Get Smart

[Clouseau]

i've been debating with myself about whether or not to start a Get Smart thread, and i won...

all i had to do next was decide where to put it... i thought about putting it in the Pink Personnel section, since the new movie features Alan Arkin as the Chief, and i suppose that if someone wanted to start a thread there specifically to talk about the movie, they might just get away with it, but i decided to put it down here so we could talk about not only the movie, but also the TV show, because according to Buck Henry (one of the show's creators), Maxwell Smart was intended to be a mix between James Bond and Inspector Clouseau from the very beginning...

i have the original TV series on DVD, and i've watched it all over the months since Christmas (and loving it)... it's a lot of fun, and sometimes the Clouseau connection is very evident... i wouldn't even be surprised if some people said Smart (who originally ran from '65 to '70) was partially responsible for maintaining Clouseau's popularity during Sellers' hiatus between ASITD and RetOTPP ('64-'75)...

anyway, i was just wondering who else here is a Get Smart fan and who is looking forward to the new movie...

also, for those really interested in the new movie, it has its own "official" forum, and if you're interested in signing up there, you can follow the link at the banner currently displaying at the bottom of any page of TPMB... it's a small community right now, but i've joined there under the name "krazy_kyvan"... just thought i'd be neighborly and give them an advert in case anyone's interested... i've also embedded a little doo-dah that will allow you to read a synopsis and even watch the trailer right here on our site, if you like!

anyway, thoughts on the show or the movie or the previous revival attempts or any of that are all welcome... for now, i'll leave it to you, though... got another call holding on shoe waiting...

[pinkadilly]

the trailer for the new movie looks pretty cool!

[in-the-pink]

Interesting widget at the bottom of the page.

Pinkadilly, have you ever seen the original show?

[pinkadilly]

i mightve seen it once or twice in reruns. looked kinda funny. kinda like an american version of clouseau, right?

[Dreyfus]

I've heard of the TV series, and I'm a huge Mel Brooks fan, so I'd probably enjoy it. I don't think its had a DVD release in the UK but I'll have to check up on it. Saddly its not shown on TV over here.

I'll definitely see the movie. It's got a great cast - James Caan, terence Stamp, Alan Arkin, Anne Hathaway and Steve Carell, so it should be interesting. It reminded me slightly of the TPP06 from the trailer.

[Clouseau]

it looks like only the first season has been released in the UK so far...

CLICKY CLICKY

being that it's 5 discs, it sounds like the same as the US version currently only available from TimeLife... my Season 1 (the US TimeLife release) includes commentaries from Mel Brooks and Buck Henry for the Pilot episode, plus a commentary from Barbara Feldon on another episode... also, the 5th disc is all bonus material, including an interview with Buck Henry and several TV appearances with Don Adams (including one on the Bill Dana Show that's really great), and a lot more... and every episode has an introduction by Barbara Feldon...

highly recommended! (along with the rest of the series if it happens to become available in your part of the world)

as i said above, Get Smart in the US is currently only available from TimeLife (you can buy the whole series or just Season 1 or Season 2 by themselves), BUT it was just announced yesterday that Season 1 will be available in stores starting August 5... here's the downside for those who think they'll wait for the store release, though: the store release will be a 4-disc stripped version, which means no Pilot episode, no commentaries, and no bonus disc! so i STRONGLY RECOMMEND that if you're in the US and you want the show, you should definitely get it directly from TimeLife...

TimeLife CLICKY

[Dreyfus]

Thanks for checking that up. Seems really good value - its really crammed with special features.

I've noticed a couple of episodes up on youtube so I'll watch them and see what I think. I'm sure the TV series will become a bit more widely available when the film is released.

[Clouseau]

yeah, i imagine between the theatrical release and the DVD release of the movie, they'll start really pushing the seasons of the old show...

they're pushing a lot of other GS-related stuff right now, too... the 1995 Get Smart TV show (with Andy Dick as Max's son) has just come out on DVD; on June 17, The Nude Bomb (movie with Don Adams as Max) is coming to R1 DVD for the first time ever; and on July 1, they're also releasing a direct-to-DVD spin-off of the new movie, called "Get Smart's Bruce & Lloyd Out of CONTROL"... Bruce & Lloyd, i think, are the new Get Smart's answer to James Bond's Q (they weren't in the original show)...

they really wanna scrape up every dollar they can remotely attach to this film, don't they?!

[in-the-pink]

Jun 6, 2008 21:06:50 GMT Dreyfus said:

I've noticed a couple of episodes up on youtube so I'll watch them and see what I think.

Oh, I definitely recommend checking it out! Don Adams was classic, and the whole concept of the show was great! If you like the slapstick side of the Pink Panther, you should like Get Smart, but the cool thing is that it also has a good satirical commentary going, too, so there are layers to the humor.

And Barbara Feldon has some WILD outfits on that show sometimes! ;D

[Clouseau]

well i had free tickets, a wicked awesome official Get Smart ball cap, and nowhere i needed to be, so my wife and i caught the earliest screening of the new movie at our local theater, at 11:45 this morning... being the massive fan of the old TV show you know me to be, i wasn't sure what to expect, but i had high hopes... have to say, i wasn't let down!

i'll try to keep my review here as spoiler-free as i can, though i hope those who have seen it will know exactly what i'm talking about...

the opening montage was great, and by the time Max made it to his briefing, i was really excited... early in the film, however, it seemed to struggle to find its pace... thankfully, a handful of excellent action sequences helped to pick things up whenever they felt like they were starting to drag, and by the halfway mark, things started to pick up, and you could tell everything was clicking a lot better...

i was actually surprised at how well developed the spy plot part of the story was... when people think of the old show, so often they get hung up on the catchphrases and the sight gags, and they forget that there were really some interesting storylines mixed in there, so i'm glad that part of it was not neglected...

Steve Carell's version of Max is very different from Don Adams', but i was impressed at how he seemed to capture the essence of the character... Steve said in some pre-release interviews that the hardest part for him was delivering the catchphrases without sounding like he was doing an impersonation, and i can see exactly what he meant... i found myself really missing Don Adams' voice, and a couple times, Steve seemed like he had to force the lines out... that said, the few times he really seemed comfortable, he nailed them! for instance, there is a very good "Would you believe" bit midway in that provided one of my biggest belly laughs of the movie!

the other thing worth noting about Carell's version is that Max really is Smart... even the Chief acknowledges him as one of the brightest analysts in the organization... the comedy comes mostly from his lack of experience in the field... and this is not as great a departure from the character of the original show as you might at first believe... though Adams' Max was often an idiot, he also was known to come up with his share of brilliant ideas, and he even occasionally saved 99's life on his own, so this is maybe a departure from the norm, but it's completely off from the original...

there were bigger changes in the characters of 99, the Chief, Larabee, Hymie, Siegfried, and Shtarker, but none really hurt the film or the spirit of the original show, i don't think... Siegfried's lack of wacky accent was the biggest disappointment of all the changed characters...

Bill Murray's Agent 13 was vastly under-used, unfortunately (showing up only once, for 30 seconds or less)... Bernie Kopell and Leonard Stern were only on screen briefly, but they both brought a smile to my face...

as far as characters invented for the movie: The Rock's Agent 23 was very cool, and fit better into the movie than i expected him to... Bruce & Lloyd were also amusing, though i'm still not sure if they deserve their own direct-to-DVD movie (due in stores on July 1)...

James Caan was pretty solid as the President... he seemed to be somewhere between George W. Bush and John McCain, but they didn't really play him for too many cheap jokes... on the subject, the political satire so commonly found on the show was definitely present, which was good, but it wasn't overwhelming, which was also good... they did an excellent job here again at keeping within the spirit of the original show...

side note: in a Dr. Strangelove moment, there's one scene in particular where i found myself yelling at the screen, "Gentlemen, you can't fight in here! This is the War Room!"

other nods to the original show: the hall of doors leading to the telephone booth was given a major makeover, but was still totally awesome! awesome also describes the short-lived cameo of the Sunbeam Tiger, and i have to invent a new level of awesomeness to describe the updated version of the Cone of Silence, which was freakin' hilarious! ;D

for all its praises, my one major complaint is with the film's marketing campaign... while they did a SUPERB job at getting the word out, using a number of contests and giveaways and cool websites and such to spread the word, they put TOO MUCH of the movie into trailers and TV spots... if you, like me, have seen all 5 or more theatrical trailers and all 20+ TV spots, then you have seen most of the funniest moments... that was the one thing that really disappointed me, was that not much was new to me by the time i got to the theater... BUT there's definitely something to be said for seeing them all pieced together in sequence, there are 3 or 4 good laughs that they held back for us, and besides that, the spy story alone has some wild twists that make it worth the while!

at the end of the day, i'm really happy with my movie-going experience, and i'm half-tempted to go back and pay to see it all again before it moves to DVD!

so to all of you who haven't been to see it yet, Get Smart and get your tickets today! you'll be laughing and crying and rooting for more... and loving it!

[Dreyfus]

Glad you enjoyed it. Did you prefer it to TPP06? I know that will be a tough question for for

[Clouseau]

that is a tough question because Steve Martin and Steve Carell have very different comedic styles from each other... i probably got more belly laughs from TPP06, but Get Smart has more action and the kind of humor where you find yourself just giggling along the way instead of laughing out loud... guess the one i would choose would depend on my mood at the moment, knowhudimean?

btw, i can't believe i forgot to mention, but Alan Arkin was really great as the Chief! he had 2 or 3 of the best lines in the movie, too!

[pinkadilly]

wow, what a review! i saw the movie tonight and really liked it. alan arkins line about the swordfish was hilarious, and steve carell and anne hathaway both dod a good job! not as funny as TPP06 for me, though, but still very funny! ;D

[Clouseau]

well interestingly enough, both TPP06 and GS08 had a budget of around $80 million, and both opened at #1 at the box office, but GS08 made almost double what TPP06 made on opening weekend... be interesting to see how the final numbers play out...

[pinkadilly]

what's the deal with this "Bruce and Lloyd" DVD that just came out?