Sometimes I feel like I say this a little too often, because there are so many older shows I love, but I'm here again to talk about one of my absolute favorites. It is a show I watched over and over again growing up, and since the very first moment I realized that TV on DVD was making the scene I hoped that it would get released. Every month I would check the listings of upcoming releases waiting to see the title. Then, a few short months ago month… there it was. "The Wild, Wild West." Yes! Finally, the suits at Paramount saw fit to begin releasing full season sets of "The Wild, Wild West", and are gearing up to release the 3rd season this month. Finally, I could sit down and watch the exploits of Federal Agents James West (Robert Conrad) and Artemus Gordon (Ross Martin) as they fought their way through a list of villains a mile long. Finally, my wife got to stop hearing me nag incessantly about how the series still wasn't coming out.

"The Wild, Wild West", I think I should point out, must not be mistaken for the train wreck of a film that was released a few years back starring Will Smith and Kevin Kline. No, "The Wild, Wild West" I'm talking about was a TV series that ran back in the 60's and starred the aforementioned Conrad and Martin. Set in the 1870's, the series was akin to seeing James Bond in the old West. Our intrepid agents, West and Gordon, worked for General Ulysses S. Grant and traveled the country in a lavish train car pulled by a single steam engine. They had all sorts of gadgets and gizmos at their disposal, my favorite being West's 'derringer up the sleeve' apparatus. What was so cool about seeing some of this high-tech equipment was that the writers and prop guys were very careful to make them look like it was possible for them to exist back then.

As for the cast, Robert Conrad's James West was the ultimate TV hero at the time. He was smooth and debonair when he wanted to be and tough as nails when he needed to be. He was a skilled marksman and a practitioner of the martial arts. Often the bad guys didn't even know what hit them. He was also a highly accomplished escape artist, which we got to see first hand in almost every episode. Then there was Ross Martin as Artemus Gordon. Martin was a familiar face to TV audiences back then, having appeared in a number of shows, but of all his roles this was my favorite. He was generally West's voice of reason, even though his advice was largely ignored. He was also a master of disguise, a fact made even more fun by the knowledge that Gordon often did his own makeup. The two had a terrific rapport and I honestly cannot think of a TV duo I enjoyed watching so much.

When Paramount's DVD of the 1st season originally made it to my doorstep, I couldn’t wait to start watching it. I had almost forgotten that the show was originally filmed in black & white, but when the first strains of the memorable theme music started… everything came flooding back. Memories of watching the show with my folks, favorite episodes (some of which aren’t even in this season), and even of watching the show religiously in Germany… on a German station… in German. (Didn’t matter that I couldn’t understand the dialogue… just wanted to see the show…) The 2nd and 3rd season sets were even better though as they deliver the full color episodes that started in the 2nd season.

So for the next few days, I once again sat transfixed… and transported back to my younger days. The overall quality of the transfers was nearly perfect. There were occasional blemishes, but for the most part the prints looked beautiful. It was cool seeing the evil Dr. Miguelito Loveless again, played with such relish by actor Michael Dunn. Even though Loveless was physically a 'little person', his desire for power was stronger than any villain our heroes ever faced. He was so popular a villain that his role became a recurring one, and he was considered to be West's version of Moriarty. He was an evil genius and over the course of the series came closer to killing West than anyone.

My only disappointment was in the lack of special features. The previous set was full of materials, but there is nothing added here. Perhaps Paramount exhausted their library of "Wild, Wild West" extras on that first set. I really can't complain much about the lack of features though. Paramount has given me the opportunity to re-visit some of my favorite childhood heroes and for that… I thank them.

Episodes:
The Night of the Bubbling Death
The Night of the Firebrand
The Night of the Assassin
The Night Dr. Loveless Died
The Night of Jack O'Diamonds
The Night of the Samurai
The Night of the Hangman
The Night of Montezuma's Hordes
The Night of the Circus of Death
The Night of the Falcon
The Night of the Cut-Throats
The Night of the Legion of Death
The Night of the Turncoat
The Night of the Iron Fist
The Night of the Running Death
The Night of the Arrow
The Night of the Headless Woman
The Night of the Vipers
The Night of the Underground Terror
The Night of the Death Masks
The Night of the Amnesiac
The Night of the Undead
The Night of the Simian Terror
The Night of the Death-Maker

Starring: Robert Conrad, Ross Martin
Extras: None
Specifications: Full Screen, Dolby Digital Mono
Studio: Paramount
Release Date: 11/20/2007
Region 1
MPAA Rating: NR
Website

We'll give Wild Wild West: Season 3 a B+.