Get Smart
Age Before Duty
TV Flash files “Age Before Duty” as hour 123 of 138 in the TV Flash guide — Get Smart (1965–1970) on NBC/CBS, season 5, episode 11, aired 1969-12-05, 30 min.
From the desk
How this hour is filed
This leaf is S05E11: listed hour 123 of 138 in the Get Smart guide, hour 11 of 26 in season 5. It aired 1969-12-05 (30 min). The listed hour before it is “The Apes of Rath” (S05E10). Next is “Is This Trip Necessary?” (S05E12).
Catalog log
Broadcast listing — not a TV Flash recap.
Max is bewildered when his young contact dies of old age. Max goes to meet CONTROL Agent Carruthers and finds Carruthers dying of old age. The problem is that Carruthers is only 28 years old. After that, more and more agents are rapidly aging and dying, thanks to a new invention by KAOS, Dorian Gray Paint. The paint ages the real person once it's put on a picture of that person. They turn Max, 99, and the Chief into senior citizens right before they locate KAOS HQ.
Viewer FAQ
Where does Age Before Duty sit in the Get Smart guide?
S05E11 is listed hour 123 of 138 — hour 11 of 26 in season 5, season 5 episode 11.
When did Get Smart S05E11 air?
Age Before Duty aired 1969-12-05 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…