The DVD Releases

The Old Produce the Best DVD Set of the Year Trick

Time-Life released Get Smart: The Complete Collection for sale in the U.S. in November, 2006. It's an amazing collection that has won numerous awards, including Best In Show at the TV-DVD Awards. Get Smart: The Complete Collection features all 138 episodes uncut and beautifully re-mastered.  It's available RIGHT NOW from Time-Life for only $99.95 and free shipping! The box set has over 9 hours of extras, beautifully restored masters, and comes in a cool phone booth box. Individual sets of all five seasons, complete with extras, can also be bought from Time-Life right now. Complete details on every extra can be found below.

     There are two versions of the Get Smart DVDs - the Time-Life release and the HBO retail release. There are major differences between the versions, so here are the details:

Time-Life worked out a deal with HBO to share the rights and DVD production and for both of them to release Get Smart on DVD. Time-Life would have a year's exclusive to sell its set online and via phone order. After that year was up, HBO was allowed to sell the DVD set via normal retail outlets. In a rare move, Time-Life began by selling just the complete box set, which was a huge relief to completists like myself. The box set was a tremendous success, far exceeding anyone's projections. That led the HBO retail release to be delayed for over a year. HBO began releasing a retail version of the season sets in 2008, but the retail season sets are a stripped down version of the Time-Life sets and have very few extras. The box set is still available from Time-Life and also via retail outlets and it has all the extras. Confused? The details are all below.

Buy from Time-Life

What's the difference between the season sets?

I'm glad you asked! There are two different types of season sets. Time-Life is selling season sets for all five seasons and those sets feature all of the fabulous extras that are in the box set. Regular retail outlets (and Amazon.com) are currently selling season sets that DO NOT feature many extras. Barely any, in fact. The retail release of season one only has episode introductions from Barbara Feldon and one episode's commentary from Feldon. That's it. The Time-Life season sets feature a ton of extras. So why would anybody buy the retail version? Price, naturally. The retail release has a price of $24.98 and the Time-Life release has a price of $39.99. HBO has released all five seasons as season sets, but those sets are essentially extra-free. So if you like extras, buy the TL sets. If all you want is the episodes, buy the HBO retail sets. A look at the different versions:

Season Set Details:

Order now	Season 1 Extras on Time-Life Set ONLY:      *Audio Commentaries from Buck Henry, Mel Brooks, and Barbara Feldon      *Buck Henry Interview      *The Secret History of Get Smart      *Bloopers      *2003 Get Smart Reunion Seminar      *Episode Introductions From Barbara Feldon      *And much more! Extras on the retail release:      *Episode Introductions From Barbara Feldon      *Barbara Feldon commentary on Kisses for KAOS
Order now	Season 2 Extras on the Time-Life Set ONLY: Audio Commentary from Leonard Stern and Bernie Kopell Leonard Stern Interview Barbara Feldon: Real Model to Role Model Bloopers Don Adams' 75th Birthday Celebration Episode Introductions From Barbara Feldon And much more! Extras on the retail release:      *Episode Introductions From Barbara Feldon
Order now	Season 3 Extras on the Time-Life Set ONLY: Audio Commentary from Don Rickles, Barbara Feldon, and Buck Henry Bruce Bilson Interview Spooks, Spies, Gadgets and Gizmos Bloopers TV Appearances and Spots Episode Introductions From Barbara Feldon And much more! Extras on the retail release:      *Episode Introductions From Barbara Feldon
Order now	Season 4 Extras on the Time-Life Set ONLY: Audio Commentary from James Caan, Barbara Feldon, and Buck Henry Bernie Kopell Interview Barbara Feldon Interview Code Words and Catch Phrases Bloopers TV Appearances and Spots Episode Introductions From Barbara Feldon And much more! Extras on the retail release:      *Episode Introductions From Barbara Feldon
Order now	Season 5 Extras on the Time-Life Set ONLY: Audio Commentary from Bill Dana Don Adams' Memorial Service Barbara Feldon Interview The Fans of Get Smart Bloopers TV Appearances and Spots Episode Introductions From Barbara Feldon And much more! Extras on the retail release:      *Episode Introductions From Barbara Feldon

Some more notes on the DVDs:

• The restoration and mastering of the episodes is absolutely phenomenal. It's the sharpest and cleanest release of a show I've ever seen. The restoration company did an amazing job with the show. Leonard Stern said that "finally Get Smart can be seen the way it was meant to be seen." For details on the restoration, check out my restoration page.
• They are closed captioned and the only language featured is English.
• This is a Region 1 release.
• It comes packaged in a cool phone booth case!
• Order the DVDs now!

Information for buyers outside of the U.S. and Canada:

• Australian fans can rejoice! EZYDVD is selling the show in season sets for the much more reasonable price of $50 per season. Details can be found here. Both season sets and the box set are also available via regular retail outlets. Time-Life Australia is selling the episodes as individual DVDs, but their pricing is so outrageous that they have offended most Australian fans.
• Agente 86: Seasons One through Four have been released in Brazil by 2001 Video and there are plans to release season five. They have audio in English, Portuguese, and Spanish, as well as subtitles in the same languages. It also features the same extras as the Time-Life release and uses the same beautifully restored masters (Thanks to Jose R. for the info!).
• A Region 2 release is available via normal retail outlets for Europe and the UK. It's available online via play.com
• For German fans, Season One was released by Kinowelt Home Entertainment/DVD on September 8, 2006. However, there are NO bonus materials and they did not use the beautifully restored masters that Time-Life/HBO are using. It is only available in Germany. However, the producers of this DVD set definitely went the cheap route on this release so I strongly recommend that you NOT purchase this set unless you can't understand English. The Time-Life set is so superior that buying this would be a waste of your money, in my opinion.

Complete Details on the Extras in the Box Set:

    There are a ton of great extras on the release as well. I think the producers did a marvelous job locating extras and selecting things for inclusion and were very conscious of the desires of the fans. Please note that the top three extras requested by the fans are all on the DVDs, a remarkable achievement and one that shows how carefully the DVD producer (Paul Brownstein) worked to ensure a top-notch release. Here's a look at the release.

• Audio Commentaries

  Mel Brooks - Mr. Big
  Buck Henry - Mr. Big
  Barbara Feldon - Kisses for KAOS
  Leonard Stern - A Man Called Smart
  Bernie Kopell - How to Succeed in the Spy Business Without Really Trying
  Barbara Feldon & Buck Henry - 99 Loses CONTROL, With Love and Twitches
  Don Rickles - The Little Black Book, Part 2
  James Caan - To Sire, With Love
  Bill Dana - Ice Station Siegfried

• Interviews

Buck Henry
Barbara Feldon
Leonard Stern
Bruce Bilson
Bernie Kopell

• Featurettes

The Secret History of Get Smart
Barbara Feldon: Real Model to Role Model
Spooks, Spies, Gadgets and Gizmos
Code Words and Catchphrases
The Fans of Get Smart

• Other TV Shows

The Bill Dana Show episode that shows Don Adams doing an early version of the Maxwell Smart character as Detective Byron Glick. It also contains one of the earliest “would you believe” jokes. 
Don Adams on The Andy Williams Show (3 appearances).
Barbara's Top Brass Hair Care Commercial
1965 NBC Season Preview hosted by Maxwell Smart
Two 1965 Get Smart Promos
Get Smart's Emmy Award Wins
Don on Milton Berle's Wild, Wild World of Comedy
Syndication promo

•  Other Footage

Bloopers!!!
A 60-minute excerpt from the legendary Museum of Television & Radio's Get Smart seminar in 2003. 
Don's 75th birthday party and roast at the Playboy Mansion
Don and Barbara as grand marshalls of the Rose Bowl Parade
Segments from Don's Memorial Service"
Don Adams Finds Out He's a Father
Sue's Ultimate Get Smart Clip Reel
1967 Pepsodent commercial featuring Don as Agent 86 and Dave Ketchum as Agent 13
3 White Castle Commercials from 1990 starring Don Adams
3 Chief Auto Parts Commercials with Don parodying Get Smart and using his famous catchphrases!
1991 Choice Hotels commercial starring Don
1999 Buck-A-Call commercial with Don as a retired secret agent

• Non-video Features

Season Two Liner Notes from Dave Ketchum
Season Three Liner Notes from Alan Spencer
The Chief's office layout
Plans for Max's Sunbeam Tiger
Max's Apartment Blueprint
99's Purse Contents
CONTROL Aptitude Test

Order the DVDs now!

Wow, what an outstanding batch of extras! Yes, it is extremely unfortunately that Don passed away before this production began. However, the producers took great care to ensure that Don's career and work were extremely well-represented and I think they did a fabulous job. The DVD was executive produced by Paul Brownstein and produced by Sue Kesler and they deserve an amazing amount of credit for putting together a fabulous DVD set, as does Time-Life.

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