How did . . ???

[Kit]

Lass,

My addiction started out very uneventful a couple of years back I caught the reruns on a retro network we had and well fell head over heels... (which isn't hard I trip often lol)

[Dieter]

Apr 25, 2011 9:14:57 GMT -8 California gal said:

lilyfortune, there's a Yahoo group for Mr. Lucky. Are you aware of it? Perhaps someone here has more info.

Yeah there was a Mr. Lucky forum started a while back. Wasn't it called Andamo something? I forget. I think Blacksheepbrat started it before the Baa Baa Blacksheep one.

[California gal]

It might also have been Apple.

[Artiespet]

Yes it is Apple. I have to get the url from her I don't have it on my new computer.

[Dieter]

Oh ok--I thought it was Brat too for some reason.

[Artiespet]

Apr 25, 2011 15:06:07 GMT -8 Dieter said:

Oh ok--I thought it was Brat too for some reason.

Okay Bad Boy Brat....how's that? ;D

[lilyfortune]

Here's the link to the Mr.Lucky board folks:
www.andamoinmrlucky.proboards.com/index.cgi

I just joined in March but I'm enjoying it a lot. Nice people over there.

Anything having to do with Ross Martin, I'm there. ;D

[Apple]

Thanks for pushing my little forum everyone Lass, I was born on Feb 14 1969...the night that TNOT Janus first aired. I watched the show when it aired on CBS in the afternoons with my aunt and my grandma, around the age of 3. I remember vividly seeing Arte pretend to be passed out in TNOT Grand Emir, with the flaming bowl on the table and being very worried about him! Also remember vividly watching part of TNOT Camera and saying to my aunt (she was 12) "Where's the other guy?" meaning Arte. When she told me he wasn't in the episode, I walked away. ;D Fast forward to middle school, early 80's. Found the show aired 3 times on the weekends, and I tried my hardest to watch all three times! Fell head over heels for Artemus Gordon and tried to write my first fanfic in 9th grade. I found it again in 2007, it makes me laugh how much I knew about the show and forgot! In early 2007 I was doing random searches on Google and came across Ross Martin photos and nearly died when I found out that WWW was on dvd. I hadn't been so happy in a long time lol! Made friends with this lot and although I don't have internet at home anymore, I still am a big fan and wish I could participate more Soon!

[zimmerman]

I was cleaning out some of my boxes last weekend when I encountered the printout that I made of this particular thread two years ago. I re-read everyones post, and throughly enjoyed all of them. It was like I became a fan of the series all over again!!

I am going to reshare my first encounter here in the hopes that some of the new members of this board will share with us their WWW "Discovery" stories. .

My first encounter to this wonderful series happened in March of 2007. I had gotten the DVDs of the first season primarily for my parents to watch. I watched the pilot episode, TNOT Inferno, and it was so interesting to watch these 19th century Secret Service agents who worked for President Grant, have so many cool inventions and genuinely care for each other. Up until that time, I never was what you would call a fan of Westerns and 19th century history per se: I was (and still am) a fan of the popular music of the '30's, '40's, '50's, '60's, and '70's, and my favorite shows were usually classic sitcoms like "I Love Lucy", "The Dick Van Dyke Show" and "Gomer Pyle." Watching WWW for the first time made me real interested in the time period that the show was based, and it seriously made me think of what I would be doing had I lived in the show's time period. .

When I first started watching the series, I immediately became a fan of the Artemus Gordon Fan Club right away. The fact that he was smart, intellegent, very creative, has a real unique sense of humor, and an outstanding actor to boot , plus he also is an accomplished musician, made it very easy to relate to Artie. As time went on, though, I have now since grown to appreciate both James and Artie together as they bring their special fields of expertise to every assingment that they carry out together. It took a few years, but now I can really appreciate James West and all the little risks and the close calls he has to encounter on his assingments for President Grant, always knowing that somewhere in the back of his mind, he knows that Artie will somehow, someway, find a way to get James out of his current predicament so that he can either escape or help fight off the badguys with some major suckerpunches that you swear he has reserved in his body for such a special occaision.

The series also got me interested in the Civil War and President Grant, and sometimes watching Artie talk about scientific terms makes me wish that I would have appreciated my Science classes more when I was growing up. .

[zimmerman]

A couple of weeks into watching the DVDs, I started looking for websites for the series and found the other forum which I still check every time that I am on the Internet. Plus I also was fortunate to actually check out and read a copy of the valuable Susan Kesler book for a couple of years to help further my WWW research.

Also, I never had a favorite actor until I watched WWW. I had favorite singers, yes, but watching the series on DVD for the first time turned me into a full-fledged Ross Martin fan, making me look for other examples of his work.

[diddlepie]

Thanks Zimmerman for reviving this interesting topic.
I watched the WWW as a kid. I loved and rode horses so ALL westerns were my favorites. In my head I'd write myself into stories (I was the little sister on Bonanza... at least in my head).

I watched WWW because of the horses and I loved RM. At my age then, JW was too "showy" and a little scary with his proclivity for fights. But AG was warm, funny and intellectual: perfect for me.

As I watch it now, I see the chemistry the 2 men had something I didn't notice as a kid, and it is terrific! Why RC and RM would get along so well is a bit of a mystery to me as they were very different personalities as I understand. But, it is wonderful and probably the reason the show has had its lasting appeal. I appreciate the JW character more now. The writers and series creator did a good job of bringing the 2 characters together as they balance each other so well and it attracts a much bigger audience. JW had the macho style while Ag added humor, perfect side kick and you were always wondering what his disguise-di-jour would be.

I also notice AG has his own theme music- oboe's. I don't think JW does.

I also watched Star Trek- all varieties, Mission Impossible, Bonanza ( until PR left), I Spy, Big Valley and Rat Patrol although that was later.

I joined a writers group a few years ago and started writing newspaper columns for my local newspaper. There are 2 book writers in my group and I was floored how anyone could write beyond a 1,000 words, the longest a column would usually be. But I discovered Fan Fiction and thought I'd give it a go. I wrote one well received Bonanza story, the Star Trek and now 2 WWW. I include the FF side of the story because it seems many of us do write. It's an interesting experience and one that builds writing skills. I usually try to pick a theme and see if I can pull it off.

Well thanks for asking. BTW: my 15 yr old daughter is a RC shirtless fan. She'll run in the room if she knows he's showing up sans- shirt.

[1jameswestfan]

I never saw WWW when it orginally was on tv, my mom was two months pregnant with me in April of 1969 when the last episode aired, I remember when I was five years old watching it at neighbor's house and strangely enough their son, who was a few months older than me, was named James, but he went by Jimmy. I don't remember much about any of the episodes, but I do remember the opening credits. This past Christmas my grandmother got me the complete series plus the two reunion movies set on DVD since I mentioned I remembered watching it with Jimmy as a child. Well, I am now ready to start the fourth season discs and I know I will wish it had continued. Of course I have all of you on this great forum to share with and the fan fiction. I might add I have started some WWW fan fiction myself and hopefully will get them finished and posted here on the forum. Anyway, I might add I am definately a James Jewel. Everytime I see him shirtless it is oooooh, breath breath, drool, thud. Of course I like Artie as well, but James well I think the previous sentence said it all. Anyway, that is how I got started loving the Wild Wild West.

[SordoTheBandit]

I watched the very first episode (TNOT Inferno) in September of 1965. I didn't know what I was watching. At first, I thought it was a Western and I guess it was, but it was somehow...."different". There was a train (I loved trains!), there were secret compartments with all kinds of guns and their passenger car was so cool, the decor was Baroque and Rococo.

One guy had a small bomb in the heel of his boot and a spring-loaded pistol up his sleeve and a knife hidden in his collar. The other guy was a master of disguise and could create another character on-the-fly to fool the enemy. Then there was that little dwarf villain with that patented laugh, he was a madman, he was a madman genius, he was a singer! There was another villain who drank liquid diamonds and would disappear and then re-appear! There were puppets deep underground that were run by steam! Unbelievable!

This was no typical Western, this was the show for me! It was fantasy! It was escapism! There was the beautiful music that was at times hypnotic and almost trance-like and would literally lure you into the scene. It got to a point where I just couldn't wait for Friday night at 7:30, I was hooked! It became my favorite show and remains my favorite show of all time.

What? What did you say? 24? Yeah, we could talk about that show, but that's for another time and another forum.

[tyche]

Now I lived in the Middle East, Dubai from 1993-1997 we lived in a large apartment building and every Saturday afternoon on a satellite channel called Star TV they had 4 hours worth of 60s programmes, first Voyage To The Bottom Of The Sea and then The Wild Wild West in colour (they never showed the black and white first series) and as we had a VCR I started recording the episodes they showed.

Then after I was married in 2004, the first Christmas I had at home with my husband he treated me to the whole set on DVD and I haven't looked back since.

[amw]

Back when I was state side I remember receiving the DVD set box with the cool picture and brown designed textured box as a Christmas present. That's when I started watching the episodes but before that I can't remember when I first watched the WWW I know I did before I just can't recall. When I saw the box Jim and Artie looked familiar.
My family member that gave the DVDs to me for Christmas is WWW enthusiast. ;D
So in a way it was like watching the WWW all over new again. There were a few moments of deja vu.

[LuckyLadybug]

I might be the youngest here; I'm 26.

I remember knowing about The Wild Wild West from years ago, fifteen or so, when I started doing extensive research into classic TV. I think there was a section on it in a great book called Cult TV (which disappeared from the libraries shortly after that, aurgh) and I enjoyed reading about it. I also distinctly remember seeing some clips of it in the CBS 50th Anniversary program.

I was very interested; I'd loved spy shows for absolutely years, and Westerns too, but I didn't have access to the series until recently. While looking up favorite actors and their other roles two years ago, I discovered that William Talman and Simon Oakland had each appeared in an episode. It was a great reason to go looking up the show at last, especially since with Netflix, it was all at my beck and call.

I think The Man-Eating House was my first episode, and yet I'm actually not sure; it could have been Fugitives. I know I saw both around the same time and I fell in love with the show immediately. It was everything I love: awesome characters, spy stuff, a bit of the supernatural, hurt/comfort, friendship ... paradise. A steampunk Western is such a fun idea.

I looked up other favorite guest stars and other episodes that sounded particularly interesting, and it didn't take long before I loved and trusted the show so much that I was just ordering any disc. Then F.Y.E. had holiday sales on the DVD sets....

And while I'm notorious for adoring H.M. Wynant, it was actually Perry Mason that started me on that path. But from there I started paying closer attention to his WWW characters and was soon totally fascinated and hooked on them.

Regarding classic TV in general, I started out mainly with comedies, but usually prefer dramas these days. That doesn't mean I don't like a little humor; WWW certainly provides that. But I like more drama than humor in most of my shows.

(That said, I seem to be finding the weirder/goofier U.N.C.L.E. episodes to be extremely nostalgic to me. Which I'm still trying to figure out, since I never saw that show before a few months ago.)

[Apple]

Maybe you saw UNCLE when you were very small. You may be surprised that you remember yourself watching those episodes with someone special, or being in the room when someone special was watching them. That's what happened to me when I was watching a lot of RM's guest appearances on different shows...made me realize that my aunt and grandma (and I think my mom) had a little RM crushing going on too!

[amw]

May 19, 2013 9:49:50 GMT -8 Apple said:

Maybe you saw UNCLE when you were very small. You may be surprised that you remember yourself watching those episodes with someone special, or being in the room when someone special was watching them. That's what happened to me when I was watching a lot of RM's guest appearances on different shows...made me realize that my aunt and grandma (and I think my mom) had a little RM crushing going on too!

That's an insightful concept Apple. Maybe one of the reasons we feel what we feel like nostalgic for the Wild Wild West could be because of the people we were watching it with, or a very special time in ones life. I know I feel that way about other tv shows, and I'm sure if I contemplate more on why I feel nostalgic for the Wild Wild West I may remember the very first times watching. Or maybe the opposite happened, something negative occurred and I'm repressing my first memories of when I saw the WWW. I really don't think so though.
You brought forth fascinating ideas to contemplate on, Apple. ;D

Also are you saying when you watched with your mom, aunt and grandma that they may have influenced your own Artie crush? Question? If those special people were never with you while you watched the Wild Wild West would you still have acquired that Artie crush?

[Apple]

I don't know. I fell for him when I was 12 (after all that viewing) and I didn't tell anyone except my girlfriends at school. But my mom did say once when I asked if I could use the tv to watch the show, "You just watch it because you like the guy on it." Wait--Which guy? "The other one." You said that because YOU like him!! Mom didn't answer, just had a smirky smile on her face...I have to assume I was right.

[LuckyLadybug]

May 19, 2013 9:49:50 GMT -8 Apple said:

Maybe you saw UNCLE when you were very small. You may be surprised that you remember yourself watching those episodes with someone special, or being in the room when someone special was watching them. That's what happened to me when I was watching a lot of RM's guest appearances on different shows...made me realize that my aunt and grandma (and I think my mom) had a little RM crushing going on too!

That could be possible. Or maybe it had to do with Darkwing Duck, which was probably my first spy show. It's definitely humorous, which could be what I'm thinking of regarding some of the oddball U.N.C.L.E. episodes.

(Or it could simply be that it was mainly the humorous episodes I read about when researching the show fifteen years ago....)

Ha, that sounds fun, a whole family crushing on a favorite actor.

[Apple]

Yes, but no one would admit it...I called my aunt in 2007 and asked her and she said she had no idea...uh, you're the one I'm asking about! Whatever.