January 8, 1968). All three series were filmed at CBS Studio Center and shared other exterior and interior sets. Additionally, the interior was used for an episode of Get Smart ('The King Lives?', aired January 6, 1968) and the short-lived Barbary Coast ('Funny Money,' aired September 8, 1975).

After her run on The Wild Wild West, the Inyo participated in the Golden Spike Centennial at Promontory, Utah, in 1969. The following year it appeared as a replica of the Central Pacific's 'Jupiter' locomotive at the Golden Spike National Historical Site. The State of Nevada purchased the Inyo in 1974; it was restored to 1895 vintage, including a wider smoke stack and a new pilot (cow catcher) without a drop coupler. The Inyo is still operational and displayed at the Nevada State Railroad Museum in Carson City. The express car (No. 21) and passenger car (No. 4) are also at the museum.

Another veteran V&T locomotive, the Reno (built in 1872 by Baldwin), was used in the two The Wild Wild West TV movies.^[25] The Reno, which resembles the Inyo, is located at Old Tucson Studios.

The 1999 Wild Wild West film adaptation used the Baltimore & Ohio 4-4-0 No. 25, one of the oldest operating steam locomotives in the U.S. Built in 1856 at the Mason Machine Works in Taunton, Massachusetts, it was later renamed The William Mason in honor of its manufacturer. For its role as 'The Wanderer' in the film, the engine was sent to the steam shops at the Strasburg Railroad for restoration and repainting. The locomotive is brought out for the B&O Train Museum in Baltimore's 'Steam Days'.

The Inyo and The William Mason both appeared in the Disney film The Great Locomotive Chase (1956).

Gadgets[edit]

The Wild Wild West featured numerous, often anachronistic, gadgets. Some were recurring devices, such as West's sleeve gun or a breakaway derringer hidden in his left and right boot heels. Others appeared in only a single episode.

Most of these gadgets are concealed in West's garments:

• Sleeve gun (a Remington Double Derringer^[26]), featured in many episodes as an unexpected concealed carry alternative to his openly carried full-sized revolver. In a some episodes the ejecting arm of the device dispensed other useful gadgets, such as a tiny squirt-can containing acid^[27], iron climbing-claws, a knife,^[28] a pulley^[29] and various blades.
• A breakaway Remington Derringer. Usually the frame (grip and trigger mechanism) was located in one hollowed-out boot heel, while the double-barrel assembly was located in the other heel; the two pieces snapped together and locked. Bullets were dispensed from a secret compartment in his belt-buckle, or the chambers were pre-loaded.
• A breakaway blowtorch, hidden in the hollowed-out boot heels. ('The Night of the Raven')
• Lock-pick or passkey concealed under the lapel of the bolero-style jacket. ('The Night of the Avaricious Actuary')
• Throwing knife concealed in a pocket inside the back of the jacket.
• Various explosive devices (i.e. smoke bombs, impact flares, ('The Night of the Avaricious Actuary') gas grenades, anti-lock key, ('The Night of the Golden Cobra';'The Night of the Simian Terror') explosive putty, ('The Night of the Returning Dead';'The Night of the Egyptian Queen';'The Night of the Spanish Curse') acid-dissolving steel ball, ('The Night of Montezuma's Hordes'), ('The Night of the Tycoons') wood-burning chemical, ('The Night of the Deadly Plague'); impact explosive ('The Night of the Vipers') etc.) carried in his jacket pockets, belt buckle, hat, a secret compartment in his holster, and the hollowed-out heels of one or both boots. Various lengths and types of fuses were sewn into the hem of his jacket or the waistband of his pants.
• A grappling hook attachment for his rifle. ('The Night of Montezuma's Hordes')
• A grappling hook mechanisam with piton ('The Night of the Juggernaut')
• A grappling hook/spindle combination silent pistol ('The Night of the camera')
• A glass cutter ('The Night of the camera')
• A flat metal barbed climbing-spike (piton), with an attached cord, cable or wire. The piton fit the muzzle of either his derringer or revolver and was fired into a wooden beam or wall. West would then use a pulley with a handle to zip-line above obstacles. The equipment was usually carried in his jacket's many inside pockets. ('The Night of the Bubbling Death'), ('The Night of the Headless Woman'), (The Night of the Fugitives)
• A set of a six shooter pistol and Winchester Carbine decorated with metal stubs. ('The Night of the Inferno', 'The Night of Montezuma's Hordes', 'The Night of the Cut-Throats')
• A small, hand-held motor-driven winch. When used in conjunction with the piton and wire, the winch could either hoist him upwards, to a building's roof for instance, or lower him into a pit. ('The Night of the Bubbling Death'), ('The Night of the headless Woman', 'The Night of the Fugitives', 'The Night of the Camera', 'The Night of the Tycoons')
• A thin, telescopic probing rod (similar to a long modern-day car antenna). When extended fully, West could probe approximately ten feet around him. He used this to probe and trigger traps in the Secret Service training room depicted in 'The Night of the Janus'.
• A spring-loaded, swing-out knife blade (switchblade) beneath the toe-box of his boot. ('The Night of the Glowing Corpse', 'The Night of the Flying Pie Plate', 'The Night of the Watery Death', 'The Night of the Amnesiac')
• A glass cutter with a suction cup. A cutting arm rotated to score the glass in a complete circle and the suction cup was used to remove the cut piece. ('The Night of the Camera')
• A thin but strong wire, coiled and fitted in the inner lining of the crown of his hat; the wire had multiple uses, and was even capable of sawing through a steel bar.
• A battery-powered (or spring-driven) electric drill, that in one episode was roughly the size of a large avocado and used to assist West's escape from a metal cage.
• West's saddle horn was booby-trapped with a dynamite bullet shell. ('The Night of the Returning Dead')
• A kit bag, which when opened inflated a big balloon to shock and disorient for a few seconds. ('The Night of Fire and Brimstone')
• Bulletproof vest. ('The Night of the Thousand Eyes', 'The Night of the Cadre', 'The Night of the Glowing Corpse', 'The Night Dr. Loveless Died', 'The Night of the Arrow')
• Tear gas/smoke bombs. ('The Night of the Dancing Death')
• Package of Burnable materiel through locks or bottom of mansigned Birdcages ('The Night of the Simian Terror', 'The Night of the Gruesome Games')
• A small windup noise buzzer/maker ('The Night of the Fugitives';The Night of the Sabatinii Curse')
• A put together wind up lifter ('The Night of Migheletos Revenge')

Aboard the train:

• A remote control under a revolving table that automatically locked the door of the rail car. ('The Night of the Inferno') Similarly, a concealed panel above the revolving table that would either display a blackboard ('The Night of Mighelito's Revenge) or a map of the United States ('The Night of the Vicious Valentine') but also concealed several pistols on mounted on the panel. ('The Night of the Brain'). Depending on the episode, a pistol ('The Night of the Arrow', 'The Night of the Egyptian Queen') or a shotgun ('The Wild Wild West Revisted') would be hidden under the revolving table-top. One episode showed that after the statue on the revolving table-top was turned upside down, it would unlock a secret panel concealing a small wall safe. ('The Night of the Tartar')
• A metal knight statue on desk that struck a bell when hidden alarm triggered after train window broken ('The Night of the Egyptian Queen')
• A Chinese box that made a whistling sound like a firework--a 'Present' From Dr. Loveless ('The Night Dr. Loveless Died')
• An early warning system on the back door of the rail car which activated rail car parlor lights. ('The Night of the Arrow)
• A mobile telegraph set concealed in a false book set on desk. ('The Night of the Bubbling death', 'The Night of the Brain')
• A 'Victorian' record player. (An anachronism since this was invented nearly twenty years later)
• Two pistols on a wooden swivel-stand on desk, activated and controlled by a knob on the fireplace. ('The Night of the Bubbling Death')
• The fireplace concealed a secret escape door and an emergency flare signal; it also had concealed side panels for chemicals and a primitive phone mouthpiece for communication with the engine ('The Night of the Brain') and a case of fake jewels ('The Night of the Egyptian Queen'). At least one episode shows a pistol concealed behind a side shelf door panel. ('The Night of the Feathered Fury')
• Several pistols, rifles, shotguns, and other assorted weaponry were mounted on a concealed pull-down panel on the laboratory section of the train. A sliding closet located in the same area contained clothes and other useful paraphernalia. ('The Night of the Inferno')
• A small mirrored ball hung over the desk and could be used to induce hypnotic suggestions to amiable young women. ('The Night of the Tartar')
• Overhead billiard scoring wire and beads that connected to signal lamps on the back of the railroad car to turn lights off as needed). ('The Night of the Inferno')
• Cages for two carrier pigeons (named Henry and Henrietta). In the pilot episode, the cages were located above the door in the same room where West usually dressed and equipped himself. In subsequent episodes, the carrier pigeons were usually located in a compartment above the fireplace. In one episode a carrier pigeon is carried within a valise. ('The Night of the Colonel's Ghost')
• Decorative lion heads that spew knockout gas when triggered. ('The Night of the Big Blackmail')
• A toy train set along with life-sized cutouts of West's and Gordon's heads. ('The Night of the Big Blackmail')
• A wooden model of a armored tank (based on the tank in 'The Night of the Doomsday Formula'), ('The Night of the Colonel's Ghost')
• A surprise joke snake in the cigar humidor. ('The Night of the Iron Fist')
• A life-size dummy of Artemus Gordon. ('The Night Dr. Loveless Died')
• A Bunsen burner in the laboratory car that, when turned up, activates an outside distress flare. ('The Night of the Falcon')
• A miniature piano. ('The Night of the Cut-throats', 'The Night of the Janus')
• A ventriloquist dummy used by Artemus Gordon to throw his voice. ('The Night of the Shedwick Curse']
• A souvenir Aztec Goddess mask ('The Night of Montezuma's Hordes')
• An 'Unwanted' Souvenir Book 'Encylopedia of Party Games' ('The Night of Gruesome Games')
• A pair of Candlesticks ('The Night of the Egyptian Queens')
• A typewriter ('The Night of the camera')

Other gadgets:

• Elastic wire in watch. ('The Night of the Poisonous Posey')
• An exploding pocket watch.
• Exploding billiard balls (the cue ball in the series' pilot episode, but sometimes other balls as well).('The Night of the Inferno' (pilot episode); 'The Night of the camera')
• Cue stick with a rapier hidden inside. ('The Night of the Inferno' (pilot episode))
• Cue stick that fires a bullet. ('The Night of the Inferno' (pilot episode))
• Stage coach with two ejector seats inside and outside the coach (a nod to James Bond's 007 Aston Martin). ('The Night the Wizard Shook the Earth')
• A chemical compound invented by Gordon that could support a man's weight for 20–60 seconds ('The Night of the Glowing Corpse', 'The Night of the Big Blackmail')
• An explosive compound invented by Gordon that goes off when exposed to heat ('The Night of the Juggernaut')
• An anti lock explosive ('The Night of the Golden Cobra', 'The Night of the Kraken')
• A telegraph mechanism in a cane.
• A lockpick in a cane. ('The Night of the Shedwick Curse')
• A blow torch disguised as a cigar.
• A miniature blowtorch ('The Night of the Turncoat')
• A Miniature grenade ('The Night of the Doomsday Formula')
• A miniature record player that plays realistic gunshots ('The Night of Fire and Brimstone') or music ('The Night of the Doomsday Formula')
• A combination flare and whistle ('The Night of the Doomsday Formula')
• Clockwork-powered lock-picking device key opener for locks ('The Night of the Cadre'; 'The Night of the Arrow';'The Night of the Headless Woman';'The Night of the Vipers')
• Rubber mask disguises (similar to Mission Impossible) for both heroes ('The Night of the Brian') and villains ('The Night of the Pelican')
• A net-throwing bazooka. ('The Night of the Big Blast')
• A cane that doubles as a mortar. ('The Night of the Bottomless Pit')
• Diving Helmet ('The Night of the Kraken')
• Gas mask with five-minute air supply. ('The Night of the Glowing Corpse')
• Gas mask. ('The Night of the Flying Pie Plate')
• Knockout gas in a cane. ('The Night of the Burning Diamond')
• Knockout gas in an ball. ('The Night of the Brain')
• Knockout gas in a box ('The Night of the Pelican')
• Knockout gas in a balloon]. ('The Night of the Cadre', 'The Night Dr. Loveless Died', 'The Night of the Kraken')
• Knockout gas in clay pipe ('The Night of the Deadly Bubble';The Night of the Headless Woman')
• Knockout gas in glass dejohns ('The Night of the Cadre')
• Knockout gas water in seltzer bottle ('The Night of the Feathered Fury')
• A revolver bullet/flare to illuminate a dark cave or call for help. ('The Night of the Returning Dead', 'The Night of the Arrow')
• A magnetized coin that explodes when exposed to heat. ('The Night of the Watery Death')
• A cigar that when thrown to the ground produces shock and smoke effect. ('The Night of the Colonel's Ghost')
• Shock/stun smoke pellet ('The Night of the Vipers')
• Wine bottle/smoke/shock grenade. ('The Night of the Bubbling Death')
• Wine bottle/joke snake. ('The Night of the Bubbling Death')
• Wine bottle/smoke. ('The Night of the Bubbling Death')
• Escape basket. ('The Night of the Bubbling Death')
• Hammer/jimmy kit concealed in jacket. ('The Night of the Bubbling Death')
• Smoke screen escape packet. ('The Night of the Bubbling Death')
• Smoke Screen in prop human skull. ('The Night of the Underground Terror')
• Burning strips to destroy bars ('The Night of the Undead''The Night of the Simian Terror')
• Trick Wagon ('The Night of the Cadre', 'The Night of the Fugitives')
• A mechanical wind up butterfly/bomb ('The Night of Migheleto's Revenge)
• A mechanical snake ('The Night of the Spanish Curse')
• A mechanical wind up Bomb ('The Night of the Spanish Curse')

The villains often used equally creative gadgets, including:

• A device to trigger earthquakes. ('The Night of the Human Trigger')
• Brainwashing techniques using intense light and sound. ('The Night of the Steel Assassin,' 'The Night of the Howling Light')
• A cyborg. ('The Night of the Steel Assassin')
• Androids. ('The Night of Miguelito's Revenge')
• A flamethrower cannon. ('The Night of the Flaming Ghost')
• An early flamethrower. ('The Night of the Circus of Death')
• Life-sized steam-powered puppets. ('The Night of the Puppeteer')
• Jars that preserved disembodied human brains to draw upon their knowledge and psychic force. ('The Night of the Druid's Blood')
• Chemical-treated clothing that burned victims. ('The Night of the Druid's Blood')
• A germ that paralyzes victims for 48 hours. ('The Night of the Sudden Plague')
• An explosive powerful enough to destroy city blocks. ('The Night the Wizard Shook the Earth')
• An metal cage connected to a lightning rod. ('The Night of a Thousand Eyes')
• The Juggernaut: a steam-powered, wedge-shaped tank with a battering ram. ('The Night of the Juggernaut')
• A potion, made from liquefied diamonds, which enabled a man to move so fast as to be invisible. ('The Night of the Burning Diamond')
• An LSD-like hallucinogen, capable of driving men into fits of killing madness. ('The Night of the Murderous Spring')
• A cathode-ray tube (television) plus prototypes of the airplane, automobile, penicillin. ('The Night the Wizard Shook the Earth')
• A torpedo disguised as a dragon capable of homing on a radio signal. ('The Night of the Watery Death')
• A force-field that disintegrates anything that comes in contact with it. ('The Night of the Watery Death')
• A drug capable of shrinking a man down to a height of six inches. ('The Night of the Raven')
• A exoskeleton suit of armor. ('The Night of the Green Terror')
• A device that triggers tidal waves. ('The Night of the Deadly Bubble')
• Automatic Barred doors ('The Night of the Deadly Bubble'; 'The Night of the Undead', 'The Night of the Fugitives')
• A potion to turn humans into Zombies ('The Night of the Undead')
• A sonic device that allowed paintings to be used as portals to other dimensions. ('The Night of the Surreal McCoy')
• Crystals that, when surgically implanted inside the brain and shattered by a high-pitched noise, caused the subject to turn into a criminal. ('The Night of the Cadre', 'The Night of the Winged Terror — Part I', 'The Night of the Winged Terror — Part II')
• A giant falcon-shaped cannon, capable of devastating a small town with a single shot. ('The Night of the Falcon')
• A giant tuning fork that created destructive sound waves. ('The Night of the Avaricious Actuary')
• A recording phonograph ('The Night of the Avaricious Actuary')
• A locomotive modified with a large battering ram to collide with oncoming trains and derail them.' (The Night of the Deadly Bed')
• Re-animated human corpses (similar to Frankenstein's monster) turned into human bombs. ('The Night of the Big Blast')
• Dungeons ('The Night of Montezuma's Hordes'; 'The Night of the Spanish Curse')
• A pair of revolving blades ('The Night of the Big Blackmail')
• A steam-powered piston to block entrance to safes. ('The Night of the Big Blackmail')
• A pair of large metal hands with a deadly electric field. ('The Night of the Eccentrics')
• A large, live-action periscope for spying. ('The Night of the Eccentrics')
• A flying 'pie plate' (balloon filled with flares). ('The Night of the Flying Pie Plate')
• Knockout gas in a door knocker ('The Night of the Headless Woman')
• Knockout gas masks. ('The Night of the Flying Pie Plate'; The Night of the Egyptian Queen)
• Knockout gas pistols. ('The Night of the Flying Pie Plate'; The Night of the Eqyptian Queen)
• Knockout drug pistol ('The Night of the Feathered Fury')
• Stage coaches with knockout gas tubes. ('The Night of the Masks'; 'The Night of the Diva')
• Bomb gavel. ('The Night of the Poisonous Posey')
• Poison-tipped diamond. ('The Night of the Poisonous Posey')
• Revolving gun organ pipes. ('The Night of the Poisonous Posey')
• A robot suit of medieval armor. ('The Night of the Green Terror')
• Explosive glass bulbs. ('The Night of the Green Terror')
• Explosive mace head. ('The Night of the Green Terror')
• Balloon-borne powder that sets forest fires. ('The Night of the Green Terror')
• A computer-dating machine. ('The Night of the Vicious Valentine')
• A drug that renders victim immobile for five minutes. ('The Night of the Braine')
• A backwards-firing pistol. ('The Night of the Brain', 'The Night of the Bogus Bandits', 'The Night of the Winged Terror - Part 1')
• An ejection chair-seat. ('The Night of the Brain', 'The Night of the Hangman')
• Doubles of world leaders. ('The Night of the Brain', 'The Wild Wild West Revisited')
• Steam-powered wheelchair with rockets and impaling spikes. ('The Night of the Brain')
• A magnetic Sea mine ('The Night of the Kraken')
• An undersea fortress ('The Night of the Deadly Bubble', 'The Night of the Kraken')
• Copies of White House rooms. ('The Night of the Brain', The Night of the Big Blackmail')
• Windows with sliding bars/barriers. ('The Night of the Raven', 'The Night of the Colonels Ghost', 'The Night of the Fugitives')
• Swinging axe pendulum. ('The Night of the Deadly Blossom')
• A combination flare and whistle ('The Night Dr Loveless Died')
• Anti-ship rockets. ('The Night of the Deadly Blossom'; 'The Night of the pelican')
• Circus cannon as a escape vehicle ('The Night of Miguelito's Revenge')
• Phosgene gas. ('The Night of the Shedwick Curse', 'The Night Dr. Loveless Died')
• Booby-trapped knife/chair. ('The Night of the Tottering Tontine', 'The Night of the Falcon')
• Armored wagon with cannon. ('The Night of the Vipers')
• Heavy iron artificial leg(s). ('The Night of the Glowing Corpse', 'The Night of the Bottomless Pit')
• Bobby trapped bed ('The Night of the Inferno';'The Night of the Shedwick Cursue')
• Revolving Wall/Bed ('The Night of the Shedwick Curse')
• Anti-aging serum that instead turns those who are injected with it 50 years older ('The Night of the Shedwick Curse')
• Large Bird Cage/ Prisoner cages ('The Night of the Feathered Fury', 'The Night of Miguelito's Revenge'; 'The Night of the Simian Terror', 'The Night of the Gruesome Games', 'The Night of the Diva')
• Grenades ('The Night of the Pelican')
• Miniature rockets ('The Night of the Brian', The Night of the Gruesome Games')
• Miniature grenades ('The Night of the Falcon', 'The Night of the Feathered Fury', 'The Night of the Tycoons')
• Bulletproof armour ('The Night of the Spanish Curse')
• An amplified drum ('The Night of the Spanish Curse')
• A $600.00 man and woman whose strength has been increased 1,000% via robotic pulley implants ('The Wild West Revisited' movie, a spoof of the popular The Six Million Dollar Man and The Bionic Woman series)

Theme music[edit]

The main title theme was written by Richard Markowitz, who previously composed the theme for the TV series The Rebel. He was brought in after the producers rejected two attempts by film composer Dimitri Tiomkin^[30].

In an interview by Susan Kesler (for her book, The Wild Wild West: The Series) included in the first season DVD boxed set, Markowitz recalled that the original Tiomkin theme 'was very, kind of, traditional, it just seemed wrong.' Markowitz explained his own approach: 'By combining jazz with Americana, I think that's what nailed it. That took it away from the serious kind of thing that Tiomkin was trying to do.. What I did essentially was write two themes: the rhythmic, contemporary theme, Fender bass and brushes, that vamp, for the cartoon effects and for West's getting himself out of trouble, and the heraldic western outdoor theme over that, so that the two worked together.'

Session musicians who played on the theme were Tommy Morgan (harmonica); Bud Shank, Ronnie Lang, Plas Johnson, and Gene Cipriano (woodwinds); Vince DeRosa and Henry Sigismonti (French Horns); Uan Rasey, Ollie Mitchell, and Tony Terran (trumpets); Dick Nash, Lloyd Ulyate, Chauncey Welsch, Kenny Shroyer (trombones). Tommy Tedesco and Bill Pitman (guitars); Carol Kaye (Fender bass); Joe Porcaro (brushes); Gene Estes, Larry Bunker, and Emil Richards (timpani, percussion).

Markowitz, however, was never credited for his theme in any episode; it is believed^{[by whom?]} that this was due to legal difficulties between CBS and Tiomkin over the rejection of the latter's work. Markowitz did receive 'music composed and conducted by' credits for episodes he'd scored (such as 'The Night of the Bars of Hell' and 'The Night of the Raven') or where he supplied the majority of tracked-in cues (for example in 'The Night of the Grand Emir' and 'The Night of the Gypsy Peril'). He finally received 'theme by' credit on both of the TV movies, which were scored by Jeff Alexander rather than Markowitz (few personnel from the series were involved with the TV movies).

Graphics[edit]

The animated title sequence was another unique element of the series. Created by Michael Garrison Productions and DePatie-Freleng Enterprises, it was directed by Isadore 'Friz' Freleng and animated by Ken Mundie,^[31] who designed the titles for the film The Great Race and the TV series Secret Agent,Rawhide, and Death Valley Days.

The screen was divided into four corner panels surrounding a narrow central panel that contained a cartoon 'hero'. The Hero, who looked more like a traditional cowboy than either West or Gordon, encounters cliché western characters and situations in each of the panels. In the three seasons shot in color, the overall backdrop was an abstracted wash of the flag of the United States, with the upper left panel colored blue and the others containing horizontal red stripes.

The original animation sequence is:

• The Hero strikes a match, lights a cigar, and begins walking in profile to the right.
• Behind the Hero, in the lower left panel, a robber backs out of a bank; the Hero subdues him with a karate chop to the back.
• In the upper right panel, a cardsharp tries to pull an ace of spades from his boot, but the Hero draws his gun and the cardsharp drops the ace.
• In the upper left panel, a gunman points a six-shooter at the Hero, who drops his gun and puts his hands up. The Hero shoots the gunman with his sleeve derringer; the gunman's hand falls limp. The Hero then quickly retrieves his own gun and puts it back in his holster.
• A woman in the lower right panel taps the Hero on the hat with her parasol. He pulls her close and kisses her. She draws a knife but, mesmerized by his kiss, turns away and slumps against the side of the frame. He tips his hat and walks away with his back to the camera. There were two versions of this vignette; this one appears during the first season. When the show switched to color, the Hero knocked the woman down with a right cross to the jaw. This variant also appears in the original pilot episode (included on the DVD release) when the series was titled The Wild West. Despite this, James West never hit a woman in any episode, although he grappled with many. The closest he came was when he slammed a door against the shotgun-holding evil Countess Zorana in 'The Night of the Iron Fist'. In 'The Night of the Running Death' he slugged a woman named Miss Tyler, but 'she' was a man in drag (actor T. C. Jones). The original animation, with the Hero winning the woman over with a kiss, was a more accurate representation of West's methods than the right cross. Ironically, it is another example of the emphasis on violence of the show.
• The Hero walks away into the distance, and the camera zooms into his panel. The title The Wild Wild West appears. The camera then swish pans to an illustration of the train, with Conrad's and Martin's names on the ends of different cars.

This teaser part of the show was incorporated into The History Channel's Wild West Tech (2003–5).

Each episode had four acts. At the end of each act, the scene, usually a cliffhanger moment, would freeze, and a sketch or photograph of the scene faded in to replace the cartoon art in one of the four corner panels. The style of freeze-frame art changed over the course of the series. In all first-season episodes other than the pilot, the panels were live-action stills made to evoke 19th-century engravings. In season two (the first in color) the scenes dissolved to tinted stills; from 'The Night of the Flying Pie Plate' on, however, the panels were home to Warhol-like serigraphs of the freeze-frames. The end credits were displayed over each episode's unique mosaic except in the final season, when a standardized design was used (curiously, in this design the bank robber is unconscious, the cardsharp has no card and the lady is on the ground, but the sixshooter in the upper left-hand panel has returned). The freeze-frame graphics were shot at a facility called Format Animation.^{[citation needed]} The pilot is the only episode in which the center panel of the Hero is replaced by a sketch of the final scene of an act; in the third act he is replaced by the villainous General Cassinello (Nehemiah Persoff).

During the first season, the series title 'The Wild Wild West' was set in the font Barnum,^[32] which resembles the newer font P.T. Barnum. In subsequent seasons, the title appeared in a hand-drawn version of the font Dolphin (which resembles newer fonts called Zebrawood, Circus, and Rodeo Clown). Robert Conrad's name was also set in this font. Ross Martin's name was set in the font Bracelet (which resembles newer fonts named Tuscan Ornate and Romantiques). All episode titles, writer and director credits, guest cast and crew credits were set in Barnum. During commercial breaks, the title 'The Wild Wild West' also appeared in Barnum.

Dates given in series[edit]

The series is generally set during the presidency of Ulysses S. Grant from 1869–77; occasional episodes indicate a more precise date:

• 'The Night of the Glowing Corpse' is set during the Franco-Prussian War of July 19, 1870 – May 10, 1871.
• 'The Night of the Steel Assassin' takes place during a July 4 Holiday.
• 'The Night of the Eccentrics' takes place four years after the execution in 1867 of Emperor Maximilian I of Mexico, i.e. 1871. This is supported by a reference to President Juárez who stepped down in 1872.
• In 'The Night of the Eccentrics' Count Manzeppi hums 'Ride of the Valkyries' which was first performed on June 26, 1870.
• 'The Night of the Big Blast' takes place during a New Orleans Mardi Gras
• 'The Night of the Man Eating House' states that Liston Day has been in solitary confinement for 30 years and later that he was arrested April 23, 1836. This would put it around 1866 three years before the Grant presidency begun.
• In 'The Night of the Brain' Artemus Gordon shows James West a newspaper dated July 12, 1872. West states, 'July 12, that's an interesting date, but it happens to be tomorrow.' After the events described happen they again get tomorrow's newspaper and we see the date: July 14, 1872.
• 'The Night of the Lord of Limbo' takes place seven years after the end of the Civil War, making it 1872.
• 'The Night of the Tartar' takes place five years after the 1867 purchase of Alaska [i.e.1872]
• 'The Night of the Whirring Death' opens with the caption San Francisco 1874.
• 'The Night of the Returning Death' is set 13 years after the start of the Civil War i.e. 1874
• In 'The Night of the Flaming Ghost', West says, 'If the real John Brown had lived he'd be almost 75 years old by now.' Brown was born May 9, 1800.
• In 'The Night of the Arrow', a cavalry officer resigns his commission as of April 6, 1874.
• In 'The Night of the Avaricious Actuary', the heading of a letter shown on screen is dated 1875.
• In 'The Night of the Underground Terror', the sadistic commandant of a POW camp is said to have escaped justice for ten years, presumably from the end of the war in 1865.
• In 'The Night of the Samurai,' Baron Saigo says Admiral Perry took the sword over 30 years earlier. Assuming the date of Perry's first visit to Japan (July 8, 1853), that would mean the episode takes place after 1883 or some six years after the end of the Grant presidency.
• In 'The Night that Terror Stalked the Town', Loveless has a headstone prepared for West, showing his birthdate as July 2, 1842
• In 'The Night of the Kraken', there is an assassination attempt on Admiral Farragut, who died in 1870,

Cancellation and syndication[edit]

Some episodes were violent for their time, and that, rather than low ratings, ultimately was the series' downfall. In addition to gunplay, there were usually two fight sequences per episode. These were choreographed by Whitey Hughes and performed by Conrad and a stock company of stuntmen, including Red West, Dick Cangey, and Bob Herron (who doubled for Ross Martin).

After he suffered a concussion filming 'The Night of the Fugitives,' the network insisted that Conrad defer to a double. (His chair on the set was newly inscribed: 'Robert Conrad, ex-stuntman, retired by CBS, Jan. 24, 1968.') '[W]hen I came back for the fourth season I was limited to what I could do for insurance reasons,' Conrad explained. 'So I agreed and gradually I did all the fights but couldn't do anything five feet off the ground and of course that went out the window.'^[33] He was doubled by Jimmy George. Often, George would start a stunt, such as a high fall or a dive through a window, then land behind boxes or off camera, where Conrad was concealed and waiting to seamlessly complete the action. This same ploy was often used by Ross Martin and Bob Herron.

It was hazardous work. Hughes recalled, 'We had a lot of crashes. We used to say, 'Roll the cameras and call the ambulances.' Conrad recalled in 1994, 'The injuries started at the top. Robert Conrad: 6-inch fracture of the skull, high temporal concussion, partial paralysis. Ross Martin: broken leg. A broken skull for Red West. Broken leg for Jimmy George. Broken arm for Jack Skelly. And Michael Dunn: head injury and a spinal sprain. He did his own stunts. And on and on.'^[34]

Following the 1968 assassinations of Dr. Martin Luther King and Robert Kennedy, President Lyndon Johnson created the National Commission on the Causes and Prevention of Violence. One of the questions it tackled was whether violence on television was a contributing factor to violence in American society. (This also included graphic news coverage of the Vietnam War.) The television networks, anticipating these allegations, moved to curtail violence on their entertainment programs before the start of the 1968-69 season.^[35] Television reporter Cynthia Lowrey, in an article published in August 1968, wrote that The Wild Wild West 'is one of the action series being watched by network censors for scenes of excessive violence, even if the violence is all in fun.'^[36]

However, despite a CBS mandate to tone down the mayhem, 'The Night of the Egyptian Queen' (aired November 15, 1968) contains perhaps the series' most ferocious barroom brawl. A later memo attached to the shooting script of 'The Night of Miguelito's Revenge' (aired December 13, 1968) reads: 'Note to Directors: The producer respectfully asks that no violent acts be shot which are not depicted in the script or discussed beforehand. … Most particularly stay away from gratuitous ad-libs, such as slaps, pointing of firearms or other weapons at characters (especially in close quarters), kicks and the use of furniture and other objects in fight scenes.' Strict limits were placed on the number of so-called 'acts of violence' in the last episodes of the season (and thus the series). James West rarely wears a gun, and rather than the usual fisticuffs, fight sequences involved tossing, tackling or body blocking the villains.

In December 1968, executives from ABC, CBS and NBC appeared before the President's Commission. The most caustic of the commissioners, Rep. Hale Boggs (D-La.), decried what he called 'the Saturday morning theme of children's cartoon shows' that permit 'the good guy to do anything in the name of justice.' He also indicted CBS for featuring sadism in its primetime programing (The Wild Wild West was subsequently identified as one example). The Congressman did, however, commend CBS for a 25% decline in violence programming in prime time compared to the other two networks.^[37]

Three months later, in March 1969, Sen. John O. Pastore (D-R.I.) called the same network presidents before his Senate communications subcommittee for a public scolding on the same subject. At Pastore's insistence, the networks promised tighter industry self-censorship, and the Surgeon General began a $1 million study on the effects of television. Congress's concern was shared by the public: in a nationwide poll, 67.5% of 1,554 Americans agreed with the hypothesis that TV and movie violence prompted violence in real life.^[38]

Additionally, the National Association for Better Broadcasting (NABB), in a report eventually issued in November 1969, rated The Wild Wild West 'as one of the most violent series on television.'^[39]

After being excoriated by two committees, the networks scrambled to expunge violence from their programming. The Wild Wild West received its cancellation notice in mid-February, even before Pastore's committee convened.^[40] Producer Bruce Lansbury always claimed that 'It was a sacrificial lamb … It went off with a 32 or 33 share which in those days was virtually break-even, but it always won its time period.'^[41] This is confirmed by an article by Associated Press reporter Joseph Mohbat: 'Shows like ABC's 'Outcasts' and NBC's 'Outsider', which depended heavily on violence, were scrapped. CBS killed 'The Wild, Wild West' despite high ratings, because of criticism. It was seen by the network as a gesture of good intentions.'^[42] The networks played it safe thereafter: of the 22 new television shows that debuted in the fall of 1969, not one was a western or detective drama; 14 were comedy or variety series.^[43]

Conrad denounced Pastore for many years, but in other interviews he admitted that it probably was time to cancel the series because he felt that he and the stunt men were pushing their luck. He also felt the role had hurt his craft. 'In so many roles I was a tough guy and I never advanced much,' Conrad explained. 'Wild Wild West was action adventure. I jumped off roofs and spent all my time with the stuntmen instead of other actors. I thought that's what the role demanded. That role had no dimension other than what it was—a caricature of a performance. It was a comic strip character.'^[44]

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In the summer of 1970, CBS reran several episodes of The Wild Wild West on Mondays at 10 p.m. as a summer replacement for the Carol Burnett Show. These episodes were 'The Night of the Bleak Island' (aired July 6); 'The Night of the Big Blackmail' (July 13); 'The Night of the Kraken' (July 20); 'The Night of the Diva' (July 27); 'The Night of the Simian Terror' (August 3); 'The Night of the Bubbling Death' (August 11); 'The Night of the Returning Dead' (August 17); 'The Night of the Falcon' (August 24); 'The Night of the Underground Terror' (August 31); and 'The Night of the Sedgewick Curse' (September 7). Curiously, none of these featured Dr. Loveless.

TV critic Lawrence Laurent wrote, 'The return of Wild Wild West even for a summer re-run isn't surprising. CBS-TV was never really very eager to cancel this series, since over a four-year run that began in 1965 the Wild Wild West had been a solid winner in the ratings. Cancellation came mainly because CBS officials were concerned about the criticism over televised violence and to a lesser degree because Robert Conrad had grown slightly weary of the role of James West. Ever since last fall's ratings started rolling in, CBS has wished that it had kept Wild Wild West. None of the replacements have done nearly as well and, as a result, all of the Friday programs suffered.'^[45]

That fall, CBS put the program into syndication, giving it new life on local stations across the country. This further antagonized the anti-violence lobby, since the program was now broadcast weekdays and often after school. One group, The Foundation to Improve Television (FIT), filed a suit on November 12, 1970, to prevent WTOP in Washington, D.C., from airing The Wild Wild West weekday afternoons at 4 pm.^[46] The suit was brought in Washington, D.C., specifically to gain government and media attention. The suit said the series 'contains fictionalized violence and horror harmful to the mental health and well-being of minor children', and should not air before 9 pm. WTOP's vice president and general manager, John R. Corporan, was quoted as saying, 'Since programs directed specifically at children are broadcast in the late afternoon by three other TV stations, it is our purpose to counter-program with programming not directed specifically at children.' US District Court Judge John J. Sirica, who later presided over the trial of the Watergate burglars and ordered US President Richard Nixon to turn over White House recordings, dismissed the lawsuit in January 1971, referring FIT to take their complaint to the FCC.^[47] FIT appealed, but a year and a half later the U.S. Court of Appeals upheld the district court decision dismissing the suit on the grounds that FIT had not exhausted the administrative remedies available to them. By then, WTOP had stopped broadcasting the series altogether.^[48] At that time, the show was in reruns on about 57 other local stations across the country, including WOR in New York and WFLD in Chicago.

In October 1973 the Los Angeles-based National Association for Better Broadcasting (NABB) reached a landmark agreement with KTTV, a local station, to purge 42 violent cartoon programs, including Mighty Mouse, Magilla Gorilla, Speed Racer, and Gigantor. Additionally, the NABB cited 81 syndicated live-action shows that 'may have a detrimental influence on some children who are exposed to such programming without parental guidance or perspective' when they are telecast before 8:30 p.m. This list included The Wild Wild West,The Avengers, Batman, Man from UNCLE, Roy Rogers, Wanted Dead or Alive, and The Lone Ranger. In Los Angeles, such shows opened with a cautionary announcement: 'Parents — we wish to advise that because of violence or other possible harmful elements, certain portions of the following program may not be suitable for young children.' The NABB hoped to use the cartoon ban and warning announcement as a model for similar agreements with other local stations.^[49]

By then The Wild Wild West was running on 99 local stations.^[50] Its ongoing popularity throughout the 1970s prompted two television movies, The Wild Wild West Revisited (1979) and More Wild Wild West (1980) (see below). By the spring of 1985 the original series was still carried on 74 local stations.^[51]

In the late 1980s the series was still seen on local stations in Boston, Hartford, Philadelphia, Pittsburgh and Los Angeles, among other cities. Significantly, WGN (Chicago), which carried the show at 10 a.m. on Sundays, became available nationally through cable television.

In 1994, The Wild Wild West began running on Saturdays at 10 a.m. on Turner Network Television (TNT), which preferred the color episodes to the black and white shows. The series was dropped from WGN soon after. Hallmark Channel aired the series in 2005 as part of its slate of Saturday afternoon Westerns but dropped it after only a few weeks.

While the series became scarce on television, each season was released on DVD, beginning with season one in 2006 and concluding with the final season early in 2008 (see below). In 2014 it was announced that the series was being prepped for Blu-ray.^[52]

In 2011 the series began running weekdays and/or weekends on MeTV, then Sundays on the Heroes and Icons digital channel. In 2016 The Wild Wild West returned to MeTV on Saturday afternoons. On January 1, 2018, MeTV began running the series weekday afternoons again, starting with second season (color) episodes. It also airs in the United Kingdom (as of 2015) on the Horror Channel on Sky channel 319, Virgin channel 149, Freeview channel 70 and Freesat channel 138.

Episodes[edit]

Episode list[edit]

Television films[edit]

Conrad and Martin reunited for two television movies, The Wild Wild West Revisited (aired May 9, 1979) and More Wild Wild Westcomedysatires films^[53][54] (aired October 7–8, 1980). Revisited introduced Paul Williams as Miguelito Loveless Jr., the son of the agents' nemesis. (Michael Dunn, who played Dr. Loveless in the original show, had died in 1973.) Loveless planned to substitute clones for the crowned heads of Europe and the President of the United States. (This plot is similar to the second-season episode 'The Night of the Brain'.)

Most of the exterior filming took place at Old Tucson Studios where there were still many 'Old West' buildings and a functioning steam train and tracks. Interiors were shot at CBS Studio Center. Ross Martin said, 'We worked on a lot of the same sets at the studio, including the interiors of the old train. We used the same guns and gimmicks and wardrobes – with the waistlines let out a little bit. The script, unlike the old shows, is played strictly for comedy. It calls for us to be ten years older than when we were last seen. There are a lot more laughs than adventure.'^[55]

More Wild Wild West was initially conceived as a rematch between the agents and Miguelito Jr., but Williams was unavailable for the film; his character was changed to Albert Paradine II and played by Jonathan Winters—this explains why the story begins with various clones of Paradine being murdered (the first film ends with Loveless having cloned himself and placed the doubles around the world). Paradine planned world conquest using a formula for invisibility (recalling the first-season episode 'The Night of the Burning Diamond').

Both TV films were campier than the TV series, although Conrad and Martin played their roles straight. Both films were directed by veteran comedy Western director Burt Kennedy and written by William Bowers (in the latter case with Tony Kayden, from a story by Bowers); neither Kennedy nor Bowers worked on the original series. The Wild Wild West Revisited takes the agents to a town called Wagon Gap. This was a nod to the Abbott and Costello film, The Wistful Widow of Wagon Gap (1947), which was based on a treatment by Bowers and D. D. Beauchamp of a short story by Beauchamp.^[56]

Conrad once revealed that CBS intended to do yearly TV revivals of The Wild Wild West.^[57]Variety, in its review of the first TV movie, concurred: 'A couple of more movies in this vein, sensibly spaced, could work in the future.' ^[58] Ross Martin's death in 1981, however, put an end to the idea. Conrad was later quoted in Cinefantastique about these films: 'We all got along fine with each other when we did these, but I wasn't happy with them only because CBS imposed a lot of restrictions on us. They never came up to the level of what we had done before.'

Theatrical film[edit]

Warner Bros. optioned the film rights to The Wild Wild West in 1992, and hired Richard Donner to direct from a screenplay by Shane Black that would have starred Mel Gibson as James West (Donner coincidentally directed three episodes of the original series). Finally in 1999, a theatrical feature-length film loosely based on the series was released as Wild Wild West (without the definite article used in the series title). Co-produced and directed by Barry Sonnenfeld, the film made substantial changes to the characters of the series, such as re-imagining James West as a black man (played by Will Smith) and Artemus Gordon (played by Kevin Kline) as egotistical and bitterly competitive with West. Additionally, significant changes were made to Dr. Loveless (played by Kenneth Branagh). No longer a dwarf, he was portrayed as a double amputee with no legs and confined in a steam-powered wheelchair (similar to that employed by the villain in the episode 'The Night of the Brain'). Loveless' first name was changed from Miguelito to Arliss and was given the motive of a bitter Southerner who sought revenge on the North after the American Civil War.

Robert Conrad was reportedly offered the role of President Grant, but turned it down. He was outspoken in his criticism of the new film, which was now little more than a comedic Will Smith showcase with almost nothing in common with the original action-adventure series. In a New York Post interview (July 3, 1999), Conrad stated that he disliked the film and that contractually he was owed a share of money on merchandising that he was unpaid. He also had a long-standing feud with producer Jon Peters, which may have colored his opinion. He was also offended at the racial aspects of the film, as well as the casting of Branagh as a double amputee, rather than a little-person actor, in the role of Loveless.

Conrad took special delight in accepting the Golden Raspberry Awards for the film in 1999. It was awarded Worst Picture, Worst Director, Worst Screenplay, Worst Original Song (for the song 'Wild Wild West' by Smith) and Worst Screen Couple.

In 2009, Will Smith apologized publicly to Conrad while doing promotion for Seven Pounds:

I made a mistake on Wild Wild West. That could have been better. .. No, it's funny because I could never understand why Robert Conrad was so upset with Wild Wild West. And now I get it. It's like, 'That's my baby! I put my blood, sweat and tears into that!' So I'm going to apologize to Mr. Conrad for that because I didn't realize. I was young and immature. So much pain and joy went into [my series] The Fresh Prince that my greatest desire would be that it's left alone.

Home media[edit]

The first season of The Wild Wild West was released on DVD in North America on June 6, 2006 by CBS Home Entertainment (distributed by Paramount Home Entertainment). Although it was touted as a special 40th anniversary edition, it appeared 41 years after the show's 1965 debut. Robert Conrad recorded audio introductions for all 28 first-season episodes, plus a commentary track for the pilot. The set also featured audio interviews by Susan Kesler (for her book, The Wild Wild West: The Series), and 1970s era footage of Conrad and Martin on a daytime talk show. The second season was released on DVD on March 20, 2007; the third season was released on November 20, 2007; and the fourth and final season was released on March 18, 2008. None of the later season sets contained bonus material.

A 27-disc complete series set was released on November 4, 2008.^[59] It contains all 104 episodes of the series as well as both reunion telefilms.

On May 12, 2015, CBS Home Entertainment released a repackaged version of the complete series set, at a lower price, but did not include the bonus disc that was part of the original complete series set.^[60] On June 13, 2016, the bonus disc was released as a standalone item.

In France, where the series (known locally as Les Mystères de l'Ouest) was a big hit, all four seasons were released in a DVD boxed set before their US release. The French set, released by TF1 Video, includes many of the extras on the US season one set, and many others. 'The Night of the Inferno' is presented twice – as a regular episode in English with Conrad's audio commentary, and in a French-dubbed version. All of the episodes are presented in English with French subtitles, and several episode titles differ in translation from the original English titles. For example, 'The Night of the Gypsy Peril', 'The Night of the Simian Terror' and 'The Night of Jack O'Diamonds' respectively translate as 'The Night of the White Elephant', 'The Night of the Beast' and 'The Night of the Thoroughbred'. Both TV movies are included as extras, but only in French-dubbed versions. The set also features a 1999 interview with Robert Conrad at the Mirande Country Music Festival in France.

In other media[edit]

The series spawned several merchandising spin-offs, including a seven-issue comic book series by Gold Key Comics, and a paperback novel, Richard Wormser's The Wild Wild West, published in 1966 by Signet (ISBN0-451-02836-8), which adapted the episode 'The Night of the Double-Edged Knife'.

Books[edit]

In 1988, Arnett Press published The Wild Wild West: The Series by Susan E. Kesler (ISBN0-929360-00-1), a thorough production history and episode guide.

In 1998, Berkeley Books published three novels by author Robert Vaughan – The Wild Wild West (ISBN0-425-16372-5), The Night of the Death Train (ISBN0-425-16449-7), and The Night of the Assassin (ISBN0-425-16517-5).

Comics[edit]

In 1990, Millennium Publications produced a four-part comic book series ('The Night of the Iron Tyrants') scripted by Mark Ellis with art by Darryl Banks. A sequel to the TV series, it involved Dr. Loveless in a conspiracy to assassinate President Grant and the President of Brazil and put the Knights of the Golden Circle into power. The characters of Voltaire and Antoinette were prominent here, despite their respective early departures from Dr. Loveless' side in the original program. A review from the Mile High Comics site states: 'This mini-series perfectly captures the fun mixture of western and spy action that marked the ground-breaking 1960s TV series.' The storyline of the comics mini-series was optioned for motion picture development.

In the 75th volume of the French comic book series Lucky Luke (L'Homme de Washington), published in 2008, both James West and Artemus Gordon have a minor guest appearance, albeit the names have been changed to 'James East' and 'Artémius Gin'.

Television[edit]

When Robert Conrad hosted Saturday Night Live on NBC (January 23, 1982), he appeared in a parody of The Wild Wild West. President Lincoln states his famous quip that, if General U.S. Grant is a drunk, he should send whatever he's drinking to his other less successful generals. Lincoln dispatches West and Gordon (Joe Piscopo) to find out what Grant drinks. They discover that Grant is held captive by Velvet Jones (Eddie Murphy).

Soundtrack album[edit]

On July 11, 2017, La-La Land Records released a limited edition 4-disc set of music from the series, featuring Richard Markowitz's theme, episode scores by Markowitz, Robert Drasnin, Dave Grusin, Richard Shores, Harry Geller, Walter Scharf, Jack Pleis and Fred Steiner, and Dimitri Tiomkin's unused theme music.^[61]

Contemporary merchandise[edit]

As with many television series, The Wild Wild West had several merchandise tie-ins during its run. These are listed below.^[62]

Proposed revivals[edit]

On October 5, 2010, Entertainment Weekly reported that Ron Moore and Naren Shankar were developing a remake of The Wild Wild West for television,^[63] but the project apparently stalled. In December 2013, Moore told Wired that 'Wild Wild West and Star Trek were two of my great loves. I watched both in syndication in the '70s. Wild Wild West was really interesting, that combination of genres—a Western and secret agent, and they dabbled in the occult and paranormal. I really wanted to do a new version for CBS. I still think it's a great property. Someday I hope to go back to it.'^[64]

A fan-produced webseries titled Back to the Wild Wild West began production in November 2011, but apparently has been stalled.^[65]

See also[edit]

References[edit]

1. ^[www.tv.com/shows/the-wild-wild-west-1969/ 'The Wild Wild West (1969)'] Check url= value (help). http://www.tv.com. Retrieved September 1, 2019.External link in website= (help)
2. ^'The Wild, Wild West Revisited (1979)'. www.allmovie.com. Retrieved September 1, 2019.
3. ^'More Wild Wild West (1980)'. www.allmovie.com. Retrieved September 1, 2019.
4. ^ ^abKesler, Susan E. (1988). The Wild Wild West: The Series. Arnett Press. ISBN0-929360-00-1.
5. ^'The Night of the Lord of Limbo'
6. ^Stanley, John (September 7, 2008). 'Conrad revisits 'Wild West,' 'Centennial''. The San Francisco Chronicle. Retrieved May 27, 2014.
7. ^Robert Conrad at Brian's Drive in Theater
8. ^ ^abBoston Globe, 'Wild West Proves Hazardous' Sept. 15, 1968
9. ^'The Dastardly Devices of The Wild Wild West,' TV Guide, June 1–7, 1968
10. ^Chicago Daily Tribune; July 7, 1960
11. ^Pictures: Feldman ('I Was 1st') Refuses $500,000 And % to Yield UA His James Bond. Variety. March 31, 1965
12. ^The Deseret News, August 20, 1965
13. ^The New York Times, July 8, 1999
14. ^Variety, May 19, 1965
15. ^Chicago Tribune, May 27, 1965
16. ^Boston Globe, Nov. 28, 1965
17. ^Weaver, Tom. 'Interview with Phoebe Dorin'. Retrieved May 27, 2014.
18. ^ ^abVariety, November 10, 1965 'Gunsmoke' in CBS' 'Wild West'
19. ^Variety, March 16, 1966 'Coon Quits WWW, Garrison is 9th Producer'
20. ^Newark Evening News, May 15, 1966
21. ^Walstad, David (August 7, 1995). 'Civilization Takes Over 'Gilligan's' Lagoon : Television: The set of the 1960s sitcom is turned into an employee parking lot as CBS Studio Center adds production facilities'. Los Angeles Times.
22. ^'V&T #22 'INYO''. Retrieved September 18, 2016.
23. ^Albert Heschong on IMDb
24. ^'Measuring Worth - Relative Value of the US Dollar'. Retrieved September 18, 2016.
25. ^'V&T Locomotive #11 'Reno''. Retrieved September 18, 2016.
26. ^https://www.americanrifleman.org/articles/2014/3/24/remington-41-double-derringer/. Retrieved August 30, 2016.
27. ^('The Night of Montezuma's Hordes')
28. ^('The Night of the Watery Death')
29. ^('The Night of the Bubbling Death')
30. ^http://www.filmmusicsociety.org/news_events/features/2004/083004.html
31. ^'Animation Legend Ken Mundie Pitches 'The Match' on Kickstarter'. Cartoon Brew. April 26, 2013. Retrieved December 14, 2016.
32. ^All original font references refer to faces in the One Line Manual of Styles of the now-defunct Photo-Lettering Inc. from the 1960s.
33. ^Reid, Craig (October 1999). 'Robert Conrad, Wild Wild West'. Cinefantastique. Retrieved May 27, 2014.
34. ^'Wild Wild West' violence caused concern.' Houston Chronicle, 03 July 1994.
35. ^'Networks Act to Curb Violence on TV Screens', Chicago Tribune, July 7, 1968.
36. ^Ellensburgh Daily Record, August 15, 1968
37. ^'Rough Day for Networks.' Broadcasting, December 23, 1968
38. ^'Television: Guilty or just a scapegoat?' Jeannette, PA News-Dispatch, May 1, 1969.
39. ^Mass Media and Violence: A Report to the National Commission on the Causes and Prevention of Violence, Vol 81, p.611 (1969).
40. ^The Washington Post, February 22, 1969.
41. ^White, Patrick J. (1991). The Complete Mission: Impossible Dossier. Avon Books. ISBN0380758776.
42. ^'TV is Accused of Contributing to Violence,' Schenectady Gazette, September 25, 1969
43. ^'TV Cowboys Bite Dust in Nets' Fall Line-Up', Chicago Tribune, March 13, 1969.
44. ^'Conrad Returns Home,' The Ventura County Press Courier, April 29, 1979
45. ^'West' Re-Runs Are No Surprise', Washington Post, July 19, 1970
46. ^'Judge Delays Suit to Curb 'Wild Wild West' The New York Times, November 13, 1970.
47. ^'Anti-violence TV Suit Dismissed', Miami Herald, January 30, 1971.
48. ^Broadcasting, June 26, 1972
49. ^'KTTV Yields to Arm-Twisting by NABB on Kidvid Violence,' Variety, Oct. 3, 1973.
50. ^Viacom ad, Broadcasting, April 9, 1973.
51. ^'New Life in Old Shows,' Broadcasting March 18, 1985.
52. ^https://www.blu-ray.com/news/?id=13843
53. ^'The Wild, Wild West Revisited (1979)'. www.allmovie.com. Retrieved September 1, 2019.
54. ^'More Wild Wild West (1980)'. www.allmovie.com. Retrieved September 1, 2019.
55. ^Quoted by columnist Vernon Scott, UPI, in the Milwaukee Sentinel, April 30, 1979, p. 24
56. ^Furmanek, Bob, and Ron Palumbo. 'Abbott and Costello in Hollywood.' Perigee, 1991.
57. ^'Robert Conrad Digs Macho Man Roles,' The Hartford Courant, March 25, 1979.
58. ^Television Reviews, Variety, May 16, 1979
59. ^'The Wild, Wild West DVD news: Box Art for The Wild, Wild West - The Complete Series - TVShowsOnDVD.com'. Archived from the original on March 4, 2016. Retrieved September 18, 2016.
60. ^''The Complete Series' Re-Released in New Packaging Box'. TVShowsOnDVD.com. Archived from the original on February 25, 2015. Retrieved February 24, 2015.
61. ^'Album page'.
62. ^Kesler, p. 235.
63. ^Ausiello, Michael (October 5, 2010). 'Exclusive: 'Wild' turn of events for 'Battlestar Galactica' creator Ron Moore'. EW.com. Retrieved June 4, 2014.
64. ^Rogers, Adam (December 17, 2013). 'The Man Who Rescued Battlestar Galactica Is Back on TV'. Wired. Retrieved June 4, 2014.
65. ^'About The Show'. Back to the Wild Wild West. Archived from the original on March 10, 2014. Retrieved June 4, 2014.

External links[edit]

• The Wild Wild West on IMDb
• The Wild Wild West at TV.com

The Wild Wild West is an American television series that ran on the CBS network from 1965 to 1969. During its four-season run a total of 104 episodes were broadcast. The Wild Wild West blended westerns – hugely popular on television at the time (Gunsmoke, Bonanza, Wagon Train, Rawhide, etc.) – with spy adventure, which came into vogue in the wake of the highly successful James Bond films, resulting in such spy-oriented series as The Man from U.N.C.L.E., The Avengers and Secret Agent.

The Wild Wild West is set in the 1870s and deals with the exploits of James West (played by Robert Conrad) and Artemus Gordon (Ross Martin), two agents of the United States Secret Service who work directly under the command of President Ulysses S. Grant. James West is presented as a sort of 'James Bond of the West',^[1] i.e. the handsome, muscular action-hero who is handy with his fists, as well as a dashing ladies' man. Artemus Gordon is West's partner, a master of disguises and also the inventor of the many gadgets that the two of them use in the course of their adventures. The two men travel about in a private train and use their talents to vanquish the many dastardly villains that threatened the United States — among them, disgraced ex-soldiers seeking revenge against President Grant, power-hungry megalomaniacs, and mad scientists with their brilliant but diabolical inventions. The last group includes the recurring character of Dr. Miguelito Loveless, played by 3'11'^[2]Michael Dunn. As series producer Bruce Lansbury stated:

'Jim [West]'s world was one of two-faced villainy, male and female, countless 'Mickey Finns', and needle-tipped baroque pinkie rings that put him to sleep even as he embraced their dispensers. There were inevitable trap doors, hotel walls that ground their victims to dust or revolved into lush Aubrey Beardsley settings next door, lethal chairs that tossed occupants skyward or alternatively dumped them into dank sewers that subterraneously crisscrossed countless cow towns of the period. And then there was that old Dutch sea captain, leaning in the corner of the swill-hole of a bar, who inexplicably winked at Jim as he entered … Artemus, of course, in one of his thousand disguises.'^[3]

Ten years after the series was cancelled a made-for-television revival movie, The Wild Wild West Revisited, aired and was successful enough to warrant a follow-up entitled More Wild Wild West (1980), thus bringing the total number of episodes up to 106. However, the movie was more campy compared to the serious tone of the television series. The death of Ross Martin in 1981 ended any plans for another film.^[4]

The complete run of the series is present below in broadcast order. Included are the episode titles, directors, writers, broadcast dates, production codes, guest stars and the roles they played, and a brief plot synopsis. Also, the various disguises that Ross Martin used in his Artemus Gordon character are listed.

• 2Episodes

Series overview[edit]

Episodes[edit]

Season 1 (1965–66)[edit]

The Wild Wild West was created by Michael Garrison, a movie producer(Peyton Place, The Long, Hot Summer, An Affair to Remember) who had, at one time, co-owned the rights to Ian Fleming's first James Bondnovel, Casino Royale.^[5] Garrison produced the series pilot episode himself^[5] but, once the series was approved by the CBS network, it became necessary to find a more experienced producer to handle the subsequent episodes. Garrison, in the meantime, was moved into the position of Executive Producer.^[6] Collier Young, who hitherto had produced a series entitled The Rogues, was assigned to The Wild Wild West but, after overseeing only three episodes, was replaced due to 'a difference in concept between the network and [him].'^[7]Fred Freiberger, his replacement, brought the series back on track with adventures featuring beautiful women, strong adversaries, and 'something very bizarre.'^[8] Also under Freiberger the character of Dr. Loveless was created. Loveless became an immediate hit, resulting in actor Michael Dunn being contracted to do four episodes per season.^[9] However, after producing ten episodes, Fred Freiberger was replaced by John Mantley, reputedly due to a behind-the-scenes power struggle.^[10] Mantley, who had been associate producer on Gunsmoke, produced seven episodes before he too was replaced. Mantley returned to his former position on Gunsmoke while Gene L. Coon took over the production reins for of The Wild Wild West. However, Coon left after six episodes to take a screenwriting assignment at Warner Bros., leaving Michael Garrison to take on double-duty as producer and executive producer for the remainder of the season.^[11]

The 28 first-season episodes of The Wild Wild West, all of which were photographed in black and white, were not broadcast in the order that they were filmed. Notably, the early ones produced by Collier Young were moved back in the broadcast schedule in favor of the Fred Freiberger- and John Mantley-produced episodes. The breakdown in broadcast order is thus:

• Michael Garrison — Episodes 1 and 28
• Collier Young — Episodes 5, 9 and 15
• Fred Freiberger — Episodes 2-4, 6-8 and 10-13
• John Mantley — Episodes 14 and 16-21
• Gene L. Coon — Episodes 22-27

During this season, The Wild Wild West placed at #23 in the ratings for the 1965-1966 season.^[12] One episode of this season, 'The Night of the Howling Light', received an Emmy nomination for Best Cinematography.^[13]

Season 2 (1966–67)[edit]

The second season of The Wild Wild West continued the basic format of first season, but also made some changes. The most notable of these was that the series was now shot in color, which enhanced the Victorian ambiance of the 1870s setting.^[15] Both Robert Conrad and Ross Martin were given modified wardrobes, with Conrad wearing short bolero jackets and tight-fitting pants.^[16] There was also a shift in the choreography of the fight scenes, changing the emphasis from karate (largely used in the first season) to boxing.^[17]

As in the first season, Dr. Loveless was featured in four episodes. Meanwhile, an attempt was made to establish another recurring villain with the character of Count Manzeppi (played by Victor Buono, who had appeared in the pilot episode). However, the Count was dropped after only two episodes.

Again, as in the first season, 28 episodes were produced for the season. Initially, Michael Garrison continued in the dual capacity as producer and executive producer. However, after seven episodes, the producing chores were handed to Bruce Lansbury, the younger brother of actress Angela Lansbury, and Garrison returned to working solely as the series' executive producer. Garrison died on August 17, 1966, when he fell down a flight of stairs at his home in Bel Air.^[18][19][20]

The breakdown between the two producers, as broadcast, is:^[21]

• Michael Garrison – Season episodes 1–5, 12 and 14
• Bruce Lansbury – Season episodes 6–11, 13 and 15–28

However, the series continued to be listed as 'A Michael Garrison Production in association with the CBS Television Network' in the end credits for the rest of the run.

The Wild Wild West slipped in the ratings during the second season and failed to be among the 25 most popular shows during the 1966–1967 season.^[12] However, guest star Agnes Moorehead won an Emmy Award as Best Supporting Actress in a Drama Series for her performance in the episode 'The Night of the Vicious Valentine'.

Season 3 (1967–68)[edit]

The third season of The Wild Wild West saw a shift away from fantasy and more toward traditional western with the 'villains becoming more political and less outrageous.'^[22] Also, because of serious health problems, Michael Dunn appeared as Dr. Loveless in only one episode during this season ('The Night Dr. Loveless Died').^[22]

Wild Wild West Full Episodes Free

On January 24, 1968, when The Wild Wild West was near the end of shooting for the season, star Robert Conrad, who did the majority of his own stunt work, was seriously injured when he fell from a chandelier during the filming of the episode 'The Night of the Fugitives'. Production was shut down for the season and the 'Fugitives' was completed and broadcast during the fourth season.^[23][24]

All of the episodes of this season were produced by Bruce Lansbury. Due to Conrad's injury only 24 episodes were made for this season. As in the second season, The Wild Wild West did not rank among the 25 most popular shows during the 1967-1968 season.^[12]

The Wild Wild West Episodes Netflix

Season 4 (1968–69)[edit]

Due to his injury near the end of filming of the previous season, the fourth season of The Wild Wild West forced Robert Conrad to use a double for any stunt that the studio considered 'chancy.'^[26] Unfortunately, the fourth season proved unlucky for co-star Ross Martin. On June 26, 1968, during filming of 'The Night of the Avaricious Actuary' Martin fell and received a hairline fracture in his shin. As a result, the script for the next episode filmed, 'The Night of the Juggernaut', was re-written to have Martin's character, Artemus Gordon, receive a leg injury.^[27][28] A far more serious event befell Martin later on in the course of the season's filming. On August 17 of the same year he suffered a massive heart attack.^[29] A five-week hiatus in filming had just begun, but Martin's recovery time was much longer. Producer Bruce Lansbury had no choice but again have rewrites of the scripts. Nine episodes were filmed without Martin although he continued to have co-star billing in the opening credits. The absence of his character was explained as being on 'special assignment' in Washington, D.C.^[30] For one of these episodes, 'The Night of the Tycoons', James West operated solo. For the remaining eight episodes West worked with other agents. These were:

• Charles Aidman as Jeremy Pike (season episodes 10, 12, 13, & 18)
• William Schallert as Frank Harper (season episodes 15 & 16)
• Alan Hale Jr. as Ned Brown (season episode 17)
• John Williams as Sir Nigel Scott (season episode 21)

Ross Martin returned to filming for the final three episodes of the season, which also turned out to be the last episodes of the entire series. The Wild Wild West was cancelled after four seasons, possibly due to declining ratings (it again did not place among the top 25^[12]), but also possibly due to a crack-down on programs with excessive violence.^[31]

During this season, Ross Martin received an Emmy Award nomination for leading actor in a drama series. All of the fourth-season episodes were produced by Bruce Lansbury. As in the third season, Michael Dunn made only one appearance as Dr. Loveless.

Television movies (1979–80)[edit]

Ten years after the cancellation of The Wild Wild WestRobert Conrad and Ross Martin reunited and reprised their respective roles as government agents James West and Artemus Gordon in a television reunion film, The Wild Wild West Revisited. This film proved to be one of CBS' highest rated specials of the year,^[32] thus warranting a second reunion film, More Wild Wild West. The second film, however, proved less successful.^[32]

These two reunion movies were produced by Robert Jacks and directed by Burt Kennedy and are notably more comical than the original series.^[32]

Emmy Awards[edit]

During its four-year run The Wild Wild West received three Emmy nominations:

Home releases[edit]

The entire four-season run of The Wild Wild West is available on DVD from Paramount Home Video in both individual box sets of each season as well as a box containing the whole series. However, only the latter contains the reunion films.

Producers[edit]

The Wild Wild West had six different producers during the course of its four-season run, plus a seventh for the two reunion movies. A breakdown of the episodes and their producers appears in the chart below.

Directors[edit]

The Wild Wild West employed a large number of directors during its run, with Irving J. Moore directing the most episodes (25 total).

Of note is that three episodes were directed by William Witney, who had co-directed many 'cliffhangers' during the 1930s and 1940s, including Zorro Rides Again, The Lone Ranger and The Adventures of Captain Marvel.^[38] Also among the series directors are Mark Rydell (who would go on to direct On Golden Pond with Katharine Hepburn, Henry Fonda and Jane Fonda) and Richard Donner (later to direct The Omen, Superman, and the Lethal Weapon series).

Guest stars[edit]

During its run, The Wild Wild West featured a large number of notable guest stars. Many of these guests also appeared on Star Trek. These actors and the titles to the episodes of both series that they appeared in are listed below.^[39] A video montage of some of these performance can be found on YouTube.^[40]

Some guest stars who appeared only on The Wild Wild West were:

• Charles Aidman- (The Night of the Camera, The Night of Miguelito's Revenge, The Night of the Pelican, The Night of the Janus)
• Edward Andrews- (The Night of the Brain)
• John Astin- (The Night of the Tartar)
• Vincent Beck- (The Night of the Pelican)
• Henry Beckman- (The Night of the Torture Chamber, The Night of the Vicious Valentine)
• Ed Begley- (The Night of the Infernal Machine)
• Lloyd Bochner- (The Night of the Puppeteer)
• Victor Buono- (The Night of the Inferno, The Night of the Eccentrics, The Night of the Feathered Fury)
• Walter Burke- (The Night of the Cut-Throats)
• Joseph Campanella- (The Night of the Wolf)
• Michele Carey- (The Night of the Feathered Fury, The Night of the Winged Terror: Parts 1 & 2)
• Christopher Cary- (The Night of the Poisonous Posey, The Night of the Winged Terror: Parts 1 & 2)
• Sammy Davis Jr.- (The Night of the Returning Dead)
• John Dehner- (Night of the Casual Killer, The Night of the Steel Assassin)
• Khigh Dhiegh- (The Night of the Samurai, The Night of the Pelican)
• Bradford Dillman- (The Night of the Cut-Throats)
• Phoebe Dorin- (The Night the Wizard Shook the Earth, The Night That Terror Stalked the Town, The Night of the Whirring Death, The Night of the Murderous Spring, The Night of the Raven, The Night of the Green Terror)
• John Doucette- (The Night of the Flaming Ghost, The Night of the Surreal McCoy)
• Robert Drivas- (The Night of the Burning Diamond)
• Robert Duvall- (The Night of the Falcon)
• Anthony Eisley- (The Night of the Eccentrics, The Night of the Janus)
• Robert Ellenstein- (The Night of the Flaming Ghost, The Night Dr. Loveless Died, The Night of the Gruesome Games, The Night of the Winged Terror: Parts 1 & 2)
• Roy Engel- (The Night of the Steel Assassin, The Night of the Colonel's Ghost, The Night of the Arrow, The Night of the Death-Maker, The Night of the Big Blackmail, The Night of the Winged Terror: Part 1)
• Bernard Fox- (The Night of the Winged Terror: Part 1)
• Beverly Garland- (The Night of the Cut-Throats, The Night of the Bleak Island)
• Lisa Gaye- (The Night of the Skulls, The Night of the Falcon)
• Don Gordon- (The Night of the Cadre)
• Harold Gould- (The Night of the Bubbling Death, The Night of the Avaricious Actuary)
• Kevin Hagen- (The Night of the Amnesiac)
• Alan Hale Jr.- (The Night of the Sabatini Death)
• Hurd Hatfield- (The Night of the Man-Eating House, The Night of the Undead)
• Douglas Henderson- (The Night of the Skulls, The Night of the Falcon, The Night of the Turncoat, The Night of the Underground Terror, The Night of the Death Masks, The Night of the Fugitives, The Night of Miguelito’s Revenge, The Night of the Sabatini Death, The Night of the Diva, The Night of the Plague)
• Boris Karloff- (The Night of the Golden Cobra)
• Sandy Kenyon- (The Night of Sudden Death)
• Richard Kiel- (The Night the Wizard Shook the Earth, The Night That Terror Stalked the Town, The Night of the Whirring Death, The Night of the Simian Terror)
• Harvey Korman- (The Night of the Big Blackmail)
• Martin Landau- (The Night of the Red-Eyed Madmen)
• Ronald Long- (The Night of the Gypsy Peril)
• Ida Lupino- (The Night Of The Big Blast)
• John Marley- (The Night of the Wolf)
• Scott Marlowe- (The Night of the Howling Light)
• Kevin McCarthy- (The Night of the Doomsday Formula)
• Burgess Meredith- (The Night of the Human Trigger)
• Agnes Moorehead- (The Night of the Vicious Valentine)
• Priscilla Morrill- (The Night of the Undead)
• Leslie Neilsen- (The Night of the Double-Edged Knife)
• Carroll O'Connor- (The Night of the Ready-Made Corpse)
• Nehemiah Persoff- (The Night of the Inferno, The Night of the Deadly Blossom, The Night of the Underground Terror)
• Ford Rainey- (The Night of the Flying Pie Plate, The Night of the Iron Fist, The Night of the Kraken)
• Pernell Roberts- (The Night of the Firebrand)
• Don Rickles- (The Night of the Druid's Blood)
• Lorri Scott- (The Night of the Wolf)
• William Talman- (The Night of the Man-Eating House)
• Sigrid Valdis- (The Night the Wizard Shook the Earth, The Night of the Torture Chamber)
• Donald Woods- (The Night of the Skulls, The Night of the Assassin)
• H.M. Wynant- (The Night of the Torture Chamber, The Night of the Sudden Plague, The Night of the Poisonous Posey, The Night of the Simian Terror)
• Keenan Wynn- (The Night of the Freebooters)
• John Zaremba- (The Night of the Undead)

Some guest stars who only appeared on Star Trek were:

• Michael Ansara- (Day of the Dove)
• Lou Antonio- (Let That Be Your Last Battlefield)
• Barbara Babcock- (A Taste of Armageddon, Plato’s Stepchildren)
• Whit Bissell- (The Trouble with Tribbles)
• Joan Collins- (The City on the Edge of Forever)
• James Daly- (Requiem for Methuselah)
• Diana Ewing- (The Cloud Minders)
• Michael Forest- (Who Mourns for Adonais?)
• Frank Gorshin- (Let That Be Your Last Battlefield)
• Skip Homeier- (Patterns of Force, The Way to Eden)
• Sally Kellerman- (Where No Man Has Gone Before)
• Nancy Kovack- (A Private Little War)
• Don Marshall- (The Galileo Seven)
• Lee Meriwether- (That Which Survives)
• Charles Napier- (The Way to Eden)
• Julie Newmar- (Friday's Child)
• Warren Stevens- (By Any Other Name)
• Robert Walker Jr- (Charlie X)
• Kenneth Washington- (That Which Survives)

Footnotes[edit]

1. ^Kesler, Susan E. (1988). The Wild Wild West — The Series. Downey, California: Arnett Press. p. 8. ISBN978-0929360003.
2. ^'Biography of Michael Dunn at IMDb'. Retrieved 2008-10-09.
3. ^Kesler, p. iv.
4. ^'Biography of Ross Martin at IMDb'. Retrieved 2008-10-09.
5. ^ ^abKesler, p. 8.
6. ^Kesler, p. 24.
7. ^Kesler, p. 25.
8. ^Kesler, p. 30.
9. ^Kesler, pp. 30-31.
10. ^Kesler, p. 42-43.
11. ^Kesler, p. 52.
12. ^ ^abcd'TV Ratings — The 1960s'. Retrieved 2008-10-16.
13. ^Kesler, p. 45.
14. ^Kesler, p. v.
15. ^Kesler, p. 78.
16. ^Kesler, p. 80.
17. ^Cangey, R.M. (1996). Inside The Wild Wild West. Cypress, California: Cangey Publishing Co. pp. 57–63. ISBN0-9654013-0-8.
18. ^Kesler, p. 98.
19. ^Cangey, p. 121.
20. ^'Biography of Michael Garrison at IMDb'. Retrieved 2008-09-18.
21. ^Cangey, pp. 9–17 (episode guide section at the end of the book.)
22. ^ ^abKesler, p. 139.
23. ^ ^abKesler, p. 69.
24. ^Cangey, pp. 177-180.
25. ^Liebknicht is German for Loveless. In the first encounter between Loveless and West; Loveless admits he is the last of his family
26. ^Kesler, p. 71.
27. ^Kesler, p. 176.
28. ^Cangey, p. 197.
29. ^Kesler, p. 178.
30. ^Kesler, p. 197.
31. ^Kesler, p.210.
32. ^ ^abcKesler, p. 228.
33. ^'Season One (Region 1)'. Retrieved 2008-10-05.
34. ^'Season Two (Region 1)'. Retrieved 2008-10-05.
35. ^'Season Three (Region 1)'. Retrieved 2008-10-05.
36. ^'Season Four (Region 1)'. Retrieved 2008-10-05.
37. ^'Complete series (Region 1)'. Retrieved 2008-10-08.
38. ^Barbour, Alan G. (1970). Days of Thrills and Adventure. New York: Collier Books. p. 19. ISBN978-0020120407.
39. ^'The Wild Wild West / Star Trek crossovers'. Archived from the original on 2002-06-07. Retrieved 2008-10-19.
40. ^'Wild Wild West & Star Trek - Actor Crossovers'. YouTube. Retrieved 2008-10-21.

References[edit]

Books

• Kesler, Susan E. (1988). The Wild Wild West — The Series. Downey, California: Arnett Press. ISBN0-929360-00-1.
• Cangey, R.M. (1996). Inside The Wild Wild West. Cypress, California: Cangey Publishing Co. ISBN0-9654013-0-8. (Cangey was a stunt man on the series.)

Webpages

• The Wildest Home Page in the West. Wayback Machine archived page of now defunct fan page.
• The Wild Wild West — World Wide Web Page. Wayback Machine archived page of now defunct fan page.
• Another episode guide.
• A list that attempts to place the episodes in a chronological order.

External links[edit]

• List of The Wild Wild West episodes on IMDb
• List of The Wild Wild West episodes at TV.com