Mel Brooks and Buck Henry spoofed the spy genre that was a fascination to TV and movie audiences during the early 60’s with “Get Smart”. Maxwell Smart (Don Adams) a bumbling spy works for CONTROL foiling the evil organization KAOS often represented by Siegfried (Bernie Kopell) with the assistance of his beautiful, intelligent side kick Agent 99 (Barbara Feldon). He perplexes The Chief (Edward Platt) his boss with how idiotic he can behave but always manages to save the day. ***

Featuring all 138 half hour episodes that aired on ABC in the 60’s, this is a terrific box set for fans of the show. Others may find this overkill so if you haven’t ever watched the show and are interested, I’d suggest waiting to purchase the individual seasons when they are made available or renting them. The slapstick writing, direction and strong comedic performances make this a classic TV series and although some of the groan inducing puns and jokes might occasionally make modern audiences wince, the show holds up remarkably well. “Get Smart” is almost as clever and funny as I remember it. ---

Image & Sound:

“Get Smart” looks extremely good here. Yes, there are occasions when the images are a bit soft but the series is forty years old. Colors are pretty good and image quality extremely good considering the age of the show. The mono audio sounds nice as well with dialogue crisp and clear.

Time-Life has assembled a huge array of extras for this set. “The Get Smart Reunion Seminar” hosted at the Museum of Television and Radio” in 2003 gave Don Adams a chance to enjoy the lime light one more time before his death. Adams, Felder and surviving cast members discuss their favorite episodes and provide behind-the-scenes stories as well. It’s a pity that this set didn’t come out in 2003 so that Adams could enjoy the accolades for his deft comedic performance again. ***

“The Secret History of Get Smart” and the interview with Buck Henry provide us with background on the creation of the show. We also get introductions for the show by star Barbara Feldon as well as commentary tracks on select episodes by Bernie Kopell, James Caan and producer Leonard Stern among others. ***

“Don Adam’s 75th Birthday Celebration” features a roast by friends of Adams done at the Playboy mansion and is quite amusing. ***

We also get interviews with “Get Smart” director Bruce Bilson, featurettes on the gizmos used in the series, vintage blooper reels, Emmy Award appearances by Feldon and Adams as well as a touching tribute to Adams by Feldon. ---

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