Post by zimmerman on Jul 2, 2013 14:39:32 GMT -5
The Night of the Bubbling Death has probably, over the years, become my #1 all-time favorite episode of The Wild Wild West, for several reasons, for which I will explain in greater detail here:
For starters, there are some wonderful guest stars in this particular episode, my particular favorite being William Schallert, in his first of three Wild Wild West appearances, doing an outstanding job as "Silas Grigsby--The celebrated curator of the United States Archives" who, sadly, turned rogue by the end of the episode. He really gets into the essence of this particular character, and does an outstanding job with it. . It does make me wish that they brought him back and did a similar good-guy character on the series: He certainly had a lot of potential. Perhaps the best thing about William Schallert's three appearances on Wild Wild West is that he was able to create three distinctly different characters and do an outstanding jon on all three of them .
The late Harold Gould, perhaps now best known as Rose Nylund (Betty White)'s boyfriend on The Golden Girls, is a very excellent villan, in the first of his two appearances on the series, as Victor Freemantle, a meancing, ruthless, power-hungry heavy, who, in the words of Artie on the Wanderer, "A year ago fired three badly-aimed shots at the President of Argentina. Six months later he led an abortive revolution in Venezula. Future plans include annexation of Texas and Baja, California." Freemantle here decides to kidnap the most celebrated of US historical documents, The United States Constitutution, in order for the US to "honor the Panhandle Strip as a soverign enclave, located between the two nations." He is really ruthless right up to his explosive demise .
Madylyn Rhue, versitile character actress, does an okay job here as Carlotta Waters, the wife of Mr. Freemantle, and the ruthlessly evil gal that becomes James' latest romantic conquest . She is very bad girl and all business, and I just do not understand what James actually saw in her . It did lead to some great scenes with Artie, "Like I told you, never trust a woman", and when Artie creates the illusion that she is drunk, wherein we get one of the best quotes in the entire series from Artie: "It's the story of my life, I touch them and they faint." .
This is also one of the first episodes wherein sports players make a guest star appearance, and Philadelphia Eagles running back Timmy Brown really shines here as one of the best heavies in the entire series, with one of the most distinctive names in the entire series, Clint Cartwheel, and one of the most distinctive and recognizable outfits in the entire series, with that bullet vest . He really gave James a really brutal workout in this episode, as he was determined to give James his "Tattoo job free of charge for nothing without cost....Walking proof that we means business."
Artie has two wonderful disguises in this particular episode that really show off his versitilty: The really tough guy that you seriously do not want to deal with with the one-eyed baddie in the beginning of it, which is perhaps one of my all-time favorite disguises from him in the entire series, and the humerous side of his personality as the whiskey salesman at the traveling groggery. Val Avery did a really good job playing Big Brad, making him a very challenging person for Artie's character to deal with, as is his friend, who very enthusiastically wants to burn Artie's wagon, not knowing that James was hiding underneath it of course, with Artie's seltzer bottle antics providing some great humor in this particular episode . I still wonder, though, how Brad and Carlotta got a hold of James' derringers, though. .
The gadgets that James and Artie frequently use are very much in abundance here: The little lift that helps to propel James to the top of the roof, The cutting ring, previously used in TNOT Vicious Valentine, reappears here as James retrives what turns out to be a faux-Constitution, plus the the arrow with the string that James uses to ride past the acid (No matter how many times I watch this particular episode, I still cringe whenever James heads back to Artie). Of course, Artie has a number of wonderful gadgets up his sleeve, literally, with his wonderous coat of devices, and that wonderful smoking Jacket he conceals underneath it ;D. I really enjoy all the little inventions that creep into the episodes, and it is great to have a wide variety of them in just this one episode alone .
Another reason that this episode is such a huge favorite of mine is that the music is just outstanding. Largely composed, arranged, and conducted by Jack Pleis, best known for his work at Decca Records with Teresa Brewer, Carmen McRae, Bing Crosby, Al Hibbler, Sammy Davis Jr, and The Four Aces in the 1950's, at this time was doing incidental music for our series, "My Three Sons", "Gunsmoke", cartoons and commercials, plus the Champage Music Maestro Lawrence Welk. His happy peppy arrangemants, heavy on the Vox electronic harpshichord, which is probably played here by Welk vet Frank Scott, help provide a jovial musical soundtrack for James and Artemus' adventure, as is his tender treatment to what is known as "Carlotta's Theme". His music here has the kind of retro-modern '60's feel that the episode needed, and he carried this music over to his orchestra, The Sounds of Our Times, and to Lawrence Welk's albums.
The cage that Dr. Loveless locked James in The Night the Wizard Shook The Earth reappears here, as do the revolving colts from Red-Eyed Madman, slightly modified here.
Oh, cannot forget Arabella!! Really like Arties interaction with her .
My #1 All-time favorite Wild Wild West episode.
An easy perfect 10 out of 10 from me .
For starters, there are some wonderful guest stars in this particular episode, my particular favorite being William Schallert, in his first of three Wild Wild West appearances, doing an outstanding job as "Silas Grigsby--The celebrated curator of the United States Archives" who, sadly, turned rogue by the end of the episode. He really gets into the essence of this particular character, and does an outstanding job with it. . It does make me wish that they brought him back and did a similar good-guy character on the series: He certainly had a lot of potential. Perhaps the best thing about William Schallert's three appearances on Wild Wild West is that he was able to create three distinctly different characters and do an outstanding jon on all three of them .
The late Harold Gould, perhaps now best known as Rose Nylund (Betty White)'s boyfriend on The Golden Girls, is a very excellent villan, in the first of his two appearances on the series, as Victor Freemantle, a meancing, ruthless, power-hungry heavy, who, in the words of Artie on the Wanderer, "A year ago fired three badly-aimed shots at the President of Argentina. Six months later he led an abortive revolution in Venezula. Future plans include annexation of Texas and Baja, California." Freemantle here decides to kidnap the most celebrated of US historical documents, The United States Constitutution, in order for the US to "honor the Panhandle Strip as a soverign enclave, located between the two nations." He is really ruthless right up to his explosive demise .
Madylyn Rhue, versitile character actress, does an okay job here as Carlotta Waters, the wife of Mr. Freemantle, and the ruthlessly evil gal that becomes James' latest romantic conquest . She is very bad girl and all business, and I just do not understand what James actually saw in her . It did lead to some great scenes with Artie, "Like I told you, never trust a woman", and when Artie creates the illusion that she is drunk, wherein we get one of the best quotes in the entire series from Artie: "It's the story of my life, I touch them and they faint." .
This is also one of the first episodes wherein sports players make a guest star appearance, and Philadelphia Eagles running back Timmy Brown really shines here as one of the best heavies in the entire series, with one of the most distinctive names in the entire series, Clint Cartwheel, and one of the most distinctive and recognizable outfits in the entire series, with that bullet vest . He really gave James a really brutal workout in this episode, as he was determined to give James his "Tattoo job free of charge for nothing without cost....Walking proof that we means business."
Artie has two wonderful disguises in this particular episode that really show off his versitilty: The really tough guy that you seriously do not want to deal with with the one-eyed baddie in the beginning of it, which is perhaps one of my all-time favorite disguises from him in the entire series, and the humerous side of his personality as the whiskey salesman at the traveling groggery. Val Avery did a really good job playing Big Brad, making him a very challenging person for Artie's character to deal with, as is his friend, who very enthusiastically wants to burn Artie's wagon, not knowing that James was hiding underneath it of course, with Artie's seltzer bottle antics providing some great humor in this particular episode . I still wonder, though, how Brad and Carlotta got a hold of James' derringers, though. .
The gadgets that James and Artie frequently use are very much in abundance here: The little lift that helps to propel James to the top of the roof, The cutting ring, previously used in TNOT Vicious Valentine, reappears here as James retrives what turns out to be a faux-Constitution, plus the the arrow with the string that James uses to ride past the acid (No matter how many times I watch this particular episode, I still cringe whenever James heads back to Artie). Of course, Artie has a number of wonderful gadgets up his sleeve, literally, with his wonderous coat of devices, and that wonderful smoking Jacket he conceals underneath it ;D. I really enjoy all the little inventions that creep into the episodes, and it is great to have a wide variety of them in just this one episode alone .
Another reason that this episode is such a huge favorite of mine is that the music is just outstanding. Largely composed, arranged, and conducted by Jack Pleis, best known for his work at Decca Records with Teresa Brewer, Carmen McRae, Bing Crosby, Al Hibbler, Sammy Davis Jr, and The Four Aces in the 1950's, at this time was doing incidental music for our series, "My Three Sons", "Gunsmoke", cartoons and commercials, plus the Champage Music Maestro Lawrence Welk. His happy peppy arrangemants, heavy on the Vox electronic harpshichord, which is probably played here by Welk vet Frank Scott, help provide a jovial musical soundtrack for James and Artemus' adventure, as is his tender treatment to what is known as "Carlotta's Theme". His music here has the kind of retro-modern '60's feel that the episode needed, and he carried this music over to his orchestra, The Sounds of Our Times, and to Lawrence Welk's albums.
The cage that Dr. Loveless locked James in The Night the Wizard Shook The Earth reappears here, as do the revolving colts from Red-Eyed Madman, slightly modified here.
Oh, cannot forget Arabella!! Really like Arties interaction with her .
My #1 All-time favorite Wild Wild West episode.
An easy perfect 10 out of 10 from me .