Get Smart
The Impossible Mission
TV Flash files “The Impossible Mission” as a desk essential hour — Get Smart (1965–1970) on NBC/CBS, season 4, episode 1, aired 1968-09-21, 30 min.
From the desk
How this hour is filed
This leaf is S04E01: listed hour 87 of 138 in the Get Smart guide, first listed hour of season 4. It aired 1968-09-21 (30 min). The listed hour before it is “The Reluctant Redhead” (S03E26). Next is “Snoopy Smart vs. the Red Baron” (S04E02).
Essential hour: “The Impossible Mission”. The title as conversation with the other spy show on the schedule — satire that still loves the mission.
Catalog log
Broadcast listing — not a TV Flash recap.
The Chief assigns 86 and 99 to retrieve a deadly scientific theory from KAOS. The search takes the CONTROL agents to a TV studio, where they disguise themselves as dancers.
Viewer FAQ
Where does The Impossible Mission sit in the Get Smart guide?
S04E01 is listed hour 87 of 138 — first listed hour of season 4, season 4 episode 1.
When did Get Smart S04E01 air?
The Impossible Mission aired 1968-09-21 and is listed at 30 minutes.
Do I need to watch Get Smart in order?
Mostly no. It is episodic spy farce. Recurring gadgets and the Smart/99 partnership reward a little sequence, but you can hop after the pilot grammar clicks.
In the series
Why this series still plays
Watch a spy satire that loves its gadgets enough to mock them. Adams' timing, Feldon's cool, and farce that still understands tension — proof a laugh can share a frame with a ticking briefcase without dropping either assignment.
The cone still matters more than the catchphrase. Get Smart, 1965, is a spy novel that keeps tripping on its own gadgets and somehow still completes the mission. Mel Brooks and Buck Henry built a CONTROL agent who is both the punchline and the plot: Don Adams's Maxwell Smart, Barbara Feldon's Agent 99, Edward Platt's Chief. Bond mania had already sold the tuxedo. This series sold the gag without throwing away the thriller's timing. That dual assignment is the craft. Plenty of satires love the joke and forget the…
Filed against
- Don Adams as Maxwell Smart
Don Adams played Maxwell Smart — Agent 86 — on Get Smart, spy satire so sharp the shoe phone still works. Nasal bravado and cone-of-silence timing made 1960s gadget mania hilarious. TV Flash salutes the original bumbling superspy who…
- Barbara Feldon as Agent 99
Barbara Feldon’s Agent 99 outclassed Maxwell Smart on Get Smart — spy satire so sharp the shoe phone still works, and she was usually the brains in the cone of silence. Cool competence made 1960s gadget comedy sing. TV Flash files her as…
- Edward Platt as The Chief
Edward Platt played The Chief on Get Smart — CONTROL's straight man in a gadget farce that loves its toys enough to mock them. Cone of silence, shoe phone, a briefing that has to survive Don Adams' miss. TV Flash files him as the…