Quite A Combination
Robert Conrad stars as James West and Ross Martin as Artemus Gordon throughout the series despite several different producers and directors taking the reins throughout the show’s run. The stories take place in the latter part of the 1800s, and feature our duo as convert, secret agent operatives of none other than President Ulysses Grant. Their mission orders come via several methods including telegram or carrier pigeon to their three car locomotive that travels around the western parts of the US to get them close to their objective. Using a variety of gadgets, guns, hand to hand fighting skills, and wit, the duo faces all matter of foe that threaten the citizens of the US. For the most part, the adventures are self contained episodes, but in episode three the duo faces their eventual arch rival for the first time in the form of the dwarf scientist Dr. Loveless. The good doctor will appear about ten more times throughout the series with a variety of diabolical plans.
The box set includes a detailed episode guide, but rather than me regurgitating that, it’d be just as well to check out the listings on TV.com or similar sites to get the gist of each episode’s plot. Each episode is similar in that there is almost always a beautiful woman and an evil villain that attempts to harm one or hundreds of people by creating a war or destroying the rail system or poisoning or blowing up a city. However the wit, fists, and gadgets of James West and Artemus Gordon always prevail.
After the first season, Ross Martin’s character seemed to be more involved than he was in the first season. His actions in the first season were certainly important, but he often wasn’t right in the mix of the action as he was at least a little more often in the seasons that followed. Together, he and West made for a great team on screen; their characters were great compliments to one another and their acting ability only helped improve the coworker-friendship bond the two had.
Each episode is also similar in a less important, but still good for trivia way, in that each is entitled “The Night of…” All twenty-seven discs contain four episodes, except for the final disc which only contains three. A single bonus disc contains the two TV movies, not previously available on DVD.
Packaging And Presentation
The complete series and all twenty-seven DVDs come packed in a gorgeous sturdy cardboard box measuring 8” tall, 11” wide, and about 3”deep. The design of the box is great, resembling a very ornate and detailed wooden antique box complete with shiny silver metal corners. Parts of the box, the lettering especially, is raised slightly, so the box has some texture too. A paper cover in the shape of an L, covers the bottom and back side of the box and it provides a nice picture of the box’s contents. This is safe to remove from the box without any damage concerns due to the type of sticky putty used to keep it attached.
You open the box like you would a box of chocolates; the top cover just pulls right up. Inside you will discover two stacks of discs, one set is for season one and two, and the other for season three and four and the movies. Each stack of discs is held in place and kept in order with a thin cardboard holder of sorts, that reminds me of the french fry containers at fast food joints. That’s not to knock on the packaging, it’s just a comparison. Each enclosure is decorated in similar style to the overall box, and features a single velcro tab as a locking mechanism to keep the discs from falling out. All of this may sound okay, but I think this packaging system is to blame for about half of my discs having small spots of light scuffs and scratches. Oddly enough, a couple of my discs even had some kind of residue on them that resembled glue, although with a little water and a cloth I was able to clean these. I know that since this box set has been in my possession, it hasn’t been mistreated, so maybe this happened during shipping. None of these problems have resulted in playback issues with my player, so that’s good, but either way, I thought this worth mentioning. Bottom line, if you purchase this set, you may want to inspect each disc sooner than later.
The way the discs are placed in these containers makes removing and replacing them a bit of a pain. Each disc fits into a small groove that usually isn’t immediately noticeable. I don’t know that there is another way so many discs could have been packaged into such a nice box, and frankly were it not for some of my discs being ‘damaged,’ out of the box, I would have said that the trade off in inconvenience would be worth it. However, given that some of my discs were damaged, and I can only assume due to the packaging, that’s another matter altogether.
Also in the box is a nice episode guide. This concise booklet gives a brief synopsis of all of the episodes throughout all four seasons, as well as listing what disc each episode is on, so finding that particular episode couldn’t be easier. Last, there is a colored, non-removable decorative strip of paper that shows a repeating pattern of the first episode’s bumpers (those comic book style drawings that bridge one part of an episode to another part).
Each episode and the two films have been remastered and look very good, with the exception of the second film simply entitled “More Wild Wild West.” The second film looks rather poor and I’m not sure if it was remastered or not, it simply doesn’t look as good as the other film or the TV episodes.
The first season is in black and white and the remaining three and the movies are in full color, just FYI. That said, the overall quality sans the second movie, is basically spot on with any of today’s TV series on DVD, so you need not have any concern there. The audio is also very clear and crisp, although my only chief complaint with it would be how the audio rises and falls throughout and episode. I think this is more of how the original episodes were created than anything that the DVD transfer had to do with it, but suffice it to say that in most episodes, the typical audio is just a hair quiet compared to an average DVD, and the musical parts, usually found in transitions from one part of an episode to another, are quite a bit louder. Now that’s not to say it was every musical piece or even that this is the only DVD I’ve seen do this – but I found myself having to keep the remote handy in case one of these louder audio spikes occurred.
On a similar note it’s unfortunate that no subtitles are included. This box set will surely appeal to some older consumers out there who remember this series as a kid and I’m sure many of them could have benefited from subtitles. Of course, having subtitles would have likely been an expensive and time consuming process since they weren’t part of the original production as captioning didn’t start until some twenty years after this show was created.
In terms of menus, the first season has a different menu than the other three. It’s a little more creative and colorful, whereas the final three seasons’ menus, while nice, are a little more simple and direct, and not as creatively interesting. Regardless, the menus throughout all seasons and the bonus disc with the two movies is functional and at least sufficient.
The first season also features a very brief audio introduction before each episode with Robert Conrad providing some unique insight on said episode. The first season includes a handful of other features including vintage promotional material, although on a whole the box set is relatively lacking in extras.
Closing Thoughts
The Wild Wild West is a very entertaining show. I don’t know that the genres of western, espionage, and science fiction have ever been combined in this manner before, and with such success. It’s a well put together show that can appeal to folks today as well as those that remember watching it when it was new forty years ago. To have the entire series and the two TV movies, all in such a great box set for $90 or so online is a hell of a deal at any time, but at this time of year it makes for a superb Christmas gift.