Forget,
if you can, the garish, abominable feature film that it spawned, which
was good only for a few choice shots of Salma Hayek. Instead, cast your
mind back to the 1960s television show starring Robert Conrad, a
relatively daring mash-up of dusty Western serial and espionage
adventure. What’s that? Your parents didn’t permit “the talking picture
box” under their roof, nor card games, dancing and that confounded rock
’n’ roll music? Or maybe you weren’t yet alive? Fear not, now you can
rediscover small-screen escapades of years past with The Wild Wild West: The Complete First Season.

Set
in the dusty 1870s, the series centers around two Secret Service men —
ever resourceful ladies man James West (Conrad) and his colorful
sidekick Artemus Gordon (Ross Martin) — who crisscross the country in a
high-tech railroad car, executing impossible missions (long before
identity-altering plastic masks, it must be noted) handed to them
directly by President Ulysses S. Grant. Risking life and limb to
protect the security of the United States, these two professional
troubleshooters unravel a variety of wicked schemes — from art and
money counterfeiting and rogue-weapon technologies to stolen
radioactive elements and killer automatons — devised by an array of
criminal masterminds. Their chief adversary, though, is the diminutive
Dr. Miguelito Loveless (Michael Dunn), who would appear in 10 episodes
over the course of the show’s run.

The Wild Wild West was birthed in 1965, the same year that saw the debut of Hogan’s Heroes, Petticoat Junction and Lost in Space,
among other series. Its blend of genres is interesting, and some of its
stylistic gambits (scratched-frame effects to render an explosion, for
instance) still come off as casually brilliant, low-fi hurdles of
production means. Other bits don’t quite pass the smell test, however,
including West flirting with the secretary of a man he was charged with
protecting immediately on the heels of the latter’s death. Episode
highlights here include “The Night the Wizard Shook the Earth,” which
marks the first appearance of Dr. Loveless and includes future Bond
baddie Richard Kiel as his towering henchman Voltaire, as well as “The
Night of the Druid’s Blood,” in which West and Artemus investigate a
rash of murders involving distinguished scientists.

Spread out on seven discs housed in slimline cases in a cardboard
slipcase, Paramount’s collector’s edition presentation of the complete
first season of The Wild Wild West is a well packaged affair,
with a solid, if at times somewhat ornamental, slate of extras overseen
by DVD producer Paul Brownstein. The episodes themselves, all 28, are
presented in 1.33:1 full frame with an English language Dolby digital
mono track, and benefit from a quite fine restoration that reduces
grain to a minimum. Alongside a slew of audio introductions, Conrad
sits for a few commentary tracks, and there are all sorts of
promotional bumpers and commercials that further showcase Richard
Markowitz memorable theme song and Robert Drasnin’s scores.

The best extras, though, might just be a spate of 1988 audio
interviews conducted by author Susan Kester for her book on the show.
These tidbits include chats with Markowitz, writer John Kneubuhl,
producer Fred Freiberger and others. The most interesting is a
15-minute chat with late CBS executive Ethel Winant, who vividly
recalls the show’s challenging mix of period piece detail and
bigger-than-life villains, its roots in James Bond-esque spy games, the
difficulties in casting Conrad (not a big star at the time, and
considered far too short by many) and fired series creator Michael
Garrison’s lawsuit to win himself back a spot on the show. Alternate
versions of the theme music from the original master tapes and a photo
gallery are also included here, in a catalogue title set that admirably
goes the extra mile in its efforts to showcase to a younger generation
what made it special at the time. B (Show) A- (Disc)