Friday, March 9, 2007

Wild Wild West


He was West. James West. And if that stylized introduction didn't give it away, the spy gadgets certainly did. Or the beautiful girls and over-the-top villains. Or that special train or the carriage rigged with more gizmos than 007's Aston Martin. The same year that "Goldfinger" was drawing big crowds as the fourth James Bond entry, CBS introduced a one-hour Western version that aired on Friday nights. Almost immediately "The Wild Wild West" became a cult favorite. While it only cracked the Nielsen Top-30 its first season, when the series was cancelled at the end of its fourth year it wasn't because it had no audience. It was because of an anti-violence movement.

Short-but-athletic Robert Conrad ("Hawaiian Eye," "Black Sheep Squadron") starred as James West, a secret service agent who reported directly to President Grant . . . and, like Sean Connery, had to take off his shirt at least once every outing. He and his master-of-disguise partner, Artemus Gordon (Ross Martin), went undercover (though not very deeply) every episode to deal with a surprising number of madmen who wanted to take over the U.S. or world, or else had some other diabolical scheme in mind. Bond was a jet-setter who traveled the globe, but in order to retain the Western flavor, the world had to be brought to Mr. West's doorstep. Episodes were filled with ambassadors, princes and princesses, and exotics from many different countries. Sometimes there were even odd blends.

The first season was filmed in black and white and played with tongue in cheek. The second season brought color to James' and Arte's adventures, and went even further into the realm of campiness. But "camp" was in. This was the year that introduced viewers to "Batman," with Adam West and Burt Ward sharing screen-time with comic-style "BAMS!" and "SOCKS!" and Robin uttering variations on his "Holy Cow, Batman!" catch-phrase. During the 1966-67 season, viewers got even more camp with shows like "Get Smart," "The Man from U.N.C.L.E.," "F-Troop," "Lost in Space," "Green Hornet," "Star Trek," and "The Girl from U.N.C.L.E."

The first episode this season pitted West and Gordon against a villain who was ringmaster of a circus troupe--of assassins--played by the rotund Victor Buono (King Tut, on "Batman"). Get the picture? How campy is this show? Well, you can see the wires that move gigantic carnivorous plants. And James gets shrunk down to the size of a mouse by their nemesis, Dr. Miguelito Loveless (Michael Dunn), a dwarf who wants to rule a world where everyone is finally shorter than he is.

I watched these episodes with my nine-year-old son, who thoroughly enjoyed them. Seeing the show through his eyes made me remember what it was like to watch the show when it first came out. Now, it seems like a very funny show that offers a mix of over-the-top villains and scenes and West's and Gordon's fairly serious performance as secret service agents. But to my son? He thought it was "fun," not funny. In other words, he got what campiness was all about back then. Nothing is taken too seriously, and the outrageous is just another day at the office.

Here's the rundown on the second season, which features 28 episodes on seven single-sided discs housed in slim, clear-plastic keep-cases and a cardboard slip-case:

1) "The Night of the Eccentrics"--The leader of a group of assassins plans to knock off President Juarez of Mexico, and pin the rap on West. Victor Buono plays Count Carlos, but look for a young Richard Pryor as a ventriloquist. An evil ventriloquist, of course.

2) "The Night of the Golden Cobra"--Brace yourself for whites made up to look like Indians in this episode about a plot to scare Pawnees off their reservation.

3) "The Night of the Raven"--Dr. Loveless tries to treat the world like a Shrinky-Dink, as Jim and Arte try to rescue an Indian princess.

4) "The Night of the Big Blast"--A mad doctor makes duplicates of Jim and Arte from corpses, and then sends these living dead on a mission to assassinate the President. Ida Lupino guests as Dr. Faustina.

5) "The Night of the Returning Dead"--This time it's a Confederate nightrider who seems indestructible and threatens to annihilate the world unless a murderer confesses. Rat-packers Peter Lawford and Sammy Davis, Jr. guest star.

6) "The Night of the Flying Pie Plate"--In the campiest episode (one straight out of "Lost in Space") three women pose as Venusians trying to bilk townspeople out of their gold, allegedly to "fuel their spaceship."

7) "The Night of the Poisonous Posey"--In Justice, Nevada, there is none. Only a meeting of the world's most notorious criminal minds. The most Bond-like episode.

8) "The Night of the Bottomless Pit"--An agent was imprisoned at Devil's Island, and it's up to Jim and Arte to find him and get him out of there.

9) "The Night of the Watery Death"--Another madman wants to create an underwater city, from which he can control shipping around the world.

10) "The Night of the Green Terror"--It's Dr. Loveless again, this time planning to explode a deadly balloon over Washington so his army can move in and take over. Interesting that as Agent Orange was being used in Vietnam, here's a villain with a green gas that kills all plant life.

He was West. James West. And if that stylized introduction didn't give it away, the spy gadgets certainly did. Or the beautiful girls and over-the-top villains. Or that special train or the carriage rigged with more gizmos than 007's Aston Martin. The same year that "Goldfinger" was drawing big crowds as the fourth James Bond entry, CBS introduced a one-hour Western version that aired on Friday nights. Almost immediately "The Wild Wild West" became a cult favorite. While it only cracked the Nielsen Top-30 its first season, when the series was cancelled at the end of its fourth year it wasn't because it had no audience. It was because of an anti-violence movement.

Short-but-athletic Robert Conrad ("Hawaiian Eye," "Black Sheep Squadron") starred as James West, a secret service agent who reported directly to President Grant . . . and, like Sean Connery, had to take off his shirt at least once every outing. He and his master-of-disguise partner, Artemus Gordon (Ross Martin), went undercover (though not very deeply) every episode to deal with a surprising number of madmen who wanted to take over the U.S. or world, or else had some other diabolical scheme in mind. Bond was a jet-setter who traveled the globe, but in order to retain the Western flavor, the world had to be brought to Mr. West's doorstep. Episodes were filled with ambassadors, princes and princesses, and exotics from many different countries. Sometimes there were even odd blends.

The first season was filmed in black and white and played with tongue in cheek. The second season brought color to James' and Arte's adventures, and went even further into the realm of campiness. But "camp" was in. This was the year that introduced viewers to "Batman," with Adam West and Burt Ward sharing screen-time with comic-style "BAMS!" and "SOCKS!" and Robin uttering variations on his "Holy Cow, Batman!" catch-phrase. During the 1966-67 season, viewers got even more camp with shows like "Get Smart," "The Man from U.N.C.L.E.," "F-Troop," "Lost in Space," "Green Hornet," "Star Trek," and "The Girl from U.N.C.L.E."

The first episode this season pitted West and Gordon against a villain who was ringmaster of a circus troupe--of assassins--played by the rotund Victor Buono (King Tut, on "Batman"). Get the picture? How campy is this show? Well, you can see the wires that move gigantic carnivorous plants. And James gets shrunk down to the size of a mouse by their nemesis, Dr. Miguelito Loveless (Michael Dunn), a dwarf who wants to rule a world where everyone is finally shorter than he is.

I watched these episodes with my nine-year-old son, who thoroughly enjoyed them. Seeing the show through his eyes made me remember what it was like to watch the show when it first came out. Now, it seems like a very funny show that offers a mix of over-the-top villains and scenes and West's and Gordon's fairly serious performance as secret service agents. But to my son? He thought it was "fun," not funny. In other words, he got what campiness was all about back then. Nothing is taken too seriously, and the outrageous is just another day at the office.

Here's the rundown on the second season, which features 28 episodes on seven single-sided discs housed in slim, clear-plastic keep-cases and a cardboard slip-case:

1) "The Night of the Eccentrics"--The leader of a group of assassins plans to knock off President Juarez of Mexico, and pin the rap on West. Victor Buono plays Count Carlos, but look for a young Richard Pryor as a ventriloquist. An evil ventriloquist, of course.

2) "The Night of the Golden Cobra"--Brace yourself for whites made up to look like Indians in this episode about a plot to scare Pawnees off their reservation.

3) "The Night of the Raven"--Dr. Loveless tries to treat the world like a Shrinky-Dink, as Jim and Arte try to rescue an Indian princess.

4) "The Night of the Big Blast"--A mad doctor makes duplicates of Jim and Arte from corpses, and then sends these living dead on a mission to assassinate the President. Ida Lupino guests as Dr. Faustina.

5) "The Night of the Returning Dead"--This time it's a Confederate nightrider who seems indestructible and threatens to annihilate the world unless a murderer confesses. Rat-packers Peter Lawford and Sammy Davis, Jr. guest star.

6) "The Night of the Flying Pie Plate"--In the campiest episode (one straight out of "Lost in Space") three women pose as Venusians trying to bilk townspeople out of their gold, allegedly to "fuel their spaceship."

7) "The Night of the Poisonous Posey"--In Justice, Nevada, there is none. Only a meeting of the world's most notorious criminal minds. The most Bond-like episode.

8) "The Night of the Bottomless Pit"--An agent was imprisoned at Devil's Island, and it's up to Jim and Arte to find him and get him out of there.

9) "The Night of the Watery Death"--Another madman wants to create an underwater city, from which he can control shipping around the world.

10) "The Night of the Green Terror"--It's Dr. Loveless again, this time planning to explode a deadly balloon over Washington so his army can move in and take over. Interesting that as Agent Orange was being used in Vietnam, here's a villain with a green gas that kills all plant life.

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