The Wild Wild West
television series
The Wild Wild West is an American Western, spy, and science fiction television series that ran on the CBS television network for four seasons from September 17, 1965, to April 11, 1969. Two satirical comedy television film sequels were made with the original stars in 1979 and 1980 and the series was adapted for a theatrical film in 1999.
Developed at a time when the television Western was losing ground to the spy genre, this show was conceived by its creator, Michael Garrison, as "James Bond on horseback." Set during the administration of President Ulysses S. Grant (1869–1877), the series followed Secret Service agents James West (Robert Conrad) and Artemus Gordon (Ross Martin) as they foiled the plans of megalomaniacal villains to take over part or all of the United States, protected the President, and solved crimes. The show featured a number of fantasy elements, such as the technologically advanced devices used by the agents and their adversaries. The combination of the Victorian era time-frame and the use of Vernean technology has led several steampunk web sites to cite the show as a pioneering influence on the genre. This aspect was accentuated even more in the 1999 film adaptation.
Despite high ratings, the series was cancelled near the end of its fourth season as a concession to Congress over television violence.
Concept
The Wild Wild West told the story of two Secret Service agents: the fearless and handsome James West (played by Robert Conrad), and Artemus Gordon (played by Ross Martin), a brilliant gadgeteer and master of disguise. Their mission was to protect President Ulysses S. Grant and the United States from all manner of dangerous threats. The agents traveled in luxury aboard their own train, the Wanderer, equipped with everything from a stable car to a laboratory.
Begin with the source’s own compact description: “The Wild Wild West” is television series. The dossier treats that line as a proposition to test through Wild, West and television, not as a finished interpretation.
Why this record matters
The phrase “television series” supplies a clear boundary for inquiry. It also exposes the unanswered questions: who defined that boundary, when it became stable and which sources sit outside it.
Attribution, date and provenance are strongest when supported by the original work, a catalogue record and documented transmission. The source revision retrieved here is dated Aug 10, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q1278637. VIAF identifies the subject as 193749721. The Library of Congress control number is n98031157. None of the 3 selected statements returned an explicit reference. The first chronological checks are 1965, 1969, 1979 and 1980.
Later fame can flatten the distinction between original context, subsequent adaptation and institutional collecting history. The lead is largely declarative, so disagreement and counter-evidence require a deliberate search beyond the opening account. Authority statements aid reconciliation but still require their own references, qualifiers and ranks to be checked.
How to read it
Separate the work, its editions or performances, and its later reception. Catalogue records, publication histories and object files often preserve different parts of that story.
- Identifying works and editions
- Tracing reception history
- Finding collection records
The original object or edition, catalogue raisonné, performance record, rights file and holding institution.
Three-step research path
- Establish the record: confirm the title “The Wild Wild West”, its source revision and the description used here.
- Expand the search: follow The Wild Wild West primary sources, The Wild Wild West archive and Wild research across catalogues and specialist indexes.
- Test the account: compare the strongest cited source with the responsible institution’s current record and note any disagreement.
Questions for further research
- Which source most directly establishes the central claim about “The Wild Wild West”?
- How did later circulation or interpretation alter the work’s reception?
- Which edition, object, performance or recording is being described?
Search terms from this dossier
This entry incorporates text from “The Wild Wild West” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.