Maxwell Smart (Don Adams) and Agent 99 (Barbara Feldon) are Aboard the Orient Express. It seems a number of CONTROL couriers have been murdered on the iconic train trip and it is up to this pair of agents to find out what is going on.

Written by Robert C. Dennis and Earl Barret, this episode was first broadcast on 11 December, 1965.

Watch for a fun cameo by Johnny Carson as the conductor.

99 is assigned the case, as the previous agents were all male, and the Chief (Edward Platt) feels that they won’t suspect a woman. She’s given an attache case (sounds familiar), and Smart goes along to ensure 99 is safe, and the fact that he’s mistakenly locked himself to the case.

There are also some other fun gadgets, including an interesting pair of rocket shoes and, this one is important, a hat with a gas mask. It seems all of the prior agents have died from gassing, so the team should be (should be) prepared for anything that happens.

The attache case is containing the payroll for all the agents working behind the Curtain. Expenses are pretty high for a spy.

In a slowly crowding cabin, Max has to figure out who the assassin is, and everything seems to be stacked against him. As usual.

It seems like a nice cross between From Russia With Love and Murder on the Orient Express, and Smart is probably wishing he brought Fang along.

Everything is run by Demetrios (Theodore Marcuse), and a special double agent.

Weekend Vampire was written by Gerald Gardner and Dee Caruso. It first aired on 18 December, 1965.

It seems more CONTROL agents are ending up dead. And it looks like they’ve been bitten by a… vampire? But it only happens on the weekend. The latest happens over a game of chess that Smart is engaged in. His rival drops dead!

The clues all point to Professor Sontag (Ford Rainey) and Dr. Drago (Martin Kosleck).

To tackle this case, Smart and 99 will go undercover as newlyweds – their car has broken down, and they ask Drago for help. He lives over in the Frankenstein place…

I love the fact that the Chief doesn’t believe in vampires, but he’s awful superstitious.

This one feels like a bit of a riff on the Universal Monster movies, and while it doesn’t quite walk the line it needs to, it’s pretty entertaining. I’m a little bothered that 99 is so anxious and scared by some of the things they encounter. She’s an agent after all.

They have to explore the castle in bullet proof pajamas and have to use explosive toothpaste (it took 007 another 20 years to do that).

They are able to figure it out, prove that Drago is the villain, and finally remember the tune that triggers the vampire-like bite.

Not my favourite episode to date, it doesn’t quite work the way it should, but it’s still delightful. Adams is just a lot of fun to watch. I do wish Feldon had a bit more to do in this one though.

Survival of the Fattest debuted on Christmas Day in 1965. It was written by Mel Brooks and Ronny Pearlman.

Smart is assigned protection duty. They have to keep an eye on an Arab Prince (Dan Seymour) who keeps eating. Like Samson with his hair, the Prince’s weight feeds the strength of his nation. When he’s kidnapped by KAOS agent, Mary Jack Armstrong (Karen Steele) Smart is off to work.

The Prince needs to reach three hundred pounds, but KAOS is going to make sure he diets, and loses his nation to them.

For Max to remember everything he saw, he insists he be tortured by CONTROL. Quite humorous.

I was delighted in the first second that Steele is onscreen. I know who she is! That’s Eve from the Star Trek episode Mudd’s Women. In fact a lot of the guest stars in the write-ups this week were in Trek.

I do like when I see Brooks’ name in the writing credits. It tells me it’s going to be goofy, funny, and honestly, tend to have a good story and hilarious dialogue.

I love the finger gun gag! And the reveal about the Chief at the end is classic. I do love the Brooks episodes.