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Post by krusader74 on Oct 4, 2016 17:48:32 GMT -6
1960s TV WesternsRecently, I started watching several 1960s TV westerns associated with the late great Star Trek (original series) writer and producer Gene L. Coon: - Bonanza
- Zorro
- Have Gun -- Will Travel
- Wagon Train
- Wild Wild West
What I like about most of these series, particularly Bonanza, are the - strong moral lessons
- strong basis in historical fact
WRT history, take Bonanza for example. Virginia City was a real silver mining town in Nevada in the 1860s. While there weren't really any Cartwrights or Ponderosa ranch, just about every episode teaches us something interesting about Virginia City's rich history. Consider just a few examples from the beginning of Season 1: - Episide 5 "Enter Mark Twain": Yes, Sam Clemens/Josh/Mark Twain got his start in journalism writing for Virginia City's daily newspaper, the Territorial Enterprise.
- Episode 6 "The Julia Bulette Story": Julia was a beautiful, London-born prostitute, who made a fortune as a working girl in Virginia City before being murdered by a French jewel thief.
- Episode 8 "The Philip Deidesheimer story": In 1860, Dutch mining engineer Philip Deidesheimer invented square set timbering for the Comstock Load's Ophir Mine in Virginia City. This system uses heavy timber "cubes" as supports for underground mining tunnels and shafts.
Where Bonanza sticks close to real-life history, Wild Wild West is fun departure. It's not afraid to mix genres (King-Fu Cowboy, or Cowboys vs Aliens) or include high-tech gadgets way ahead of their time. You can find full episodes of both Bonanza and Wild Wild West on YouTube.
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Post by krusader74 on Dec 8, 2016 10:27:00 GMT -6
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Post by foxroe on Dec 8, 2016 11:25:42 GMT -6
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Post by ritt on Jun 24, 2017 22:41:37 GMT -6
Have Gun, Will Travel (About a gunslinger who is, basically, a D&D "Murder hobo") is a great source of rip-off-able ideas for RPG adventures for any genre.
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Post by foxroe on Jun 25, 2017 0:50:14 GMT -6
Have Gun, Will Travel (About a gunslinger who is, basically, a D&D "Murder hobo") is a great source of rip-off-able ideas for RPG adventures for any genre. Murder hobo!! He's a paladin! |
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Post by Deleted on Jun 25, 2017 5:29:11 GMT -6
I loved Westerns, still do. I will watch an actor do something and think to myself, I would love to see him in a Western. Since John Wayne died, two of my favorites in westerns are Tom Selleck and Sam Elliot. I wish they had made a hundred of them together.
I also loved:
The Rifleman
Bonanza
Rawhide
Cheyenne
Laramie
Maverick
Death Valley Days
Branded
Wanted Dead or Alive
Sugarfoot
Bronco
F Troop - Comedy Gold this one was
The Lone Ranger
Fun Facts
Clint Walker of Cheyenne is 90
Will Hutchins of Sugarfoot is 87
Ty Hardin of Bronco is 87
Sugarfoot and Bronco were spinoffs that came about due to Client Walker going on strike for better pay, the characters were popular so when he came back they spun shows off for them. They appeared in each others shows from time to time.
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Post by stevemitchell on Jun 25, 2017 13:48:42 GMT -6
Some more fun shows: The Rebel with Nick Adams, including a theme song sung by Johnny Cash; The Texan, featuring Rory Calhoun as the historical gunman Wild Bill Longley (portrayed very a-historically in the show, though; in real life he was a psychopathic racist murderer, who fully deserved his death on a hangman's rope); The Big Valley (basically Bonanza in California); The Outlaws, with an Oklahoma setting if I recall correctly; Tales of the Texas Rangers; and about four dozen more. They really cranked out the Westerns in the 50s and 60s; but then in the 70s, TV turned into detective and police junk like SWAT, The Rookies, Starsky and Hutch, Cannon, Police Woman, etc.
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Post by krusader74 on Jul 13, 2017 17:15:48 GMT -6
Have Gun, Will Travel (About a gunslinger who is, basically, a D&D "Murder hobo") is a great source of rip-off-able ideas for RPG adventures for any genre. And for all you Star Trek fans out there, Gene Roddenberry wrote 24 episodes of Have Gun - Will Travel: - The Great Mojave Chase (1957, Season 1, Episode 3)
- The Yuma Treasure (1957, Season 1, Episode 14)
- The Hanging Cross (1957, Season 1, Episode 15)
- Helen of Abajinian (1957, Season 1, Episode 16)
- Ella West (1958, Season 1, Episode 17)
- The Hanging of Roy Carter (1958, Season 2, Episode 4)
- The Road to Wickenburg (1958, Season 2, Episode 7)
- Juliet (1959, Season 2, Episode 20)
- The Monster of Moon Ridge (1959, Season 2, Episode 24)
- Maggie O'Bannion (1959, Season 2, Episode 28)
- Return of Roy Carter (1959, Season 2, Episode 32)
- Episode in Laredo (1959, Season 3, Episode 2)
- Les Girls (1959, Season 3, Episode 3)
- The Posse (1959, Season 3, Episode 4)
- The Golden Toad (1959, Season 3, Episode 10)
- Tiger (1959, Season 3, Episode 11)
- Charley Red Dog (1959, Season 3, Episode 13)
- El Paso Stage (1961, Season 4, Episode 30)
- Alice (1962, Season 5, Episode 27)
- Taylor's Woman (1962, Season 6, Episode 2)
- Marshal of Sweethingyer (1962, Season 6, Episode 11)
- Trial at Tablerock (1962, Season 6, Episode 14)
- Cage at McNaab (1963, Season 6, Episode 23)
- The Savages (1963, Season 6, Episode 27)
And Gene L. Coon wrote 1 episode: - The Fifth Man (1959, Season 2, Episode 36)
(AFAIK you can find every episode of HGWT on YouTube.) I highly recommend the whole series and not just the episodes written by Roddenberry and Coon. But hopefully this list will convince some Sci-Fi fans to give this awesome Western a look! |
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Post by ritt on Jul 13, 2017 18:00:01 GMT -6
The more I learn about Gene Roddenberry the more I admire him. He was a prickly eccentric but also a solid writer of adventure yarns and in terms of social and political views way, way ahead of his time.
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Post by Deleted on Jul 13, 2017 22:06:30 GMT -6
He was also an experienced television writer BEFORE Star Trek, rather than a Star Trek fan who managed to get hired by Paramount because he'd work cheaper than a real writer.
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Post by Deleted on Jul 13, 2017 22:08:13 GMT -6
In the mid 1960s, Milton Bradley was advertising not only "Battleship" but also "Stratego," "Broadside," and "Dogfight" on TV. Wargames were a known thing for kids. |
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Post by Finarvyn on Jul 14, 2017 6:41:40 GMT -6
One of my favorite westerns on TV was "Cimarron Strip" with Stuart Whitman. I think I had a half dozen Boot Hill characters named Jim Crown.  |
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Post by blackvulmea on Dec 2, 2017 7:06:22 GMT -6
I've been mining High Chapparal for ideas for our BH campaign - though the show is set in Arizona, it mirrors many of the dynamics of our New Mexico Territory-based campaign.
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Post by kpeterson on Jan 3, 2018 11:01:14 GMT -6
I loved Westerns, still do. I will watch an actor do something and think to myself, I would love to see him in a Western. Since John Wayne died, two of my favorites in westerns are Tom Selleck and Sam Elliot. I wish they had made a hundred of them together. I also loved: The Rifleman Laramie I've loved The Rifleman since I was a little kid. Partly because of admiring the strong character and ethics of Lucas McCain and identifying with Mark McCain. And partly because the intro ( The Rifleman intro) blew me away as a youth. Laramie has become a recent favorite of mine. I'd never seen it when I was younger. And it's only because it's broadcast so much on Grit TV that I've been exposed to it. |
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muddy
Level 4 Theurgist
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Post by muddy on Feb 11, 2018 12:10:42 GMT -6
In the mid 1960s, Milton Bradley was advertising not only "Battleship" but also "Stratego," "Broadside," and "Dogfight" on TV. Wargames were a known thing for kids. I had all of those before I got into D&D, but had forgotten about Broadside and Dogfight. Thanks for the reminder! I leapfrogged past Chainmail type games though, going straight into D&D. I never really made the connection before. |
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Post by stevemitchell on Feb 11, 2018 19:24:57 GMT -6
Also for you Star Trek fans: Captain Kirk, Mr. Spock, Bones, and Scotty (or at least the actors who portrayed them) all appeared in guest roles on The Virginian. Probably on some other Westerns, too, but I was going through the guest-star credits for The Virginian recently, and those leapt out at me. Also Manson Family victim Jay Sebring, who played a barber in one episode.
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