Official Synopsis:
The Untouchables –

The classic crime series The Untouchables returns for Season 2 Volume 1, featuring 16 episodes, digitally remastered, on DVD for the first time ever! A realistic look at the violence that shook America's past, this gritty series pays tribute to stoic gangbuster Eliot Ness (Robert Stack) and his incorruptible treasury agents (Paul Picerni, Nicholas Georgiade, Abel Fernandez, Steve London) the Chicago newspapers dubbed "The Untouchables". Narrator Walter Winchell sets a realistic tone with his commentary, as each episode featuring stark sets, dark exteriors, and top-notch guest stars! Included in this set are the classic episode where Ness battles the legendary mobster "Legs" Diamond, and the two-part "The Big Train" where Chicago's finest work to prevent a breakout attempt on Al Capone during his transfer to Alcatraz prison! For a show that really packs a punch, nothing can touch The Untouchables!

The Wild Wild West -

U.S Secret Service agents James West and Artemus Gordon are back in action in the fourth and final season of The Wild Wild West. Join Robert Conrad and Ross Martin as they do their heroic best to keep late 19th century America safe from the evil geniuses, criminal masterminds and devious despots who plan to imperil, rob or conquer the President, the nation and the world. Featuring special guest appearances by an incredible array of '60s cult favorites plus West's final encounter with the legendary Dr. Miguelito Loveless (Michael Dunn) himself, The Wild Wild West: The Fourth Season contains 24 outrageously entertaining episodes in a 6-disc collection, jam-packed with excitement, danger and thrills!

  
Our Take:
I have different histories with The Untouchables and The Wild Wild West, but both are shows I enjoy immensely. With The Untouchables, I wasn’t really exposed to the intrepid group of crimefighters until the late 80’s, after I saw Brian DePalma’s movie of the same name. Before that, I had only vaguely heard of Eliot Ness and didn’t have any real knowledge of him or his history, and I never really saw much of this show until the DVD’s started coming out. While the Kevin Costner film is highly fictionalized, it really doesn’t hold a candle to the TV show, which really takes some liberties with reality. I guess when you have to make a weekly TV series based on real life events that only spanned a couple of years, you have to get creative. The Untouchables TV show saw the group go up against pretty much every mobster and gangster known to man, almost all of which the group never met up with in real life. Still, the show is a solid dose of good old-fashioned, hard-nosed police work, and it holds up pretty well, even half a century later.

The Wild Wild West, on the other hand, I grew up watching and being a huge fan of. It was in syndication by the time I was old enough to watch it, and I remember seeing the exploits of James West and Artemus Gordon several nights a week. The show had everything a young kid could get into: a dashing hero, a master of disguise, outlandish villains, bizarre death traps, and monstrous robots. It easily fit in with the aesthetic of other 60’s shows that I grew up watching repeats of such as Batman and Star Trek. Robert Conrad has always been an actor I’ve enjoyed, and it all started with The Wild Wild West.

The Untouchables: Season 2, Volume 1 is a four-disc set that comes with 16 episodes and no extra features. As with the previous season, Season Two is also being split up into two volumes, something I’m not a big fan of. There are no extra features included, sadly. The Wild Wild West: The Fourth Season marks the final year of the show, and collects 24 episodes onto six discs. There are also no extra features on this set, which is made all the more disappointing by the memory of how terrific the extras were on the first season’s set.

The Untouchables and The Wild Wild West are extremely different shows, but I’m pretty sure they’ll appeal to a large cross section of viewers. Fans will be disappointed in the lack of extra features, but happy to have new volumes to add to their collections.

Overall Picture:
Shows: B+
DVDs: C

- Mike Spring

Editor