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By
WAYNE KLEIN
The second season of "The
Wild Wild West" looks terrific in its DVD
presentation with nice, bold colors. We get all 28
episodes of the second season included in this
set. With guest stars such as Victor Buno, Richard
Pryor (both in the first episode "Night of the
Eccentrics"), Peter Lawford, Sammy Davis, Jr. and
William Windom among many others. As with the
previous set the season in housed in a cardboard
box with discs 1-6 facing each other in slimline
DVD holders. The 7th disc is in its own holder.
This season features many episodes for which the
series became famous. In "The Night of the Flying
Pie Plate" Jim and Artie face lovely green skinned
Venusians but quickly discover that these aliens
aren't what they appear to be on the surface. "The
Night of the Rave" features Dr. Loveless in a plan
to shrink the entire human race--except Loveless
who will now be a giant and rule humanity. "The
Night of the Big Blast" features a doctor who has
resurrected the dead and changed them into
duplicate of Jim and Artie to kill the President.
In "The Night of the Lord of Limbo" Jim must track
a kidnapped Artie who appears to have been sent
back in time as part of a plan to change the
outcome of the Civil War.
Sadly, it appears that Paramount put all the
extras they're going to put out on the first set
of The Wild Wild West - The Complete First Season
This set comes without extras. We get some fantasy
themed episodes as usual with "The Night of the
Lord of Limbo" in which Jim must find Artie and is
taken on a strange journey through time. "The
Night of the Surreal McCoy" features Dr. Loveless'
evil plan to transport murderers into his faked
masterpieces and then use them to kill important
people and "The Night of the Big Blast" in which
duplicates are created of Artie and Jim from two
dead people and sent on a mission to assassinate
President Grant.
There are also plenty of episodes that focus much
more on more traditional spy western adventure
plots but always with an unusual twist. That's
what made "The Wild Wild West" so unique; the
willingness of the producers/writers to introduce
a mix of different genres within the show. As
usual Robert Conrad and Ross Martin are both
superb in their roles. Conrad did many stunts on
the show later earning special recognition from
the stuntman's guild.
As with the first season the plots are vary from
more conventional James Bond-like episodes to the
surreal ones I've mentioned. A pity that no one
was asked to provide commentary for any of these
episodes. While most of the cast are deceased, we
could have used a commentary by someone who
studies TV and the impact of the show or, at the
very least, someone who knows trivia about the
show. I have no complaints for the most part
however because Paramount has done a terrific job
making sure these transfers look top notch and
clean in their presentation here. I didn't find
many of the episodes quite as dark here as some of
the early black and white episodes of the first
set. The Wild Wild West - The Complete First
Season |
