The first season of Wild Wild West is fantastic. The first season is well written and well acted. Robert Conrad is perfect as James West and his character is far smarter and more adventurous than James Bond.The sad thing is that season 2 is dreadful. The stories are terrible, poorly written, with horrible plot lines. If you happen to watch the second season, you wonder how the show continued onto a 3rd and 4th season.I have not had the opportunity to watch seasons 3 and 4 because season 2 created a feeling of disinterest towards the show.I rated the show a 7 - due to season 1. Season 2 would rate a 4.

THE EMERGENCE OF Ian Fleming's JAMES BOND as an eminently successful series of movies put the film genre of the Secret Agent on he front burners of all of the Hollywood movie & Television production companies. Within a few years, we witnessed a procession of Spy Epics such as THAT MAN IN IATANBUL (with Horst Bucholz), OUR MAN LIKE FLINT & IN LIKE FLINT (with James Coburn) and Mel Brooks & Buck Henry's TV spoof, GET MART (with Don Adams & Barbara Feldon).BUT SOMEWHERE ALONG the way, the notion of producing a sort of hybrid series; being a cross breed between the red-hot Spy Story, with the perennially popular Western. The series would have to have a Lead who had the physical make-up to do the action and Martial Arts Combat scenes in a very convincing manner; while still being able to deliver some very clever serio-comic dialog-much in the same manner (though not to the same degree) as Adam West's BATMAN would do, about a quarter of a year later.IN CHOOSING THE Lead in Robert Conrad's "James West", the production team couldn't have done a better job. Mr. Conrad's physique packs on plenty of muscle on a basically average sized frame & height; adding plenty of speed, agility and athletic ability to boot. Screen & TV veteran Conrad was undoubtedly at time viewed as one of those many "James Dean Types".* AS A SORT OF intellectual counter balance, they presented us with an experienced actor; who could portray the cerebral member of the team in a sort of eccentric, yet complimentary manner to the Action Hero's physical prowess. (This is not to say that the brains & brawn elements are or should be mutually exclusive to either Team Member!) CASTING THE ROLE of "Artemus Gordon" with Ross Martin gave th stories a certain range that may not have been reached with actors. He had a versatility range that was truly long and wide. Drama, Tragedy, Comedy or Farce were all well within his range and he often displayed many of these in a single episode.** IN MUCH THE same manner as we would view an adaptation of a Jules Verne SCi Fi epic, the production opted for what can only be described as "Retro Futuristic" in its looks and its on screen representation of technology yet to come. It's at once a before and after view of what would have been then considered to be "fantastic." In essence, we're looking 'forward' from the late 1860's during the Administration of Ulyses S. Grant. Get what we mean?THERE WAS A CONSCIOUS effort to use 'futuristic' (for the times) technology and inventions/weapons. Also, Agents West and Gordon had many useful 'weapons' in their belts, shoes, coats, hats, underwear, etc,; much like Bond/007 and Batman's Utility Belt. THE SERIES WAS laden with many Guest Stars (in much the same way as the ABC 20th Century-Fox BATMAN Series did); and both the series and the appearing stars benefited from riding the crest of popularity that it rode during its 4 seasons on the tube.ONE OTHER FACTOR THAT should be mentioned is that of the outstanding dialog that was written for Mr. Robert Conrad and Mr. Ross Martin. It contributed to the fun sand success in no small way!NOTE: * Like everything else in Hollywood, success breeds copycat entries. Other members of this "type" include Nick Adams.NOTE ** As testament to Mr. Martin's versatility, just screen EXPERIMENT IN TERROR to see him as a most creepy and scary villain. His talent for varied dialects was put to good use on a short lived adaptation of the Quality Comocs' feature, BLACKHAWK; in which Martin did the voices of 7 different characters of 6 different ethnicities!

It is 1965, and James Bond mania is sweeping the world. 'Goldfinger' had been released the previous year, and 'Thunderball' was waiting in the wings for take-off. Wisecracking spies armed with dandy gadgets became the new heroes of the day. Television got in on the act too. In the wake of 'The Man From U.N.C.L.E.', there was 'Mission: Impossible', 'Honey West', 'Amos Burke Secret Agent', 'I Spy', the sitcom 'Get Smart' and, of course, this. Created by Michael Garrison, 'The Wild Wild West' focused on two U.S. government agents - James West ( Robert Conrad ) and Artemus Gordon ( Ross Martin ) who operated in the Wild West of the 1880's. Answerable only to President Ulysses S.Grant, they regularly saved America from all manner of evil doers, among them the diminutive genius Dr.Migelito Loveless ( Michael Dunn ). West and Gordon were like Solo and Kuryakin in that the former was a man of action while the latter a master of disguise. They travelled everywhere in a special train - 'The Wanderer' - fitted out with gadgets.The show cleverly combined Bond-style espionage with the more traditional Western. Some of the plot lines were outlandish enough to give 'The Avengers' and 'Batman' a run for their money - in 'The Night Of The Raven', Dr.Loveless plans to shrink the Human Race so that he can become its ruler, 'The Night Of The Flying Pie Plate' has three beautiful women posing as green skinned Venusians, and 'The Night Of The Burning Diamond' had a villain melting down diamonds to create an elixir to make him invisible! Time travel figured in 'The Night Of The Lord Of Limbo' while in 'The Night Of The Surreal McCoy' Dr.Loveless finds a way to plant murderers inside forged paintings, and then release them to kill world leaders! 'West' was marvellous, campy fun. Conrad did most of his own stunts, and even by today's standards the fights are convincing and exciting. He clicked with co-star Martin, the plots and gadgets were outrageous, beautiful girls of the calibre of Jean Hale and Antoinette Bower abounded, and it had one of the best theme tunes ever. The impressive list of guest stars included Boris Karloff, Richard Pryor, and 'Rat Packers' Peter Lawford and Sammy Davis Junior!Four seasons were made. An attempt was made in its third year to move it towards a more traditional Western format yet it never sank quite as low as 'The Man From U.N.C.L.E.' did in its third season. There were a few problems though - Conrad was injured so badly in one episode the season had to be curtailed, and when Martin had a heart attack a different actor took his place ( as another character ) until he recovered.In 1979, West and Gordon were reunited for 'The Wild Wild West Revisited' and then 'More Wild Wild West' ( both directed by Burt Kennedy ), but these failed to capture the flavour of the original, coming across more as half-baked spoofs. Then in 1999, Barry Sonnenfeld's movie version starred Will Smith and Kevin Kline, with Kenneth Branagh as 'Loveless'. Smith and Branagh were badly miscast, and, despite having many good points ( such as Salma Hayek's backside and that giant mechanical spider ), it bombed.The now-defunct 'Bravo' channel on Sky Television repeated the last three seasons in the mid-'90's ( shame on them for missing out the first ) and the entire series is available on D.V.D. in the States.Even if you do not like Westerns, 'West' is well worth seeking out.

The amazing thing about this show, unlike so many others, is that everything came together and they got it right straight out of the gates. The concept was highly original, and while there was a nod to James Bond, the show really was its own entity. Setting the show during the Cival War, yet giving West advanced gadgets and a very non-traditional costume (who else wore Toreodor pants and jacket?), along with memorable villains who also had Cival War inspired devices of mass destruction only enhanced the originality of TWWW. The acting was top notch both by Conrad and Martin, who consistently gave it their all. The guest stars, and the bevy of beauties, must have relished the parts they were given. Who wouldn't want to appear on that show, yet it stayed clear of being Camp, unlike many other 60's shows. It's still great fun today, a true sign of being ahead of its time.