The Wild Wild West

This article is about the 1965 television series. For other uses, see Wild Wild West (disambiguation).

The Wild Wild West
Genre	Western
Created by	Michael Garrison
Directed by	Irving J. Moore and others
Starring	Robert Conrad; Ross Martin
Country of origin	United States
Language(s)	English
No. of seasons	4
No. of episodes	104 (List of episodes)
Production
Running time	50 min.
Broadcast
Original channel	CBS
Audio format	Mono
Original run	September 17, 1965 – April 4, 1969
Chronology
Related shows	Wild Wild West (film)

The Wild Wild West is an American television series that ran on CBS for four seasons (104 episodes) from September 17, 1965 to April 4, 1969.

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."

Two television movies were made with the original cast in 1979 and 1980, and the series was adapted for a motion picture in 1999 with a new cast and story.

Concept summary

Ross Martin as Artemus Gordon (with guest star Ann Elder).

The Wild Wild West told the story of two Secret Service agents: James T. West, the charming gunslinger (played by Robert Conrad), and Artemus Gordon (played by Ross Martin), the brilliant gadgeteer and master of disguise. Their unending 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 US Civil War; his "cover" during the series is that he is a railroad president. After retiring from the Service by 1880 he lives on a ranch in Mexico. Gordon's past is more obscure; when he retires in 1880 he goes on the road as the head of a Shakespeare traveling players troupe.

The show incorporated classic Western elements with an espionage thriller, science fiction/alternate history ideas (in a similar vein to steampunk), in one case horror ("The Night of the Man Eating House") and plenty of comedy. In the finest James Bond tradition, 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).

Creation, writing and production

Michael Garrison and his partner at the time, Gregory Ratoff, purchased the film rights to Ian Fleming's first Bond novel, Casino Royale, in 1955. They pitched the idea to 20th Century Fox, but the studio turned them down. After Ratoff died in 1960, his widow and Garrison sold the film rights to Charles K. Feldman, who eventually produced the spoof Casino Royale in 1967. Garrison, in the meantime, had brought James Bond to television in a unique way.

The pilot episode, "The Night of the Inferno", was produced by Garrison and scripted by Gilbert Ralston, who had written for numerous episodic TV series in the 1950s and 1960s. In 1997, Ralston sued Warner Bros. over the upcoming motion picture based on the series. (Wild Wild West was released in 1999.) In a 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." Ralston said he then created the Civil War characters, the format, the story outline and nine drafts of the 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's experience brought to light a common Hollywood practice of the 1950s and '60s, when television writers who helped create popular series allowed producers or studios to take credit for a show (thus denying the writers millions of dollars in royalties). Ralston died in 1999, before his suit was settled. Warner Brothers ended up paying his family between $600,000 and $1.5 million.

As indicated by Robert Conrad on his DVD commentary for the first season, the show went through several changes in producers in its first season. This was apparently due to conflicts between the network and Garrison. At first, Ben Brady was named as producer, but he was then shifted to Rawhide. The network then hired Collier Young. 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 second "Wild" to the series title, which had been simply "The Wild West" in its early stages of production. 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.

Young's replacement, Fred Freiberger, returned the series to its original concept, and it was on his watch that the arch-villain Dr. Loveless was created. Loveless became an immediate hit, and actor Michael Dunn was contracted to appear in four episodes per season.

After ten episodes (5-14), Freiberger was replaced by John Mantley, reputedly due to a behind-the-scenes power struggle. Mantley, who had been associate producer on Gunsmoke, produced seven (15-21) episodes before he, too, was replaced. While Mantley returned to his former position on Gunsmoke, Gene L. Coon took over the production reins of The Wild Wild West. Coon, however, left after six episodes (22-27) to take a screenwriting assignment at Warner Bros.

By then, Garrison's conflict with CBS was resolved, and he returned to produce the last episode of season one and the initial episodes of season two. The producer'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."

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 and died. CBS brought in Bruce Lansbury, head of programming in New York, to produce the show for the remainder of its run.

The Wild Wild West was filmed at CBS Studio Center on Radford Avenue in the San Fernando Valley. The 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 became the primary lessee of the studio lot in 1963, and produced Gunsmoke, The Virginian and Rawhide there, as well as Gilligan's Island. Later, MTM Enterprises (headed by actress Mary Tyler Moore and her then-husband, Grant Tinker) became the Studio Center's primary tenant, beginning in 1971. Seinfeld was filmed there in the 1990s.

Villains

A memorable recurring arch-villain was Dr. Miguelito Quixote Loveless, a brilliant but megalomaniac dwarf portrayed by Michael Dunn. Like Professor Moriarty for Sherlock Holmes, Loveless provided West and Gordon with a worthy adversary, whose plans could be foiled but who resisted all attempts to capture him and bring him to justice. Loveless was introduced in the show's sixth produced, but third televised episode, "The Night the Wizard Shook The Earth", and appeared in another nine episodes. 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 with no 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 anger and frustration at having his plans consistently ruined 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.)

While the show's writers created their fair share of villains (Agnes Moorehead won an Emmy for her role as Emma Valentine in "The Night of The Vicious Valentine"), they frequently started with the nefarious, stylized inventions of these madmen and then wrote the episodes around these devices. Stories were also inspired by Edgar Allan Poe, H. G. Wells, and Jules Verne.

Actors

Conrad insisted on performing all of his own stunts, such as leaping off a balcony or running in front of a team of horses, but was occasionally doubled on the more dangerous stunts. During filming of "The Night of the Fugitives," however, Conrad fell 12 feet from a chandelier onto a concrete floor and suffered a concussion.[1] Production of the series, then near the end of its third season, was shut down two weeks early. (The episode eventually aired during the fourth season, with footage of the fall left in.)

Ross Martin broke his leg in a fourth season episode, "The Night of the Avaricious Actuary," and suffered a heart attack a few weeks later after completing "The Night of Fire and Brimstone." His character was replaced temporarily by other agents played by Charles Aidman (four episodes), Alan Hale, Jr. and William Schallert. Aidman said he had been promised script rewrites, but these simply amounted to changing the name "Artemus Gordon" to "Jeremy Pike" (his character's name). 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.

Ross 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 was nominated for an Emmy in 1969.

The train

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. 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 on 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 flipped horizontally without the number appearing reversed. Footage of the Inyo was shot around Menifee, Calif., 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, the set reportedly cost $35,000 in 1965. (Between $190,000 and $250,000 2008 dollars. [2])

The interior of West and Gordon's train was used in an episode of Gunsmoke titled "Death Train" (aired 1/27/67), and in at least one episode of The Big Valley ("Days of Wrath," aired 1/8/68). All three series were filmed at CBS Studio Center and shared other exterior and interior sets.

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. The Reno, which resembles the Inyo, is located at Old Tucson Studios.

The 1999 Wild Wild West motion picture 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 motion picture, 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).

Theme music

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. Markowitz, however, was never credited for his theme in any episode; it is believed 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

The animated title sequence was another unique element of the series. It was created by Ken Mundie, 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 fifth narrow panel that contained a cartoon "hero." The hero, who looked more like a traditional cowboy than either West or Gordon, interacted with characters in the surrounding 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 then shoots the gunman with his sleeve derringer; the gunman's hand falls limp
• 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 out 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 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 off 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 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 on Ventura Boulevard called Format Animation which no longer exists.^{[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 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 P.T. Barnum. During commercial breaks, the title "The Wild Wild West" also appeared in P.T. Barnum.

Props

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

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

• Sleeve gun (a Remington derringer, featured in many episodes). In a few episodes the ejecting support-arm of the device had other useful gadgets attached to it instead of the derringer, such as a tiny squirt-can containing acid, iron climbing-claws, and various blades.
• Lock-pick in the lapel of the bolero-style jacket.
• Throwing knife in the collar of the jacket.
• Various explosive devices (i.e. smoke bombs, impact-flares, gas grenades, etc.) carried in pockets or hidden inside in his belt buckle, his hat, a secret compartment in his holster, and the hollowed-out heels of one or both of his boots. Various lengths and types of removable fuses were often sewn into the hem of his jacket or the waistband of his pants.
• A flat metal barbed climbing-spike and a thin, but strong attachable rope or cord that could be shot into a wooden beam or wall from either his derringer or revolver. These were usually carried in one of his jacket's many inside pockets.
• A small hand-held rod with a built-in spring-loaded motor-driven winch. When used in conjunction with his climbing-spike and rope, the rod-winch could either hoist him upwards to a building's roof, for instance, or lower him down into a deep pit, the distance depending on the length of rope or cord deployed.
• A thin metallic, telescopic probing rod (similar to a long modern-day car antenna). When extended fully, West could probe approximately ten feet or so all around him. He used this to probe and trigger traps in the Living Room of the episode entitled, "The Night of the Janus."
• A spring-loaded, swing-out knife-blade in his boot, just between the outer sole and toe-box of the boot.
• A glass cutter consisting of a central hand-held knob. Protruding from this knob was a small metallic arm, approximately six inches long that swiveled. At its end was a rolling V-shaped cutting wheel of hardened steel. On one end of the knob was a small suction cup that was attached to the glass, allowing the cutting arm to be swung so that the cutting wheel could score the glass in a complete circle then lifted away using the knob with the cut piece attached to the suction cup. This was used in the episode, "The Night of the Camera."
• A thin but extremely strong wire, flexible enough to be 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, using friction.
• Breakaway derringer (featured in numerous episodes). Usually the handle and trigger mechanism was located in the hollowed-out heel of one boot, while the barrel assembly was located in the other boot's hollowed-out heel; the two pieces snapped together and locked. Often bullets for this breakaway derringer were dispensed from a secret compartment in his belt-buckle, but most of the time it was preloaded.
• A breakaway blow-torch, each piece hidden in each hollowed-out boot heel.
• A battery-powered (or high-tension spring-driven) electric drill, that in one episode, was roughly the size of a large avocado and used to effect West's escape from a metal cage.

Aboard the train:

• Two pistols on a wooden swivel-stand on desk, activated and controlled by a knob on the fireplace.
• The fireplace conceals a secret escape door and an emergency flare signal.
• Several pistols, rifles, shotguns, and other assorted weaponry were mounted on a sliding pull-down panel in a small chamber at one end of the train car. A sliding closet containing his clothes and other useful paraphernalia was located in the same area also.
• A shotgun hidden under a revolving table-top.
• Cages for two carrier pigeons hidden in the walls. In the pilot episode, these pigeons (named Henry and Henrietta) were located in a compartment above the door in the same back room where West usually dressed and equipped himself, but in subsequent episodes the carrier pigeons were located elsewhere.
• Decorative molding carved in the shape of lion heads that spew knockout gas when triggered.

Other gadgets:

• Exploding billiard ball (shown in the series' pilot episode as the cue ball, but sometimes other billiard balls served that purpose).
• Cue stick that has a hidden sword inside (featured in pilot episode).
• Cue stick that can shoot a bullet (featured in pilot episode).
• Stage coach with ejector-seat (featured in "The Night the Wizard Shook the Earth").
• A telegraph mechanism in a cane.
• A blow torch disguised as a cigar.

The villains often used equally creative gadgets, including:

• An earthquake making device.
• A brainwashing device using intense sight and sound.
• A cyborg, i.e., a man who replaced much of his flesh and bone with metal, making him strong and nearly invulnerable.
• An early flamethrower.
• Man-sized steam-driven puppets.
• Jars that could preserve disembodied human brains and draw upon their knowledge and psychic force.
• The Juggernaut, a steam-powered triangular tank with a battering ram.
• A potion, made from liquefied diamond, which enabled a man to move so fast as to be invisible.
• An LSD-like hallucinogen, capable of driving men into fits of killing madness.
• A cathode-ray-tube (television).
• A torpedo disguised as a dragon and capable of homing on a radio signal.
• An invisible electronic force field that disintegrates anything that came in contact with it.
• A drug capable of shrinking a man down to a height of 6".
• A suit of armor that acted as an exoskeleton.
• A tidal wave-making device that generated giant bubbles.
• A sonic device that allowed the use of paintings as a portal to other dimensions.
• Crystals that, when surgically implanted inside the brain and then shattered by a high-pitched noise, caused the subject to turn into a criminal.
• A giant falcon-shaped cannon, capable of devastating a small town with a single shot.
• A giant tuning fork device mounted on wheels.
• A locomotive modified with a large battering ram to collide with oncoming trains and derail them.

Bloopers

• Conrad apparently split his pants numerous times during the course of the series. At least three are preserved on film: "Night of the Casual Killer" (originally aired 10/15/65), "The Night of the Underground Terror" (1/19/68) and "The Night of the Pistoleros" (2/21/69).
• In "The Night of the Gruesome Games" (10/25/68), the camera crew can be glimpsed in a bedroom mirror.
• In "The Night of the Turncoat" (12/1/67), a safety frogman appears behind Conrad in one shot during the underwater sequence. West's hair also appears dry in one shot after surfacing.
• In "The Night of the Vipers" (1/12/68), following an extensive fight scene between Conrad and Red West, the former's torn and soaked shirt keeps drying out and dampening again from shot to shot (the tear also repairs and opens itself).
• In "The Night of the Tycoons" (3/28/69), when Lionel punches his opponent onto a wall of his Aunt Amelia's house, a crack appears (giving away that it's made of material much flimsier than brick and cement).
• The same episode includes a rare commercial-break flub, when after the third freeze-frame transitions to a drawing the image is held for a few seconds instead of being automatically followed by a zoom-out. "The Night of the Flaming Ghost" (1/21/66) has two examples of this; in act two the final shot does not cut automatically to its place in the series artwork, and in the closing credits the final freeze-frame zoom-out is replicated (making this the only episode with motion behind the credits).
• In "The Night of the Eccentrics" (9/16/66), a stuntman is punched through the side of a circus tent, and is seen landing on a very visible mattress.

Violence, Cancellation and Syndication

The first season's episodes were filmed in black and white, and were darker in tonality. Cinematographer Ted Voightlander was nominated for an Emmy for his work on these episodes. Subsequent seasons were filmed in color and the show became noticeably campier. Still, some episodes were violent for their time, and that, rather than low ratings, ultimately was the series' downfall. In addition to gun play, there were usually two fight sequences per episode. These were choreographed by Whitey Hughes, and performed by Conrad and a stock company of stunt men, including Red West; Dick Cangey; and Bob Herron (who doubled for Ross Martin). Hughes recalled, "We had a lot of crashes. We used to say, 'Roll the cameras and call the ambulances.'" Conrad had been doubled before, but after his concussion from the fall from a chandelier, the network insisted that he defer to a double for the more dangerous stunts. He was doubled by Louie Elias, Chuck O’Brien, and Jimmy George.

Despite a CBS mandate for every network program to tone down the mayhem in the 1968-69 season, "The Night of the Egyptian Queen" (aired 11/15/68) contains perhaps the series' most ferocious barroom brawl. In a report eventually issued in November 1969, The National Association for Better Broadcasting rated the series "as one of the most violent on television."

According to Susan Kesler's book, CBS bowed under pressure from watchdog groups and the show received its cancellation notice in late February, 1969. Bruce Lansbury 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." 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.

CBS reran several episodes of The Wild Wild West in the summer of 1970 before the program moved into syndication and new life on local stations across the country, including WGN and WOR-TV. 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, filed a suit on November 12, 1970, to prevent WTOP in Washington, D.C., from airing The Wild Wild West weekday afternoons. 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 p.m. U.S. District Court Judge John J. Sirica, who later presided over the trial of the Watergate burglars and ordered President Richard Nixon to turn over White House recordings, dismissed the lawsuit in January, 1971.

In 1994, the series was broadcast on TNT, which preferred the color episodes to the black and white shows. Hallmark Channel aired the series in 2005 as part of its slate of Saturday afternoon Westerns but dropped it after several weeks.

Currently the series is broadcast on MeTV Saturdays at 4 p.m.

TV-movies

Conrad and Martin reunited for two television movies, The Wild Wild West Revisited (aired May 9, 1979) and More Wild Wild West (aired October 7–8, 1980). Revisited introduced Paul Williams as Miguelito Loveless Jr., the son of the agents' arch-nemesis. Loveless planned to substitute clones for the crowned heads of Europe and the President of the United States. (This plot was borrowed from the second season episode "The Night of the Brain.")

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."

More 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.

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."

In other media

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 (ISBN 0-451-02836-8), which adapted the episode "The Night Of the Double-Edged Knife".

In 1988, Arnett Press published The Wild Wild West: The Series by Susan E. Kesler (ISBN 0-929360-00-1), a thorough production history and episode guide.

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 1998, Berkeley Books published three novels by author Robert Vaughan – The Wild Wild West (ISBN 0-425-16372-5), The Night of the Death Train (ISBN 0-425-16449-7), and The Night of the Assassin (ISBN 0-425-16517-5).

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".

In 1982, when Robert Conrad hosted Saturday Night Live on NBC, he appeared in a parody of The Wild Wild West. President Lincoln says his famous line that, if U.S. Grant is a drunk, he should send whatever he's drinking to his other less successful generals. Lincoln dispatches West and Gordon to find out what Grant drinks. They discover that Grant is held captive by Eddie Murphy's character, Velvet Jones. The series' tendency to create puns and technology ahead of their time is extensively satirized.

DVD

The first season of The Wild Wild West was released to DVD in North America on June 6, 2006, as a special 40th anniversary edition by CBS Home Entertainment (distributed by Paramount). For the first season set, Robert Conrad recorded audio introductions for all 28 episodes (plus commentary for the pilot) and the set included interviews and 1970s era footage of Conrad and Martin being interviewed. The second season was released on March 20, 2007 but the set contained no special features. The third season was released on November 20, 2007. The fourth and final season was released on March 18, 2008.

In France, where the series was a big hit, all four seasons (known locally as Les Mystères de l'Ouest) were released by TF1 Video in a DVD boxed set before their US release; the set includes many of the extras on the US season one set (and also presents "The Night of the Inferno" twice - as a regular episode in English, and as an extra featuring the audio commentary with the French-dubbed version), plus several other extras (including a 1999 interview with Robert Conrad at the Mirande Country Music Festival in France). Both TV movies are included as extras, but unlike the episodes - all of which are in English with French subtitles (allowing non-French fans to see what the French titles are, many of which differ from the original; for example, the French titles of "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") and many but not all of which also have French dubs - the TV movies are only present dubbed into French.

Motion picture

Main article: Wild Wild West

In January 1992, Variety reported that Warner Bros. was planning a theatrical version of The Wild Wild West directed by Richard Donner, written by Shane Black, and starring Mel Gibson as James West. (Donner directed three episodes of the original series.) Donner and Gibson instead made a theatrical version of TV's Maverick in 1994. The Wild Wild West motion picture continued in the development stage, with Tom Cruise rumored for the lead in 1995. Cruise instead revived Mission: Impossible the following year.

Finally, in 1999, a theatrical motion picture loosely based on the series was released. Directed by Barry Sonnenfeld, the film Wild Wild West (without the definite article used in the series title) made substantial changes to the characters of the series, reimagining James West as a Black man (played by Will Smith), and explored - to a small degree - some of the racial issues that certainly would have made it impossible for a Black man to be a United States secret service agent in the 1800s. (However, at the end of "The Night of the Returning Dead," West and Gordon invite a Black character played by guest star Sammy Davis Jr. to join the department, and a later episode opens with West meeting briefly with a Black agent.)

Kevin Kline plays Gordon, whose character was similar to the version played by Ross Martin, except that he was bitterly competitive with James West, and much more egotistical. Kline also plays President Grant as well as Gordon impersonating President Grant. (Martin's Gordon impersonated Grant in "The Night of the Steel Assassin" and "The Night of the Big Blackmail," but Grant was otherwise played by James Gregory in the pilot and Roy Engel in the series.) Kline's Gordon invents more ridiculous, humor-related, and implausible contraptions than those created by Martin's Gordon in the television series, which made some effort to be reasonably feasible.

The film depicted West and Gordon as competitive rivals almost to the point of a mutual dislike and distrust of one another. In the television series, West and Gordon had a close friendship and trusted each other with their lives.

Significant changes were made to Dr. Loveless (played by Kenneth Branagh in the film). A dwarf in the TV series, he was made a double amputee in the film and his name was changed to Arliss Loveless. He was written as a bitter, racist Southerner who sought to punish the North after the Civil War.

The film also eschewed quoting Richard Markowitz's theme music in Elmer Bernstein's score, except for one brief cue (Markowitz was not included in the film's music credits; ironically, this was one area where the film was true to the series).

Robert Conrad reportedly was offered the role of President Grant, but turned it down. He was outspoken in his criticism of the new film, now little more than a comedic Will Smith showcase with virtually no relationship to the action-adventure series. In a New York Post interview (July 3, 1999), Conrad stated that he disliked the movie and that contractually he was owed a share of money on merchandising that he was not paid. He had a long-standing feud with producer Jon Peters, which may have colored his opinion. He was 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.

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.

—Will Smith,  Total Film magazine, Feb 2009 Issue 151, pp 120-125, Will Smith: The Total Film Interview, by Lesley O'Toole, Future Publishing Ltd., London England

The film is considered to be a notable example of the steampunk genre, where steam-powered machines in the Victorian age are prominently used.

Revival

On October 5, 2010, Entertainment Weekly's website reported that Ron Moore and Naren Shankar were developing a remake of The Wild Wild West for television. No further information has been released.

However, a new fan-produced webseries, "Back to the Wild Wild West," began production in November, 2011.

Dates

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

• "The Night of the Glowing Corpse" is set during the Franco-Prussian War of 1870–1.
• "The Night of the Eccentrics" takes place four years after the execution in 1867 of Emperor Maximilian I of Mexico.
• 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." Later 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 Whirring Death" opens with the caption San Francisco 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 that Terror Stalked the Town", Loveless has a headstone prepared for West, showing his birthdate as July 2, 1842 – 87 years before the birth of Robert Conrad. If West's age in that episode was equal to that of the actor who played him, the events depicted are 87 years before the episode was shot, i.e. in 1879 or 1878.

See also

• Weird West
• List of The Wild Wild West episodes

References

• List of Episodes (Televised and Produced Order)
• Historical Chronology (Fictional)

External links

• The Wild Wild West at the Internet Movie Database
• The Wild Wild West at TV.com