THE WILD WILD WEST: COMPLETE TV SERIES DVD SET
Studio: Paramount
Year: 2008
Rated: Not Rated (PG-Rating Canadian Home Video)
Film Length: 87 hours, 8 minutes
Aspect Ratio: 1.33:1
Subtitles: English, French, Spanish
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Release Date: November 4, 2008
The Series
(
½ out of
)
“The Wild Wild West” is a Western series like no other. It combines the six-guns and western saloons of most westerns with the espionage and gadgets of a James Bond movie. “The Wild Wild West” premiered on the CBS television network in 1965, at the height of interest in espionage movies and TV shows inspired by the James Bond movie series.
Former Union Army Captain James West (Robert Conrad) was commissioned by President Ulysses Grant to become an agent of the United States Secret Service, undertaking top secret missions and answering directly only to the President of the United States. Two-fisted, straight-shooting West was teamed up with Artemus Gordon (Ross Martin), a gifted actor and a master of disguise. West and Gordon were given their own train, equipped with high tech gadgets, to travel through the West in accomplishing their various missions. The most commonly recurring villain was Dr. Miguelito Loveless played by Michael Dunn. Loveless appeared 10 times during the series as a “Professor Moriarty” type of character whose plans were inevitably thwarted by West and Gordon.
The series ran for 4 full seasons from 1965 through 1969. The series might have run longer, given its high ratings during its original run. “The Wild Wild West” was ultimately done in, not by low Nielsen ratings, but by the sentiments of its times. The violence occurring in American society in the late 1960s created a backlash against so-called “violent” TV shows, and so “The Wild Wild West” was canceled by CBS in 1969.
The series was originally entitled merely “The Wild West” in its original pilot episode as a play on the name of its lead character. After being picked up as a series, the title was spiced up and it became “The Wild Wild West.” Disc 1 of this set includes the original bumpers from the pilot episode, which bridged the acts of the show between commercials, with the original title credits intact.
“The Wild Wild West” had a wealth of interesting guest stars during its run. A few of the actors making guest appearances included Suzanne Pleshette, Boris Karloff, Richard Kiel, Alan Hale, Jr., Jim Backus, Richard Pryor, Peter Lawford, Sammy Davis, Jr., Ray Walston, Jack Elam, and many others.
Video
(
out of
)
The video quality is excellent for a series shot primarily in black and white during its first season and in color for its 3 remaining seasons. The episodes are displayed in a 1:33:1 aspect ratio, as are the special features. Although restoration efforts is self-evident on the entire series, there is still occasional dust and debris perceptible on these episodes. The colors are very vibrant on seasons 2, 3, and 4, which was a deliberate choice for television shows of this era in showing off the emerging broadcast format in full color.
Audio
(
½ out of
)
The audio is in Dolby Digital 2.0 sound. The sound quality is consistent with what you might expect for a television show from the late 1960s. This set may not be the one to show off your audio setup, but you will be hard pressed to find any fault with the quality of the audio reproduction for this type of show.
Special Features
(
out of
)
The special features are concentrated only on the season one episodes, consisting of discs 1 through 7. Each episode from season one has a brief audio introduction by Robert Conrad. There are also audio interviews with various writers and producers from the series who are no longer with us. Fortunately, author Susan E. Kesler did not discard her audiotapes produced in researching her book, “The Wild Wild West: The Series” and some of these interviews are included on the first season discs. Also included are the original bumpers from the pilot episode, which were used to bridge the acts of the show between commercials, with the original title, “The Wild West.” The fine video restoration of this series is evident when you compare the original unrestored bumpers to their counterparts in the broadcast version of the pilot episode, “The Night of the Inferno.” (The episodes following were all entitled “The Night of ...)
This complete series set has repackaged all 4 individual season sets into a beautiful box package which resembles an engraved leather trunk or suitcase in a 19th Century style. Inside the box reside 2 cardboard sleeves resembling leather gun holsters, and the 27 discs of this set are housed in individual cardboard sleeves in the 2 holsters, which are fastened by velcro and open up to reveal the DVDs. The holsters reside snugly inside the box so there is very little chance of the discs becoming dislodged when the holsters are placed in their closed position in the box. Although I love the style of the packaging, the proximity of the discs to each other, separate as they are only by a half-moon cardboard partition, means you need to be careful when removing and replacing each disc so as not to scratch the adjoining discs with your fingers.
In addition to all 104 episodes of the series, this set includes a bonus disc containing the 2 revival movies, “The Wild Wild West Revisited” and “More Wild Wild West.” Accomplished Western director Burt Kennedy directed both reunion movies, which both featured Robert Conrad and Ross Martin returning to their roles. The movies were written by William Bowers, who had previously collaborated with Burt Kennedy in the James Garner western parody, “Support Your Local Sheriff.” Both movies were filmed on location in Old Tucson during the late 1970s, and the location shooting gives the films a more authentic western tone.
Paramount deserves credit for restoring these 2 revival movies and including them in this complete series set. The first movie, “The Wild Wild West Revisited” has been finely restored. Curiously, the second movie has inferior video quality to the first one, even though it was filmed later, which leads one to believe that less effort for restoration was made for “More Wild Wild West.” The studio is going to receive criticism for not making these 2 movies available separately on DVD. At present, these movies can only be acquired as part of this complete series set, since the revival movies were not offered as part of the individual season sets. The irony is that the fans who supported the individual season sets by purchasing them as they were released are being deprived of seeing these movies on DVD, unless they are willing to double dip and purchase the complete series even if they already have all 4 season sets.
Conclusion
(
out of
overall)
“The Wild Wild West” is a fun, adventurous, hybrid of an old fashioned western combined with some modern spy adventure, as well as a good dose of science fiction and fantasy. James West and Artemus Gordon have an eye for the ladies, just like James Bond, Napoleon and Ilya in “The Man From U.N.C.L.E., and many other spy series from the 1960s. This complete series set is packaged beautifully, even though I am personally not fond of the packaging sleeves for the individual DVDs. The DVD packaging is artistically pleasing to the eye, but perhaps not practical to the extent that extraordinary efforts will need to be made by fans to avoid scratching these discs when removing or replacing them in their sleeves. I am thrilled to finally see the reunion movies on DVD, but it is unfortunate that fans can only obtain these movies by purchasing the complete season set. If you are a fan who already has the individual season sets, you may thing twice before buying this set. If you are a fan who does not already have all 4 seasons on DVD, however, then purchasing this set is a no-brainer.
