The Wild Wild West (TV series): Difference between revisions

{{work|wppage=The Wild Wild West}}

A'''''The 1960Wild Wild West's'''' is a 1960s TV series which combined two then-popular genres: [[The Western]] and the [[Spy Drama]], following the anachronistic adventures of two Secret Service agents roaming the western United States during the Ulysses S. Grant administration. James West (Robert Conrad) was a borderline [[The Ace|Ace]], the ladykilling man of action, while his partner Artemus Gordon (Ross Martin) was a [[Gadgeteer Genius]] and [[Master of Disguise]]. (Based on his work in this series, Martin the actor easily qualifies as a ''[[Real Life]]'' example of the latter.) The duo battled a wild assortment of [[Mad Scientist|mad scientists]] and criminal masterminds, their most persistent foe being the evil-genius dwarf Dr. Miguelito Loveless (Michael Dunn). Depending on how exacting a person's definition of "[[Steampunk]]" is, this series could be said to be the highest-profile example of the genre ever to appear on American live-action TV. It's certainly the [[Ur Example]] of [[Cattle Punk]], predating the coining of the term "steampunk" by nearly two decades.

Following the show's cancellation, two [[Reunion Show|reunion movies]] were produced in the early 1980's1980s. In 1999 a big-budgeted [[The Film of the Series|feature film]] was released starring [[Will Smith]] as West and Kevin Kline as Gordon (see ''[[Wild Wild West (Filmfilm)|Wild Wild West]]''). This film is generally considered to be very bad (or [[So Bad It's Good]] to some), except by fans of the original, who think it was much much worse.

In November 2010, CBS [https://web.archive.org/web/20110119091050/http://www.cinemaspy.com/Television-News/CBS-and-Ron-Moore-Revisiting-The-Wild-Wild-West/4783 announced plans] for a [[Revival]] to be helmed by Ronald Moore (''[[Star Trek]]'', ''[[Battlestar Galactica Reimagined (2004 TV series)|Battlestar Galactica Reimagined]]'') and Naren Shankar (''[[CSI]]''), but nothing ever came of it. Yet another try was proposed for 2018, but that fell through as well.

* [[Acting for Two]]: "The Night of the Torture Chamber" (the governor is kidnapped and replaced with a double) and "The Night of the Puppeteer" {{spoiler|(the title villain turns out to be a lifesize lookalike puppet manipulated by the real (and now disfigured) thing)}}. In the tag scenes for "The Night of the Bottomless Pit" and "The Night of the Plague" the [[Girl of the Week]] introduces our heroes to her fiancé, who in the former episode is played by {{spoiler|the same actor who played the episode's [[Big Bad]]/her husband and was last seen sinking in quicksand}} and in the latter is played by {{spoiler|Robert Conrad with a moustache}}.

** "The Night of the Big Blast" has this {{spoiler|for both Robert Conrad and Ross Martin. The episode's [[Big Bad]], a doctor who likes to perform plastic surgery on corpses, put bombs in them, reanimate them and turn them loose after her targets, makes a double of Jim in the teaser<ref>the real Jim isn't seen in the episode until the very end of act 3</ref> and one of Artie in the climax}}.

* [[Actor Allusion]]: In "The Night of the Sabatini Death", West is temporarily teamed with Ned Brown, a character played by [[Gilligans Island|Alan Hale Jr.]]; at the end, Brown says he's going to go spend some time on a deserted island (while a few bars of [[The Jimmy Hart Version]] of the ''[[Gilligan's Island]]'' theme plays, apparently because [[Viewers are Morons]]).

* [[Backwards -Firing Gun]]: Miguelito Loveless hands James West such a pistol, but he sees through the ruse.

** Also used for one of the murders in "The Night of the Tottering Tontine", for a murder in "The Night of the Braine", '''and''' for a murder in "The Night of the Winged Terror — Part I".

* [[Brain In Aa Jar]]: The villains in "The Night of the Druid's Blood" have several of them.

* [[Breakout Villain]]: Dr. Miguelito Loveless debuted in the third episode, where he was caught (as he was in his second episode - from his third episode onward he was never captured again). But he was so popular (and was a good friend of Robert Conrad's in [[Real Life]]), that he returned several times a year for the first two seasons and [[Commuting on a Bus|once a year after that]] for the rest of the series.

* [[Cattle Punk]]: More or less invented the genre, which makes ''The Wild Wild West'' the [[Ur Example]] but an [[Unbuilt Trope]].

* [[Creative Differences]] / [[God Does Not Own This World]]: CBS did ''not'' want the show's creator Michael Garrison to be overseeing the show because of how much the pilot had cost, which led to Garrison having a legal battle with the Eye throughout season one while the show went through ''seven'' producers - some of whom never even got to do one episode - before Garrison got control back. Eventually, Garrison did get in a producer to his liking (besides Fred Freiberger, under whose reign Loveless was created - in fact, the first episode to be shown after the pilot was a Freiberger-produced one) in the form of Bruce Lansbury... but CBS still got a Garrison-less show in the end, [[Author Existence Failure|though not in the manner anyone would have preferred]].

* [[Exactly What It Says Onon the Tin]]: Some episodes have somewhat misleading titles (like "The Night of the Druid's Blood") but a lot don't, most notably "The Night of the Grand Emir" {{spoiler|(which does indeed take place all in one night)}}.

* [[Executive Meddling]]: The show was canceledcancelled due to content, not because of declining ratings. (At the end of [[The Sixties]], [[CBS]] executives got nervous about fictional violence after all the [[Real Life]] violence of that decade.) Also, Ross Martin was sadly never allowed to ''fully'' unleash his [[Master of Disguise]] skills, thanks to [[Viewers are Morons|worries about "confused" viewers]].

** And the show ended up being lucky to survive its first season. After the show was picked up by the network, and placed on the fall schedule, one of the biggest television corporate bloodlettings happened, taking out nearly all of the network executives who helped develop the show. The new regime, wanting to put the past regime behind them, changed the new schedule as best as they could in the short time available to them, dropping a number of shows that were developed for the new season. ''[[The Wild Wild West (TV series)|The Wild Wild West]]'' survived this purge, but barely, as the new executives didn't get the show, and were concerned about the show's cost, which was expensive for a show of that era. Had the show not become a hit from the get-go, it's likely it would have been canned faster than you can say Artemus Gordon.

* [[Fake Nationality]]: All over the place, particularly Pilar Seurat as a very un-Chinese-looking Chinese princess in "The Night The Dragon Screamed," Paul Wallace doing an [[Fake Brit|English accent]] that isn't even good enough to be called excruciating in "The Night of the Eccentrics" and Ricardo Montalban as a Confederate Army colonel in "The Night of the Lord of Limbo." (And this being Ricardo Montalban, [[Not Even Bothering Withwith the Accent|he doesn't even bother with an accent]].)

** In-universe examples: "The Night of the Inferno" has {{spoiler|Wing Fat (a Mexican pretending to be Chinese)}}, in "The Night of the Sudden Plague" {{spoiler|Dr. Kirby is also Chinese}}, and in "The Night of the Man-Eating House" {{spoiler|Liston Day [[Berserk Button|prefers to be referred to as "Diaz,"]] since his grandfather - who came from Mexico - wanted to belong among Americans but his son/Liston's dad saw himself as Mexican, and so does Liston}}.

* [[Giant Spider]]: "The Night of the Raven" [[Playing Withwith a Trope|plays with]] this trope. Technically, it's a normal-sized spider since Jim and the episode's [[Girl of the Week]] have been shrunk by Loveless. On the other hand, [[Wild Wild West (Filmfilm)|the movie]] ''does'' have a [[Giant Spider]], albeit a mechanical one.

** Also {{spoiler|Silas Grigsby}} in "The Night of the Bubbling Death".

* [[Real Life Writes the Plot]]: Ross Martin's health problems forced him to sit out a few episodes, which led to the [[Suspiciously Similar Substitute]] played by Charles Aidman. It also affected at least one episode Martin ''did'' appear in; when he broke his leg while filming the climax of "The Night of the Avaricious Actuary"<ref>which necessitated a stand-in to complete the scene - who unfortunately looked ''nothing'' like him -</ref> the opening of the next episode to be filmed, "The Night of the Juggernaut," was rewritten so that Artie broke his leg when the machine attacked our heroes. (Incidentally, "The Night of the Juggernaut" aired ''before'' "The Night of the Avaricious Actuary.")

* [[Recycled in Space]]: It's [[James Bond]] IN''in'' [[The Wild West]]!

* [[Recycled Soundtrack]]: Episodes used music from ''[[Gunsmoke]]'' and, believe it or not, ''[[Hawaii Five -O]]'' (see "The Night of the Bleak Island" and "The Night of the Winged Terror, Part 2").

* [[Rogues Gallery]]: Dr. Miguelito Loveless and Count Manzeppi are the only recurring main villains. But there's also Loveless' loyal assistants Antoinette and Voltaire - although Antoinette vanishes during season 2 and Voltaire never appears after season 1<ref> unlike his portrayer Richard Kiel, who returns in another role in "The Night of the Simian Terror"</ref>.

* [[Romantic Runner -Up]]: Originally Artemus Gordon, despite saving the day or having an equal part in saving the day as Jim, rarely got the girl; many episodes in the first season end with him looking on forlornly as Jim kisses the [[Damsel in Distress]] [[Girl of the Week]] (although even then there were exceptions - both Jim and Artie get lucky in "The Night of the Torture Chamber" and "The Night of the Glowing Corpse," and "The Night of Sudden Death" is a rare example where ''Jim'' is the [[Romantic Runner -Up]] as Artie literally walks away with '''two''' ladies!). From season two onwards neither agent was lacking in female companionship.

* [[Skeleton Key]]: Jim West carried onea lock-pick under his lapel that seemed able to open almost any lock he encountered. as easily as a key.

** {{spoiler|In the latter, it being from the final season, only two people get killed - and one of them is the bad guy.}}

* [[Wouldn't Hit a Girl]]: Usually true, although subverted in "The Night of the Firebrand" {{spoiler|where Jim uses an [[Expy]] of the [[Star Trek|Vulcan nerve pinch]] whenever the [[Girl of the Week]] is getting above herself}}. Averted in "The Night of the Running Death" when Jim punches out Miss Tyler {{spoiler|- well, it ''would'' be averted if Miss Tyler wasn't a man in drag.}}

[[Category:TheTV Wild Wild WestWesterns]]

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