Super Agent 86 (TV series)

Super Agent 86 (Get Smart, in its original English title) is an American television series Originally broadcast between 1965 and 1970, it parodied spy films and series, a mix of James Bond and Inspector Clouseau. Created by Mel Brooks and Buck Henry, it starred Don Adams as Maxwell Smart, Agent 86, and Barbara Feldon as Agent 99.

86 and 99 worked for CONTROL, a supposed secret spy agency of the United States government. Henry said the idea for the series came from a proposal by Daniel Melnick to capitalize on "the two biggest characters in entertainment today: James Bond and Inspector Clouseau." Brooks said: "It's a crazy combination of James Bond and Mel Brooks comedy."

The series aired on NBC between September 18, 1965 and April 12, 1969. It then moved to CBS, where the final season aired, between September 11, 1969 and April 11. September 1970. The series was very popular in the mid-1960s, and has been rerun several times around the world via satellite. It won seven Emmy Awards and was nominated for another fourteen and two Golden Globes.

Three feature films have been made based on the series: first, one with part of the original cast in 1980, titled The Nude Bomb, also known like The Return of Maxwell Smart or Maxwell Smart and the Nude Bomb. After these, a special made for television called Get Smart, Again! was released in 1989. And also Super Agent 86: From the Movie, starring Steve Carell, Anne Hathaway and Alan Arkin, premiered in 2008 in Spain (titled El Súper Agente 86 in Latin America). A series derived from this film was released in the United States, titled Get Smart's Bruce and Lloyd: Out of Control and a sequel in 1995 starring Adams and Feldon, with Andy Dick in the role of his son, Zach, one of the Smart twins.

History

The series focuses on the adventures of secret agent Maxwell Smart (Don Adams), prone to committing great mistakes at every moment; also known as Agent 86. His partner (and, later, wife) is Agent 99 (Barbara Feldon), whose real name is never revealed. Max and 99 work for CONTROL (parody of the CIA), a secret agency of the American government, located in Washington D.C. (at 123 Main Street). The two embark on numerous missions around the world, and Smart's incompetence always causes complications. However, Smart never fails in his missions, thanks to his chance luck and the help of 99; without counting on its infallible shoephone, (an advanced cell phone of the time whose body was the shoe, which had a disc on the sole). Max and 99's superior is the long-suffering Chief of CONTROL (Edward Platt), known simply as "The Boss." However, in one chapter in a scene in a court the judge asks him to say his first name, which turns out to be Tadeo.

CONTROL's nemesis is KAOS (parody of the KGB), "the international organization of evil", an equally inept organization from an unknown country belonging to the Eastern Bloc. Although CONTROL and KAOS always appear in capital letters, they are not initials or acronyms. Another funny fact is the fact that these two antonym concepts have been used to define the two rival organizations.

In its five seasons it had the pleasure of parodying films or series such as Casablanca, The Fugitive, The Great Escape, Bonnie and Clyde, Rear Window, Goldfinger, The Treasure of Sierra Madre, Ironside, Murder on the Orient Express, Agent 007 against Dr. No and even its indirect competition, The Avengers.

Characters

CONTROL

• Maxwell Smart (Don Adams), also known as Max. or Agent 86, he is the protagonist of the series. Despite being a secret government agent, he's clumsy, pathetic and not very intelligent. Its most characteristic instrument is Zapatophone, a hidden phone in your shoe that serves you to communicate with CONTROL. In one episode it is shown that virtually all of your clothing accessories (cut, scarf, belt...) are phones. Mostly, when they turn towards him, they call him "Max" and rarely "86".

• La Agent 99. (Barbara Feldon) is a high and attractive agent whose presence is very useful in many secret operations. Generally, 99 is more competent than Max, but he saves his life in many episodes. Max and 99 get married in the 4th season and have twins in the 5th.

• The Chief of CONTROL (Edward Platt), although it is sarcastic and grunting, it is also intelligent, serious and prudent. He started his career at CONTROL as Agent Q. He is very sympathetic to Max and 99, but he suffers continual dislike from the incompetence of his subordinate.

• Hymie the Robot (Dick Gautier) (“Jaime” in the Hispanic American version) is a powerful android built by Dr. Ratton to work for KAOS, but on his first mission Smart manages to put it on the CONTROL side. Hymie has numerous superhuman abilities, such as a force and a speed superior to humans and the ability to ingest poisons and record its name, class and quantity, although its design does not include artificial intelligence, which is manifested primarily in that Hymie takes the orders that are given in a totally literal way, which leads to rhetoric situations.

• The Agent 13 (Dave Ketchum) is an agent always hidden in the strangest and most unlikely places, such as a cigarette vending machine, a mailbox, a washing machine, a locker, a trash bin or a fire mouth. He tends to complain about the missions he is assigned. Agent 13 is an occasional character but appears in numerous episodes of the second season, and in The Nude Bombplayed by another actor.

• The Agent 44 (Victor French), Agent 13's predecessor also appears hidden in strange places. 44 used to self-compete and protest for his work, and sometimes he tried to keep Max talking to keep his company. 44 appears in numerous episodes of the second half of the first season. In the last season there is a new Agent 44, played by Al Molinaro, who appeared in two episodes.

• Larabee (Robert Karvelas) is the clumsy secretary of the Chief, and capable of being even clumsier than Maxwell Smart himself. It is usually quiet and serious, but when you speak you often manifest your complete ignorance for any task. The actor Robert Karvelas was Don Adams' cousin. Larabee also appears in The Nude Bomb.

• The Admiral Harold Harmon Hargrade or The Admiral (William Schallert) is the old boss. Founded CONTROL at the beginning of the centuryXX.. He has a very bad memory, and he believes the president of the United States is still Herbert Hoover. He's 95 years old, he's got a bad balance, and sometimes he drops when he walks. He also has narcolepsy.

• Charlie Watkins or Agent 38 (Angelique Pettyjohn) is a camouflaged agent and a disguise master who appears as a glamorous woman of clothing in two episodes. You can also put a female voice as part of the costume.

• Ring or Agent K-13 He's an under-trained dog who works for CONTROL. It appears in the first season and part of the second; its relationship with Max is almost master/mascot.

• Carlson (Stacy Keach, Mr.) is CONTROL's inventor during the second season (providing Desmond Llewelyn and his character Q in the 007). While analyzing the inventions, Max usually breaks them even before using them. Carlson followed other CONTROL scientists who had the same role in the first season: Carleton (Frank DeVol), who appeared in the pilot episode and in another episode, the egocentric Windish (Robert O. Cornthwaite) and Parker (Milton Selzer).

• La Dr. Steel (Ellen Weston) is a CONTROL scientist who makes three appearances in the third season. She's a smart and very attractive woman whose camouflage is the dancer in a luxury cabaret. The entrance to your lab is through a large trunk that is between racks. Dr. Steel usually makes complex scientific tests carrying its performance wardrobe and always appears explaining its findings as it rehearses its next dance, after which it quickly goes on stage. Dr. Steel was replaced by Dr. Simon (Ann Elder), who had a very similar role and appeared in two episodes of the fourth season.

• Harry Hoo (Joey Forman), he's a Hawaiian detective from Honolulu, a parody of fictitious detective Charlie Chan. Hoo is not a member of CONTROL, they work together in murder cases.

KAOS

• Mr. Big (Michael Dunn) is the supposed leader of KAOS and a dwarf. It appears only in the pilot episode in black and white, and dies by being hit by a ray of his invention, the Inthermo. Other KAOS chiefs appear in various episodes.

• Conrad von Siegfried or simply Siegfried (Bernie Kopell) is the main villain and vice president of Public Relations and Terror of KAOS. He is Max's counterpart in KAOS, and also his nemesis, although both are respectfully treated with each other, even when they are trying to kill each other.

• Shtarker (King Moody) is Siegfried's mint. Shtarker is an enthusiastic lackey whose personality changes from that of a sadistic villain to that of a presumptuous child, interrupting conversations with ridiculous vocal sounds that imitate weapons or engines.

• The Garra (Leonard Strong) is an Asian villain similar to Dr. Not that it represents the Asian sector of KAOS. Instead of a left hand has a powerful magnet, which gives it its name. Sometimes the Garra attracts something metallic with its magnet that accidentally creates confusion. Like Siegfried, he has a strong but unintelligent assistant, called Bobo.

• Natz (Ted de Corsia) is a villain who appears in one of the episodes in which Hymie appears. He appeared in the episode in which Hymie is stolen from KAOS, and in another episode in which they build a robot, called "Groppo" to kill Hymie.

Guest stars

Throughout the series' five seasons, numerous guest actors and celebrities, and some future stars, appeared in episodic roles, including:

Bill Dana and Jonathan Harris, who appeared with Adams on The Bill Dana Show, also appeared, as did Adams' brother, Dick Yarmy, and his daughter, Caroline Adams.

In the series there were numerous cameos by famous actors and comedians, sometimes not included in the credits, and comedians who were friends of Adams. Johnny Carson appeared, as a "guest star", in the episode Aboard the Orient Express. Carson returned for another uncredited cameo, as a royal servant in the season three episode The King Lives?. Others made guest appearances: Steve Allen, Milton Berle, Ernest Borgnine, Wally Cox, Robert Culp (as a waiter, in an episode that parodied Culp's series I'm a Spy), Phyllis Diller, Buddy Hackett, Bob Hope and Martin Landau.

Adaptations in other media

After the end of the series, four feature films based on it have been produced:

• a film version called The Nude Bomb (also known as The Return of Maxwell Smart or Maxwell Smart and the Nude Bomb) in 1980, which turned out a box office failure.
• a version for television, Get Smart, Again! in 1989, issued at the ABC.
• a film version in 2008, starring Steve Carell and Anne Hathaway, produced by the Warner Bros.
• a spin-off based on the latter, entitled Get Smart's Bruce and Lloyd: Out of Control

The success of the original series led FOX to launch a new version in 1995 that was not very successful and was canceled with only seven episodes broadcast, also titled Super Agent 86, with Don Adams and Barbara Feldon in the same characters. Max was now the head of CONTROL, in the notable and unjustified absence of the now deceased Edward Platt, and his clumsy son, Zach (Andy Dick) was CONTROL's new star agent. This new series failed for not maintaining the essence of the original series.

Adams in similar roles

Don Adams played Maxwell Smart in a Kmart department store advertisement in 1989. He appeared speaking on his shoe phone, telling the Boss about the large selection of appliances available at Kmart. An exact replica of him approaches him and Max says, "Don't tell me, you're a double agent."

Adams appeared in a series of advertisements for a New York appliance chain called Savemart, playing Maxwell Smart. The slogan was: «Get Smart. Get SaveMart Smart». And he also in a series of advertisements for White Castle in 1992, paying homage to his character, with his characteristic phrase: "You would believe me if...".

Adams returned to play the clumsy secret agent character in the animated series Inspector Gadget, in which he voiced the protagonist. This series spawned the live-action film Inspector Gadget in 1999, starring Matthew Broderick (in which Adams had a cameo, dubbing the voice of the dog Sultan) and the series Gadget Boy. None of these series were directly related to Super Agent 86.

In the late '90s, Adams also appeared as Maxwell Smart in advertisements for Toyota and a transportation company.

Books and comics

William Johnston wrote and Tempo Books published, in the late 1960s, a series of novels based on the series. Dell Comics published an eight-issue comic between 1966 and 1967, drawn in part by Steve Ditko. The Get Smart Handbook written by Joey Green in 1993 published by Collier Books is a reference book with all the data on the series, character sheets, famous phrases, biographies of the protagonists and episode guide among other sections. Would you believe...? written by Don Adams in 1966 and published by Price, Stern, Sloan. The Life & Time of Maxwell Smart written by Donna McCrohan in 1988 and published in New York by St. Martin's Press is another book that compiles information about the series with many anecdotes from the time of its production.

2008 film

A film version was released in 2008, starring Steve Carell as Maxwell Smart (Agent 86), Anne Hathaway as Agent 99, Alan Arkin as the Chief, Terence Stamp as Siegfried, Masi Oka as Bruce, Dwayne Johnson as the Agent 23, a new character who was not in the series, and Patrick Warburton as Hymie the Robot. Bill Murray and Bernie Kopell make cameos, and James Caan, who guest starred in one episode, plays the President of the United States. The film is dedicated to Adams and Platt, and Feldon reportedly declined to appear in it.

The proposed film

The 1966 Batman film, released during the series' run, was a huge success and encouraged other television series to do the same. The only one that was released was Munster Go Home (1966), based on the series The Munsters, which was a resounding failure and caused the cancellation of other projects, including a film based on Super Agent 86 . What was to be the script for that film was transformed into a three-part episode, titled A Man Called Smart. The three parts were broadcast on April 8, 15 and 22, 1967.

Production notes

The devices

One of the most famous gags of the series was Max's "shoephone" (an idea of Brooks): one of his shoes could be used as a telephone. To wear it or answer it, Max had to take it off and remove the sole, which hid the record and microphone. The shoe became a gun by dialing the number 117. There were also telephones hidden in objects such as a tie, a comb, a wristwatch, a watch, a handkerchief, a magazine, a hose, a lighter, the steering wheel of a car (Max protested because every time he turned, the record turned) and a sandwich. Sometimes Max's shoes contained other utensils. Hidden in the soles were an explosive capsule, a suicide pill, and a smoke bomb.

On February 17, 2002, Maxwell Smart's shoephone was included in an exhibition titled Spies: Secrets of the CIA, KGB and Hollywood, a collection of real and fictional spy utensils displayed in the Ronald Reagan Presidential Library and Museum, in Simi Valley, California.

Another of the best-known gags of the series was the Cone of Silence (an idea of Henry). Smart pedantically insisted on following CONTROL security protocols, and in the Boss's office he always insisted on speaking under the Cone of Silence (two plastic hemispheres joined by a tube, which automatically lowered from the ceiling and was placed above the heads of Max and the Boss), which never worked, causing the characters to have to shout to hear each other. In one episode, Max and 99 travel to CONTROL's English headquarters in London, where they were not exactly using a Cone of Silence, but an Umbrella of Silence.

Cars

AMT made a model of the 1965 Sunbeam Tiger that Smart drove in the series lead. With a complete hidden arsenal, this is the only model of the Tiger. The 1968 season showed Max in a Volkswagen Karmann Ghia at the opener; that car never appeared in the series. A 1969 Opel GT also appeared with a new telephone: a giant dialing disc that covered the steering wheel. Max is seen driving a Ford Shelby Mustang with interior upholstery in at least one episode. In episode 1 a Ferrari 250 California Spider appears.

Episodes

International broadcast

• Latin America: Uniseries, Retro, TCM & Nick at Nite (Nickelodeon Latin America) (2008-2010)
• Spain: TVE 50 years
• Mexico: Canal 4 (Televisa), Canal 5 (Televisa) and Canal 28 (Cadenatres)
• Panama: FETV Canal 5
• Paraguay: Canal 11 Hispanoamérica TV (70s), Canal 5 Paravisión (80s), Canal 13 (Teledifusora Paraguaya) (2001), Red Guaraní (TEVEDOS) (2000), Telefuturo (Canal 4 TV ACTION) (90s), SNT (Canal 9 TV CERRO CORA) (90s) and CVC Cable (2003-presente)
• Peru: Channel 7 (RTP, today TVPERU) (80s); America Television (90's), Austral Televisión (Canal 11, Today RBC; 1998 - 2000), Latin Frequency (2004)
• Costa Rica: Canal 7 (2008,2020)
• Argentina: El Nueve (Telearte) (years 70 and 80, 2002), El Trece (Artear) (years 1990, 2011-2012), Telefe (Federal Division) (years 1990, 2012-2013), América TV (Radiodifusora El Carmen) (2000), Ciudad Magazine (2021-2023)
• Venezuela: Canal 4 (Venevision) (decades of 60 and 70), Canal 2 (RCTV) (decade of 80's) and Canal 10 (Televen) 2005-2006.
• Ecuador: TC Televisión (years 80's), RTS (years 1990's), GamaTV (2002 - 2004), Ecuavisa (2009), Oromar Televisión (2015)
• Chile: Canal 13 (Universidad Católica de Chile Televisión) 1981-2005, (UCV Televisión) 1991-1993, La Red 1995-1996, Canal ISB 5 January - May 2015
• El Salvador: Canal 12 1990-2005
• Honduras: Honduran Telesystem and Canal 5 The Leader
• Colombia: It was transmitted by Canal Uno, and retransmitted by the RCN and Canal Caracol.
• Uruguay: It was transmitted as Super Agent F-86 by Teledoce originally, and by Monte Carlo TV towards the 2000s in a mixed block with The Three Sparks, but years later that series would go to CVC Cable. In 2020 it is broadcast daily within the cycle "La Hora Retro" by TV City