As another Lame Cherry exclusive in matter anti matter.
I'm fascinated as I have recorded my observations in how Have Gun Will Travel, Hogan's Heroes and Star Trek were interestingly using the same actors, repeatedly cast in all three episodes.
We happened to be watching Wild Wild West starring Robert Conrad and Ross Martin. I always enjoyed this series as a child as it was fun, fast paced and lots of action. Nothing like what followed classical television in it's innovation.
I mentioned to TL that some of the music reminded me of Star Trek. I also mentioned that Star Trek used the same sound effects. In the puppet episode, the bad guy uses a sound that appears later in the Star Trek pilot, The Cage.
Tonight we were watching an episode that Robert Conrad does a pre teaser on every episode and he said the same story line was used in Star Trek. It is about a guy who steals diamonds and uses them to make an elixir which speeds him up so he can not be seen. The Star Trek episode is In the Wink of an Eye.
For me Kathie Browne, who appears in Have Gun, West and Star Trek. She was a liberal who married Darren McGavin. She was a powerful presence on screen, and I never could figure out why she never broke out to the Audrey Hepburn status as her big blue eyes, beauty and ability and range of acting should have made her a movie star.
In Wild Wild West she plays the daughter of Burgess Meredith, in another fantastic performance.
Oddly now that I ponder this, Gene Roddenberry always said he plagiarized Gunsmoke for Star Trek. Star Trek though was close to Wild West West in content and scope though. It was shot the same way, including early camera angles. The same casting appeared on four timeless programs. Even Dr. Loveless would appear on Star Trek in the episode of an alien race who could move things with their minds.
What I was really pondering though was, I never thought anyone could have matched William Shatner as Captain Kirk, but in studying Robert Conrad, he could have played James T. Kirk with the same flare and perfection.
The fact is that Robert Conrad was the James Dean image and Conrad excelled past anything Dean was billed as. Conrad was truly a fantastic lead.
I really would have loved to have watched him work as Captain James T. Kirk.
A religious fanatic (played by Ted Knight) warns passersby at the San Francisco harbor that the city will be destroyed because of its citizens' wild ways. When a kraken (a sea monster) attacks at a pier, West tears off a piece of its tail, which is man-made.
Nuff Said
agtG
