This page is devoted to the tv-series Wild Wild West, which starred Robert Conrad and Ross Martin. One year Martin had heart problems and was temporarily replaced by a series of guest stars, mainly William Schallert (who also got to guest star in Night Of The Gruesome Games as an eccentric with a very dark sense of humor). "W.W.West" went on the air as a CBS Production in 1965 with Night of the Inferno at the exact time that CBS production The Twilight Zone left the air for retooling (emerging 5 years later as Rod Serling's Night Gallery), so it inherited many of TZ's writers, directors and guest stars. The first 2 seasons in particular bore more than a passing resemblence to the sci-fi series, especially the Richard Donner-directed ones. Gene L. Coon later adapted as a Star Trek episode his 1965 episode The Burning Diamond, about people who give West something to drink so he can see them - their metabolism has been speeded up to the point they're invisible. In #6606 Night of Flying Pie Plate, a small town is visited by green women from Venus who need gold for fuel and are willing to trade genuine diamonds (common on their planet), though West and a local businessman (William Windom) seem skeptical.
The series ran 9-17-65 to Spring of 1970, when Rod Serling had work again for his staff (Night Gallery).
Michael Dunn became the series' most popular guest-villain, as a self-proclaimed genius determined to take over the world one way or the other: in one he uses inter-dimensional doorways disguised as framed paintings (Night of the Surreal McCoy). Everyone in the series did their own stunts, sometimes getting injured in the process, and Michael Dunn was particularly proud when he was injured doing one of his, remarking that now he'd "joined the club." For an article on stunts (and injuries) on the series, click here.
In a 1966 ep (wWatery.html">Night of Watery Death), West reports that he went to a waterfront bar to meet a tipster, where he's shot by a mermaid with a blowgun, and wakes up on a ship that's sunk by an exploding dragon. When he returns, the bar doesn't exist and he can't prove anything else (picture if you will, a man on the edge of insanity...), and other eps were based on urban legends about disappearing rooms the hotel says don't exist, a deadly bed, and getting a fortune cookie with a plea for help hidden inside. Some of the death traps were right out of Edgar Allen Poe
And then there were the Jules Verne/futuristic gadgets decades before the term "steampunk" was coined...
Robert Conrad admired the way horsemen in Portugal could control their horses with their knees, leaving their hands free (important for soldiers holding a sword or gun), and learned to do it himself for Wild Wild West with a horse named Superstar. After the series went off the air, Conrad bought the horse, which lived on into the 1990s.
Wild Wild West has been the subject of Wild Wild West books, Television books, and Classic Television books. Of course if you want a CD of Will Smith's current version of the Wild Wild West themesong, that's available too.
"More Wild Wild West" (1980) starring Conrad is sometimes seen on Encore Westerns channelBy the way, on Thursday 6-15-00, NBC reran the episode of "Just Shoot Me" guest-starring Robert Conrad as himself. Jack has written a biography in which he claims to have beat up Conrad, who then shows up at the magazine demanding to know when and where... the episode ends with Conrad and Jack (who by then are pals) trying on a garish Nahru jacket. Conrad looks at himself in the store's mirror and complains that it makes him look like Will Smith ...
Wild Wild West is currently scheduled Sat & Sundays in 40 states on the myRTN cable network channel.
Robert Conrad's movie Flying Misfits is featured on the History Channel from time to time, along with his spin-off tv series Black Sheep Squadron (last seen there in 2001)
The History Channel currently has Wild West Tech hosted by David Carradine, including an episode about traveling Freak Shows that weren't really what they appeared to be
Conrad also starred in the Hawaiian Eye. On 4-14-00, TV Land ran this episode:
"Total Eclipse," Tracy and Tom disagree over whether or not a beautiful young girl is guilty of murdering her wealthy husband, despite the fact that a jury has acquitted her. The situation is not resolved until they uncover another murder attempt.
The 1999 Wild Wild West movie (described on another page)
starring Will Smith is on cable occasionally, as is "Making Of Wild Wild West" 15 min. docu. Mel Gibson had originally considered starring in it, but was also committed to the movie version of "Maverick" the same year with James Garner.
Hawaiian Eye (b/w TV-series, running on American Life Network @ 10pm & 1am Monday nights)
Jingle All the Way (1996, starring Arnold Schwarzenegger & Phil Hartman, with Robert Condrad) on various cable channels
The following have been available on video in the past:
Wild, Wild West (1965)More Wild, Wild West (1980)
The Wild, Wild West Revisited (1979)
Wild Wild West, vol. 1 (1965) If you are interested in a video not currently available, click on the title and follow instructions to email your request - if the video company gets enough requests, they may start making more episodes of Wild Wild West available! Wild Wild West episodes were seen on the Hallmark Channel starting with this marathon in 2004:
The Night of the Inferno
Masquerading as a gunfighter, West tries to quell the activities of Mexican revolutionary Juan Manolo
1pm The Night of the Deadly Bed
Facing execution at the hands of a madman, West learns the crazed assassin plans to reclaim Mexico, as the new Napoleon
2pm The Night the Wizard Shook the Earth
West tries to protect Prof. Nielsen, a demolitions expert. But he fails: Nielson is blown up by the evil Dr. Miguelito Loveless
3pm The Night of the Sudden Death
West suspects his search for counterfeiters is getting warm when he`s shot at with arrows, and thrown to crocodiles
4pm The Night of the Casual Killer
West tries to do what the Army couldn't: penetrate the stronghold of a corrupt political boss and return him to Washington for trial
5pm The Night of a Thousand Eyes
When a pirate's crew fails to murder West, the renegade captain calls for a professional killer: a beauty named Jennifer
6pm The Night of the Glowing Corpse
Trying to recover stolen radioactive material, West follows his only clue, a set of glowing fingerprints found on the ankle of a pretty secretary
7pm The Night of the Dancing Death
While rescuing a kidnapped princess, West runs into trouble, like a booby-trapped doorknob and a fully armored man wielding a mace
8pm The Night of the Double-Edged Knife
An Indian demand for gold must be met: they've threatened to kill five railroad workers a day until it is paid.
Here are past episodes seen on TNT - Turner Network Television
Note: In June 2000, "Wild Wild West" went to a weekly broadcast so that "Babylon 5" could be seen Mon-Friday (before it moved to the SciFi Channel) and Wild Wild West was seen 6 days a week
Sign up for