Stanley, Paul

Cannon: Season One, Vol. 1

The weekly adventures of Frank Cannon an overweight balding ex-cop with a deep voice and expensive tastes in culinary pleasures who becomes a high-priced private investigator. Since Cannon's girth didn't allow for many fist-fights and gun battles (although there were many) the series substituted car chases and high production values in their place.System Requirements:Running Time: 615 minutesFormat: DVD MOVIE Genre: TELEVISION/SERIES & SEQUELS Rating: NR UPC: 097368924246 Manufacturer No: 892424

The Wild Wild West - The Fourth Season

James West and Artemus Gordon are two agents of President Grant who take their splendidly appointed private train through the west to fight evil. Half science fiction and half western the Artemus designs a series of interesting gadgets for James that would make Inspector Gadget proud. A light hearted adventure series.System Requirements:Running Time; 1216 Mins.Format: DVD MOVIE Genre: TELEVISION/SERIES & SEQUELS Rating: NR UPC: 097368532144 Manufacturer No: 853214

At one uncharacteristically poignant point during Wild Wild West's final season, secret service agent James West raises a glass to toast "absent friends." That would be Artemis Gordon, West's resourceful sidekick and a master of disguise and the odd "diversion." Ross Martin, who portrayed Gordon, had suffered a heart attack and was missing in action for several episodes, so missed that it took several actors to fill his shoes: Charles Aidman as Jeremy Pike, William Scharlett (who early in the season portrays a villain in the episode, "The Night of the Gruesome Games") as Frank Harper, Pat Paulson, the hangdog mock-Presidential candidate on The Smothers Brothers Comedy Hour, as the seemingly milquetoast Bosley Cranston in "The Night of the Camera," and Alan "The Skipper" Hale, Jr. as chemist Ned Brown in "The Night of the Sabatini Death," (which also features Jim Backus and contains a cute Gilligan's Island in-joke at episode's end). With or without Martin, this was a wild, wild season that offers genre-bending kicks in episodes that evoke James Bondian espionage, Jules Verne fantasy, bizarre Avengers-style villainy, and even The Phantom of the Opera. James and company are up against some entertainingly over-the-top megalomaniacs bent on world domination. Of course, the sun couldn't set on the West without one last encounter with the series' most popular villain, the "dictatorial, vain, short-tempered, and occasionally unreasonable" Dr. Loveless (Michael Dunn), who re-emerges yet again to pass judgment over those he professes to have wronged him in "The Night of Marguerite's Revenge." Two of TV's comedy icons, Harvey Koran and a pre-Mary Tyler Moore Show Ted Knight, play it straight as formidable foes in "The Night of the Big Blackmail" and "The Night of the Kraken," respectively. "The Night of the Winged Terror," the series' only two-parter, is an effective creep show featuring a hypnotizing bulging-brained adversary. Conrad, as one character compliments him, is "better than ever," whether dispatching goons (he performed all his own stunts) or romancing the ladies ("He said something about showing the big dipper to the daughter of the Lithuanian ambassador," Artemis explains West's absence in "Big Blackmail"). While there are signs that the series was poised to jump the shark, it is too bad it ended before further encounters with Professor Montague, who is introduced in "The Night of the Janis" as the Q-like creator of such nifty gadgets as a harmonica gun. --Donald Liebenson

The Wild Wild West - The Complete First Season

While following in the tradition of conventional Westerns like GUNSMOKE or HAVE GUN WILL TRAVEL the innovative 1960s television series THE WILD WILD WEST tweaked the genre by infusing science-fiction elements and James Bond-like espionage plotlines. As dashingly handsome secret agent James T. West (Robert Conrad) and his master-of-disguise sidekick Artemus Gordon (Ross Martin) investigated crimes in the late-1800s Wild West the series distinguished itself with anachronistically high-tech gadgetry (a pioneering style that would later be come to known as "steampunk") and an odd assemblage of villains that included the delightfully demented dwarf Miguelito Loveless (Michael Dunn). Eccentric and visionary the series is resurrected in this collection of 28 remastered episodes from the debut season.Format: DVD MOVIE Genre: WESTERN/MISC. Rating: NR UPC: 097368881648 Manufacturer No: 888164

CBS had an instant hit on their hands when The Wild Wild West made its network debut on September 17, 1965. While many of the popular TV Westerns were running out of steam, series creator Michael Garrison ripped a page from the Ian Fleming/Sean Connery playbook and conceived The Wild Wild West as a "James Bond Western," energizing the genre by combining a traditional Western setting (primarily the San Francisco region in the 1870s) with the accoutrements of the spy genre. It was a foolproof formula, further refined by producer Fred Frieberger (who later produced the third and final season of Star Trek), and TWWW held its popular time-slot (7:30-8:30 on Friday nights) for its entire four-season run. Smart casting proved to be another source of audience appeal: While Robert Conrad fit nicely into his role (and tight-fitting costume) as macho Secret Service agent James West, doing his own challenging stunts and charming each episode's obligatory beautiful female guest star, Ross Martin proved an equally excellent choice to play West's skillful sidekick Artemus Gordon, a debonair dandy whose mastery of disguises and dialects would prove essential as they tackled dangerous crime-fighting assignments from President Ulysses S. Grant.

The series' unique appeal arose from its clever and frequently bizarre plots. Every episode title began with a variation of "The Night of..." (including the pilot, "The Night of the Inferno," with more unusual titles thereafter), and as Jim and Arte plotted strategies from the comfort of their tricked-out custom railroad car, their exploits frequently led them into realms of the occult, mad science, bizarre inventions, and villains so eccentrically twisted that they became instant favorites among the show's growing legion of fans. Best of them all was the nefarious Miguelito Loveless, first appearing in "The Night the Wizard Shook the Earth" (original airdate 10/01/65) and played to perfection by dwarf actor Michael Dunn, a '60s TV regular familiar to Star Trek fans from his memorable role in the original series episode "Plato's Stepchildren." A gifted, intellectual renaissance man (like Ross Martin) with an angelic singing voice, Dunn was an overnight sensation, guest-starring in four of the first season's 28 episodes, with six more appearances in subsequent seasons. Dunn's gleeful malevolence (accompanied by his mute henchman Voltaire, played by giant actor Richard Kiel) was an essential addition to the series' sideshow esthetic; weirdness, humor, gorgeous women, and devious ingenuity (in plotting, action and gadgetry), became the trademarks that set TWWW apart from its more conventional TV Western competition. --Jeff Shannon

On the DVD
For this much-anticipated DVD release, Paramount has made above-average efforts to satisfy fans. Virtually every episode looks and sounds practically brand-new, and with TWWW expert Sue Kesler serving as DVD co-producer, this seven-disc set features a wealth of archival extras, many culled from Kesler's own research as author of the out-of-print guidebook The Wild Wild West: The Series. In addition to excerpts from audio-taped interviews with Frieberger, writer (and "Dr. Loveless" creator) John Kneubuhl (who tells a fascinating story of how Liberace almost guest-starred on the show), music composer Richard Markowitz, and special-effects technician Tim Smyth, each episode includes brief but informative audio introductions by Robert Conrad, who also appears (with Martin) discussing the show (and their subsequent TV-movie revival of TWWW) in a 1978 talk-show appearance. Excerpts from the original music-theme scoring sessions were found in UCLA's Film and Television archive, and other extras include a network series promo clip (from a later season, after TWWW switched to color), a sketch by Ross Martin, a photo gallery, and even one of Conrad's notorious Eveready Battery commercials from the late '70s. All in all, this 40th Anniversary package should give TWWW fans ample reason to celebrate, boding well for the other season-sets to follow. --Jeff Shannon

Lost in Space - The Complete First Season

Lost in Space began life in 1965 as a science-fiction take on The Swiss Family Robinson. Produced by Irwin Allen, then in the midst of his run of spectacular-but-childish TV sci-fi (before he became the master of big-screen disaster movies), the show featured a family of all-American space colonists cast away on a mysterious planet. Gradually the whole thing devolved into a silly (but sometimes fun) exercise in childish camp. This boxed set includes all 29 black and white episodes from the first season (with a burst of color at the end of the last show--a foretaste of the garish look of the remaining two seasons) along with "No Place to Hide," the expensive pilot show that sold the series but prompted Allen to revamp the whole premise in comic mode when network execs responded best to its unintended humor.

"No Place to Hide" has action scenes that cropped up in the first six regular episodes but is missing several of the show's trademark aspects, most notably that infectious theme from Johnny Williams (later, John Williams of Star Wars fame) and the scheming presence of Dr. Smith (Jonathan Harris) and his alternately menacing and comical robot ("It does not compute"). As the series progresses (or degenerates, depending on your taste), Harris's Smith changes from pantomime villain, a saboteur who is trying to kill the family, into pantomime idiot whose foolishness, cowardice, and avarice are an endless source of plots. It mostly makes do with the regular cast plus an array of shaggy-suited, snarling aliens, but you do get sterling ham from visiting astronauts such as Warren Oates ("Welcome Stranger"), Robby the Robot from Forbidden Planet ("War of the Robots"), and a very young Kurt Russell ("The Challenge"). Stories about surviving on an alien world give way to lifts from fairy tale, myth, and old movies as Smith gets hold of a wishing cap, becomes a giant, is chosen as a sacrificial king, turns the children over to an alien zoo, squeaks in fright as a werewolf approaches, or is cursed with a platinum Midas touch. --Kim Newman

Season 1 of the 1965 sci-fi favorite.

Lost in Space - Season 3, Vol. 2

It's the third and final season of the far-out tales of TV's most lovable space crew! Complete your mission with these intergalactic adventures! Join in as the Jupiter 2 crew attempts to finally return home to Earth, with more help from the wily Robot B-9, more antics from master meddler Dr. Zachary Smith, and of course, more "Danger, Will Robinson!" Along with out-of-this-world extras not available anywhere else, this collectable DVD installment of Irwin Allen's LOST IN SPACE presents the final 9 episodes of America's favorite space family.

Lost in Space - Season 2, Vol. 2

As its second season progressed, and as these 14 episodes from 1967 attest, Lost in Space continued to swap science fiction for comic fantasy, and the show's ratings went into orbit. While Star Trek satisfied a smaller audience of serious sci-fi fans on NBC, Lost in Space (airing Wednesday nights on CBS) delighted a younger audience with the cheesy adventures of "Space Family Robinson," stranded on an isolated planet that nevertheless played host to an abundance of alien visitors. Here they include operatic Vikings, a disembodied mechanical head, a spacefaring buccaneer, a Scottish bagpiper in a haunted castle, and, in the deliriously entertaining episode "Revolt of the Androids," a silver-painted super-being whose primary purpose is to "Crush...Kill...Destroy!!" It's all harmless family fun, offering equal amounts of tongue-in-cheek whimsy and some scary highlights that kids, then and now, will find instantly unforgettable.

Yes, it all looks quaint and innocent by present-day standards, and it's painfully obvious that series creator Irwin Allen didn't know what to do with the Robinson clan, a wooden variant of Ozzie & Harriett in V-necked velour, with June Lockhart playing happy homemaker while patriarch Guy Williams spent most of his time repairing damaged equipment. It's just as well, since season 2 is dominated by the scene-stealing duo of Dr. Smith (played by Jonathan Harris in the role he was born to play) and the sarcastic Robot B-9, who plays a scolding R2D2 to Harris's duplicitous, flamboyantly feckless C3PO, the latter delivering alliterative insults (like "you ingot of ingratitude!" and "you nickel-plated nincompoop!") in virtually every episode. Guest stars like Albert Salmi, Al "Grandpa Munster" Lewis, and John Carradine are in on the game, adding weekly flavor to a series that shares much in common with such later kid-stuff as H.R. Pufnstuf and Land of the Lost. Some may find it hopelessly ridiculous in retrospect, but Lost in Space still offers fun aplenty for those who enjoy its anything-goes approach to low-budget fantasy for the young and young-at-heart. Unfortunately for devoted fans, vintage 1966 radio interviews with Lockhart, Williams, and Harris are the only extras in this well-mastered four-disc set. --Jeff Shannon

Lost in Space - Season 3, Vol. 1

Irwin Allen's LOST IN SPACE is classic sci-fi adventure at its best. Take the journey to this inspiring, intergalactic space odyssey with America's favorite space family in the 60's TV classic - LOST IN SPACE!

Continue your collection with the first volume of LOST IN SPACE SEASON 3 on DVD today! Watch for LOST IN SPACE SEASON 3 VOLUME 2 coming in June 2005.

The Fall Guy: The Complete Season 1

Lee Majors stars as the Fall Guy Colt Seavers a stunt man moonlighting as a bounty hunter who uses Hollywood stunt tactics to capture criminals.System Requirements:Running Time: 1068 Mins.Format: DVD MOVIE Genre: TELEVISION/SERIES & SEQUELS Rating: NR UPC: 024543426431 Manufacturer No: 2242644

The hero of The Fall Guy, Colt Seavers--played by Lee Majors, the former Six Million Dollar Man--is a Hollywood stunt man, which lets the show do all kinds of spectacular car crashes with no justification whatsoever, and he's a bounty hunter, which lets him get into all kinds of fist fights and ridiculous plots with no justification whatsoever. It's the perfect 1980s TV show, and it's no surprise it was created by Glen Larson, the mastermind behind such hits as Knight Rider, Battlestar Galactica, and Magnum, P.I. Assisted by his handsome but not-too-bright cousin Howie Munson (Douglas Barr) and sexy stuntwoman Jody Banks (blonde bombshell Heather Thomas), Colt grapples with a corrupt sheriff, a mob hit man, a government secret agent, a neo-Nazi biker gang (which, naturally, Colt had to infiltrate through cunning disguise), women wrestlers, and more, more, more. Preposterous? Absolutely! It's all an excuse to set things on fire and parade scantily clad young women around (Thomas had a popular bikini scene that led to a top-selling poster), while the Hollywood setting allowed for cameo appearances by stars ranging from James Coburn (In Like Flint) to Lou Ferrigno (appearing as himself playing the Incredible Hulk--it's downright postmodern) to Farrah Fawcett (Charlie's Angels), Majors' just-divorced ex-wife.

But what kept The Fall Guy running for five seasons wasn't silly plots or leaping cars. Lee Majors is one of those relaxed, genial actors who were made for television. Manly but gentle, handsome but down-to-earth, Majors appealed to men and women equally, could toss off a snappy one-liner without effort, and gave the impression that, no matter what happened, it would come out all right in the end. He even sang his own theme song. The Fall Guy: The Complete First Season is pure comfort television. (Season 1 is the only season with Jo Ann Pflug as Colt's boss, "Big Jack"; her adult sexiness and worldly wit were much-missed on later seasons.) The only extras are a couple of brief but entertaining featurettes, featuring interviews with Majors, Thomas, and Larson. --Bret Fetzer

Lost in Space - Season 2, Vol. 1

While Lost in Space may never enter the pantheon of great television programming, the 1960s sci-fi show certainly has its charms, all of them in evidence on this first volume of episodes from the second season. Produced by Irwin Allen, who would later be responsible for blockbuster disaster films like The Towering Inferno and The Poseidon Adventure, these 16 episodes from 1966-67 (spread out over four DVDs) find the show undergoing some changes, both technically (from black & white into color) and in terms of tone (more campy and tongue-in-cheek, especially as the season goes on). The latter is due in large part to the performance of Jonathan Harris as Dr. Zachary Smith, who puts the "arch" in archvillain (it was his meddling that got them all lost in the first place). Harris's portrayal of Smith as cowardly, duplicitous, pompous, and not a little fey often goes right over the top, but the other characters (including Guy Williams as Prof. John Robinson, June Lockhart as his wife Maureen, and young Bill Mumy as Will) are so bland and generic that Harris, the family robot, and guest stars like Strother Martin and Wally Cox offer the only available relief.

The Lost in Space storylines are predictable (almost always involving some alien-related jeopardy prompted by Smith's greed and foolishness) and the special effects and production values won't excite anyone used to the wonders of the digital age. Still, this is television, where budgets are smaller and schedules much tighter, so lowered expectations are in order anyway. Some users may feel shortchanged by the absence of extra features, or by the fact that the set doesn't include the entire season (the second part is available separately). But the transfers are good and the DVD menus easily navigable. But on the whole Lost in Space devotees--and there are many of them--should be well satisfied. --Sam Graham

Knight Rider - Season Three

Gear up for the unbelievable adventure as Knight Rider: The Complete Third Season arrives on DVD for the first time. Join mysterious lone crusader Michael Knight (David Hasselhoff) and his tricked-out sidekick K.I.T.T., as they rev into action in all 21 adrenaline-pumping Third Season episodes. From high-tech street racers to K.I.T.T.'s evil twin, K.A.R.R., there's no one these two won't battle in order to bring justice to the treacherous streets. Including an exciting bonus preview episode from Knight Rider: The Complete Fourth Season, it's pedal-to-the-metal thrills for fans everywhere!