TV-movies
Conrad and Martin reunited for two television movies, The Wild Wild West Revisited (aired May 9, 1979) and More Wild Wild West (aired October 7–8, 1980). Revisited introduced Paul Williams as Miguelito Loveless Jr., the son of the agents' arch-nemesis. Loveless planned to substitute clones for the crowned heads of Europe and the President of the United States. (This plot was borrowed from the second season episode "The Night of the Brain".)
Ross Martin said, "We worked on a lot of the same sets at the studio, including the interiors of the old train. We used the same guns and gimmicks and wardrobes – with the waistlines let out a little bit. The script, unlike the old shows, is played strictly for comedy. It calls for us to be ten years older than when we were last seen. There are a lot more laughs than adventure."
More was initially conceived as a rematch between the agents and Miguelito Jr., but Williams was unavailable for the film; his character was changed to Albert Paradine II and played by Jonathan Winters – this explains why the story begins with various clones of Paradine being murdered (the first film ends with Loveless having cloned himself and placed the doubles around the world). Paradine planned world conquest using a formula for invisibility (recalling the first season episode "The Night of the Burning Diamond"). Both TV films were campier than the TV series, although Conrad and Martin played their roles straight. Both films were directed by veteran comedy Western director Burt Kennedy and written by William Bowers (in the latter case with Tony Kayden, from a story by Bowers); neither Kennedy nor Bowers worked on the original series.
Conrad was later quoted in Cinefantastique about these films: "We all got along fine with each other when we did these, but I wasn't happy with them only because CBS imposed a lot of restrictions on us. They never came up to the level of what we had done before."
Read more about this topic: The Wild Wild West