Customer Reviews

Get Smart: The Original TV Series - Season 1

5 star:		(89)
4 star:		(11)
3 star:		(5)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(2)

 

 

Why has Get Smart not yet been released on DVD? It simply boggles my mind because this is about the funniest show I have ever watched. I grew up with Get Smart and its good natured spy humor.

If you are like me, you think of Siegfried and not Doc Bricker when you think of Bernie Kopel. the only character that comes to mind when you think of Dick Gautier is Hymie the Robot. the great Edward Platt will always be The Chief and Barbara Feldon's character 99 will always be the ever faithful comic foil and love interest to Maxwell Smart, Secret Agent 86 of CONTROL.

All of Get Smart's legion of fans want to see the return of Leadside, and the Tequila Mockingbird, and the Craw NOT the Craw!, and Agent 13, and Stocker, and Harry Hoo The Famous Hawaiian Detective, and the Groovy Guru, and Destructo, and Mary Jack Armstrong the Strongest Woman Alive, and the lovable King of Coronia, and TBO The Big One, and well the list can and does go and on!

Please, please give us EVERY season of Get Smart on DVD! I am begging you PLEASE! PLEASE!! PLEASE!!!

EDIT 12/5/06

well i just received my complete series from Time Life and it is wonderful! Barbara Feldon narrates an intro before each episode and the quality is astounding! they did a wonderful job with this boxed set! i heartily recommend anyone who loves Get Smart to buy it! and Time Life oftens issues coupon codes so sign up on their site and purchase with the coupon code like i did to save thirty bucks! ENJOY!

Not too long ago I wrote a review of the book, The Get Smart Handbook written by Joey Green. In the review, I basically made a plea to the universe to bring this show out on DVD. Well, would you believe on November 15, 2006, I will get my wish?

Time-Life is offering The Complete Get Smart Collection. A 25 disc collection featuring every episode digitally remastered. I guess it is selling for approximately $200. It could be $2,000 and I would still buy this classic show.

I have friends' that tell me I am stuck in a time warp because I watch very little television that is actually new. For some reason or another the writing of the older shows far surpass the writing of today's television shows. I watched a rerun of Friends' the other night and I was literally dizzy after watching that show. There were like four stories going on in one show? Have we become that much of an ADD society where we can't just have one show with one plot for thirty minutes? It seems as though everything today is so "extreme" and so in your face. I actually get offended at some of the things I have watched and I'm not easily offended.

But this show, Get Smart, conceived by certified "Wack Jobs" Mel Brooks and Buck Henry is in a class all by itself. This show is brilliant in every way. The writing, the acting, the production value. It did get a little cheesy when Maxwell Smart and agent 99 got married, but even those episodes were funnier than the stuff that's out there now.

The only thing that I really feel saddened about is that this release is coming after Don Adam's death. For a very long time, Don Adams was my hero. While other kids on the playground pretended to be the Six Million Dollar Man or Batman, I was Secret Agent 86. I used to purposely forget my homework so I could do the "Would you believe?" shtick with my teacher.

Mmmmm..it was always funnier on the show than in real life.

Well, I know one of my Christmas presents this year because I am going to buy this collection for myself.

Peace & Blessings, everyone, and may television return to the dally of the belly laugh...

Smart. Maxwell Smart. The dumbest spy in the world, who fights on behalf of the forces of goodness and niceness, and succeeded in making democracy vs. communism a lot more entertaining. With the comic trio of Don Adams, Barbara Feldon and Edward Platt, this hilarious spy spoof is still funny today.

Don Adams is Agent 86, Maxwell Smart, a not-so-bright spy with an endless arsenal of strange devices and odd sayings. The bumbling spy at a top-secret government agency called Control, which is responsible for keeping the free world free. Backing him up is his beautiful partner/love interest Agent 99 (Barbara Feldon) and his long-suffering Chief (Eward Platt) who puts up with Smart's constant mistakes.

Together with 99 and the Chief (and his faithful dog Fang), Max battles the forces of badness and rottenness -- namely, the anti-Control called KAOS. Among the enemies the Control agents face: the dwarfish "Mr. Big," the fashion forces of evil, a likable killer robot, a Chinese mastermind called the Claw, and explosive paintings. And that's only the start...

"Missed it by that much!" Maxwell Smart's catchphrases and goofy confidence made him the perfect antidote to the suave James Bond. Unlike Bond and similar movie spies, Max succeeds out of luck and bumbling more often than not, but he still succeeds.

The comic timing is a little awkward at the very beginning, but rapidly gets its footing. What's really funny is the endless spoofery -- Max is given all sorts of weird gadgets, including the legendary "shoe-phone," and he faces off against all sorts of cartoonish villains.

The political clime of the mid 1960s is all over the series, especially in the form of KAOS. But fortunately they don't get preachy -- KAOS is merely a big evil organization, no more. Some references are dated, and this definitely debuted before the era of political correctness (there's a bizarre episode about American Indians threatening the US government, and the Claw is funny if un-PC).

Don Adams MAKES this series, with his quirky facial expressions, nasal voice and odd body language. Hard to tell how he could keep a straight face throughout many of the lines he says. Barbara Feldon is the least quirky of the cast, but does a good job as the brains behind Max, while Edward Platt is just wonderful as the long-suffering Chief, who always looks slightly frayed.

Though some of the 60s-era references are a bit dated, "Get Smart" is still gutsplittingly funny. You'll roll around on the floor, laughing yourself sick... and... loving it.

As others have written, this is an abbreviated version of the season 1 and full series being offered by TimeLife.com but some have not properly noted the EXTRAS on this set. I have both the full set and just picked up this handy season 1 version which surprisingly enough doesn't mention all the BONUS FEATURES on its packaging. This version DOES have the pilot episode in Black and White with both Buck Henry AND Mel Brooks commentaries! Its a great episode and features Michael Dunn (the diminutive star from the Wild Wild West!)...this set also features the wonderful episode introductions by Barbara Feldon...so it appears to be exactly the same as the more expensive versions from TimeLife. The ONLY difference is the bonus DVD..which each season on the timelife version has...and they are chock full of amazing goodies...from new featurettes, to bloopers, and rare tv appearances from other shows to Emmy Award telecasts..and for me are a MUST.
Super fans ( I loved this show as a child) will want the TimeLife full set..and its stunning packaging...casual fans will be thrilled with this more inexpensive version and may even become super fans...

I'm only reviewing the DVD and not the series...that's been done very well by others...it was and is a classic and the failure of the big screen version recently only reinforces that fact!!! I will also add that the episodes look stunningly sharp and colorful...very well presented.

Don Adams was a comic genius and Barbara Feldon played her part with equal parts deadpan humor and adoration...brilliant stuff from a childhood to be cherished..I'm not sure if you didn't experience it the first time how it will hit you but I forgot how much I loved this show until watching these again...and the classic lines we all said in school...'missed it by that much' ..." and loving it" .."I told you not to tell me that"....wow...how fun to revisit childhood.

Smart. Maxwell Smart. The dumbest spy in the world, who fights on behalf of the forces of goodness and niceness, and succeeded in making democracy vs. communism a lot more entertaining. With the comic trio of Don Adams, Barbara Feldon and Edward Platt, this hilarious spy spoof is still funny today.

Don Adams is Agent 86, Maxwell Smart, a not-so-bright spy with an endless arsenal of strange devices and odd sayings. The bumbling spy at a top-secret government agency called Control, which tirelessly works to keep the free world free. He's accompanied by his capable partner/love interest Agent 99 (Barbara Feldon), and overseen by the long-suffering Chief (Eward Platt) who puts up with Smart's constant mistakes.

Together with 99 and the Chief (and his faithful dog Fang), Max battles the forces of badness and rottenness -- namely, the anti-Control called KAOS. Among the enemies the Control agents face: the dwarfish "Mr. Big," the fashion forces of evil, spy college, violinists, lethal toys, the Orient Express, fat Arabs, vampires, a likable killer robot, a Chinese mastermind called the Claw, and explosive paintings. And that's only the start...

"Missed it by that much!" Maxwell Smart's catchphrases and goofy confidence made him the perfect antidote to the suave James Bond, especially since he never has enough money and his gadgets don't work very well. Unlike Bond and similar movie spies, Max succeeds out of luck and bumbling more often than not, but he still succeeds.

The comic timing is a little awkward at the very beginning, but rapidly gets its footing. Most of the comedy comes from the endless spoofery -- Max is the most inept secret agent in history, and he still faces off against all sorts of cartoonish villains with overly elaborate plans. The dialogue becomes progressively funnier as time goes on: "I may never get to play with the Philharmonic, but on the other hand, is Leonard Bernstein licensed to kill?"

The political clime of the mid 1960s is all over the series, especially in the form of KAOS. But fortunately they don't get preachy -- KAOS is merely a big evil organization, no more. A few of the references are dated, but most of the humor remains intact. (And fans of political correctness should skip episodes about the Claw and the Indians, funny as they are).

Don Adams is the heart of the series, with his quirky face, nasal voice and odd body language. Hard to tell how he could keep a straight face throughout many of the lines he says ("And loving it!"). Barbara Feldon plays the straight woman to Max's goofiness, while Edward Platt is just wonderful as the long-suffering Chief, who always seems on the edge of either melting down or exploding.

Decades after it was made, this clever spy spoof is still gutsplittingly funny. You'll roll around on the floor, laughing yourself sick... and... loving it.

Get Smart was one of the funniest spy spoofs ever produced. There's no doubt about that. This set includes every episode of the first season, and they're all beautifully presented. But no spy is complete without his extra gadgets, and that's what's missing from this set.

TimeLife has exclusively offered a FIVE-DISC set packed with bonus features for some time now (users are selling it used & new here), but this FOUR-DISC set is the stripped version.

The 4-disc edition does have episode introductions by Barbara Feldon and commentaries on two episodes; but in addition to these, the 5-disc version includes a FULL DISC of extras that includes a featurette, long lost TV appearances by the stars of the show, and excerpts from a Get Smart seminar with several cast members (including Don Adams, himself), to name a few.

If all you want are the regular episodes - which are fantastic, to say the least! - then you'll be happy with the financial savings from buying this set. But if you really enjoy your bonus features, it's definitely worth the extra cost to splurge a little and buy the 5-disc version directly from TimeLife.

I received the DVD set from TimeLife this past week. I'm on Disk 4 of Season 1, and these are my observations so far. They have done a first rate job! It was worth the wait. The pictures and sound are very clear. There are lots of bonus features, including commentary on the pilot episode by creators Mel Brooks and Buck Henry (an individual commentary by each). Barbara Feldon does a short introduction of each episode if chosen through the Episode menu (as opposed to Play All). I won't go into all the bonus features here, as they would take up a LOT of room. You can see those on the TimeLife site. Order up and get ready for some belly laughs.

Just to throw it out there, even though it first came out 20 years ago, it's a show for everyone. I'm a 20 year old college kid and enjoy present day TV shows like Family Guy and South Park, but my favorite TV show of all time, and there is nothing, NOTHING that I would like to have more on DVD, is Get Smart. No matter who you are, you'll find it funny. Period. Thank you Don Adams, thank you TV land for showing the reruns (that's where I saw them,) and let's hurry up and get the DVD out shall we?

With all the crappy shows being released on DVD, why isn't Get Smart! yet availible? It is one of my favorite old sitcoms from my childhood of Nick at Nite addiction. So few shows capture the perfect blend of physical and verbal humor that Get Smart! does. I recently found a novel based on the show, and reading it I became so nostalgic for those sliding doors, telephone booth elevator, shoe phone, and all the great gadgets, cars, and secret agents. Release the series, there's tons of fans who want it! Please!!!

Get Smart will always hold a spot in my heart. I originally watched it in my middle school years on Nick At Nite. I managed to get some friends interested and we would quote Agent 86 during our lunch periods. It's just one of those shows which is best enjoyed with friends.

From the opening ditty as Don Adams strides down the hallway of doors to the final punchline, "Get Smart" is always a pleasure to watch. The jokes are still funny, the gags still hold up, and Maxwell Smart's famous, "Sorry about that, Chief" will still bring a smile to your face. With Don Adams, Barbara Feldon, Bernie Kopell, Robert Karvelas, and (of course) Edward Platt, it's a cast that can't be beat. This is easily one of the funniest television series I've ever seen.

Now all we need is a DVD release. For those that are interested, an online DVD petition can be found at wouldyoubelieve dot com.