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2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
Be smart-Get Smart!, Mar 15 2009
Get Smart continues for its' second season,Sep/66 through to April/67;and there's no let up in the humour and fun.
We get intoduced to long running series KAOS agent and fan favourite Siegfried,played wonderfully over the top by Bernie Kopell(the later ships doctor on the Love Boat).He's an ex-Nazi who has definitely got his knickers in a spy twist.
Max continues to get himself and Agent#99 in and out of jams by the skin of his teeth;even in spite of himself.The thing with Max is his heart and loyalties are always in the right place even though his skills are sometimes hit and miss.It's always funny to see that Stan Laurel-ish look come over his face when ever he commits a faux-paux,verbally or otherwise.This series' humour is definitely very dry and sometimes the jokes will whiz by before they really sink in,but they are always front and center nonetheless.
Included with this set are the usual commentaries with some eps and Barbara Feldon herself is back to introduce each ep.The last three eps in this season were originally to be a Get Smart movie but instead were turned into a three parter.And I guess the show budget wasn't great because instead of "Goldfinger" we have only the ep "Bronzefinger";a direct reference and homage to this series roots,i.e.the James Bond movies starring Sean Connery.And of course they send it up in great style as usual.
As with the first season this season is remastered and it looks pretty good.There is a "disturbing" audio portion in "Three spies in a sub",the first ep of disc two,you might keep an ear open for.At about the 19 minute mark and going for about 60 seconds or so,the actors voices suddenly sound like they are in a hollow tunnel.It is probably something in the original film,but I would have thought with today's technology they could have tried to correct it.
There are no other special features in this season other than the above mentioned commentaries.This set,as with season one,does contains a 4 page insert with an ep list and a blurb written by one of the shows participants;this one by Dave Ketchum(agent 13).
The box set containing all five seasons HAS all the extras,including bloopers,interviews with the writers,producers and a myriad of others but so far none have been included on these individual releases.We might ask why? As an aside I tried to acquire one of those sets into my collection and went through THREE sets and everyone of them had play inhibiting scuff marks/scratches in two or more of the seasons! Just terrible.That is why I am buying the sets individually and so far all is ok.It is just like my experience with the I Love Lucy box set(see my review on that),which I had to eventually give up on and go season by season also.I don't know about you but I have gotten very leery of large box sets anymore.The packaging and quality control seem very lax;the more discs,the more chances of trouble.
In concluding,Season Two of Get Smart is bound to please the fans of the five year running,Emmy award winning series as much as Season one did;and even make some new ones.Unfortunately the makers have for some reason decided NOT to include any of the extras that are extant with the box set,which is very unfortunate.
However the series dry humour along with its' star Don Adams are the perfect match in the show that spoofed the spy genre of the 60s to the Max!
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2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Getting smarter, Jan 11 2009
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. And the second season of spies, lies and kookiness only gets funnier, with Don Adams and Barbara Feldon continuing to save the free world.
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.
The second season starts off rockily, with KAOS reprogramming Hymie to murder the Chief, and soon they step up their attacks against CONTROL: KAOS's new leader Siegfried (Bernie Kopell) kidnaps the Chief, and Max responds by kidnapping KAOS's top assassin... unfortunately sparking off a bunch of revenge kidnappings, until nobody is left at either organization.
As the season goes on, Max encounters new obstacles and plots against the free world -- he fakes his death, impersonates a safecracker, goes to Casablanca, tries to solve serial killings in the tropics, works in a circus, suffers amnesia, and is pursued by an evil big game hunter, a la "The Most Dangerous Game."
And what's more, and 99 have to deal with art thieves, submarines, mummies, beauty pageants, Arab princes, mouthy KAOS parrots, CONTROL being closed down, smiling killers, bronze paint, the Choker, going to jail, and a seductive woman who may be the dismantlement of Hymie.
The important development of "Get Smart's" second season is that Max finally gets a regular nemesis. As Holmes had his Moriarty, so Max has his Siegfried: a heel-cracking German with an exuberant sidekick, and a catchphrase of his own ("Ve don't ____ here!"). Siegfried isn't in every episode, but he crops up often enough to be worth noting.
Basically, the second season polishes up the kooky spy antics of the first, with more slapstick antics, delightfully weird problems (Max as head of the CONTROL workers' union?), and movie homages ("Goldfinger," "The Most Dangerous Game," "Casablanca"). Not to mention those wonderfully improbable gadgets ("Why hide a tape recorder in a camera and a camera in a tape recorder? Why not just take pictures with the camera, and record with the recorder?" "Because my mind doesn't work that way, that's why!").
Don Adams is the heart of the series, with his quirky face, nasal voice, odd body language and confident catchphrases ("And loving it!"). Max is not your usual inept spy -- he's confident that he's suave and competant, and somehow this carries him through to the end. Barbara Feldon plays a wonderful straight woman to Max's goofiness, while Edward Platt is just wonderful as the long-suffering Chief.
As for the new characters: Kopell is hysterical as "Zigfried," an excitable Germanic KAOS agent who is constantly thwarted by Max, which tends to upset him. David Ketchum is introduced as the aptly named Agent 13, an unlucky guy who is always hiding in tiny unpleasant spaces (garbage cans, freezers).
"Get Smart" didn't get smarter in its second season, but it definitely got better, especially with the introduction of Siegfried. Definitely a must see, for fans of spies and madcap comedy.
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0 of 1 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
Nostalgic "Smart" laughs, April 14 2009
It was good to see the excellent video quality and to remember and once again laugh at one of my favourite old tv comedy shows.
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