title: Russell's viper

text: The body is stout, the cross-section of which is rounded to circular. The dorsal scales are strongly keeled; only the lowest row is smooth. Mid-body, the dorsal scales number 27–33. The ventral scales number 153–180. The anal plate is not divided. The tail is short—about 14% of the total length—with the paired subcaudals numbering 41–68.


title: Russell's viper

text: Dorsally, the color pattern consists of a deep yellow, tan, or brown ground color, with three series of dark brown spots that run the length of the body. Each of these spots has a black ring around it, the outer border of which is intensified with a rim of white or yellow. The dorsal spots, which usually number 23–30, may grow together, while the side spots may break apart. The head has a pair of distinct dark patches, one on each temple, together with a pinkish, salmon, or brownish V or X marking that forms an apex towards the snout. Behind the eye is a dark streak, outlined in white, pink, or buff. The venter is white, whitish, yellowish, or pinkish, often with an irregular scattering of dark spots.


title: Russell's viper

text: Russell's viper grows to a maximum body and tail length of and averages about in mainland Asia. In islands, it is slightly shorter on average. It is more slender than most vipers. The following dimensions for a "fair-sized adult specimen" were reported in 1937:


title: Russell's viper

text: Russell's viper is found in India, Sri Lanka, Bangladesh, Nepal, and Pakistan. Populations from South-East Asia previously assigned to this species are now considered to be part of a different species, "Daboia siamensis". The type locality is listed as "India". More specifically, this would be the Coromandel Coast, by inference of Russell (1796).


title: Russell's viper

text: Within its range, it can be common in some areas, but scarce in others. In India, is abundant in Punjab, very common along the West Coast and its hills, in southern India especially in the state of Karnataka and north to Bengal. It is uncommon to rare in the Ganges valley, northern Bengal, and Assam.


title: Russell's viper

text: Russell's viper is not restricted to any particular habitat, but does tend to avoid dense forests. The snake is mostly found in open, grassy or bushy areas, but may also be found in second growth forests (scrub jungles), on forested plantations and farmland. It is most common in plains, coastal lowlands, and hills of suitable habitat. Generally, it is not found at altitude, but has been reported as far up as 2300–3000 m (7,500–9,800 ft). Humid environments, such as marshes, swamps, and rain forests, are avoided.


title: Russell's viper

text: This species is often found in highly urbanized areas and settlements in the countryside, the attraction being the rodents commensal with man.


title: Russell's viper

text: As a result, those working outside in these areas are most at risk of being bitten. "D. russelii" does not associate as closely with human habitation as "Naja" and "Bungarus" species (cobras and kraits).


title: Russell's viper

text: Russell's viper is terrestrial and active primarily as a nocturnal forager. However, during cool weather, it alters its behavior and becomes more active during the day.


title: Russell's viper

text: Adults are reported to be slow and sluggish unless pushed beyond a certain limit, after which they can become very aggressive. Juveniles, though, are generally more nervous.


title: Russell's viper

text: When threatened, they form a series of S-loops, raise the first third of the body, and produce a hiss that is supposedly louder than that of any other snake. When striking from this position, they can exert so much force that even a large individual can lift most of its body off the ground in the process. These snakes are strong and may react violently to being picked up. The bite may be a snap, or they may hang on for many seconds.


title: Russell's viper

text: Although this genus does not have the heat-sensitive pit organs common to the Crotalinae, it is one of a number of viperines that are apparently able to react to thermal cues, further supporting the notion that they, too, possess a heat-sensitive organ. The identity of this sensor is not certain, but the nerve endings in the supranasal sac of these snakes resemble those found in other heat-sensitive organs.


title: Russell's viper

text: Russell's viper is ovoviviparous. Mating generally occurs early in the year, although pregnant females may be found at any time. The gestation period is more than six months. Young are produced from May to November, but mostly in June and July. It is a prolific breeder. Litters of 20–40 are common, although fewer offspring may occur, as few as one. The reported maximum is 75 in a single litter. At birth, juveniles are in total length. The minimum total length for a gravid female is about . It seems that sexual maturity is achieved in 2–3 years. In one case, it took a specimen nearly 4.5 hours to give birth to 11 young.


title: Russell's viper

text: Russell's viper feeds primarily on rodents, although especially it will also eat small reptiles, land crabs, scorpions, and other arthropods. Juveniles are crepuscular, feeding on lizards and foraging actively. As they grow and become adults, they begin to specialize in rodents. Indeed, the presence of rodents and lizards is the main reason they are attracted to human habitation.


title: Russell's viper

text: Some herpetologists believe, because "D. russelii" is so successful as a species and has such a fearful reputation within its natural environment, another snake has come to mimic its appearance. Superficially, the rough-scaled sand boa, "Eryx conicus", has a color pattern that often looks like that of "D. russelii", though it is completely harmless.


title: Russell's viper

text: Venom of this species is delivered by means of solenoglyphous dentition. The quantity of venom produced by individual specimens of "D. russelii" is considerable. Venom yields for adult specimens have been reported as 130–250 mg, 150–250 mg, and 21–268 mg. For 13 juveniles with an average total length of , the venom yield ranged from 8 to 79 mg (mean 45 mg).


title: Russell's viper

text: The in mice, which is used as a possible indicator of snake venom toxicity, is: 0.133 mg/kg intravenous, 0.40 mg/kg intraperitoneal, about 0.75 mg/kg subcutaneous. For most humans, a lethal dose is about 40–70 mg, well within the amount that can be delivered in one bite. In general, the toxicity depends on a combination of five different venom fractions, each of which is less toxic when tested separately. Venom toxicity and bite symptoms in humans vary within different populations and over time. In another study, Meier and Theakston reported that the lethality of venom of Russell viper varies with change in route of injection, as their results predicts the of 0.4 mg/kg through intraperitoneal (I.P) route, 0.75 mg/kg/subcutaneous (S.C) route and 0.3 mg/kg through intravenous (I.V) route.


title: Russell's viper

text: Envenomation symptoms begin with pain at the site of the bite, immediately followed by swelling of the affected extremity. Bleeding is a common symptom, especially from the gums and in the urine, and sputum may show signs of blood within 20 minutes after the bite. The blood pressure drops, and the heart rate falls. Blistering occurs at the site of the bite, developing along the affected limb in severe cases. Necrosis is usually superficial and limited to the muscles near the bite, but may be severe in extreme cases. Vomiting and facial swelling occur in about one-third of all cases. Kidney failure (renal failure) also occurs in approximately 25–30 percent of untreated bites. Severe disseminated intravascular coagulation also can occur in severe envenomations. Early medical treatment and early access to antivenom can prevent and drastically reduce the chance of developing the severe/potentially lethal complications.


title: Russell's viper

text: Severe pain may last for 2–4 weeks. It may persist locally, depending on the level of tissue damage. Often, local swelling peaks within 48–72 hours, involving both the affected limb and the trunk. If swelling up to the trunk occurs within 1–2 hours, envenomation is likely to have been massive. Discoloration may occur throughout the swollen area as red blood cells and plasma leak into muscle tissue. Death from septicaemia or kidney, respiratory, or cardiac failure may ensue 1 to 14 days after the bite, or sometimes later.


title: Russell's viper

text: A study in "The Lancet" showed that out of a sample of people who survived bites by "D. russelii", 29% suffered severe damage to their pituitary glands, which later caused hypopituitarism. Other scientific studies support the hypothesis that "D. russelii" bites can cause hypopituitarism.


title: Russell's viper

text: In India, the Haffkine Institute prepares a polyvalent antivenin that is used to treat bites from this species. In late 2016 a new antivenom had been developed by the Costa Rican Clodomiro Picado Institute, and clinical trials were started in Sri Lanka.


title: Russell's viper

text: Because this venom is so effective at inducing thrombosis, it has been incorporated into an "in vitro" diagnostic test for blood clotting that is widely used in hospital laboratories. This test is often referred to as dilute Russell's viper venom time (dRVVT). The coagulant in the venom directly activates factor X, which turns prothrombin into thrombin in the presence of factor V and phospholipid. The venom is diluted to give a clotting time of 23 to 27 seconds and the phospholipid is reduced to make the test extremely sensitive to phospholipid. The dRVVT test is more sensitive than the aPTT test for the detection of lupus anticoagulant (an autoimmune disorder), because it is not influenced by deficiencies in clotting factors VIII, IX or XI.


title: The Wild Wild West

text: The Wild Wild West is an American Western, espionage, and science fiction television series that ran on the CBS television network for four seasons from September 17, 1965, to April 11, 1969. Two satirical comedy television film sequels were made with the original cast in 1979 and 1980 and the series was adapted for a theatrical film in 1999.


title: The Wild Wild West

text: Developed at a time when the television Western was losing ground to the spy genre, this show was conceived by its creator, Michael Garrison, as "James Bond on horseback." Set during the administration of President Ulysses Grant (1869–1877), the series followed Secret Service agents James West (Robert Conrad) and Artemus Gordon (Ross Martin) as they solved crimes, protected the President, and foiled the plans of megalomaniacal villains to take over part or all of the United States. The show featured a number of fantasy elements, such as the technologically advanced devices used by the agents and their adversaries. The combination of the Victorian era time-frame and the use of Vernean technology has led several steampunk web sites to cite the show as a pioneering influence on the genre. This aspect was accentuated even more in the 1999 film adaptation.


title: The Wild Wild West

text: Despite high ratings, the series was cancelled near the end of its fourth season as a concession to Congress over television violence.


title: The Wild Wild West

text: "The Wild Wild West" told the story of two Secret Service agents: the fearless and handsome James West (played by Robert Conrad), and Artemus Gordon (played by Ross Martin), a brilliant gadgeteer and master of disguise. Their mission was to protect President Ulysses S. Grant and the United States from all manner of dangerous threats. The agents traveled in luxury aboard their own train, the "Wanderer", equipped with everything from a stable car to a laboratory. James West had served as an intelligence and cavalry officer in the American Civil War (1861–1865) on Grant's staff; his "cover", at least in the pilot episode, is that of "a dandy, a high-roller from the East". Thereafter, however, there is no pretense, and his reputation as the foremost Secret Service agent often precedes him. According to the later TV movies, West retires from the Service by 1880 and lives on a ranch in Mexico. When he retires, Gordon, who was a captain in the Civil War, returns to show business as the head of a traveling Shakespeare players troupe.


title: The Wild Wild West

text: The show incorporated classic Western elements with an espionage thriller, science fiction/alternate history ideas (in a similar vein to what would later be called steampunk), in one case horror ("The Night of the Man Eating House") and humor. Episodes were also inspired by Edgar Allan Poe, H. G. Wells and Jules Verne. In the tradition of James Bond, there were always beautiful women, clever gadgets and delusional arch-enemies with half-insane plots to take over the country or the world.


title: The Wild Wild West

text: The title of each episode begins with "The Night" (except for the first-season episode "Night of the Casual Killer", which omitted the definite article "The"). This followed other idiosyncratic naming conventions established by shows such as "Rawhide", where each episode title began with "Incident at" or "Incident of," and "The Man from U.N.C.L.E.", where episodes were titled "The (Blank) Affair."


title: The Wild Wild West

text: Before "The Wild Wild West", Robert Conrad played private detective Tom Lopaka in ABC's "Hawaiian Eye" for four seasons (1959–63). In November 1964, he was making the film "Young Dillinger" (1965) with Nick Adams, Victor Buono and John Ashley (all of whom would later guest star on "The Wild Wild West") when his agent sent him to CBS to audition for the West role. Conrad claimed to be the 17th actor to test for the part. Others tested included Robert Horton, Ray Danton and James "Skip" Ward. Conrad also claimed that John Derek left the audition without testing.


title: The Wild Wild West

text: Conrad performed nearly all of his own stunts in the series. "For the first few episodes we tried stuntmen," Conrad explained, "but the setup time slowed production down, so I volunteered. Things started moving quicker when I took the jumps and the spills. We started meeting the budget." Early on, he was doubled by Louie Elias or Chuck O'Brien.


title: The Wild Wild West

text: On January 24, 1968, however, during filming of "The Night of the Fugitives" near the end of the third season, Conrad fell from a chandelier onto the stage floor and suffered a concussion. "A little gymnastics — chandelier work," he later explained. "I didn't chalk up properly and I went 15 feet to the concrete and fractured my skull. I was in intensive care for 72 hours, with a six-inch lineal fracture of the skull and a high temporal concussion." As a result, production of the series ended two weeks early. Conrad spent weeks in the hospital and had a long convalescence slowed by constant dizziness. The episode was eventually completed and aired early during the fourth season, with footage of the fall left in. Conrad later told Percy Shain of the "Boston Globe", "I have the whole scene on film. It's a constant reminder to be careful. It also bolstered my determination to make this my last year with the series. Four seasons are enough of this sort of thing." Thereafter, Conrad was doubled for the dangerous stunts, but still participated in fight scenes.


title: The Wild Wild West

text: Prior to "The Wild Wild West," Ross Martin co-starred in the CBS series "Mr. Lucky" from 1959 to 1960, portraying Mr. Lucky's sidekick, Andamo. The series was created by Blake Edwards, who also cast Martin in his films "Experiment in Terror" (1962) and "The Great Race" (1964).


title: The Wild Wild West

text: Martin once called his role as Artemus Gordon "a show-off's showcase" because it allowed him to portray over 100 different characters during the course of the series and perform dozens of different dialects. Martin sketched his ideas for his characterizations and worked with the makeup artists to execute the final look. Martin told Percy Shain of the "Boston Globe", "In the three years of the show, I have run a wider gamut than even those acknowledged masters of disguise, Paul Muni and Lon Chaney. Sometimes I feel like a one man repertory company. I think I've proven to myself and to the industry that I am the No. 1 character lead in films today." The industry acknowledged Martin's work with an Emmy nomination in 1969.


title: The Wild Wild West

text: Martin broke his leg in a fourth-season episode, "The Night of the Avaricious Actuary," when he dropped a rifle, stepped on it, and his foot rolled over it. Martin told Percy Shain of the "Boston Globe," "In the scene where I was hurt, my stand-in tried to finish it. When the shell ejected from the rifle, it caught him in the eye and burned it. We still haven't finished that scene. It will have to wait until I can move around again."


title: The Wild Wild West

text: A few weeks later, after completing "The Night of Fire and Brimstone", Martin suffered a heart attack on August 17, 1968 (this was exactly two years after the show's creator, Michael Garrison, died). Martin's character was replaced temporarily by other agents played by Charles Aidman (four episodes as Jeremy Pike), Alan Hale, Jr. (as Ned Brown) and William Schallert (two episodes as Frank Harper), and West worked solo in two other episodes. Aidman said the producers had promised to rewrite the scripts for his new character, but this simply amounted to scratching out the name "Artemus Gordon" and penciling in "Jeremy Pike" (his character's name). Pat Paulsen (one episode as Agent Bosley Cranston) is frequently thought of as a Martin substitute, but he, in fact, appeared in one of Aidman's episodes and his character would have been present even if Martin had appeared. Martin returned to work in mid-December and appeared in the final three episodes to be filmed.


title: The Wild Wild West

text: The show's most memorable recurring arch-villain was Dr. Miguelito Quixote Loveless, a brilliant but petulant and megalomaniacal dwarf portrayed by Michael Dunn. Initially he had two companions: the towering 7'2" Voltaire, played by Richard Kiel; and the beautiful Antoinette, played by Dunn's real-life singing partner, Phoebe Dorin. Voltaire disappeared without explanation after his third episode, but Kiel returned in a different role in "The Night of the Simian Terror". Antoinette vanished after her sixth episode due to demands by Dunn's jealous real-life wife.


title: The Wild Wild West

text: According to the television film "The Wild Wild West Revisited", Loveless eventually dies in 1880 from ulcers, brought on by the frustration of having his plans consistently foiled by West and Gordon (his son, played by Paul Williams in the TV film, subsequently seeks revenge on the agents).


title: The Wild Wild West

text: Although several actors appeared in different villainous roles, only one other character had a second encounter with West and Gordon: Count Manzeppi, played flamboyantly by Victor Buono. Manzeppi was a diabolical genius of "black magic" and crime, wholike Dr. Lovelesshad an escape plan at the end. Buono played a different villain in the pilot episode, and also returned in "More Wild Wild West" as "Dr. Henry Messenger", a parody of Henry Kissinger.


title: The Wild Wild West

text: Agnes Moorehead won an Emmy for her role as Emma Valentine in "The Night of the Vicious Valentine". Other villains were portrayed by Leslie Nielsen, Sam Wanamaker, Martin Landau, Burgess Meredith, Boris Karloff, Ida Lupino, Carroll O'Connor, Ricardo Montalban, Robert Duvall, Ramon Novarro, Ed Asner, Jo Van Fleet, William Windom, Delphi Lawrence, Susan Oliver, Anthony Eisley, H. M. Wynant, Harvey Korman, Yvonne Craig, Percy Rodrigues, and Robert Loggia.


title: The Wild Wild West

text: While the show's writers created their fair share of villains, they often started with the nefarious, stylized and sometimes anachronistic inventions of these madmen (or madwomen) and then wrote the episodes around these devices. Henry Sharp, the series' story consultant, would sketch the preliminaries of the designs (eccentrically numbering every sketch "fig. 37"), and give the sketch to a writer, who would build a story around it.


title: The Wild Wild West

text: In 1954, director/producer Gregory Ratoff purchased the film rights to Ian Fleming's first James Bond novel, "Casino Royale," for $600. CBS, meanwhile, bought the TV rights for $1,000, and on October 21, 1954, the network broadcast an hour-long adaptation on its "Climax!" series, with Barry Nelson playing American agent "Jimmy Bond" and Peter Lorre playing the villain, Le Chiffre. CBS also approached Fleming about developing a Bond TV series. Fleming later contributed ideas to NBC's "The Man From U.N.C.L.E."


title: The Wild Wild West

text: In 1955, Ratoff and Michael Garrison formed a production company to make a "Casino Royale" film, with Ratoff set to direct and 20th Century Fox set to distribute. Production stalled when Ratoff and Garrison could not obtain financing. In 1960, Hedda Hopper reported that Ratoff's film would star Peter Finch as Bond. But Ratoff died that December and his widow sold the film rights to producer Charles K. Feldman for $75,000. Feldman and director Howard Hawks were interested in making "Casino Royale" with Cary Grant as Bond. Eventually Feldman was offered $500,000 and a percentage of the profits to let Harry Saltzman and Cubby Broccoli make the film with Sean Connery. Feldman turned them down, and eventually produced the spoof "Casino Royale" in 1967. By then, Garrison and CBS had brought James Bond to television in a unique way.


title: The Wild Wild West

text: The series' pilot episode, "The Night of the Inferno", was filmed in December 1964. It was produced by Garrison and, according to Robert Conrad, cost $685,000. The episode was scripted by Gilbert Ralston, who had written for numerous episodic TV series in the 1950s and 1960s. (Western novelist and screenwriter Clair Huffaker also worked on the concept.) In a later deposition, Ralston explained that he was approached by Michael Garrison, who "said he had an idea for a series, good commercial idea, and wanted to know if I could glue the idea of a western hero and a James Bond type together in the same show." Ralston said he then created the Civil War characters, the format, the story outline and nine drafts of the pilot script that was the basis for the television series. It was his idea, for example, to have a secret agent named Jim West who would perform secret missions for President Ulysses S. Grant. Ralston later sued Warner Bros. over the 1999 theatrical film "Wild Wild West", which was based on the series.


title: The Wild Wild West

text: As indicated by Robert Conrad on his DVD commentary, the show went through several producers in its first season. This was apparently due to conflicts between the network and Garrison, who had no experience producing for television and had trouble staying on budget. At first, Ben Brady was named producer, but he was shifted to "Rawhide", which had its own crisis when star Eric Fleming quit at the end of the 1964–65 season. "Rawhide" lasted another 13 episodes before it was cancelled by CBS.


title: The Wild Wild West

text: The network then hired Collier Young. In an interview, Young said he saw the series as "The Rogues" set in 1870 ("The Rogues", which he had produced, was about con men who swindled swindlers, much like the 1970s series "Switch"). Young also claimed to have added the wry second "Wild" to the series title, which had been simply "The Wild West" in its early stages of production. Young's episodes (2–4) featured a butler named Tennyson who traveled with West and Gordon, but since the episodes were not broadcast in production order, the character popped up at different times during the first season. Conrad was not sorry to see Young go: "I don't mind. All that guy did creatively was put the second 'wild' in the title. CBS did the right thing."


title: The Wild Wild West

text: Young's replacement, Fred Freiberger, returned the series to its original concept. It was on his watch that writer John Kneubuhl, inspired by a magazine article about Michael Dunn, created the arch-villain Dr. Miguelito Quixote Loveless. Phoebe Dorin, who played Loveless' assistant, Antoinette, recalled: "Michael Garrison came to see [our] nightclub act when he was in New York. Garrison said to himself, 'Michael Dunn would make the most extraordinary villain. People have never seen anything like him before, and he's a fabulous little actor and he's funny as hell.' And, Garrison felt, if Michael Dunn sang on every show, with the girl, it would be an extraordinary running villain. He came backstage and he told us who he was and he said he was going to do a television show called "The Wild Wild West" and we would be called. We thought, 'Yeah, yeah, we've heard all that before.' But he did call us and the show was a fantastic success. And that's how it started, because he saw the nightclub act." Loveless was introduced in "The Night the Wizard Shook The Earth," the show's sixth produced, but third televised episode. The character became an immediate hit and Dunn was contracted to appear in four episodes per season. Because of health problems, however, Dunn only appeared in 10 episodes instead of 16.


title: The Wild Wild West

text: After 10 episodes (5–14), Freiberger and executive producer Michael Garrison were, according to "Variety", "unceremoniously dumped," reputedly due to a behind-the-scenes power struggle. Garrison was replaced by Phillip Leacock, the executive producer of "Gunsmoke", and Freiberger was supplanted by John Mantley, an associate producer on "Gunsmoke". The exchange stunned both cast and crew. Garrison, who owned 40% of "The Wild Wild West", knew nothing about the changes and had not been consulted. He turned the matter over to his attorneys. Freiberger said, "I was fired for accomplishing what I had been hired to do. I was hired to pull the show together when it was in chaos." Conrad said, "I was totally shocked by it. Let's face it, the show is healthy. I think Fred Freiberger is totally correct in his concept of the show. It's an administrative change, for what reason I don't know."


title: The Wild Wild West

text: Mantley produced seven (15–21) episodes, then returned to his former position on "Gunsmoke" and Gene L. Coon took over as associate producer. By then, Garrison's conflict with CBS was resolved and he returned to the executive producer role. Coon left after six episodes (22–27) to write "First to Fight" (1967), a Warner Bros. film about the Marines. Garrison produced the last episode of season 1 and the initial episodes of season 2.


title: The Wild Wild West

text: Garrison's return was much to the relief of Ross Martin, who once revealed that he was so disenchanted during the first season that he tried to quit three times. He explained that Garrison "saw the show as a Bond spoof laid in 1870, and we all knew where we stood. Each new producer tried to put his stamp on the show and I had a terrible struggle. I fought them line by line in every script. They knew they couldn't change the James West role very much, but it was open season on Artemus Gordon because they had never seen anything like him before."


title: The Wild Wild West

text: On August 17, 1966, however, during production of the new season's ninth episode, "The Night of the Ready-Made Corpse", Garrison fell down a flight of stairs in his home, fractured his skull and died. CBS assigned Bruce Lansbury, brother of actress Angela Lansbury, to produce the show for the remainder of its run. In the early 1960s Lansbury had been in charge of daytime shows at CBS Television City in Hollywood, then vice president of programming in New York. When he was tapped for "The Wild Wild West", Lansbury was working with his twin brother, Edgar, producing legitimate theater on Broadway.


title: The Wild Wild West

text: The first season's episodes were filmed in black and white and they were darker in tone. Cinematographer Ted Voightlander was nominated for an Emmy Award for his work on one of these episodes, "The Night of the Howling Light." Subsequent seasons were filmed in color and the show became noticeably campier.


title: The Wild Wild West

text: "The Wild Wild West" was filmed at CBS Studio Center on Radford Avenue in Studio City in the San Fernando Valley. The 70-acre lot was formerly the home of Republic Studios, which specialized in low-budget films, including Westerns starring Roy Rogers and Gene Autry and Saturday morning serials (which "The Wild Wild West" appropriately echoed). CBS had a wall-to-wall lease on the lot starting in May 1963 and produced "Gunsmoke" and "Rawhide" there, as well as "Gilligan's Island". The network bought the lot from Republic in February 1967 for $9.5 million. Beginning in 1971, MTM Enterprises (headed by actress Mary Tyler Moore and her then-husband Grant Tinker) became the Studio Center's primary tenant. In the mid-1980s the Western streets and sets were replaced with new sound stages and urban facades, including the New York streets seen in "Seinfeld". In 1995, the lagoon set that was originally constructed for "Gilligan's Island" was paved over to create a parking lot.


title: The Wild Wild West

text: Among iconic locations used for filming were Bronson Canyon ("Night of the Returning Dead" S02 E05) and Vasquez Rocks ("Night of the Cadre" S02 E26).


title: The Wild Wild West

text: The TV movies used Old Tucson Studios and Apacheland Studios in Tucson, Arizona and Gold Canyon, Arizona respectively.


title: The Wild Wild West

text: For the pilot episode, "The Night of the Inferno", the producers used Sierra Railroad No. 3, a 4-6-0 locomotive that was, fittingly, an anachronism: Sierra No. 3 was built in 1891, 15 to 20 years after the series was set. Footage of this train, with a 5 replacing the 3 on its number plate, was shot in Jamestown, California. Best known for its role as the Hooterville Cannonball in the CBS series "Petticoat Junction", Sierra No. 3 probably appeared in more films and TV shows than any other locomotive in history. It was built by the Rogers Locomotive and Machine Works in Paterson, New Jersey.


title: The Wild Wild West

text: When "The Wild Wild West" went into series production, however, an entirely different train was employed. The locomotive, a 4-4-0 named the Inyo, was built in 1875 by the Baldwin Locomotive Works in Philadelphia. Originally a wood-burner, the Inyo was converted to oil in 1910. The Inyo, as well as the express car and the passenger car, originally served the Virginia and Truckee Railroad in Nevada. They were among the V&T cars sold to Paramount Pictures in 1937–38. The Inyo appears in numerous films including "High, Wide, and Handsome" (1938), "Union Pacific" (1939), the Marx Brothers' "Go West" (1940), "Meet Me in St. Louis" (1944), "Red River" (1948), Disney's "The Great Locomotive Chase" (1956) and "McLintock!" (1963). For "The Wild Wild West", Inyo's original number plate was temporarily changed from No. 22 to No. 8 so that footage of the train could be flopped horizontally without the number appearing reversed. Footage of the Inyo in motion and idling was shot around Menifee, California, and reused in virtually every episode. Stock footage of Sierra No. 3 occasionally resurfaced as well.


title: The Wild Wild West

text: These trains were used only for exterior shots. The luxurious interior of the passenger car was constructed on Stage 6 at CBS Studio Center. Designed by art director Albert Heschong, the set reportedly cost $35,000 in 1965 (over $290,000 in 2021 dollars). The interior was redesigned with lighter wood when the show switched to color for the 1966–67 season.


title: The Wild Wild West

text: The train interior was also used in at least one episode of "Gunsmoke" ("Death Train," aired January 27, 1967) and in at least two episodes of "The Big Valley" ("Last Train to the Fair," aired April 27, 1966, and "Days of Wrath," aired January 8, 1968). All three series were filmed at CBS Studio Center and shared other exterior and interior sets. Additionally, the train interior was used for an episode of "Get Smart" ("The King Lives?", aired January 6, 1968) and the short-lived "Barbary Coast" ("Funny Money," aired September 8, 1975).


title: The Wild Wild West

text: After her run on "The Wild Wild West", the Inyo participated in the Golden Spike Centennial at Promontory, Utah, in 1969. The following year it appeared as a replica of the Central Pacific's "Jupiter" locomotive at the Golden Spike National Historical Site. The State of Nevada purchased the Inyo in 1974; it was restored to 1895 vintage, including a wider smoke stack and a new pilot (cow catcher) without a drop coupler. The Inyo is still operational and displayed at the Nevada State Railroad Museum in Carson City. The express car (No. 21) and passenger car (No. 4) are also at the museum.


title: The Wild Wild West

text: Another veteran V&T locomotive, the Reno (built in 1872 by Baldwin), was used in the two "Wild Wild West" TV movies. The Reno, which resembles the Inyo, is located at Old Tucson Studios.


title: The Wild Wild West

text: The 1999 "Wild Wild West" film adaptation used the Baltimore & Ohio 4–4–0 No. 25, one of the oldest operating steam locomotives in the U.S. Built in 1856 at the Mason Machine Works in Taunton, Massachusetts, it was later renamed The William Mason in honor of its manufacturer. For its role as "The Wanderer" in the film, the engine was sent to the steam shops at the Strasburg Rail Road for restoration and repainting. The locomotive is brought out for the B&O Train Museum in Baltimore's "Steam Days".


title: The Wild Wild West

text: "The Wild Wild West" featured numerous, often anachronistic, gadgets. Some were recurring devices, such as West's sleeve gun or a breakaway Derringer hidden in his left and right boot heels. Others appeared in only a single episode.


title: The Wild Wild West

text: The main title theme was written by Richard Markowitz, who previously composed the theme for the TV series "The Rebel". He was brought in after the producers rejected two attempts by film composer Dimitri Tiomkin.


title: The Wild Wild West

text: In an interview by Susan Kesler (for her book "The Wild Wild West: The Series") included in the first season DVD boxed set, Markowitz recalled that the original Tiomkin theme "was very, kind of, traditional, it just seemed wrong." Markowitz explained his own approach: "By combining jazz with Americana, I think that's what nailed it. That took it away from the serious kind of thing that Tiomkin was trying to do...What I did essentially was write two themes: the rhythmic, contemporary theme, Fender bass and brushes, that vamp, for the cartoon effects and for West's getting himself out of trouble, and the heraldic western outdoor theme over that, so that the two worked together."


title: The Wild Wild West

text: Session musicians who played on the theme were Tommy Morgan (harmonica); Bud Shank, Ronnie Lang, Plas Johnson and Gene Cipriano (woodwinds); Vince DeRosa and Henry Sigismonti (French horns); Uan Rasey, Ollie Mitchell and Tony Terran (trumpets); Dick Nash, Lloyd Ulyate, Chauncey Welsch and Kenny Shroyer (trombones); Tommy Tedesco and Bill Pitman (guitars); Carol Kaye (Fender bass); Joe Porcaro (brushes) and Gene Estes, Larry Bunker and Emil Richards (timpani, percussion).


title: The Wild Wild West

text: Markowitz, however, was never credited for his theme in any episode; it is believed that this was due to legal difficulties between CBS and Tiomkin over the rejection of the latter's work. Markowitz did receive "music composed and conducted by" credits for episodes he had scored (such as "The Night of the Bars of Hell" and "The Night of the Raven") or where he supplied the majority of tracked-in cues (such as "The Night of the Grand Emir" and "The Night of the Gypsy Peril"). He finally received "theme by" credit on both of the TV movies, which were scored by Jeff Alexander rather than Markowitz (few personnel from the series were involved with the TV movies).


title: The Wild Wild West

text: The animated title sequence was another unique element of the series. Created by Michael Garrison Productions and DePatie-Freleng Enterprises, it was directed by Isadore "Friz" Freleng and animated by Ken Mundie, who designed the titles for the film "The Great Race" and the TV series "Secret Agent," "I Spy", "Rawhide" and "Death Valley Days".


title: The Wild Wild West

text: The screen was divided into four corner panels abutting a narrow central panel that contained a cartoon "hero". The hero looked more like a traditional cowboy than either West or Gordon, and from each corner panel encountered cliché western characters and situations that never appeared in the show. In the three seasons shot in color, the overall backdrop was an abstracted wash of the flag of the United States, with the upper left panel colored blue and the others containing horizontal red stripes.


title: The Wild Wild West

text: Each episode had four acts. At the end of each act, the scene, usually a cliffhanger moment, would freeze, and a sketch or photograph of the scene replaced the cartoon art in one of the corner panels. The style of freeze-frame art changed over the course of the series. In all first-season episodes other than the pilot, the panels were live-action stills made to evoke 19th-century engravings. In season 2 (the first in color) the scenes dissolved to tinted stills; from "The Night of the Flying Pie Plate" on, however, the panels were home to Warhol-like serigraphs of the freeze-frames. The end credits were displayed over each episode's unique mosaic of scenes. In the final season, however, a generic design was used under the end credits. Curiously, in this design, the bank robber is unconscious, the cardsharp has no card and the lady is on the ground, but the six-shooter in the upper left-hand panel has returned. The freeze-frame graphics were shot at a facility called Format Animation. The pilot is the only episode in which the center panel of the hero is replaced by a sketch of the final scene of an act; he is replaced by the villainous General Cassinello (Nehemiah Persoff) at the end of the third act.


title: The Wild Wild West

text: During the first season, the series title "The Wild Wild West" was set in the font Barnum, which resembles the newer font P. T. Barnum. In subsequent seasons, the title appeared in a hand-drawn version of the font Dolphin (which resembles newer fonts called Zebrawood, Circus and Rodeo Clown). Robert Conrad's name was also set in this font. Ross Martin's name was set in the font Bracelet (which resembles newer fonts named Tuscan Ornate and Romantiques). All episode titles, writer and director credits, guest cast and crew credits were set in Barnum. During commercial breaks, the title "The Wild Wild West" also appeared in Barnum.


title: The Wild Wild West

text: The series is generally set during the presidency of Ulysses S. Grant from 1869 to 1877; occasional episodes indicate a more precise date:


title: The Wild Wild West

text: Some episodes were considered violent for their time and that, rather than low ratings, ultimately was the series' downfall. In addition to gunplay, there were usually two fight sequences per episode. These were choreographed by Whitey Hughes and Conrad and performed by Conrad and a stock company of stuntmen, including Red West, Dick Cangey and Bob Herron (who doubled for Ross Martin).


title: The Wild Wild West

text: After Conrad suffered a concussion falling from a chandelier in "The Night of the Fugitives," the network insisted that he defer to a stunt double (his chair on the set was newly inscribed: "Robert Conrad, ex-stuntman, retired by CBS, Jan. 24, 1968"). "[W]hen I came back for the fourth season, I was limited to what I could do for insurance reasons," Conrad explained. "So I agreed and gradually I did all the fights but couldn't do anything five feet off the ground and of course that went out the window." He was doubled by Jimmy George. Often, George would start a stunt, such as a high fall or a dive through a window, then land behind boxes or off-camera where Conrad was hidden and waiting to seamlessly complete the action. This common stunt technique, known by filmmakers as "the Texas Switch", was often used by Ross Martin and his double, Bob Herron.


title: The Wild Wild West

text: It was hazardous work. Hughes recalled, "We had a lot of crashes. We used to say, 'Roll the cameras and call the ambulances!'" Conrad recalled in 1994, "The injuries started at the top. Robert Conrad: 6-inch fracture of the skull, high temporal concussion, partial paralysis. Ross Martin: broken leg. A broken skull for Red West. Broken leg for Jimmy George. Broken arm for Jack Skelly. And Michael Dunn: head injury and a spinal sprain. He did his own stunts. And on and on."


title: The Wild Wild West

text: As a result of the April 1968 assassination of Martin Luther King and the June 1968 assassination of Robert F. Kennedy, President Johnson created the National Commission on the Causes and Prevention of Violence. One of the questions it tackled was if violence on television, including graphic news coverage of the Vietnam War, was a contributing factor to violence in American society. The television networks, anticipating these allegations, moved to curtail violence on their entertainment programs before the September start of the 1968–69 television season. Television reporter Cynthia Lowrey, in an article published in August 1968, wrote that "The Wild Wild West" "is one of the action series being watched by network censors for scenes of excessive violence, even if the violence is all in fun."


title: The Wild Wild West

text: However, despite a CBS mandate to tone down the mayhem, "The Night of the Egyptian Queen" (aired November 15, 1968) contains perhaps the series' most ferocious barroom brawl. A later memo attached to the shooting script of "The Night of Miguelito's Revenge" (aired December 13, 1968) reads: "Note to Directors: The producer respectfully asks that no violent acts be shot which are not depicted in the script or discussed beforehand. Most particularly stay away from gratuitous ad-libs, such as slaps, pointing of firearms or other weapons at characters (especially in close quarters), kicks and the use of furniture and other objects in fight scenes." Strict limits were placed on the number of so-called "acts of violence" in the last episodes of the season (and thus the series). James West rarely wears a gun in these episodes and rather than the usual fisticuffs, fight sequences involved tossing, tackling or body blocking the villains.


title: The Wild Wild West

text: In December 1968, executives from ABC, CBS and NBC appeared before the President's Commission. The most caustic of the commissioners, Rep. Hale Boggs (D-Louisiana), decried what he called "the Saturday morning theme of children's cartoon shows" that permit "the good guy to do anything in the name of justice." He also indicted CBS for featuring sadism in its primetime programing ("The Wild Wild West" was subsequently identified as one example). The Congressman did, however, commend CBS for a 25% decline in violence programming in prime time compared to the other two networks.


title: The Wild Wild West

text: Three months later, in March 1969, Sen. John O. Pastore (D-Rhode Island) called the same network presidents before his Senate communications subcommittee for a public scolding on the same subject. At Pastore's insistence, the networks promised tighter industry self-censorship and the Surgeon General began a $1 million study on the effects of television. Congress's concern was shared by the public: in a nationwide poll, 67.5% of 1,554 Americans agreed with the hypothesis that TV and movie violence prompted violence in real life.


title: The Wild Wild West

text: Additionally, the National Association for Better Broadcasting (NABB), in a report eventually issued in November 1969, rated "The Wild Wild West" "as one of the most violent series on television."


title: The Wild Wild West

text: After being excoriated by the two committees, networks scrambled to expunge violence from their programming. "The Wild Wild West" received its cancellation notice in mid-February, even before Pastore's committee convened. Producer Bruce Lansbury always claimed that "It was a sacrificial lamb … It went off with a 32 or 33 share which in those days was virtually break-even but it always won its time period." This is confirmed by an article by Associated Press reporter Joseph Mohbat: "Shows like ABC's 'Outcasts' and NBC's 'Outsider', which depended heavily on violence, were scrapped. CBS killed 'The Wild, Wild West' despite high ratings because of criticism. It was seen by the network as a gesture of good intentions." The networks played it safe thereafter: of the 22 new television shows that debuted in the fall of 1969, not one was a Western or detective drama; 14 were comedy or variety series.


title: The Wild Wild West

text: Conrad denounced Pastore for many years, but in other interviews he admitted that it probably was time to cancel the series because he felt that he and the stuntmen were pushing their luck. He also believed the role had hurt his craft. "In so many roles I was a tough guy and I never advanced much," Conrad explained. ""Wild Wild West" was action adventure. I jumped off roofs and spent all my time with the stuntmen instead of other actors. I thought that's what the role demanded. That role had no dimension other than what it was—a caricature of a performance. It was a comic strip character."


title: The Wild Wild West

text: The series was shown in the United Kingdom on the ITV network starting May 5, 1968. It was reasonably popular, but has not been seen on British terrestrial television since the early 1980s.


title: The Wild Wild West

text: In the summer of 1970, CBS reran several episodes of "The Wild Wild West" on Mondays at 10 p.m. as a summer replacement for "The Carol Burnett Show". These episodes were "The Night of the Bleak Island" (aired July 6); "The Night of the Big Blackmail" (July 13); "The Night of the Kraken" (July 20); "The Night of the Diva" (July 27); "The Night of the Simian Terror" (August 3); "The Night of the Bubbling Death" (August 11); "The Night of the Returning Dead" (August 17); "The Night of the Falcon" (August 24); "The Night of the Underground Terror" (August 31); and "The Night of the Sedgewick Curse" (September 7). Curiously, none of these featured the most frequent and popular villain, Dr. Loveless.


title: The Wild Wild West

text: TV critic Lawrence Laurent wrote, "The return of "Wild Wild West" even for a summer re-run isn't surprising. CBS-TV was never really very eager to cancel this series, since over a four-year run that began in 1965 the "Wild Wild West" had been a solid winner in the ratings. Cancellation came mainly because CBS officials were concerned about the criticism over televised violence and to a lesser degree because Robert Conrad had grown slightly weary of the role of James West. Ever since last fall's ratings started rolling in, CBS has wished that it had kept "Wild Wild West". None of the replacements have done nearly as well and, as a result, all of the Friday programs suffered."


title: The Wild Wild West

text: That fall, CBS put the program into syndication, giving it new life on local stations across the country. This further antagonized the anti-violence lobby, since the program was now broadcast weekdays and often after school. One group, The Foundation to Improve Television (FIT), filed a suit on November 12, 1970, to prevent WTOP in Washington, D.C., from airing "The Wild Wild West" weekday afternoons at 4 pm. The suit was brought in Washington, D.C., specifically to gain government and media attention. The suit said the series "contains fictionalized violence and horror harmful to the mental health and well-being of minor children", and should not air before 9 pm. WTOP's vice president and general manager, John R. Corporan, was quoted as saying, "Since programs directed specifically at children are broadcast in the late afternoon by three other TV stations, it is our purpose to counter-program with programming not directed specifically at children." U.S. District Court Judge John J. Sirica, who later presided over the trial of the Watergate burglars and ordered U.S. President Richard Nixon to turn over White House recordings, dismissed the lawsuit in January 1971, referring FIT to take their complaint to the FCC. FIT appealed, but a year and a half later the U.S. Court of Appeals upheld the district court decision dismissing the suit on the grounds that FIT had not exhausted the administrative remedies available to them. By then, WTOP had stopped broadcasting the series altogether. At that time, the show was in reruns on about 57 other local stations across the country, including WOR in New York and WFLD in Chicago.


title: The Wild Wild West

text: In October 1973, the Los Angeles-based National Association for Better Broadcasting (NABB) reached a landmark agreement with KTTV, a local station, to purge 42 violent cartoon programs, including "Mighty Mouse", "Magilla Gorilla", "Speed Racer" and "Gigantor". Additionally, the NABB cited 81 syndicated live-action shows that "may have a detrimental influence on some children who are exposed to such programming without parental guidance or perspective" when they are telecast before 8:30 p.m. This list included "The Wild Wild West", "The Avengers", "Batman", "The Man from U.N.C.L.E.", "Roy Rogers", "" and "The Lone Ranger". In Los Angeles, such shows opened with a cautionary announcement: "Parents — we wish to advise that because of violence or other possible harmful elements, certain portions of the following program may not be suitable for young children." The NABB hoped to use the cartoon ban and warning announcement as a model for similar agreements with other local stations.


title: The Wild Wild West

text: By then, "The Wild Wild West" was running on 99 local stations. Its ongoing popularity throughout the 1970s prompted two television movie sequels, "The Wild Wild West Revisited" (1979) and "More Wild Wild West" (1980) (see above). By the spring of 1985, the original series was still carried on 74 local stations.


title: The Wild Wild West

text: In the late 1980s, the series was still seen on local stations in Boston, Hartford, Philadelphia, Pittsburgh and Los Angeles, among other cities. Significantly, WGN (Chicago), which carried the show at 10 a.m. on Sundays, became available nationally through cable television.


title: The Wild Wild West

text: In 1994 "The Wild Wild West" began running on Saturdays at 10 a.m. on Turner Network Television (TNT), which preferred the color episodes to the black and white ones. The series was dropped from WGN soon after. Hallmark Channel aired the series in 2005 as part of its slate of Saturday afternoon Westerns, but dropped it after only a few weeks.


title: The Wild Wild West

text: While the series became scarce on television, each season was released on DVD, beginning with season 1 in 2006 and concluding with the final season early in 2008 (see below). In 2014, it was announced that the series was being prepped for Blu-ray.


title: The Wild Wild West

text: In 2006 the series began running weekdays and/or weekends on MeTV, then Sundays on the Heroes and Icons digital channel. In 2016, "The Wild Wild West" returned to MeTV on Saturday afternoons. On January 1, 2018, MeTV began running the series weekday afternoons again, starting with second season (color) episodes. It also airs in the United Kingdom (as of 2015) on the Horror Channel on Sky channel 319, Virgin channel 149, Freeview channel 70 and Freesat channel 138.


title: The Wild Wild West

text: Conrad and Martin reunited for two satirical comedy television film sequels, "The Wild Wild West Revisited" (broadcast May 9, 1979) and "More Wild Wild West" (broadcast October 7, 1980)."Revisited" introduced Paul Williams as Miguelito Loveless Jr., the son of the agents' nemesis. Loveless planned to substitute clones for the crowned heads of Europe and the President of the United States. This plot is similar to the second-season episode "The Night of the Brain", which featured a different villain.


title: The Wild Wild West

text: Most of the exteriors were filmed at Old Tucson Studios where there are Western sets and a functioning steam train and tracks. Interiors were shot at CBS Studio Center. 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."


title: The Wild Wild West

text: "More Wild Wild West" was initially conceived as a rematch between the agents and Miguelito Jr., but Williams was on tour and 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 word that Loveless had cloned himself five times. Paradine planned world conquest using a formula for invisibility, recalling the first-season episode "The Night of the Burning Diamond".


title: The Wild Wild West

text: 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 had worked on the original series. "The Wild Wild West Revisited" takes the agents to a town called Wagon Gap. This was a nod to the Abbott and Costello film, "The Wistful Widow of Wagon Gap" (1947), which was based on a treatment by Bowers and D. D. Beauchamp of a short story by Beauchamp.


title: The Wild Wild West

text: Conrad once revealed that CBS intended to do yearly TV revivals of "The Wild Wild West." "Variety," in its review of the first TV movie, concurred: "A couple of more movies in this vein, sensibly spaced, could work in the future." Ross Martin's death in 1981, however, put an end to the idea. 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."


title: The Wild Wild West

text: The first season of "The Wild Wild West" was released on DVD in North America on June 6, 2006, by CBS Home Entertainment (distributed by Paramount Home Entertainment). Although it was touted as a special 40th anniversary edition, it appeared 41 years after the show's 1965 debut. Robert Conrad recorded audio introductions for all 28 first-season episodes, plus a commentary track for the pilot. The set also featured audio interviews by Susan Kesler (for her book, "The Wild Wild West: The Series"), and 1970s era footage of Conrad and Martin on a daytime talk show. The second season was released on DVD on March 20, 2007; the third season was released on November 20, 2007; and the fourth and final season was released on March 18, 2008. None of the later season sets contained bonus material.


title: The Wild Wild West

text: A 27-disc complete series set was released on November 4, 2008. It contains all 104 episodes of the series, as well as both reunion telefilms.


title: The Wild Wild West

text: On May 12, 2015, CBS Home Entertainment released a repackaged version of the complete series set, at a lower price, but did not include the bonus disc that was part of the original complete series set. On June 13, 2016, the bonus disc was released as a standalone item.


title: The Wild Wild West

text: In France, where the series (known locally as "Les Mystères de l'Ouest") was a big hit, all four seasons were released in a DVD boxed set before their U.S. release. The French set, released by TF1 Video, includes many of the extras on the U.S. season 1 set and many others. "The Night of the Inferno" is presented twiceas a regular episode in English with Conrad's audio commentary, and in a French-dubbed version. All of the episodes are presented in English with French subtitles and several episode titles differ in translation from the original English titles. For example, "The Night of the Gypsy Peril", "The Night of the Simian Terror" and "The Night of Jack O'Diamonds" respectively translate as "The Night of the White Elephant", "The Night of the Beast" and "The Night of the Thoroughbred". Both TV movies are included as extras, but only in French-dubbed versions. The set also features a 1999 interview with Robert Conrad at the Mirande Country Music Festival in France.


title: The Wild Wild West

text: Warner Bros. optioned the film rights to "The Wild Wild West" in 1992. Mel Gibson was cast as James West, with Richard Donner set to direct from a screenplay by Shane Black (Donner had directed three episodes of the original series). In 1997, as the film was still being developed with other directors, writers and stars, Gilbert Ralston, who wrote the TV pilot, sued Warner Bros. over the upcoming feature film based on the series he helped create. Ralston died in 1999 before his suit was settled; however, Warner Bros. paid his family between $600,000 and $1.5 million.


title: The Wild Wild West

text: In 1999, a theatrical feature-length film co-produced and directed by Barry Sonnenfeld was released as "Wild Wild West" (without the definite article used in the series title). Loosely based on the original series, the film re-imagined James West as a Black man (played by Will Smith), and Artemus Gordon (played by Kevin Kline) was portrayed as egotistical and bitterly competitive with West. Significant changes were also made to Dr. Loveless (played by Kenneth Branagh). No longer a dwarf, he was portrayed as a legless double amputee confined to a steam-powered wheelchair (similar to that employed by the villain in the episode "The Night of the Brain"). Loveless, whose first name was changed from Miguelito to Arliss, was a bitter Southerner who sought revenge on the North after the American Civil War.


title: The Wild Wild West

text: Robert Conrad was reportedly offered a cameo as President Grant, but turned it down when the producers wanted him to read for the part. He was outspoken in his criticism of the film, which was now a comedic showcase for Will Smith with little in common with the original series. He was not opposed to casting a Black actor as Jim West: "The African-American casting of that role is probable and should not be an issue," Conrad said. "I think the casting of (Will) Smith is the issue. I appreciate his popularity. However, I'd prefer an actor with more athletic prowess. He's a good comedian but just not my choice to play my role. Best would be a Wesley Snipes body with a Denzel Washington head." Conrad was also offended by the racial overtones of the film. "There is a reference in it to a racial slur," Conrad said. "I hope it's not in the final version. I said, 'Why are we going in this direction. Why not just play James West black without explaining it?' He also criticized the casting of Branagh as a double amputee, rather than a little-person actor, in the role of Loveless. "Michael Dunn did such a great job playing Dr. Loveless, and he was by far the best villain on the show," Conrad said. "There are so many talented dwarfs but they wanted Kenneth Branagh." In a "New York Post" interview (July 3, 1999), Conrad stated that he disliked the film and that contractually he was owed a share of money on merchandising that he was not paid. He also had a long-standing feud with producer Jon Peters. "He was dating my 17-year-old daughter," Conrad explained, "saying he was divorced when he wasn’t."


title: The Wild Wild West

text: Conrad later took special delight in accepting the Golden Raspberry Awards for the film in 1999. It was awarded Worst Picture, Worst Director, Worst Screenplay, Worst Original Song (for the song "Wild Wild West" by Smith) and Worst Screen Couple.


title: The Wild Wild West

text: The series spawned several merchandising spin-offs, including a seven-issue comic book series by Gold Key Comics, and a paperback novel, Richard Wormser's "The Wild Wild West", published in 1966 by Signet (), which adapted the episode "The Night of the Double-Edged Knife".


title: The Wild Wild West

text: In 1988, Arnett Press published "The Wild Wild West: The Series" by Susan E. Kesler (), a thorough production history and episode guide.


title: The Wild Wild West

text: In 1998, Berkeley Books published three novels by author Robert Vaughan "The Wild Wild West" (), "The Night of the Death Train" (), and "The Night of the Assassin" ().


title: The Wild Wild West

text: In 2019, Epic Press published a new novel by Joseph Covino, Jr, paying tribute to the series with a novel faithful in both style and spirit, "Night of the Nobility Cult: A Wild, Wild Western".


title: The Wild Wild West

text: In 1990, Millennium Publications produced a four-issue comic book miniseries ("The Night of the Iron Tyrants") scripted by Mark Ellis with art by Darryl Banks. A sequel to the TV series, it involved Dr. Loveless in a conspiracy to assassinate President Grant and the President of Brazil and put the Knights of the Golden Circle into power. The characters of Voltaire and Antoinette were prominent here, despite their respective early departures from Dr. Loveless' side in the original series. A review from the Mile High Comics site states: "This mini-series perfectly captures the fun mixture of western and spy action that marked the ground-breaking 1960s TV series." The storyline of the comics miniseries was optioned for motion picture development.


title: The Wild Wild West

text: In the 75th volume of the French comic book series "Lucky Luke" ("L'Homme de Washington"), published in 2008, both James West and Artemus Gordon have a minor guest appearance, albeit the names have been changed to "James East" and "Artémius Gin".


title: The Wild Wild West

text: When Robert Conrad hosted "Saturday Night Live" on NBC (January 23, 1982), he appeared in a parody of "The Wild Wild West". President Lincoln states his famous quip that, if General U.S. Grant is a drunk, he should send whatever he is drinking to his other, less successful generals. Lincoln dispatches West and Gordon (Joe Piscopo) to find out what Grant drinks. They discover that Grant is held captive by Velvet Jones (Eddie Murphy).


title: The Wild Wild West

text: On July 11, 2017, La-La Land Records released a limited edition 4-disc set of music from the series, featuring Richard Markowitz's theme, episode scores by Markowitz, Robert Drasnin, Dave Grusin, Richard Shores, Harry Geller, Walter Scharf, Jack Pleis and Fred Steiner and Dimitri Tiomkin's unused theme music.


title: The Wild Wild West

text: As with many television series, "The Wild Wild West" had several merchandise tie-ins during its run. These are listed below.


title: The Wild Wild West

text: On October 5, 2010, "Entertainment Weekly" reported that Ron Moore and Naren Shankar were developing a remake of "The Wild Wild West" for television, but the project apparently stalled. In December 2013, Moore told "Wired" that ""Wild Wild West" and "Star Trek" were two of my great loves. I watched both in syndication in the '70s. "Wild Wild West" was really interesting, that combination of genres—a Western and secret agent, and they dabbled in the occult and paranormal. I really wanted to do a new version for CBS. I still think it's a great property. Someday I hope to go back to it."


title: The Wild Wild West

text: A pastiche webseries titled "Back to the Wild Wild West" began production in November 2011, but apparently has been stalled.


title: The Archies

text: The Archies is a fictional American rock band that features in media produced by, and related to, Archie Comics. They are best remembered for their appearance in the animated TV series "The Archie Show". In the context of the series, the band was founded by vocalist/guitarist Archie Andrews, vocalist/bassist Reggie Mantle, vocalist/drummer Forsythe "Jughead" Jones, vocalist/keyboardist Veronica Lodge and vocalist/percussionist Betty Cooper. In the cartoons, Veronica is shown playing a large keyboard instrument styled after the X-66, a then-current top-of-the-line organ made by the Hammond Organ Company.


title: The Archies

text: The music featured in the series was recorded by session musicians, including Ron Dante on lead vocals and Toni Wine on duet and backing vocals. The recordings were released as a series of singles and albums that achieved worldwide chart success. Their most successful song, "Sugar, Sugar", became one of the biggest hits of the bubblegum pop genre that flourished from 1968 to 1973.


title: The Archies

text: In 2020, a new version of the band was introduced in the television series "Riverdale", with Kevin Keller replacing Reggie Mantle. However, the band continues to appear with the five original members in the comic books published by Archie Comics.


title: The Archies

text: An Indian feature film adaptation of The Archies directed by Zoya Akhtar is currently in production for Netflix.


title: The Archies

text: The Archies first appeared in a comic book, "Life with Archie" #60 (April 1967). The fictional band was inspired by the success of the 1966 TV series "The Monkees"; in particular, Don Kirshner, who had managed the initially-fictional band, wanted a musical act that he could fully control: as The Monkees were fictional but still used the real musicians' names, the musicians themselves became increasingly irritated at being micromanaged, leading to a dispute that culminated in Kirshner being fired. To avoid a repeat of the Monkees fiasco while still allowing himself full control, Kirshner commissioned a band based on cartoon characters—if the session musicians tried to rebel or leave, they could be replaced seamlessly. The early stories copied the TV show's fast cuts and action: "there were pages that had no panel-to-panel continuity at all, just pure strings of nonsense, fantasy, fourth-wall breaking, and exasperated commentary from Betty and Veronica." The feature ended in issue #66.


title: The Archies

text: The Archies play a variety of contemporary popular music, consistent with the era in which the comic is drawn. Every member sings vocals, with Jughead handling the bass voice on a few tracks. Though their singing voices were soft and appropriate for pop vocals, their speaking voices are much different. The roles the teens played in the fictional band were:


title: The Archies

text: One distribution mode for the Archies' music was embossing cardboard records directly onto the back of cereal boxes, which were cut out and played on a turntable (although their music was also available on standard issue LPs and 45s).


title: The Archies

text: Though the group no longer appears in animation, they are still frequently used in stories published by Archie Comics. In 2020, the group made its second live action appearance on "Riverdale", with Kevin Keller replacing Reggie Mantle as the new bassist of the band.


title: The Archies

text: A set of studio musicians was assembled by Don Kirshner in 1968 to perform various songs. The most famous is "Sugar, Sugar", written by Jeff Barry and Andy Kim, which went to number one on the pop chart in 1969, sold over six million copies, and was awarded a gold disc. In the "Billboard" Hot 100, it was ranked as the No. 1 song of that year, the only time a fictional band has ever claimed "Billboard"s annual Hot 100 top spot. Other Top 40 songs recorded by the Archies include "Who's Your Baby?" (U.S. No. 40), "Bang-Shang-A-Lang" (U.S. No. 22), and "Jingle Jangle" (U.S. No. 10). "Jingle Jangle" also sold over one million copies, garnering a second gold disc award.


title: The Archies

text: Male vocals for the fictional Archies group were provided by The Cuff Links' lead singer Ron Dante and female duet vocals were provided by Toni Wine. Wine, who was only paid for the recording session and quit the group when the song became a huge hit, was succeeded in 1970 by Donna Marie, who in turn was replaced on the final recordings by Merle Miller. The only Archies song not to feature Ron Dante on lead was 1971's "Love Is Living In You", sung by Bob Levine (co-author of the song) and produced by Ritchie Adams. The last single, released 1972, was "Strangers in the Morning"; its B-side song was "Plum Crazy".


title: The Archies

text: Jeff Barry, Andy Kim, Ellie Greenwich, Susan Morse, Ritchie Adams, Maeretha Stewart, Bobby Bloom and Lesley Miller, contributed background vocals at various times, with Barry contributing his trademark bass voice (portrayed as being sung by Jughead in the cartoon) on cuts such as "Jingle Jangle", "Rock 'n' Roll Music", "A Summer Prayer For Peace" (which hit number one in South Africa and Scandinavia in 1971), and "You Little Angel, You". Musicians on Archies' records included guitarists Hugh McCracken and Dave Appell, bassists Chuck Rainey and Joey Macho, keyboard player Ron Frangipane, and drummers Buddy Saltzman and Gary Chester.


title: The Archies

text: The Archies' records were initially released on the Calendar Records label, but the name was shortly thereafter changed to Kirshner Records.


title: The Archies

text: The sound engineer was Fred Weinberg, who was Jeff Barry's and Andy Kim's favorite, and who also recorded Barry's other hits "Be My Baby", "Baby, I Love You", and Kim's "Rock Me Gently". Fred Weinberg is a composer and producer in his own right. However, the music for "The U.S. of Archie" which aired in 1974, was produced by Jackie Mills, a Hollywood producer, who also produced Bobby Sherman and the Brady Kids. The vocalist for these shows was Tom McKenzie, who also sang on some "Groovie Goolies" segments, and was a regular member of the popular singing group, Doodletown Pipers.


title: The Archies

text: Some of the group songs have appeared on episodes of The CW televisions series "Riverdale". The group made its debut in "Riverdale", in the musical episode "", for only the second time in an live action adaptation after the television film "" in 1990. It includes KJ Apa as Archie, Cole Sprouse as Jughead, Lili Reinhart as Betty, Camila Mendes as Veronica and Casey Cott as Kevin Keller. For the first time, Kevin Keller is part of the group, replacing Reggie Mantle (played by Charles Melton) as the bassist. The song "Midnight Radio" is appeared in the series' musical episode soundtrack released by WaterTower Music, on April 15, 2020.


title: The Archies

text: On November 10, 2021, Netflix announced the Indian feature film adaptation of The Archies. The film will be produced by Tiger Baby Films and Graphic India with Zoya Akhtar as director, starring Agastya Nanda, Suhana Khan, Khushi Kapoor as Archie Andrews, Veronica and Betty respectively alongside others. Filming started on April 18, 2022.


title: Great Oxidation Event

text: The Great Oxidation Event (GOE), also called the Great Oxygenation Event, the Oxygen Catastrophe, the Oxygen Revolution, the Oxygen Crisis, or the Oxygen Holocaust, was a time interval during the Paleoproterozoic era when the Earth's atmosphere and the shallow ocean first experienced a rise in the amount of oxygen. This began approximately 2.460–2.426 Ga (billion years) ago, during the Siderian period, and ended approximately 2.060 Ga, during the Rhyacian. Geological, isotopic, and chemical evidence suggests that biologically-produced molecular oxygen (dioxygen, O) started to accumulate in Earth's atmosphere and changed it from a weakly reducing atmosphere practically free of oxygen into an oxidizing atmosphere containing abundant oxygen, with oxygen levels being as high as 10% of their present atmospheric level by the end of the GOE.


title: Great Oxidation Event

text: The sudden injection of toxic oxygen into an anaerobic biosphere may have caused the extinction of many existing anaerobic species on Earth. Although the event is inferred to have constituted a mass extinction, due in part to the great difficulty in surveying microscopic species' abundances, and in part to the extreme age of fossil remains from that time, the Great Oxidation Event is typically not counted among conventional lists of "great extinctions", which are implicitly limited to the Phanerozoic eon. In any case, isotope geochemical data from sulfate minerals have been interpreted to indicate a decrease in the size of the biosphere of >80% associated with changes in nutrient supplies at the end of the GOE.


title: Great Oxidation Event

text: The GOE is inferred to have been caused by cyanobacteria producing the oxygen, which may have enabled the subsequent development of multicellular life-forms.


title: Great Oxidation Event

text: The composition of the Earth's earliest atmosphere is not known with certainty. However, the bulk was likely nitrogen, , and carbon dioxide, , which are also the predominant nitrogen- and carbon-bearing gases produced by volcanism today. These are relatively inert gases. Oxygen, , meanwhile, was present in the atmosphere at just 0.001% of its present atmospheric level. The Sun shone at about 70% of its current brightness 4 billion years ago, but there is strong evidence that liquid water existed on Earth at the time. A warm Earth, in spite of a faint Sun, is known as the faint young Sun paradox. Either carbon dioxide levels were much higher at the time, providing enough of a greenhouse effect to warm the Earth, or other greenhouse gases were present. The most likely such gas is methane, , which is a powerful greenhouse gas and was produced by early forms of life known as methanogens. Scientists continue to research how the Earth was warmed before life arose.


title: Great Oxidation Event

text: An atmosphere of and with trace amounts of , , carbon monoxide (), and hydrogen (), is described as a weakly reducing atmosphere. Such an atmosphere contains practically no oxygen. The modern atmosphere contains abundant oxygen, making it an oxidizing atmosphere. The rise in oxygen is attributed to photosynthesis by cyanobacteria, which are thought to have evolved as early as 3.5 billion years ago.


title: Great Oxidation Event

text: The current scientific understanding of when and how the Earth's atmosphere changed from a weakly reducing to a strongly oxidizing atmosphere largely began with the work of the American geologist Preston Cloud in the 1970s. Cloud observed that detrital sediments older than about 2 billion years ago contained grains of pyrite, uraninite, and siderite, all minerals containing reduced forms of iron or uranium that are not found in younger sediments because they are rapidly oxidized in an oxidizing atmosphere. He further observed that continental red beds, which get their color from the oxidized (ferric) mineral hematite, began to appear in the geological record at about this time. Banded iron formation largely disappears from the geological record at 1.85 billion years ago, after peaking at about 2.5 billion years ago. Banded iron formation can form only when abundant dissolved ferrous iron is transported into depositional basins, and an oxygenated ocean blocks such transport by oxidizing the iron to form insoluble ferric iron compounds. The end of the deposition of banded iron formation at 1.85 billion years ago is therefore interpreted as marking the oxygenation of the deep ocean. Heinrich Holland further elaborated these ideas through the 1980s, placing the main time interval of oxygenation between 2.2 and 1.9 billion years ago, and they continue to shape the current scientific understanding.


title: Great Oxidation Event

text: Constraining the onset of atmospheric oxygenation has proven particularly challenging for geologists and geochemists. While there is a widespread consensus that initial oxygenation of the atmosphere happened during the first half of the Paleoproterozoic, there is disagreement on the exact timing of this event. Scientific publications between 2016 to 2021 have differed in the inferred timing of atmospheric oxygenation by approximately 400 million years, with estimates ranging from as early as 2.501 Ga to as late as ca. 2.1 Ga. This is in large part due to an incomplete sedimentary record for the Paleoproterozoic (e.g., because of subduction and metamorphism), uncertainties in depositional ages for many ancient sedimentary units, and uncertainties related to the interpretation of different geological/geochemical proxies. While the effects of an incomplete geological record have been discussed and quantified in the field of paleontology for several decades, particularly with respect to the evolution and extinction of organisms (the Signor-Lipps Effect), this is rarely quantified when considering geochemical records, and may therefore lead to uncertainties for scientists studying the timing of atmospheric oxygenation.


title: Great Oxidation Event

text: Evidence for the Great Oxidation Event is provided by a variety of petrological and geochemical markers that define this Geological event.


title: Great Oxidation Event

text: Paleosols, detrital grains, and red beds are evidence of low-level oxygen. Paleosols (fossil soils) older than 2.4 billion years old have low iron concentrations that suggest anoxic weathering. Detrital grains composed of pyrite, siderite, and uraninite (redox-sensitive detrital minerals) are found in sediments older than ca. 2.4 Ga. These minerals are only stable under low oxygen conditions, and so their occurrence as detrital minerals in fluvial and deltaic sediments are widely interpreted as evidence of an anoxic atmosphere. In contrast to redox-sensitive detrital minerals are red beds, red-colored sandstones that are coated with hematite. The occurrence of red beds indicates that there was sufficient oxygen to oxidize iron to its ferric state, and represent a marked contrast to sandstones deposited under anoxic conditions which are often beige, white, grey, or green.


title: Great Oxidation Event

text: Banded iron formations are composed of thin alternating layers of chert (a fine-grained form of silica) and iron oxides, magnetite and hematite. Extensive deposits of this rock type are found around the world, almost all of which are more than 1.85 billion years old and most of which were deposited around 2.5 billion years ago. The iron in banded iron formation is partially oxidized, with roughly equal amounts of ferrous and ferric iron. Deposition of banded iron formation requires both an anoxic deep ocean capable of transporting iron in soluble ferrous form, and an oxidized shallow ocean where the ferrous iron is oxidized to insoluble ferric iron and precipitates onto the ocean floor. The deposition of banded iron formation before 1.8 billion years ago suggests the ocean was in a persistent ferruginous state, but deposition was episodic and there may have been significant intervals of euxinia.


title: Great Oxidation Event

text: Black laminated shales, rich in organic matter, are often regarded as a marker for anoxic conditions. However, the deposition of abundant organic matter is not a sure indication of anoxia, and burrowing organisms that destroy lamination had not yet evolved during the time frame of the Great Oxygenation Event. Thus laminated black shale by itself is a poor indicator of oxygen levels. Scientists must look instead for geochemical evidence of anoxic conditions. These include ferruginous anoxia, in which dissolved ferrous iron is abundant, and euxinia, in which hydrogen sulfide is present in the water.


title: Great Oxidation Event

text: Examples of such indicators of anoxic conditions include the degree of pyritization (DOP), which is the ratio of iron present as pyrite to the total reactive iron. Reactive iron, in turn, is defined as iron found in oxides and oxyhydroxides, carbonates, and reduced sulfur minerals such as pyrites, in contrast with iron tightly bound in silicate minerals. A DOP near zero indicates oxidizing conditions, while a DOP near 1 indicates euxinic conditions. Values of 0.3 to 0.5 are transitional, suggesting anoxic bottom mud under an oxygenated ocean. Studies of the Black Sea, which is considered a modern model for ancient anoxic ocean basins, indicate that high DOP, a high ratio of reactive iron to total iron, and a high ratio of total iron to aluminum are all indicators of transport of iron into a euxinic environment. Ferruginous anoxic conditions can be distinguished from euxenic conditions by a DOP less than about 0.7.


title: Great Oxidation Event

text: The currently available evidence suggests that the deep ocean remained anoxic and ferruginous as late as 580 million years ago, well after the Great Oxygenation Event, remaining just short of euxenic during much of this interval of time. Deposition of banded iron formation ceased when conditions of local euxenia on continental platforms and shelves began precipitating iron out of upwelling ferruginous water as pyrite.


title: Great Oxidation Event

text: Some of the most persuasive evidence for the Great Oxidation Event is provided by the mass-independent fractionation (MIF) of sulfur. The chemical signature of the MIF of sulfur is found prior to 2.4–2.3 billion years ago but disappears thereafter. The presence of this signature all but eliminates the possibility of an oxygenated atmosphere.


title: Great Oxidation Event

text: Different isotopes of a chemical element have slightly different atomic masses. Most of the differences in geochemistry between isotopes of the same element scale with this mass difference. These include small differences in molecular velocities and diffusion rates, which are described as mass-dependent fractionation processes. By contrast, mass-independent fractionation describes processes that are not proportional to the difference in mass between isotopes. The only such process likely to be significant in the geochemistry of sulfur is photodissociation. This is the process in which a molecule containing sulfur is broken up by solar ultraviolet (UV) radiation. The presence of a clear MIF signature for sulfur prior to 2.4 billion years ago shows that UV radiation was penetrating deep into the Earth's atmosphere. This in turn rules out an atmosphere containing more than traces of oxygen, which would have produced an ozone layer that shielded the lower atmosphere from UV radiation. The disappearance of the MIF signature for sulfur indicates the formation of such an ozone shield as oxygen began to accumulate in the atmosphere.


title: Great Oxidation Event

text: Mass-dependent fractionation also provides clues to the Great Oxygenation Event. For example, oxidation of manganese in surface rocks by atmospheric oxygen leads to further reactions that oxidize chromium. The heavier Cr is oxidized preferentially over the lighter Cr, and the soluble oxidized chromium carried into the ocean shows this enhancement of the heavier isotope. The chromium isotope ratio in banded iron formation suggests small but significant quantities of oxygen in the atmosphere before the Great Oxidation Event, and a brief return to low oxygen abundance 500 million years after the Great Oxidation Event. However, the chromium data may conflict with the sulfur isotope data, which calls the reliability of the chromium data into question. It is also possible that oxygen was present earlier only in localized "oxygen oases". Since chromium is not easily dissolved, its release from rocks requires the presence of a powerful acid such as sulfuric acid (HSO) which may have formed through bacterial oxidation of pyrite. This could provide some of the earliest evidence of oxygen-breathing life on land surfaces.


title: Great Oxidation Event

text: Other elements whose mass-dependent fractionation may provide clues to the Great Oxidation Event include carbon, nitrogen, transitional metals such as molybdenum and iron, and non-metal elements such as selenium.


title: Great Oxidation Event

text: While the Great Oxidation Event is generally thought to be a result of oxygenic photosynthesis by ancestral cyanobacteria, the presence of cyanobacteria in the Archaean before the Great Oxidation Event is a highly controversial topic. Structures that are claimed to be fossils of cyanobacteria exist in rock as old as 3.5 billion years old These include microfossils of supposedly cyanobacterial cells and macrofossils called stromatolites, which are interpreted as colonies of microbes, including cyanobacteria, with characteristic layered structures. Modern stromatolites, which can only be seen in harsh environments such as Shark Bay in Western Australia, are associated with cyanobacteria and thus fossil stromatolites had long been interpreted as the evidence for cyanobacteria. However, it has increasingly been inferred that at least some of these Archaean fossils were generated abiotically or produced by non-cyanobacterial phototrophic bacteria.


title: Great Oxidation Event

text: Additionally, Archaean sedimentary rocks were once found to contain biomarkers, also known as chemical fossils, interpreted as fossilized membrane lipids from cyanobacteria and eukaryotes. For example, traces of 2α-methylhopanes and steranes that are thought to be derived from cyanobacteria and eukaryotes, respectively, were found in the Pilbara of Western Australia. Steranes are diagenetic products of sterols, which are biosynthesized utilizing molecular oxygen. Thus, steranes can additionally serve as an indicator of oxygen in the atmosphere. However, these biomarker samples have since been shown to have been contaminated and so the results are no longer accepted.


title: Great Oxidation Event

text: Some elements in marine sediments are sensitive to different levels of oxygen in the environment such as the transition metals molybdenum and rhenium. Non-metal elements such as selenium and iodine are also indicators of oxygen levels.


title: Great Oxidation Event

text: The ability to generate oxygen via photosynthesis likely first appeared in the ancestors of cyanobacteria. These organisms evolved at least 2.45–2.32 billion years ago, and probably as early as 2.7 billion years ago or earlier. However, oxygen remained scarce in the atmosphere until around 2.0 billion years ago, and banded iron formation continued to be deposited until around 1.85 billion years ago. Given the rapid multiplication rate of cyanobacteria under ideal conditions, an explanation is needed for the delay of at least 400 million years between the evolution of oxygen-producing photosynthesis and the appearance of significant oxygen in the atmosphere.


title: Great Oxidation Event

text: Hypotheses to explain this gap must take into consideration the balance between oxygen sources and oxygen sinks. Oxygenic photosynthesis produces organic carbon that must be segregated from oxygen to allow oxygen accumulation in the surface environment, otherwise the oxygen back-reacts with the organic carbon and does not accumulate. The burial of organic carbon, sulfide, and minerals containing ferrous iron (Fe) is a primary factor in oxygen accumulation. When organic carbon is buried without being oxidized, the oxygen is left in the atmosphere. In total, the burial of organic carbon and pyrite today creates of O per year. This creates a net O flux from the global oxygen sources.


title: Great Oxidation Event

text: The rate of change of oxygen can be calculated from the difference between global sources and sinks. The oxygen sinks include reduced gases and minerals from volcanoes, metamorphism and weathering. The GOE started after these oxygen-sink fluxes and reduced-gas fluxes were exceeded by the flux of O associated with the burial of reductants, such as organic carbon. For the weathering mechanisms, of O per year today goes to the sinks composed of reduced minerals and gases from volcanoes, metamorphism, percolating seawater and heat vents from the seafloor. On the other hand, of O per year today oxidizes reduced gases in the atmosphere through photochemical reaction. On the early Earth, there was visibly very little oxidative weathering of continents (e.g., a lack of red beds) and so the weathering sink on oxygen would have been negligible compared to that from reduced gases and dissolved iron in oceans.


title: Great Oxidation Event

text: Dissolved iron in oceans exemplifies O sinks. Free oxygen produced during this time was chemically captured by dissolved iron, converting iron Fe and Fe to magnetite () that is insoluble in water, and sank to the bottom of the shallow seas to create banded iron formations such as the ones found in Minnesota and the Pilbara of Western Australia. It took 50 million years or longer to deplete the oxygen sinks. The rate of photosynthesis and associated rate of organic burial also affect the rate of oxygen accumulation. When land plants spread over the continents in the Devonian, more organic carbon was buried and likely allowed higher O levels to occur. Today, the average time that an O molecule spends in the air before it is consumed by geological sinks is about 2 million years. That residence time is relatively short in geologic time - so in the Phanerozoic there must have been feedback processes that kept the atmospheric O level within bounds suitable for animal life.


title: Great Oxidation Event

text: Preston Cloud originally proposed that the first cyanobacteria had evolved the capacity to carry out oxygen-producing photosynthesis, but had not yet evolved enzymes (such as superoxide dismutase) for living in an oxygenated environment. These cyanobacteria would have been protected from their own poisonous oxygen waste through its rapid removal via the high levels of reduced ferrous iron, Fe(II), in the early ocean. Cloud suggested that the oxygen released by photosynthesis oxidized the Fe(II) to ferric iron, Fe(III), which precipitated out of the sea water to form banded iron formation. Cloud interpreted the great peak in deposition of banded iron formation at the end of the Archean as the signature for the evolution of mechanisms for living with oxygen. This ended self-poisoning and produced a population explosion in the cyanobacteria that rapidly oxygenated the ocean and ended banded iron formation deposition. However, improved dating of Precambrian strata showed that the late Archean peak of deposition was spread out over tens of millions of years, rather than taking place in a very short interval of time following the evolution of oxygen-coping mechanisms. This made Cloud's hypothesis untenable. Most modern interpretations describe the GOE as a long, protracted process that took place over hundreds of millions of years rather than a single abrupt event, with the quantity of atmospheric oxygen yo-yoing in relation to the capacity of oxygen sinks and the productivity of oxygenic photosynthesisers over the course of the GOE.


title: Great Oxidation Event

text: More recently, families of bacteria have been discovered that show no indication of ever having had photosynthetic capability, but which otherwise closely resemble cyanobacteria. These may be descended from the earliest ancestors of cyanobacteria, which only later acquired photosynthetic ability by lateral gene transfer. Based on molecular clock data, the evolution of oxygen-producing photosynthesis may have occurred much later than previously thought, at around 2.5 billion years ago. This reduces the gap between the evolution of oxygen photosynthesis and the appearance of significant atmospheric oxygen.


title: Great Oxidation Event

text: A second possibility is that early cyanobacteria were starved for vital nutrients, and this checked their growth. However, a lack of the scarcest nutrients, iron, nitrogen, and phosphorus, could have slowed, but not prevented, a cyanobacteria population explosion and rapid oxygenation. The explanation for the delay in the oxygenation of the atmosphere following the evolution of oxygen-producing photosynthesis likely lies in the presence of various oxygen sinks on the young Earth.


title: Great Oxidation Event

text: Early chemosynthetic organisms likely produced methane, an important trap for molecular oxygen, since methane readily oxidizes to carbon dioxide (CO) and water in the presence of UV radiation. Modern methanogens require nickel as an enzyme cofactor. As the Earth's crust cooled and the supply of volcanic nickel dwindled, oxygen-producing algae began to out-perform methane producers, and the oxygen percentage of the atmosphere steadily increased. From 2.7 to 2.4 billion years ago, the rate of deposition of nickel declined steadily from a level 400 times today's. This nickel famine was somewhat buffered by an uptick in sulphide weathering at the start of the GOE that brought some nickel to the oceans, without which methanogenic organisms would have declined in abundance more precipitously, plunging Earth into even more severe and long-lasting icehouse conditions than those seen during the Huronian glaciation.


title: Great Oxidation Event

text: Some people suggest that GOE is caused by the increase of the source of oxygen. One hypothesis argues that GOE was the immediate result of photosynthesis, although the majority of scientists suggest that a long-term increase of oxygen is more likely. Several model results show possibilities of long-term increase of carbon burial, but the conclusions are indecisive.


title: Great Oxidation Event

text: In contrast to the increasing flux hypothesis, there are also several hypotheses that attempt to use decrease of sinks to explain the GOE. One theory suggests that the composition of the volatiles from volcanic gases was more oxidized. Another theory suggests that the decrease of metamorphic gases and serpentinization is the main key of GOE. Hydrogen and methane released from metamorphic processes are also lost from Earth's atmosphere over time and leave the crust oxidized. Scientists realized that hydrogen would escape into space through a process called methane photolysis, in which methane decomposes under the action of ultraviolet light in the upper atmosphere and releases its hydrogen. The escape of hydrogen from the Earth into space must have oxidized the Earth because the process of hydrogen loss is chemical oxidation. This process of hydrogen escape required the generation of methane by methanogens, so that methanogens actually helped create the conditions necessary for the oxidation of the atmosphere.


title: Great Oxidation Event

text: One hypothesis suggests that the oxygen increase had to await tectonically driven changes in the Earth, including the appearance of shelf seas, where reduced organic carbon could reach the sediments and be buried. The newly produced oxygen was first consumed in various chemical reactions in the oceans, primarily with iron. Evidence is found in older rocks that contain massive banded iron formations apparently laid down as this iron and oxygen first combined; most present-day iron ore lies in these deposits. It was assumed oxygen released from cyanobacteria resulted in the chemical reactions that created rust, but it appears the iron formations were caused by anoxygenic phototrophic iron-oxidizing bacteria, which does not require oxygen. Evidence suggests oxygen levels spiked each time smaller land masses collided to form a super-continent. Tectonic pressure thrust up mountain chains, which eroded releasing nutrients into the ocean that fed photosynthetic cyanobacteria.


title: Great Oxidation Event

text: Another hypothesis posits a model of the atmosphere that exhibits bistability: two steady states of oxygen concentration. The state of stable low oxygen concentration (0.02%) experiences a high rate of methane oxidation. If some event raises oxygen levels beyond a moderate threshold, the formation of an ozone layer shields UV rays and decreases methane oxidation, raising oxygen further to a stable state of 21% or more. The Great Oxygenation Event can then be understood as a transition from the lower to the upper steady states.


title: Great Oxidation Event

text: Cyanobacteria tend to consume nearly as much oxygen at night as they produce during the day. However, experiments demonstrate that cyanobacterial mats produce a greater excess of oxygen with longer photoperiods. The rotational period of the Earth was only about six hours shortly after its formation, 4.5 billion years ago, but increased to 21 hours by 2.4 billion years ago, in the Paleoproterozoic. The rotational period increased again, starting 700 million years ago, to its present value of 24 hours. It is possible that each increase in rotational period increased the net oxygen production by cyanobacterial mats, which in turn increased the atmospheric abundance of oxygen.


title: Great Oxidation Event

text: The Great Oxygenation Event triggered an explosive growth in the diversity of minerals, with many elements occurring in one or more oxidized forms near the Earth's surface. It is estimated that the GOE was directly responsible for more than 2,500 of the total of about 4,500 minerals found on Earth today. Most of these new minerals were formed as hydrated and oxidized forms due to dynamic mantle and crust processes.


title: Great Oxidation Event

text: In field studies done in Lake Fryxell, Antarctica, scientists found that mats of oxygen-producing cyanobacteria produced a thin layer, one to two millimeters thick, of oxygenated water in an otherwise anoxic environment, even under thick ice. By inference, these organisms could have adapted to oxygen even before oxygen accumulated in the atmosphere. The evolution of such oxygen-dependent organisms eventually established an equilibrium in the availability of oxygen, which became a major constituent of the atmosphere.