Wild Wild West coming to dvd! (1 Viewer)

[RoyM]

Yeah, one of the coolest aspects of the show was Bob Conrad's very "physical" perfomance. I used to get such a kick out of seeing him hurl himself through breakaway window panes and doors, into stage scenery, and over gangs of brawling stuntmen. The guy really was quite reckless, as TV stars go, but quite convincing as the bad-ass hero you don't want to mess with.

 

[Paul McElligott]

I hope they have Bob Conrad do some interviews or even commentaries.

 

[Henry V]

Robert Conrad suffered a serious concussion after falling from a chandelier onto the concrete studio floor during the shooting of a late third season episode "Night of the Fugitives" in 1968. As a result Conrad spent a week in hospital while production was shut down and this episode was shunted to the fourth season while the last two episodes of the third season were cancelled.
What with the release of this series and Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea onto DVD in February, those long cold winter months are looking a lot easier to get through now.

 

[Jeff#]

I hope that on some Sunday at 1 AM following a 2005 episode, that NBC reruns the entire 90 minute Saturday Night Live from 1982 when Robert Conrad hosted and they did a WWW sketch. In that, Eddie Murphy played the evil genius that West and Gordon (played by Tony Rosato) had to stop! Joe Piscopo played President Lincoln. That part didn't make sense, because Ulysses Grant was President at that time just as he was in the original TV series, but still a funny bit!

 

[Dan McW]

-- I second the motion on "The Night of the Puppeteer"--truly an outstanding episode and probably my second-favorite ep (see below).

-- "TNOT Bars of Hell" is a first-season episode that may have the coolest stunt in the series as West "breaks up" a poker game in an unusual fashion.

-- The chandelier stunt is as hard to watch as grisly replays of sports knee injuries, knowing what happened to Conrad.

-- I think I'd also welcome season two a little bit more than season one, but who's complaining? Jeff#, I don't want to spoil it for you since you've got only the first Columbia House DVD from season two, but you'll never believe the on-screen notes CH put on the DVD that has "TNOT Man-Eating House." Let's just say they're highly critical of the episode, which is my favorite in the series! Any episode written by John Kneubuhl, who provided the teleplay for the immortal "Pigeons From Hell" episode of "Thriller," can't be that bad. "Man-Eating House" also has to have the WWW record for least number of guest stars/guest cast (2).

-- A friend, who owns all 15 CH DVD's, and I just watched "TNOT Tottering Tontine," a season-two ep which may have the record for most use of gadgets, hidden rooms, and torture devices/traps for the series.

 

[Jeff#]

Was The Night of the Man Eating House the one in which West goes through a portal back in time that's located in that house? I don't remember that one too well.

The Night of the Tottering Tontine was a favorite of mine too. The show certainly looked a lot better in color, and the scripts were consistently good in the 2nd and 3rd seasons. As with so many series, it went downhill after that -- particularly with Ross Martin in the hospital for heart surgery, missing 8 episodes before returning.

 

[Dan McW]

You're not thinking of "The Night of the Lord of Limbo" (w/Ricardo Montalban), are you? However, as its title implies, it's more about another dimension than time travel, so maybe that's not the one. I haven't seen "Limbo" in a while, but seems like it's high on the weird scale even by WWW standards! I think it's on the next-to-last CH DVD, incidentally.

"Man-Eating House" is the one where Jim and Artie are transporting a sickly old prisoner (Hurd Hatfield) when they stop for the night at an old house, which quickly proves to have a life of its own. The story ends up becoming a "Dorian Gray" in reverse in one respect, appropriate given Hatfield's presence. William Talman, in one of his last roles, plays the only other credited part as a sheriff who's along for the journey. A third (voice-only) role could have been credited but wasn't.

The CH notes are critical of the ending, which I'll admit uses an old trick and isn't too hard to see coming, but I love the episode anyway. What galls me is that a company would put such critical remarks about its own product within the notes, as if they didn't want people to watch the episode (and as if they didn't care how Paramount's lawyers might feel about the matter).

Speaking of the show looking good, it sure seems like all the CH VHS eps and what few DVD eps I've seen, whether b/w or color, look great. Maybe that bodes well for the first-season set.

Charles Aidman, IIRC, filled in for Martin while he was away from the series.

 

[Jeff#]

Charles Aidman (who played Jeremy Pike) wasn't the only actor to be partnered with Conard when Martin was hospitalized. There were also Alan Hale and Pat Paulsen. That was the same year that Paulsen ran for President of the U.S. on The Smothers Brothers Comedy Hour!! He did it again twenty years later in 1988 when Tom & Dick Smothers returned to CBS with another series.

 

[FrancisP]

William Schallert was also paired with Conrad in the Night of the Winged Terror. I also liked the little touch they did with Alan Hale. At the end, Conrad asks what he is going to do. Hale talks about going to a deserted island and strains of Gilligan's Island is heard in the background.

I have no issues with the Columbia House notes. I disagreed with their verdict on Man Eating House but I
thought that at least they didn't pull any punches with them. Some of the notes on the behind the scenes battle on the show were very interesting.

 

[Ethan Riley]

Hey guys, what gives? Has the actual release date been announced yet?

 

[FrancisP]

The original speculation was that this show would be released in February. Would it be safe to say that it isn't going to happen since most of the February and March titles are on the online retailers' list and WWW isn't among them?