Dr. Miguelito Quixote Loveless is a
fictional character
In fiction, a character (or speaker, in poetry) is a person or other being in a narrative (such as a novel, play, radio or television series, music, film, or video game). The character may be entirely fictional or based on a real-life person, ...
who appeared as the primary
antagonist
An antagonist is a character in a story who is presented as the chief foe of the protagonist.
Etymology
The English word antagonist comes from the Greek ἀνταγωνιστής – ''antagonistēs'', "opponent, competitor, villain, enemy, riv ...
of ten episodes of the 1960s
western
Western may refer to:
Places
*Western, Nebraska, a village in the US
*Western, New York, a town in the US
*Western Creek, Tasmania, a locality in Australia
*Western Junction, Tasmania, a locality in Australia
*Western world, countries that id ...
action
Action may refer to:
* Action (narrative), a literary mode
* Action fiction, a type of genre fiction
* Action game, a genre of video game
Film
* Action film, a genre of film
* ''Action'' (1921 film), a film by John Ford
* ''Action'' (1980 fil ...
television series
A television show – or simply TV show – is any content produced for viewing on a television set which can be broadcast via over-the-air, satellite television, satellite, or cable television, cable, excluding breaking news, television adverti ...
''
The Wild Wild West
''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 w ...
''. Portrayed by
Michael Dunn, he is a brilliant but insane
mad scientist
The mad scientist (also mad doctor or mad professor) is a stock character of a scientist who is perceived as " mad, bad and dangerous to know" or "insane" owing to a combination of unusual or unsettling personality traits and the unabashedly amb ...
born with
dwarfism
Dwarfism is a condition wherein an organism is exceptionally small, and mostly occurs in the animal kingdom. In humans, it is sometimes defined as an adult height of less than , regardless of sex; the average adult height among people with dw ...
. Throughout the television series, Dr. Loveless conceived numerous plots which were always foiled by
Secret Service
A secret service is a government agency, intelligence agency, or the activities of a government agency, concerned with the gathering of intelligence data. The tasks and powers of a secret service can vary greatly from one country to another. For ...
agents
James West James or Jim West may refer to:
People
* James West (Australian journalist) (born 1982), Australian journalist and author
* James West (antiquary) (1703–1772), English politician and antiquary; president of the Royal Society
* James E. West (po ...
and
Artemus Gordon.
Overview
Loveless' family had received a valuable
land grant
A land grant is a gift of real estate—land or its use privileges—made by a government or other authority as an incentive, means of enabling works, or as a reward for services to an individual, especially in return for military service. Grants ...
in
California
California is a U.S. state, state in the Western United States, located along the West Coast of the United States, Pacific Coast. With nearly 39.2million residents across a total area of approximately , it is the List of states and territori ...
from the Spanish
Viceroy of Mexico
The following is a list of Viceroys of New Spain.
In addition to viceroys, the following lists the highest Spanish governors of the Viceroyalty of New Spain, before the appointment of the first viceroy or when the office of viceroy was vacant. Mo ...
. Their land was taken back by the Spanish Crown, and then irretrievably lost when California became part of the
United States
The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territorie ...
. His original goal was to recover his family's property and create a haven where the disadvantaged (presumably financially and, like himself, physically) could live without torment from society. As the series progressed, however, he became more and more megalomaniacal. West is able to defeat Loveless by using Loveless' own ego against him. In "The Night of the Bogus Bandits", it is revealed that Loveless' greatest fear is not death, but the fact that once deceased, he cannot continue his plans of revenge against a society which he hates so much. Despite his size Loveless with the aid of a walking stick can defeat larger persons than himself.("The Night the Wizard Shook the Earth")
Loveless was known as a technological genius who produced gadgets far ahead of his time-which his
archenemy
In literature, an archenemy (sometimes spelled as arch-enemy) is the main enemy of someone. In fiction, it is a character who is the protagonist's, commonly a hero's, most prominent and most-known enemy.
Etymology
The word ''archenemy'' sometim ...
James West acknowledges ("The Night Dr. Loveless Died"). In the series' first season, his inventions were more practical, anticipating the cathode-ray tube, the airplane, penicillin, automobile ("The Night the Wizard Shook the Earth") and a synthesized LSD-like hallucinogen. In the second season, the inventions became more fantastic and included a powder that shrank Jim West to one-twelfth his original size, and a device that allowed people to enter paintings.
[Kneubuhl, John. "The Night of the Surreal McCoy." The Wild, Wild West, Episode 2/23. First aired March 3, 1967.] Perhaps the most phantasmagorical of his methods for avoiding capture was when he and his assistant Antoinette (Phoebe Dorin) escaped West and Gordon by shrinking themselves and flying away on the back of a swan ("The Night of the Raven"). In one episode Dunn did a parody of a fanatical
film director
A film director controls a film's artistic and dramatic aspects and visualizes the screenplay (or script) while guiding the film crew and actors in the fulfilment of that vision. The director has a key role in choosing the cast members, p ...
while he "rehearsed" crimes ("The Night of the Bogus Bandits"). In the last episode in which he appeared, Dr. Loveless (who is addicted to the very rare Napoleon Brandy, ''Le Grande'') escaped by using a circus cannon to shoot himself into space; the only trace of him is his circus ringmasters uniform on the ground along with a recording promising West that they will meet again ("The Night of Miguelito's Revenge").
According to the 1979
television film
A television film, alternatively known as a television movie, made-for-TV film/movie or TV film/movie, is a feature-length film that is produced and originally distributed by or to a television network, in contrast to theatrical films made for ...
''
The Wild Wild West Revisited
''The Wild Wild West'' is an American television series that ran on the CBS network from 1965 to 1969. During its four-season run a total of 104 episodes were broadcast. ''The Wild Wild West'' blended Western (genre), Westerns – hugely popular ...
'', in 1880, Loveless eventually died of
ulcer
An ulcer is a discontinuity or break in a bodily membrane that impedes normal function of the affected organ. According to Robbins's pathology, "ulcer is the breach of the continuity of skin, epithelium or mucous membrane caused by sloughing o ...
s resulting from anger and frustration at having his plans consistently ruined by West and Gordon, while in reality his actor, Michael Dunn, died in 1973. As a result, his son Dr Dr. Miguelito Quixote Loveless Jr (played by
Paul Williams) and daughter Carmelita Loveless (
Jo Ann Harris
Jo Ann Harris (born Jo Ann Marcovitch; May 27, 1949) is an American actress known for her many film and television roles beginning in 1967. In the 1971 film '' The Beguiled'' she portrayed a 17-year-old who seduced Clint Eastwood's character. H ...
) subsequently seek revenge on the agents.
Appearances
![Jim Shane Michael Dunn Wild Wild West 1968](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/9/95/Jim_Shane_Michael_Dunn_Wild_Wild_West_1968.JPG)
Loveless was created by writer
John Kneubuhl
John Alexander Kneubuhl (July 2, 1920 – February 20, 1992) was an American Samoan screenwriter, playwright and Polynesian historian. He wrote for American television series such as '' The Fugitive'', ''Gunsmoke'', ''The Wild Wild West'', ''Star ...
after he read a
magazine
A magazine is a periodical publication, generally published on a regular schedule (often weekly or monthly), containing a variety of content. They are generally financed by advertising, purchase price, prepaid subscriptions, or by a combinatio ...
article about Dunn. The character was introduced in the 1965 episode "The Night the Wizard Shook The Earth", which was the show's third televised episode (although it was produced as the sixth). Loveless became an immediate hit and Dunn appeared in ten episodes over four seasons, with Kneubuhl writing five of them. Dunn was contracted to appear in four episodes per season, but due to health problems he only appeared in 10 episodes instead of 16. (Loveless was always captured by West and Gordon only after he appeared in 3 episodes; a
running gag
A running gag, or running joke, is a literary device that takes the form of an amusing joke or a comical reference and appears repeatedly throughout a work of literature or other form of storytelling. Though they are similar, catchphrases are not ...
for the next 7 episodes is that while his plans are defeated by West and Gordon, Loveless has a prearranged escape plan)
* "The Night the Wizard Shook the Earth" – Episode #3
* "The Night That Terror Stalked the Town" – Episode #10
* "The Night of the Whirring Death" – Episode #20
* "The Night of the Murderous Spring" – Episode #27
* "The Night of the Raven" – Episode #31
* "The Night of the Green Terror" – Episode #38
* "The Night of the Surreal McCoy" – Episode #51
* "The Night of the Bogus Bandits" – Episode #56
* "The Night Dr. Loveless Died" – Episode #60
* "The Night of Miguelito's Revenge" – Episode #92
Accomplices
Dr. Loveless initially had two companions: the hulking mute Voltaire (played by real-life giant
Richard Kiel
Richard Dawson Kiel (September 13, 1939 – September 10, 2014) was an American actor. Standing tall, he was known for portraying Jaws in '' The Spy Who Loved Me'' (1977) and '' Moonraker'' (1979). Kiel's next-most-recognized role is the t ...
) and the beautiful songstress Antoinette (portrayed by Dunn's nightclub-act singing partner, Phoebe Dorin). Voltaire disappeared after the doctor's third encounter with the agents; Antoinette, after the sixth. However, they each left such an indelible impression on fans that the 1990
comic book
A comic book, also called comicbook, comic magazine or (in the United Kingdom and Ireland) simply comic, is a publication that consists of comics art in the form of sequential juxtaposed panels that represent individual scenes. Panels are of ...
miniseries from
Millennium Publications
Millennium Publications was an American independent comic book publishing company founded by Mark Ellis, Melissa Martin and Paul Davis. Initially known as a publisher of licensed properties, Millennium adapted works by Arthur Conan Doyle, Leste ...
, a
sequel
A sequel is a work of literature, film, theatre, television, music or video game that continues the story of, or expands upon, some earlier work. In the common context of a narrative work of fiction, a sequel portrays events set in the same ...
to the TV series scripted by
Mark Ellis with art by
Darryl Banks
Darryl Banks is an American comic book artist. He worked on one of the first painted comic books, ''Cyberpunk'', and teamed with the writer Mark Ellis (American author), Mark Ellis to revamp the long-running ''Justice Machine, The Justice Machin ...
, included both characters.
Film counterpart
Renamed Dr. Arliss Loveless, he appeared in the 1999
film adaptation
A film adaptation is the transfer of a work or story, in whole or in part, to a feature film. Although often considered a type of derivative work, film adaptation has been conceptualized recently by academic scholars such as Robert Stam as a dial ...
''
Wild Wild West
''Wild Wild West'' is a 1999 American steampunk Western film co-produced and directed by Barry Sonnenfeld and written by S. S. Wilson and Brent Maddock alongside Jeffrey Price and Peter S. Seaman, from a story penned by brothers Jim and John ...
'', played by
Kenneth Branagh
Sir Kenneth Charles Branagh (; born 10 December 1960) is a British actor and filmmaker. Branagh trained at the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art in London and has served as its president since 2015. He has won an Academy Award, four BAFTAs (plus t ...
and featuring several major changes from his original television counterpart. For instance, Branagh's Loveless was a former
Confederate
Confederacy or confederate may refer to:
States or communities
* Confederate state or confederation, a union of sovereign groups or communities
* Confederate States of America, a confederation of secessionist American states that existed between 1 ...
military engineer who had lost his lower body in an accidental
explosion
An explosion is a rapid expansion in volume associated with an extreme outward release of energy, usually with the generation of high temperatures and release of high-pressure gases. Supersonic explosions created by high explosives are known ...
. So, he used a
steam
Steam is a substance containing water in the gas phase, and sometimes also an aerosol of liquid water droplets, or air. This may occur due to evaporation or due to boiling, where heat is applied until water reaches the enthalpy of vaporization ...
-powered
wheelchair
A wheelchair is a chair with wheels, used when walking is difficult or impossible due to illness, injury, problems related to old age, or disability. These can include spinal cord injuries ( paraplegia, hemiplegia, and quadriplegia), cerebr ...
in order to move around and created similar innovative contraptions. Loveless was incensed at the South's surrender and sought to dismember the United States and distribute its territory among the
Native American tribes and its original European colonizers (while keeping the Northern Plains for himself, which he would rename "Loveless Land"). He also has a personal history/feud with Jim West; a prototype
tank
A tank is an armoured fighting vehicle intended as a primary offensive weapon in front-line ground combat. Tank designs are a balance of heavy firepower, strong armour, and good battlefield mobility provided by tracks and a powerful engin ...
he designed
massacre
A massacre is the killing of a large number of people or animals, especially those who are not involved in any fighting or have no way of defending themselves. A massacre is generally considered to be morally unacceptable, especially when per ...
d the population of a freed slave colony, including West's parents (in the film, West, portrayed by
Will Smith
Willard Carroll Smith II (born September 25, 1968), also known by his stage name The Fresh Prince, is an American actor and rapper. He began his Will Smith filmography, acting career starring as Will Smith (The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air), a ...
, is
African-American
African Americans (also referred to as Black Americans and Afro-Americans) are an Race and ethnicity in the United States, ethnic group consisting of Americans with partial or total ancestry from sub-Saharan Africa. The term "African American ...
as opposed to being
Caucasian
Caucasian may refer to:
Anthropology
*Anything from the Caucasus region
**
**
** ''Caucasian Exarchate'' (1917–1920), an ecclesiastical exarchate of the Russian Orthodox Church in the Caucasus region
*
*
*
Languages
* Northwest Caucasian l ...
in the original television series).
Notes
{{DEFAULTSORT:Loveless, Miguelito Quixote
Fictional characters with dwarfism
Fictional mass murderers
Fictional mad scientists
Fictional physicians
Fictional amputees
Fictional cyborgs
Fictional criminals
Fictional people of the Confederate States of America
Television characters introduced in 1965
Television characters introduced in 1999
Western (genre) outlaws