Forget that embarrassment with Will Smith and the giant spider, the Wild, Wild West has finally made its triumphant debut on DVD, with the release of the 40th Anniversary edition of the first season of WWW. (Which actually started in 1965, so it should be the 41st anniversary edition.)
Wild, Wild West, for those not in the know, was one of those shows the network just didn’t understand. Set as it it were a western, it was really a Jules Vernesque 19th century spy caper, following our heroes James West (Robert Conrad) and Artemus Gordon (Ross Martin) as the travel around the US in a private train car fighting diabolical madmen intent on all sorts of mischief.
WWW has always been one of my top 5 favorite TV series (Blakes 7, Doctor Who, Star Trek (classic) and the Avengers being the other four) and these discs do not disappoint.
They’ve been cleaned up and restored to their full length. They look and sound great and there are a number of extras on the discs, including a rare TV appearance of Robert Conrad and Ross Martin together and the first of the famous, “I dare you to knock this off” battery commercials.
My only complaint is that each episode is introduced by Robert Conrad. When you select PLAY for each episode, the intro plays immediately, with no option to bypass it. While the intros give some interesting insight into the production of the episode that follows, others just recap the coming story, giving away all the major plot twists. It’s also a bit sad to hear how frail Bob Conrad sounds – a telling reminder of our own mortality.
If all you’ve ever seen is the Will Smith movie, block that from your mind and get these discs. You’re in for a treat.