View Full Version : Binge watched seasons 4 and 5


getsmartbeaver
02-02-2017, 01:12 AM
I asked for seasons 4 and 5 of Get Smart on DVD for Christmas and got them. Those were two of my favorite presents this year because they're my two favorite seasons of Get Smart (I like 5 more than 4).

Several years ago I asked for the 2-pack of seasons 1 and 2 for Christmas, but got season 3 instead because they couldn't find the 2-pack.

I binge watched seasons 4 and 5 over the weekend. I watched "Snoopy Smart vs. the Red Baron," "The Secret of Sam Vittorio," "Diamonds Are a Spy's Best Friend" and "Schwartz's Island" on separate nights. (I chose "The Secret of Sam Vittorio" because my mom likes a line from that episode, the other three because I really like them.)

On Thursday I watched "One Nation Invisible" and the third and fourth discs from season 4. The only episode I skipped was "Leadside." It's really odd how I like the second half of season 4 more than the first half. (By the way, I kept thinking the title of the episode was "The Day They Raided Knights" instead of "The Day They Raided the Knights."I also used to spell "Hurray for Hollywood" "Hooray for Hollywood.")

On Saturday I watched the first and second discs of season 5, skipping "Is This Trip Necessary?" On Sunday I watched the fourth and fifth discs of season 5, except I watched the episodes out of order. I decided to watch them from least favorite to most favorite: "I Am Curiously Yellow"; "Smartacus"; "Hello, Columbus--Goodbye, America"; ""Do I Hear a Vaults?"; "What's It All About, Algie?"; and "And Only Two Ninety-Nine." I also decided to turn on captions for two of Larabee's lines because I couldn't make out some of the words he was saying. In "Rebecca of Funny-Folk Farm" it was "rigor mortis" and in "Hello Columbus--Goodbye, America" it was longshoremen.

PhoenixAcres
02-04-2017, 10:50 PM
I also like the later seasons better. Season 4 IMO had some of the sharpest and most tightly-written scripts, end result being some of the funniest episodes of the series. Some of my favorites that year were the episode with the two CONTROL agents spying on 99 to complete their training, the wedding episode, and the prison camp two-parter.

Season 5 was also a lot of fun. It seemed odd that they waited so long to take advantage of Larabee's character but he really shines in this season. The stories kept getting wilder too. What comes to mind is the one with the hallucinogenic drug in the water supply. It just needs to be seen to be believed. Not that I'm complaining, though; I liked how they were experimenting with new and unusual forms of humor.

getsmartbeaver
02-06-2017, 12:38 AM
Season 5 was also a lot of fun. It seemed odd that they waited so long to take advantage of Larabee's character but he really shines in this season.

I agree. I noticed that in the season 2 episode "A Man Called Smart, Part 3" Larabee was disguised as a chauffeur and when Max told him to follow that car, Larabee said, "Right, 86," and he ran after the car. I don't recall him acting like any other time in the first three seasons unless you count "Cutback at Control" saying he doesn't have a dime for the payphone. There were a lot of sides to Larabee, but I thought his complex, dynamic character was very believable.

QTMcWhiskers
05-07-2017, 06:32 PM
Season 4 definitely improved in its second half, of which "One Nation Invisible" and "Snoopy vs Red Baron" are the only two I recall really liking. Maybe "With Love and Twitches" as well. But the second half, and the finale, are fantastic.

Season 5 is criminally underrated. Season 4 had some good episodes but it wasn't too hard to tell they were scrambling at times. Compare to season 5, which feels fresh and new and is underrated. Shame CBS didn't renew for another season. Season 5 had some clunkers but

"Is This Trip Necessary" is dated due to the hippie references but is hysterical nonetheless (IMHO, as I wasn't alive at the time.)

"Do I hear a Vaults" and "And Only Two Ninety-Nine" are episodes I really liked but "Vaults" was the weaker of the two. "Rebecca" is an oddball but had some terrific moments.

"How Green was my Valet" is a middle of the road entry for me.

The opener, "Pheasant under Glass" had some great zingers and reference to the moon landing (which seemed bizarre, but was topical and I recall a hilarious joke about the time it took to get back compared to rush hour...) The only thing I didn't like was the bogus high pitched note. Still a fun season opener, but later episodes hit it out of the ballpark.

And, of course, "Valerie of the Dolls" had some of the best zingers of all time.

getsmartbeaver
05-09-2017, 01:02 AM
Season 4 definitely improved in its second half, of which "One Nation Invisible" and "Snoopy vs Red Baron" are the only two I recall really liking. Maybe "With Love and Twitches" as well. But the second half, and the finale, are fantastic.

Season 5 is criminally underrated. Season 4 had some good episodes but it wasn't too hard to tell they were scrambling at times. Compare to season 5, which feels fresh and new and is underrated. Shame CBS didn't renew for another season. Season 5 had some clunkers but

"Is This Trip Necessary" is dated due to the hippie references but is hysterical nonetheless (IMHO, as I wasn't alive at the time.)

"Do I hear a Vaults" and "And Only Two Ninety-Nine" are episodes I really liked but "Vaults" was the weaker of the two. "Rebecca" is an oddball but had some terrific moments.

"How Green was my Valet" is a middle of the road entry for me.

The opener, "Pheasant under Glass" had some great zingers and reference to the moon landing (which seemed bizarre, but was topical and I recall a hilarious joke about the time it took to get back compared to rush hour...) The only thing I didn't like was the bogus high pitched note. Still a fun season opener, but later episodes hit it out of the ballpark.

And, of course, "Valerie of the Dolls" had some of the best zingers of all time.

If Like/Thumbs Up were a feature, I'd give one for your post. I guess this will do :thumbsup:

1960'sTVfan
05-09-2017, 05:25 PM
I like seasons 4 and 5 also. Not every episode is great but the majority are good. Seasons 1 and 2 are mostly good too. Season 3 in my opinion is the weakest season, it's not a bad season but there are more lackluster episodes in season 3 compared to the other seasons.

PhoenixAcres
05-09-2017, 10:31 PM
"Is This Trip Necessary" is dated due to the hippie references but is hysterical nonetheless (IMHO, as I wasn't alive at the time.)

I was thinking of this episode recently. This was the most glaring example of the show falling completely into late 60s insanity. The writers must have been on some sort of drug themselves. Still I think it was an enjoyable episode and I liked the randomness aspect, something that could have only worked in the later, crazier seasons.

As I said before I love seasons 4 and 5.

QTMcWhiskers
04-03-2018, 07:40 PM
If Like/Thumbs Up were a feature, I'd give one for your post. I guess this will do :thumbsup:

(blush) Thanks! :) :thumbsup:

getsmartbeaver
04-03-2018, 08:11 PM
(blush) Thanks! :) :thumbsup:

You're welcome. By the way, I decided to rewatch my favorite episodes of Get Smart because both Don Adams and Robert Karvelas have birthdays in April, and it seems appropriate for April Fools' Day and National Autism Awareness Month. (I've had a fan fiction theory that Max has dyspraxia and Larabee has Asperger's Syndrome, although I really don't think this ever occurred to the show's writers.)

getsmartbeaver
08-07-2018, 05:47 PM
Good news! I finally found my DVDs of seasons 1 and 2 of Get Smart. So since the newest version of Freaky Friday is going to premiere this week, I'm watching the best of Larabee as a sort of countdown marathon. Incidentally, I'm not really a fan of any of the Freaky Friday movies. The 1995 movie was my favorite scriptwise and actingwise, but I loved how the 1976 version had these random familiar actors.

Heenan Fan
02-06-2019, 02:27 AM
Get Smart is literally my favorite sitcom to binge watch. I think it's because of the famous Nick@Nite marathon from 1990 or 91, I forget. I remember staying up late, ordering pizza, having friends over. To this day, I don't like to watch less than 3 episodes minimum.

getsmartbeaver
02-08-2019, 08:09 PM
I'm working my way through on DVD, just moved into Season 2. My favorite ones so far are ones that take you inside Control: the training school, the old spies' retirement home, the Control agents' negotiation for a new contract. Just moved into Siegfried's first episode.

Nice! I'm about to start season 5 again. I might watch episodes 1 through 5 on Sunday.