Your Favorite Episodes
Almost from the start of this website in 1995, I've been soliciting votes for your favorite episodes. The top 15 vote-getters are shown here, but I encourage you to vote for any episode. I used to only list the top 10, but I got tired of seeing the same episode titles, so now I list the top 15. The battle for first place has always been between three episodes - Aboard the Orient Express, The Not-so-Great Escape, and The Little Black Book, but A Spy For a Spy is getting close! (Add Your Vote!) If you need help with an episode title, my episode guide can be found here.
The winner is...
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The Not-so-Great Escape
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CONTROL agents keep disappearing from the airport, including one right from under Max's nose. The Chief and Max go to the airport to investigate and the Chief disappears as well. Max appoints himself Acting Chief, refuses Larabee's plea to reopen the CONTROL Deli, and discovers that the agents are being held at a KAOS Prisoner of War Camp - Camp Gitchee-Goomee Noonie-WaWa. Max goes undercover as KAOS Major Kessler to try and free his fellow agents, but he gets caught and becomes a prisoner as well. Max then makes several escape attempts. Despite outrunning Shtarker, none of Max's plans work and the agents are forced to dig a tunnel to freedom. Siegfried, Larabee, and brilliant direction from Don Adams make this one my favorite episode as well. The byplay between Siegfried and Shtarker about the dogs and Major Kessler's arrival is some of the best dialogue in the series. |
Second Place
| A Spy for a Spy
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The Chief is kidnapped by a magician named Siegfried, who tries to swap the Chief for the plans to the X11. Unable to raise the ransom money, Max kidnaps KAOS' top agent in order to swap him for the Chief. KAOS retaliates by kidnapping another CONTROL agent and then Max and Siegfried end up kidnapping all of the agents of each other's agency. A huge swap meet is then held so that KAOS and CONTROL can get all their agents back. Unfortunately, Max loses the swap meet because Siegfried kidnaps the CONTROL bus driver. |
The classic two-parter holds firm in third:
| Ship of Spies
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KAOS has stolen the plans to the nuclear amphibian battleship and hidden them on the freighter Lucky Star. The thief kills a CONTROL informer and the only clue is a clip-clop noise he makes. Max and 99 book passage and search for the clip-clop noise, which everyone on the ship seems to make. To assist them, 44 hides out below with a cargo hold full of monkeys. There are so many brilliant scenes in this two-part episode that it's hard to single out one, but I love the Yankee Doodle Dandy bit in the beginning. There's also the classic deck-chair sequence, 44 in the porthole, Parker and Smart discussing the monkeys, I could go on and on! |
Fourth Place Holds the former champion:
| The Little Black Book
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Don Adams' real life friend Don Rickles joins him in this episode. Rickles, playing Max's old army buddy Sid, borrows Max's address book. Unfortunately, it's actually a book listing KAOS agents, who are desperate to get the book back. The episode, originally scheduled as a single episode, became a two-parter after Rickles and Adams spent so much time making each other laugh that the crew went into overtime to get the job done. Fortunately, their ad-libs enabled them to stretch the episode into a two-parter. On the amazing DVD set, you can hear Rickles' commentary on this episode and a great collection of bloopers from it as well. |
Moment Please for 5th Place Episode:
| The Amazing Harry Hoo
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Max is in San Francisco trying to determine who killed a KAOS courier. He meets famed detective Harry Hoo who helps him solve the case. There are two possibilities; the courier was killed by one smoker and 50 non-smokers or the Craw (not the Craw, THE CRAW) did it. This episodes combines two all-time Smart favorites, Harry Hoo and The Craw. |
The classic Larry Storch guest-shot is next:
| The Groovy Guru
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Many of the country's teenagers are dancing constantly, under the spell of the Groovy Guru, and CONTROL must put a stop to it. The CONTROL agents who are sent after him all end up dancing under his spell also. Max and 99 head into the Guru's meditation palace to stop the Guru. They're armed with a lie pill in case of capture, which leads to some hysterical scenes with Max under its influence. The discover that the Guru plans to incite the nation's youth to riot. He'll do this by broadcasting a special song (sung by the Sacred Cows) during his live broadcast, unless CONTROL can stop him. This was ranked as one of the 100 best TV show episodes ever by TV Guide. |
In 7th Place:
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KAOS steals a water evaporation formula (DRY-UP) and blackmails the country by threatening to dry up all its water. Max's informant, character actor Russell Bedioyskin, is shot, as is the Chief in a hospital shoot-out. Admiral Hardgrave comes back to CONTROL to lead it through this crisis as Max and 99 head to California. It features the first appearance of the admiral and the classic stretcher-through-the- revolving-door scene. This was designed to be a Get Smart movie and it's a shame that fell through because it would be considered a movie classic if it had been made. |
Moving up one spot is this 5th season two-parter:
| And Baby Makes Four
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Simon the Likable is stealing Pentagon documents and Max must stop him. However, he switches coats with a KAOS agent and ends up with the map to the new KAOS HQ. KAOS ends up with 99's map to the hospital and when 99 has to give birth she and Max end up at the wrong place at the wrong time. Fortunately, 99's mother is there to save the day. I'm not a big fan of this episode either, but hey, that's what this voting is all about. |
Dropping Rapidly is:
| The Impossible Mission
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The fourth season opener features Max and 99 trapped in an impossible situation, facing certain death. The only way out for Max - the slow, lingering death of marriage! There are bits in this episode that parody Mission:Impossible and also pay tribute to Charlie Chaplin. I find the episode forced and a little fake, but it's incredibly popular, especially among female fans. |
Tickets Please for the 10th place episode:
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CONTROL couriers are being murdered on the Orient Express in order to prevent them from delivering the payroll to Iron Curtain agents. The Chief decides to send 99 as the next courier, but Max accidentally handcuffs himself to the payroll briefcase and must deliver it himself. Agent 44 is aboard the train and supposed to help Max, but he refuses because he hasn't been paid. To make matters worse, it seems everybody on the train has been to Tanganyika! This held the number one spot for the first three years or so of this poll, but it's been fading ever since. |
11-15:
With Love and Twitches
Snoopy Smart vs. the Red Baron
To Sire, With Love
My Nephew the Spy
Schwartz's Island
The Episodes That Have Never Received a Vote:
Someone Down Here Hates Me
The Mummy
Pussycats Galore
Temporarily Out of CONTROL
Valerie of the Dolls
Voting Last Updated: June 13, 2007
Add your vote to the list! Fill out the following form and I'll add your votes to the list. In order to prevent people from stuffing the ballot box, you must give me a valid e-mail address when you vote or your vote will not be counted. You may only vote once. Your e-mail will not be used for any purpose other then to validate your vote, but to prevent ballot stuffing, votes sent in with a fake e-mail address, or no e-mail address aren't counted. As you may have already guessed, two-part episodes count as one show for voting purposes. You can vote for any episode you want, not just the ones listed here. So far, 133 out of the 138 episodes have received votes.
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