Things I Am Noticing on a Repeat Viewing

[Cori aka ChrisSCrush]

In "The Night of the Two-Legged Buffalo," Artie looked very good in the ceremonial feather outfit, but I'm sure he had his stomach sucked in. This is not a criticism, just something I noticed. He was so cute.

[Cori aka ChrisSCrush]

"The Night of the Druid's Blood" used the idea of the brains of brilliant scientists being kept alive outside their original bodies. The exact same idea was the basis of The Colossus of New York, in which Ross Martin starred. Could they have drawn inspiration from this, or just coincidence?

[Cori aka ChrisSCrush]

In "The Night of the Golden Cobra," Jim tore the knee of his trousers. In the next scene the trousers knee is intact.

[Cori aka ChrisSCrush]

Did the wardrobe people have a problem with trouser cuffs? Jim's trousers were connected to his boots with stirrups so they never rode up. Was this ever really a thing? Artie usually wore those high boots, and when he didn't he seemed to have a similar arrangement to Jim's. Did someone have a trouser cuff hangup?

[Cori aka ChrisSCrush]

In scenes where Artie had to take his shirt off he had no chest hair but in scenes where his shirt was only partly open it was evident he had chest hair. Maybe his was not considered as attractive as Jim's who definitely had chest hair.

[Cori aka ChrisSCrush]

In "The Night of the Gypsy Peril," Artie, in the guise of a peddler, makes a reference to the treasures of Tutankhamun. These were absolutely not known or dreamed of in the 19th Century. The name was known due to the discovery of some jars bearing the name of Tutankhamun while excavating a bull burial at the Serapaeum of Saqqara in 1852, but this would probably not be general knowledge among the public, only among archaeologists or historians. As far as Tutankhamun possessing any treasures, let alone exceptional treasures beyond those known of any other Egyptian Pharaoh, that was absolutely undreamed of until his tomb was opened by Howard Carter in 1922. Nothing approaching it has been discovered before or since. I don't know whether to count this as a more major error than featuring the Statue of Liberty 12 years too early in "The Night of the Infernal Machine," but at least Tutankhamun was known of then, no matter how obscurely, whereas the Statue of Liberty was not known yet and was featured much more prominently so take your pick as to which was the more major screwup.

[Cori aka ChrisSCrush]

In "The Night of the Skulls," Artie fakes his death and in disguise conducts his own funeral. In the eulogy he refers to himself as being like a veritable "colossus."

In "The Night of the Infernal Machine," the poem "The New Colossus" by Emma Lazarus is featured, though it was not actually written until 1883 and it's still presumably between 1872(ish) and 1874(ish) in The Wild Wild West's universe. That's TWO references to a "colossus" in a row. The first one, certainly, has to be a reference to the movie The Colossus of New York, in which Ross Martin starred. This sci-fi horror film, which freaked me out as a child, explores the definition of humanity and how meddling with nature can result in very bad things. I recommend for anyone who hasn't seen it.

In "The Night of the Tartar," Jim tells a Russian villain that he can't banish anyone to Alaska as "we bought that from you five years ago." The sale of Alaska to the United States took place in 1867 so again presumably it is only 1872 here although it has been 1874 in previous episodes. The Wild Wild West may be like Sherlock Holmes stories, which sometimes did flashbacks to past escapades.

In "The Night of the Vicious Valentine," actor J. Edward McKinley is really playing Chopin's "Fantaisie-Impromptu." It is clear he is not faking which is very unusual.

[Cori aka ChrisSCrush]

In "The Night of the Hangman," Artie repeatedly uses the term "daguerreotype" to describe photographs on transparent glass plates he is using as slides. Artie is living in the past! The daguerreotype process had almost completely died out by the early 1860s, and Artie is living sometime around 1872-1874 or thereabouts (the series is never very firm on this), in any case certainly well after 1860. Also, daguerreotypes were not on glass plates and could not be used as slides! It's not uncommon that a person might use the wrong word, such as saying "videotape" when recording on a digital camera, but it IS the wrong word!

[Cori aka ChrisSCrush]

On two separate occasions when Artie was snooping around and someone whose business it probably was questioned his presence, Artie knocked the guy unconscious and the guy fell into water and Artie didn't get him out resulting in a probable drowning. That wasn't very nice. But I still love him anyway.

Both were in Season 3. The first was in "The Night of the Headless Woman," where Artie was dressed as an old sea salt snooping around the warehouse he hoped to get into and was confronted by a man who may have been the bad guys' henchman. He knocked the guy out and off a dock into water.

The more egregious case, I think, was in "The Night of the Amnesiac," where Artie went seeking Jim in a Chinese bathing establishment. The owner or some worker tried to stop him and Artie knocked him headfirst into a barrel of water. I call this more egregious as the guy was not possibly a henchman but just doing his job, and because Artie could easily have gotten him out unlike the first guy who went off a dock. I always thought of Artie as the more gentle and sympathetic of the two, but when Jim defeated a guy in a mud bath in "The Night of the Two-Legged Buffalo," he at least had the decency to pull his head out and leave him so he wouldn't drown. The above two offenses I think were out of character for Artie and it bothered me. And please don't say, "It was because the script called for it."

[Cori aka ChrisSCrush]

In "The Night of the Amnesiac," one of the bad guys referenced Pinocchio. This is 1874 more or less. Pinocchio wasn't published until 1883.

[Cori aka ChrisSCrush]

In "The Night of the Avaricious Actuary," it didn't take me two viewings to notice this, I noticed it right away and found it confusing. Near the end the person disguised as an old man who is supposed to be Artie is clearly not Ross Martin when they are in the room where Jim is tied up and escapes. Then when they leave the room it is Ross Martin disguised as the old man.

The first person disguised as the old man, whoever he was, referenced Little Lord Fauntleroy. The year is identified, via a document, as 1875. Little Lord Fauntleroy did not begin to be published until it was serialized in a magazine in 1885-1886 and then appeared as a book in 1886.

[Cori aka ChrisSCrush]

In "The Night of the Winged Terror, Part 2," in the outdoor scene where the lady villain is talking to Jim, an airplane contrail can be seen in the sky.

[Cori aka ChrisSCrush]

Jim mounted his horse from the right at least once in a first season episode. I believe this was in "The Night of the Deadly Bed." The horse was next to the train and Jim jumped onto it from the right side. Pretty sure the footage wasn't reversed.

[biffbronson]

Thank you for posting those. Certainly careless of the writers to reference Little Lord Fauntleroy and Pinocchio when scripting for an era prior to the existence of the works. Pinocchio likely would've been found in even the most basic encyclopedia.

[Cori aka ChrisSCrush]

After reading The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes, I noticed how many elements of "The Night of the Bleak Island" are like Sherlock Holmes stories. A giant black hound which seems supernatural is obvious, but there are others, such as an isolated mansion, an observant British detective who bitterly misses his criminal adversary, trouble over an inheritance, and the pursuit of a treasure, in this case an exceptionally large diamond.

This is the first episode in which James West works entirely without a partner.