Get Smart: Season 5 (1965)

 

 

Create your own review

This four DVD set contains the final eps of one of the funnier shows of the 1960s,Get Smart,starring Don Adams as Agent 86,Barbara Feldon as Agent 99 and Ed Platt as The Chief.Certainly a more dynamic and funnier trio of characters were/are hard to find.Thrown into the mix was Agent Larabee,the Chief's assistant,played in a wonderfully droll fashion by Robert Karvelas.He became the unofficial fourth member of the Get Smart team;given more funny lines and scenes in which to play than in previous seasons.Also you may or may not recall there were some other changes made this final year.The show switched over from NBC to CBS part way through,the opening sequence was totally revamped with new music and Smart's traditional Sunbeam was now an Opal sports car.
What didn't change though were the laughs from this wonderful show,all based around the then popular genre of the spy movie,thanks in a HUGE part to Sean Connery's 007 character on the big screen.Also Adams continues his Stan Laurel like mugging;always a delightful touch.In fact if you watch the two parter ep "House of Max 1 & 2",you will see Laurel and Hardy in action,so to speak.It takes place in a house of wax and there are two "wax" figures of Laurel and Hardy which eventually come to life.They are played by then Laurel and Hardy look a likes Ed Shuster(Ollie) and Jim MacGeorge(Stan),who did a nice job in their impersonations.This season also parodies,as before,movie and/or book titles such as "House of Max"(House of Wax),"Ice Station Siegfried"(Ice Station Zebra),"How Green was my Valet"(How green was my Valley"),etc,etc.In the ep "Ice Station Siegfried" Adams and Platt both appear only briefly at the beginning,as comedian Bill Dana takes Max's place as a CIA agent.Don had some personal problems to contend with at the time and had to pass on the full shooting schedule.Bill incidentally ,I believe,was the brother to Irving Szathmarthy the man who wrote the theme for the show.I know Dana's real name was Szathmarthy so it surely can't be coincidental.
For loyal fans of the show this season will not fail to disappoint.The only disappointment to me however is the lack of any specials.There are only a couple of commentaries included.It is a shame the producers elected to leave most of the special features in the entire season set,which I tried to purchase but had to return a few copies of due to scratches and defects on the set discs.Individual set buyers have paid more and I think deserve the features in the set as much if not more than the entire seasons buyers.But what do I know?
The final season has been transferred quite well and I have no complaints in that or in the sound department
Enjoy Don Adams in the character portrayal that made him and the show he starred in a household name:Get Smart.It may be the final season but the laughs are still coming on strong.

In my book "Get Smart" being the funniest American sitcom ever made, season five suffered some minor setbacks beginning with a slightly different theme song. The episode "Ice Station Siegfried" also slightly disappointed me as Max and the Chief were trapped underneath 12 feet of snow in Miami, compelling Agent 99 to team up with a bumbling CIA operative to carry out her mission. Nevertheless, Agent 86 continued his tradition of making us laugh with lines such as "Sorry about that, Chief" or "Missed it by that much." I feel it safe to say to those who enjoyed any of the previous seasons, "Season five, unfortunately the last one, should nonetheless keep you entertained for hours of laughters."

Purchasing this DVD was an extra special treat for me as I had only seen the first four seasons in reruns. So viewing this fifth season was a new experience for me. I liked it a lot, even while some of the humor had now become old and making Max and 99 parents didn't really add anything to the show. The performers, however, don't seem tired at all. Larrabee was always fun for laughs. He reached full idiocy this season which had only been hinted at the previous season. I consider the best episodes here to be, "Pheasant Under Glass," "Physician Impossible," "Is This Trip Necessary?," "Moonlighting Becomes You," "Witness for the Execution," "And Only Two Ninety-nine." The weakest are "Ice Station Siegfried," "Rebecca of Funny Folk Farm," "How Green Was My Valet," "What's It All About, Algie," and "Hello Columbus, Goodbye America."

Share your thoughts with other customers: Create your own review

› See all 4 customer reviews on Amazon.ca

 

4.0 out of 5 stars ... and loving it
First came love, then came marriage, and now come baby Smarts in the baby carriage!

And the fifth and final season of the classic spy spoof "Get Smart" focuses on that... Read more

Published on May 16 2010 by E. A Solinas

Search Customer Reviews
Only search this product's reviews

› See all 4 customer reviews on Amazon.ca

Search Listmania!