The Wild Wild West (TV Series) The Night of the Flying Pie Plate (1966) User Reviews

Preposterous and fun!

[AnnieLola · 8/10 · 6 November 2021]

After mixing the popular secret agent and western genres to come up with Wild Wild West's main premise, '60s space sci-fi was thrown in, a sure-fire formula for an entertaining episode of this lively and wildly imaginative series.

The alien saucer looks appropriately Victorian, so we watch for the emergence of the aliens themselves with eager anticipation-- but when they appear, the three blondes are pure 1960s, even pure 1966. Of course their appearance would seem utterly outlandish were this really the 19th century, but as it is they merely look tacky. The wardrobe department's resources were decidedly not taxed, with cheesiness exceeding that of Lost in Space, Star Trek or Batman at their worst. Fun!

The rest of the story is even not entirely predictable.

So many influences in this TV show

[searchanddestroy-1 · 8/10 · 18 February 2019]

It is so obvious that some features have inspired this episode. First the scene of the village folks running to the landing place of the space ship is nothing more nothing less than WAR OF THE WORLDS sequence at the beginning of the Byron Haskin's movie. And the Following topic is also a bit inspired by Bob Wise's famous DAY THE EARTH STOOD STILL.

More fantasy in the WWW

[robert3750 · 7/10 · 19 October 2021]

The second season was quite colorful . Of course this episode had essentially nothing to do with the old west, joining the flying saucer craze. Leslie Parrish, who was in the second episode of the first season, makes another appearance as a supposed Venusian.

First UFO Hoax Story

[jivers01 · 1 August 2011]

A standard, by-the-numbers story with few surprises, no memorable gadgets, but lots of action -- namely, Robert Conrad beating the crap out of his stunt-men. Two of the lovely green alien girls (Leslie Parrish, Arlene Charles) also did guest roles in season one. The sound effect for the UFO hatch opening and closing is the same used on "I Dream of Jeannie" whenever she comes out of her bottle in a smoke cloud.

This October 1966 episode is most significant for being the first UFO hoax story -- a TV trope other shows were quick to copy. In December "The Man from U.N.C.L.E." did a near-identical story ("The Take Me to Your Leader Affair). In January 1967 "The Girl from U.N.C.L.E." recycled this plot again ("The UFO Affair"). In March 1967 "The Green Hornet" did yet another shameless copy of this plot ("Invasion from Outer Space") with fake aliens in silly silver jumpsuits. Also Batman's "The Joker's Flying Saucer" (Feb. 1968).

Real spaceships are mistaken for UFOs in Star Trek's "Tomorrow is Yesterday" (January 1967), "Lost In Space" ("Visit to a Hostile Planet", Sept. 1967) and "I Dream of Jeannie" (Sept. 1968).

Excellent Episode With Tung Firmly In Cheek

[DKosty123 · 10/10 · 2 November 2008]

This is an excellent episode with plenty of action and a good story to keep things moving along. An excellent guest cast helps too. William Windom, one of the best character actors on TV during the 60's & early 70's is great here as Ben Victor. Windom was a busy actor during this period as he was also doing a Star Trek episode guest shot, The Doomsday Machine.

The show starts with Jim West meeting Ben Victor in a bar. West then gets involved in one of the wildest fight sequences of the entire series. Then, the flying saucer is spotted landing outside of town.

From here, the show spends a long time making it seem that Victor is the guy behind everything involving the saucer. Jim investigates the saucer & makes nice with the alien women on board. Artie comes into town and they start checking out what is happening.

Eventually, there is a showdown with Jim , Artie, & the entire gang on the Saucer (ie pie plate) where we find out Ben Victor is a red herring. We already know by now what these aliens are after. Then there is the time to die or stop the gang for Jim & Artie.

The closing is a classic blackout on the train where Jim & Artie look out the window and see another pie plate flying in the distance.

Cowboys and aliens

[ShadeGrenade · 1 December 2013]

Dan Ullman's 'The Night Of The Flying Pie Plate' opens in the town of Morning Cloud, Arizona with Jim storing U.S. government gold in the safe of 'Ben Victor' ( William Windom ). A mad preacher named 'Hellfire Simon' ( Ford Rainey ) shows up at the saloon, warning of impending doom, and a brawl - in which Jim is involved - ensues. A mysterious glowing object lands outside the town. Aboard are three beautiful Venusian females with green-tinged skin, among them 'Morn' ( the stunning Leslie Parrish ). As the preacher gets closer, a force-field keeps him at bay. The women appear to have mental powers. Their ship needs fuel to return to Venus. They call it Mildem, but here on Earth its known as gold. In exchange for their gold, the townspeople will be given priceless Venusian gems...

As another reviewer has pointed out, there was a two-part 'Green Hornet' episode called 'Invasion From Outer Space' which had a similar premise. The 'flying pie plate' looks like something out of Jules Verne. Jim does not have his usual gadgets. Leslie Parrish is even more beautiful than usual, and that's saying something. It is a good episode, the only flaw being the final scene where we are told that Victor has been sent to jail for 10 to 20 years, whereas in the previous scene it looked as though he had been killed in an explosion.

Mostly Harmless

[aramis-112-804880 · 9 February 2023]

Lovely Leslie Parrish plays a woman just arrived from Venus. Certainly in the Grant aministration era not much was known about Venus. These days we know so much we realize life as we understand it (certainly with beautiful blondes) is unlikely. So what's going on?

Rather than the modern term "flying saucer" they use the tongue-in-cheek term "flying pie plate." Very funny.

The Venusian ladies come to Earth loaded with precious metals (for Earthlings). This inspires lots of interest from the locals. But are the green-skinned beauties really from another world? And if not, what do they hope to gain by flashing genuine rubies and emeralds? Leslie could coax me into being a believer.

This is a ridiculous episode but, as Douglas Adams might say, mostly harmless. And I like it a lot.

Oh, William Windom is also prominent in the cast. Enjoy.