The Wild Wild West wasn't as widely rebroadcast as other cult TV series from the 1960s, so it's a particular delight to see this marvelously weird and strangely hypnotic genre hodgepodge so well treated on the DVD format. CBS DVD and Paramount's The Wild Wild West: The Second Season seven-disc box set gives us all 28, one-hour color episodes from this singularly unique series, making it must-see viewing for western, spy, science fiction, fantasy, and vintage TV fans (with a few other genres thrown in for good measure, as well).

I suspect, considering the outsized, fantasy elements of its stories, the emphasis on action and adventure, its early start time (7:30 PM) and its Friday night timeslot, that CBS saw The Wild Wild West as probably nothing more than an elaborate kiddie show - and one that was in trouble in the ratings this second season. Benefitting from its Friday 9 o'clock anchor show, Gomer Pyle U.S.M.C., the second most popular series for the 1965-66 season, as well as Hogan's Heroes at 8:30, which finished ninth for the year, The Wild Wild West's ratings for its first season were a healthy, but unspectacular 23rd (in a three-way tie with The Jackie Gleason Show and The Virginian). Unfortunately, the 1966-67 season saw Gomer Pyle U.S.M.C. moved to Wednesday nights, and without this powerful ratings getter, The Wild Wild West sank in the Nielsen's. Hogan's Heroes, The Wild Wild West's follow-up show, also saw its ratings slide, dropping down to 18th for the year. And with heavy competition from NBC's popular new kiddie show Tarzan (it would wind up 27th for the year in the Nielsen's), The Wild Wild West, even after a move to shoot in color this season, dropped out of the Top Thirty in 1966-67, and would limp along for only two more years before being canceled in 1969.

It's really a shame that the innovative, highly imaginative The Wild Wild West was pigeon holed as a kiddie show by the network, and stuck in such an early time slot. Watching it today, over forty years later, The Wild Wild West plays as well as CBS' ostensibly "adult" spy jaunt Mission: Impossible, which premiered during The Wild Wild West's second season, and which ran for seven successful years. Far from coming off as juvenile in tone, The Wild Wild West is an altogether surreal mixture of traditional western, espionage, fantasy, science fiction, comedy, and even supernatural genre elements that forms a most unusual viewing experience. The basic structure of the stories doesn't vary much. James West (Robert Conrad) and Artemus Gordon (Ross Martin) are the countries' finest Secret Service agents. Under direct orders from President Ulysses S. Grant through their high-tech wireless telegraph, West and Gordon crisscross the Old West in their luxuriously appointed private railway train, arriving at seemingly innocuous trouble spots where they invariably encounter some fantastical scheme to control the U.S. and the world by various assassins, maniacal geniuses, and nefarious criminal organizations.

The spy duo are nicely matched in their complimentary skills. West and Gordon are both accomplished in the gentlemanly arts of armed and unarmed combat, as well as proficient in their use (and sometimes invention) of anachronistic, high-tech gadgets that certainly appear plausible, but much like similar technologies in H.G. Wells' novels, are fictitious to the 1870s time period. While Gordon is a master of disguises (he often times fools even West), which comes in handy when West is captured by the villains, West is the suave, deadpan, handsome charmer who often gets the girl, and whose athletic skills are legendary. Meeting these "Second Industrial Revolution" James Bonds on the field of battle are an impressive rogue's gallery of half-insane criminals bent on subverting law and order in America, chief among them Dr. Miguelito Loveless (Michael Dunn), an evil genius whose small stature is more than compensated by his outsized, malignant need to create chaos for Jim and Arte.

I have a few shadowy childhood memories of watching The Wild Wild West reruns, but only a few things standout: the celebrated animated credit sequence, West's fabulous train, and a rather frightening black and white image of Dr. Loveless screaming at West in one episode (Michael Dunn was such a phenomenally talented actor). But it's not a show that really stuck with me, probably because it didn't repeat over and over again in syndication, as Gilligan's Island or The Andy Griffith Show did. That's why it's such a distinct pleasure to rediscover The Wild Wild West: The Second Season on DVD. It's hard to describe, but there is some kind of strange, weird pull exerted on the viewer here. TV series have a sustained tone, an atmosphere if you will, that exists outside the specifics of each episode. You can feel it, in well integrated shows. And they don't have to necessarily be "serious" dramas for that tone to come through: Gilligan's Island has its own, distinct tone, just as The Sopranos memorably has. A good indication of The Wild Wild West: The Second Season unique tone is the fact that all the episodes in the series are titled The Night of the.... The Wild Wild West has a nighttime, otherworldly feel to it that lends a somewhat sinister, understated, creepy edge to the more outlandish moments of whimsy and comic book action.

Obviously, there was a lot of thought given to how the series as a whole would come off. Some critics have said that the switch to color made the show more "camp," a term I particularly despise. But I've heard that same note of disdain for other series, particularly The Avengers and The Saint; it's as if black and white is more valid, in some way, than garish, "common" color. On the contrary, The Wild Wild West switch to color this second season only ups the odd, quirky look of the show, and dovetails nicely in with the increasingly bizarre schemes Jim and Arte find themselves thwarting. There aren't any false notes in The Wild Wild West's execution, from its evocative production design (I particularly love the Pop and Op Art touches that sneak in among the sagebrush), to its imaginative, clever scripting (any one of the stories here are more exciting than most big screen movies out there this year), to the pitch-perfect acting.

Conrad in particular is worthy of note. Giving what has to be one of the most controlled performances in an outwardly action-oriented series, Conrad is a model of kabuki-like stillness and grace when he's in delivering his amusingly written lines. "Deadpan" doesn't quite cover his delivery, because there's an active glint in his eyes, and the slightest trace of a sneer at his lips, that suggests action at the drop of a hat, but it's a surprising, left-turn performance for this kind of action fare. It's ironic and amused, and yet at the same time, deadly quiet and serious - in other words, it's the embodiment of the show's very own tone. His insistence on doing his own stunts lends credibility to his performance; it's a lot easier to believe he's actually James West when the camera, in one unedited take, shows him running and leaping to grasp the railing of a second story balcony, whereupon he effortlessly pulls himself up, turning to the camera to make sure you know that he, Robert Conrad, did that and not some stuntman (there's one amazing shot in this season where Conrad barely misses being stomped to death by a horse).

Martin is the perfect compliment to Conrad. More openly warm and humorous, more willing to exaggerate due to his role's requirement of often disappearing into broad, comic disguises, Martin is the perfect humanistic ying to Conrad's cooly calculated yang. It's not surprising that when two made-for-TV movies in the late 70s went well enough for there to be talk of a new series, it was abandoned when Martin unexpectedly died; you can't have James West without Artemus Gordon. Thankfully, the gawd-awful movie adaptation (lets not even name names) tanked, and we were spared more sequels or even worse, a series retread. The Wild Wild West is TV perfection just the way it is; there's no need to retool it or reboot it.

DISC ONE:

The Night of the Eccentrics
Jim and Arte uncover a murderous scheme to assassinate Mexican President Juarez. When Jim refuses to help execute the plan, the conspirators try to frame him for the murder.

The Night of the Golden Cobra
Jim and Arte go undercover to investigate strange happenings in the Pawnee Indian reservation area. They discover a greedy plot to scare the Indians off their valuable land.

The Night of the Raven
Jim and Arte face their archrival Dr. Loveless, who has a diabolical plan to shrink the human world so he can become its ruler.

The Night of the Big Blast
A fanatical Doctor converts two corpses into duplicates of Jim and Arte, then sends them on a mission to kill President Grant and his Cabinet.

DISC TWO:

The Night of the Returning Dead
Jim and Arte must uncover the truth behind the appearance of a mysterious, bullet-immune Confederate nightrider who promises complete destruction unless a murderer confesses to his dastardly crime.

The Night of the Flying Pie Plate
Jim and Arte uncover a scam involving three beautiful women posing as green skinned Venusians, who intend to steal four hundred pounds of gold from naive townspeople to fuel their spaceship.

The Night of the Poisonous Posey
Jim and Arte uncover a plot in Justice, Nevada, to unite the abilities of the world's most notorious criminal minds.

The Night of the Bottomless Pit
Jim and Arte are assigned to find and free a fellow agent unjustly imprisoned on Devil's Island.

DISC THREE:

The Night of the Watery Death
Jim and Arte uncover a plot that will create an underwater city in the Pacific Ocean that will control shipping around the world.

The Night of the Green Terror
Jim and Arte must stop Dr. Loveless's twisted plan to explode a deadly balloon over Washington, creating total chaos so his army of Indians can move in and take over.

The Night of the Ready-Made Corpse
Jim and Arte are assigned to protect a Latin dictator. When he is assassinated, they uncover a major blackmailing operation is behind the crime.

The Night of the Man-Eating House
Jim and Arte transport a mentally unbalanced prisoner to a hospital. As his condition worsens, they discover he has a sick plan to return Texas to Spanish rule by infecting the state with a deadly plague.

DISC FOUR:

The Night of the Skulls
Jim pretends to kill Arte. Now, posing as a wanted man, Jim infiltrates a murderous clan, where he uncovers a plot to assassinate President Grant.

The Night of the Infernal Machine
Jim and Arte discover that a criminal plot to eliminate federal judges was actually devised by one of the judges himself to insure his appointment to the Supreme Court.

The Night of the Lord of Limbo
When a magician makes Arte disappear, Jim must travel to another dimension to find him. What his journey back in time reveals is a plot to change the outcome of the Civil War.

The Night of the Tottering Tontine
Jim and Arte must protect a key member of a wealthy investment group whose surviving member stand to inherit the group's sizable assets.

DISC FIVE:

The Night of the Feathered Fury
Jim and Arte seek information about an old nemesis, only to get involved in the theft of a toy chicken containing a mystical Philosopher's Stone, which turns anything near it into gold.

The Night of the Gypsy Peril
Jim and Arte infiltrate a gypsy camp and join their circus to unravel an extortion plot against the U.S. involving a stolen elephant.

The Night of the Tartar
Jim and Arte are ordered to deliver a Russian prisoner in exchange for an American Vice-Council being held captive. They discover the Russian is involved in a shakedown plot involving wealthy Russian immigrants.

The Night of the Vicious Valentine
Jim and Arte investigate the Alphabet Murders, a plot devised by a ruthless matchmaker, who marries her girls off to wealthy industrialists then kills them for their money and power.

DISC SIX:

The Night of the Brain
Jim and Arte investigate the early predictions of a friend's death. Before they can warn the next victim, they discover a plot underway to murder all the world leaders and replace them with look-alikes.

The Night of the Deadly Bubble
Jim and Arte investigate a plot to destroy all the world's coastal towns as punishment for polluting the seas. When they dig deeper, they discover another plot to poison the populations' water supply.

The Night of the Surreal McCoy
Deadly art comes to life, as Jim and Arte face Dr. Loveless's scheme to plant murderers inside his forged paintings, then release them to kill world leaders.

The Night of the Colonel's Ghost
Jim and Arte escort President Grant to a statue dedication in what they discover is a ghost town. The few remaining townspeople lay claim to hidden gold, which is actually concealed inside the statue itself.

DISC SEVEN:

The Night of the Deadly Blossom
Jim and Arte must stop a deadly plot to kill a Hawaiian King on the high seas.

The Night of the Cadre
Jim and Arte blow the whistle on a plot devised by a criminal mastermind to implant a franconium crystal in President Grant's head, to control him, so he can become dictator of the U.S..

The Night of the Wolf
Jim and Arte are assigned to protect a newly crowned King. But first, they must stop a kidnaping plot to force him to renounce his throne.

The Night of the Bogus Bandits
Jim and Arte discover Dr. Loveless is training men to take over key federal establishments so he can become dictator of the U.S..

The DVD:

The Video:
The full-screen video image for The Wild Wild West: The Second Season is clean and sharply focused, with a minimal amount of dirt and scratches to the original elements. No transfer problems arose.

The Audio:
The Dolby Digital English mono soundtrack accurately represents the original broadcast presentation.

The Extras:
Unfortunately, unlike the boxed set for the first season, The Wild Wild West: The Second Season DVD set contains no extras -- that's a pity.

Final Thoughts:
Strikingly original, with a otherworldly, ominous pull to its comic book action, The Wild Wild West: The Second Season mixes elements from the spy, western, science fiction, fantasy, comedy, and the supernatural genres with abandon, and creates one of the most compelling, entertaining series to come out of the 1960s. I highly recommend The Wild Wild West: The Second Season.