Victor Buono as Count Manzeppi was just fun-all the dry rumor-one of my favorites was when James was to have a duel with the "fastest gun" at 10 paces so Arte says "You're a Count so count!"
Dr Migellito Loveless excellently played by Michael Dunn besides the fact that,particularly during the first season,you got to hear him sing w his mistress,Antoinette,was that while this was clearly a battle of wits, there was also an unspoken respect between them. You got the sense that James truly recognized the doctor's genius-many of his "inventions" were much like Galileo- ahead of their time-and recognizing that had he not been ridiculed for being a dwarf, who may have received the recognition he so deeply craved and it was the abuse that drove him to empathize with others he saw suffering and seek to "save" them by eradicating the "enemy"-grown men! In "The Day Dr Loveless Died", when James is talking to the "uncle", I feel he was going to explain this mutual admiration, when he was interrupted.
The doctor's admiration for James West is obvious by the fact that he could have killed him very easily but always had to devise something worthy of this opponent as well as find an excuse to prolong their time and discussions together. It reminds me of the scene in the film Cleopatra when her brother learns of Marc Antony,his sworn enemy's, death and he reprimands the messenger for delivering in such a simple matter-of-fact manner stating that he should "tremble and fall to his knees" to say such words!
The tragedy is that even though the show was made 45+years ago and set in the 1800's, one thing this "election" has shown is that Dr Loveless would probably receive the same ridicule rather than respect and recognition today that he did at that time!
Hopefully the success of people like Tara as well as Nyles and Marlee, through their appearances on Dancing with the Stars,will help drown out all vile hatred and bigotry of those like Trump and his followers!
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