Wandering the Wild Wild West: A Critical Analysis of the CBS Television Series

The Wild Wild West premiered on CBS in 1965, just as network dominance of television Westerns was waning and the global James Bond phenomenon was in full force. Described as James Bond on horseback, the series was like nothing else on TV before or since--a genre hybrid that followed the adventures of 1870s Secret Service agents James West and Artemus Gordon, on special assignment from President Ulysses S. Grant. The show featured clever gadgets and costumes, carefully choreographed action and fight sequences, and stories that melded elements of Western, science fiction, fantasy, espionage and detective genres. This book provides in-depth critical analysis of this unique, eclectic series, considered one of the primary influences on Steampunk subculture.

Don Presnell is the director of the Common Reading Program at Appalachian State University in Boone, North Carolina. As senior lecturer in first year seminar, he has taught courses on a number of topics, including the narrative art of comics, The Twilight Zone, Doctor Who Dr. Seuss, Peanuts and The X-Files.