Favorite episode locations?

[LuckyLadybug]

I usually prefer urban settings to middle-of-nowhere settings. I find it particularly fascinating to see life in Western big cities of the time period. And San Francisco has always had my vote for my favorite urban setting, since I started watching the series last year. Even if their San Francisco is flatter than it should have been at the time! When I started watching, I was seeing so many episodes set there that I started wondering if that was their home base, haha. (I am still a bit curious as to why it was so frequently used, unless it was just that it was the biggest Western city at the time.)

New Orleans would probably be my favorite runner-up locale. It's so mysterious. And scenes during Mardi Gras are so much fun!

[Dieter]

I gotta think about this--- I'm not sure how many states they traveled to during the 104 episodes. I know they were in Mexico too but what were all the states in the US??

[LuckyLadybug]

They also went to Canada.

I was wondering if they ever went to Utah. I didn't think so, and yet it seemed like in TNOT Turncoat they were talking about looking in the Salt Lake area.

Offhand, I remember them being in California, Louisiana, Kansas, the Washington D.C. area, Nevada, Colorado, Texas, Mississippi, maybe Oklahoma.... I want to say Arizona and possibly New Mexico and Idaho, but I'm less sure about those.

[Paradox Eyes]

I love the ones that take place in the middle of nowhere. You get more of those moments where they feel compelled to speak of what they are thinking. My favorite is the scene with Jim West and El Sordo at the campfire in Jack O Diamonds. Or when Jim and Artie are on the trail together and swapping thoughts and ideas. I.e. Montezuma’s Hordes or Running Death. It’s the contrast of the great empty wilderness around them that make those exchanges seem more dramatic, more personal.

Next, I love the sprawling Mansion locations…I just love seeing the interior shots of those ornate homes. The woodwork, the décor, the windows, the stairways, the hidden passages and rooms. The more gothic the better!

[LuckyLadybug]

You make a good point! It's lovely when they start up a conversation in the wilderness.

The mansions are indeed amazing! I've been in a few homes of the era, but of course nothing as fancy as those. They always fascinate me nevertheless. It would be awesome to have a house like one of those on the series. As long as it didn't come with a wailing ghost, of course.

[Dieter]

Yeah I watched Jack O' Diamonds 5 times in the last week or so--such a great episode, and that was very cool when Jim and Elsordo just kicked back at the campfire in the desert just chatting away.

[rielle]

in the 1870s [and 80s] many present day states were still territories or parts of territories... I know, cause I've checked on that progression a number of times for my stories

as for our favourite programme -- at that time Arizona [Pistoleros] was still a territory, so was Wyoming [ ]and so was Oklahoma [isn't Vicious Valentine set in Kansas City?]

Colorado, famously, was made a state in 1876, but that's the last year of Grant's Presidency. And of course we had more than one episode set in or near Denver

but for the rest of the series
California was pretty much the exception, becoming a state in 1850.

it seems to me that most of the time we weren't informed as to which state or territory the boys were working their cases in. But there's no mention in 'canon', so far as I recall, that they continued as agents when Grant was no longer President.

anyway, maybe I've gone too far afield... my own favorite locations for W3 are the western ones... the ones where we get some of that gorgeous scenery... I mean the scenery behind our gorgeous agents...

[California gal]

Here's a list that shows the dates each state was entered into the union:

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_U.S._states_by_date_of_statehood

As you can see, Nevada and Oregon were states by 1870, along with California.

In some episodes it is made quite clear which states, and often cities or towns, they were in. Others it's left completely to our imagination.

Death Masks for instance takes place in Nevada.

Golden Cobra was in Oklahoma Territory.

In Turncoat, inland salt lakes are mentioned, but supposedly they are in northern California, near San Francisco.

[LuckyLadybug]

Thanks for clearing up the comment about the salt lakes, Cal Gal. That puzzled me!

Rielle: I am aware that a lot of states were still territories at the time of the series. I was just making my "state list" going by modern-day boundaries and such. And I left Missouri off the list. Oops.

As for when the boys stopped working as agents, gosh, I hate to think of them stopping when the Presidency changed hands. It's much nicer to think of them just continuing with their adventures. And if the TV series proper is considered the only "true" canon, then I suppose anything goes. I'm torn on whether I want to think of the reunion movies as canon (especially if, as I heard, Jim and Arte had a falling out when they left the Service. I know it happens, but gah, it's so sad to think about, after everything they came through).

[California gal]

The Secret Service didn't stop existing after Grant's 2nd term ended. I wouldn't think Jim & Artie left it either. At least not in my ongoing scenarios!

[dunn]

Desert, Ghost town, Western towns.

[western666]

I like the wanderer and like Doc said ghost towns are cool:D and anything out in the wilderness:D