YOUNG GUNS and YOUNG GUNS II were hits, and inspired the TV series YOUNG RIDERS; there was a MAGNIFICENT SEVEN TV series, too, wasn't there? As well, there are any number of direct-to-video Westerns, and a couple of them are even good (THE SHOOTER, with Michael Dudikoff, is my recent favorite -- surprisingly well-written and, here's the real surprise, competently directed by Fred Olen Ray, of all people.) SHANGHAI NOON, mentioned above, is basically a Western (and seems to be a distinct paraphrase of the oddball 1972 picture RED SUN with Alain Delon and Toshiro Mifune, scored by Maurice Jarre.)

The Western never went away. It's just that so few good ones get made, people sort of "blip" over the profusion of bad ones. In the same way, the surprise successes last year of BLAIR WITCH and SIXTH SENSE made people talk about the Horror Film as though it had died some recent death. It never went anywhere either.

"Everything that's old is new again"? Not quite. It's all a question of how much PR the companies can afford. The truth is, everything that they call new is usually already pretty old.

It used to be you could count on 5 or 6 westerns a year. Now it is more like a western every couple of years.

What resides in the Western's place? Teen Sex/Coming of Age pics. There are always about 5 or 6 a year (Probably more).

One of the reason I think that this has happened is that the West has become so remote to most people that it might as well be Ancient Rome. If you ask the average film going when the "Cowboy" days were there is little chance that they will even get close.

For a western to work, you need a GREAT story line...believable characters...and an actor who can pull it off.

I hate to say it...but is there a story line that the westerns have NOT tackled yet? Are there characters that are sympathetic that aren't cliche? And, are there any actors out there who can pull it all off any more?

No, I don't think the western is dead...I think it is just comatose...and needs something (or someone) interesting to spice it up, which happens every couple of years or so.

BAD GIRLS had an interesting premise that got mucked up. Young Guns and its sequel were actually pretty decent films in my opinion for all the reasons I listed above. Didn't see Wyatt Earp...but LOVED Tombstone, Unforgiven and Silverado. Gimme a good western and I will show you filmmakers at the top of their game. They have to be.

That whole Sphere thing needs to be wrapped up (bringing in the space-opera crowd).

And then maybe we'd all get a chance to buy the score.

I think if Wild Wild West had been a Brisco County movie, it might have done better. The would be something you'd expect to see in an episode of Brisco, not an episode of WWW.

As it turned out, the Orb was from the future. There was originally three of them, and when combined, they could prove to be disasterous in the wrong hands. John Bly wanted them so that he could take over the world, but one Orb was launched into a time machine and sent back to the late 1880s. Bly followed, but had no idea where the Orb had ended up. It was eventually discovered that Bly could only be killed by a bullet made out of the same blue mineral the Orb rods were made out of, and only one bullet existed. It was hidden inside the handle of Brisco's father's gun (made for his dad by a character that James Hong played; can't recall the name). Brisco found out about it and used it on Bly. The bullet had a strange effect on Bly, and he was imprisoned inside the Orb, which was then sent back to the future. It was assumed that Bly would be dealt with, or trapped in the Orb forever.

That storyline was actually never intended to play beyond the first season. It was decided early on it would only play through a certain number of episodes before being wrapped up, and the rest of the series continued with different stories. Too bad it didn't come back. Fox was actually predicting it would be the runaway hit, and that the show it was a lead-in for, The X-Files would tank in the first season. They were obviously wrong, and decided to axe Brisco in favor of concentrating on X-Files. Seven years later (God! Has it already been seven years since Brisco was on?), it's apparent they made the wrong decision. Oh, well. At least I have by videotapes!

Hope this helps.

The saddest thing for me is that I missed seeing the final episode (dantoris, I think you were the one who wrapped up that loose end for me -- thanks).

This series had sooooo much potential, very fresh and witty in its writing. I didn't pay much attention to who its writers were. It would be interesting to see what they are up to these days.

Probably sitting in producers' waiting rooms trying to get a new version of BRISCOE up and running.