Get Smart's First Movie Was So Bad The Series' Revival Completely Ignored It

The 1960s TV series "Get Smart" is a lighthearted spoof of the spy genre, lampooning the likes of the James Bond movies. It stars Don Adams — whose career faded after winning an Emmy — as bumbling secret agent Maxwell Smart. In 1980, Adams returned to the role of Smart for a follow-up titled "The Nude Bomb," but the theatrically released film was so awful that the people behind the franchise chose to pretend it didn't exist when the time came for a made-for-TV sequel movie, 1989's "Get Smart Again!"

The first clue that "The Nude Bomb" was going to flop wasn't the title, but rather the fact that the original "Get Smart" creators, Mel Brooks and Buck Henry, had nothing to do with it, and neither did original series co-lead Barbara Feldon (one of the few actors from "Get Smart" who is still with us). The second indication was the plot of the film, which follows Maxwell Smart — aka Agent 86 — as he gets called back into action to stop a terrorist plot involving a bomb that will supposedly annihilate all clothing in the world, rendering the Earth's population naked. With this weapon, the evil organization KAOS plans to become the only manufacturer of clothing on the planet, a scheme so ridiculous that it even makes fans of the wacky TV series roll their collective eyes.

Much more vulgar and edgy than the original show, "The Nude Bomb" was a bust in theaters and was roasted by both critics and audiences. So when "Get Smart" was revived in 1989 with a TV movie — and a short-lived 1995 sequel series — they wisely pretended it didn't happen.

It's easy to look at "The Nude Bomb" and wonder what the heck the filmmakers were thinking in creating a spoof that felt nothing like the original "Get Smart" show and didn't even include much of the original cast. Well, the way producer Leonard Stern tells it, the original vision for the film was very different. According to Stern, there was a story in mind about a couturier who was obsessed with controlling the world, but specifically so he could be the stylist and dresser to the masses. "It seemed marvelous if we could get the right flamboyant actor," Stern told Would You Believe. "It was never called 'The Nude Bomb,' it was called 'The Return of Maxwell Smart.'"

So, what went wrong? As Stern revealed in his interview, the producers behind the film had little interest in recapturing the spirit of the "Get Smart" TV series. Before he knew it, the project had taken on a whole new direction. "They wanted to do it differently," Stern said, adding that it "became a battle of trying to maintain the integrity of Smart but not being welcome on the set." He also said that director Clive Donner "was used to doing intimate films" and was seen as "a strange choice" by those connected with the show. Ultimately, Stern and his team lost control of the project, and the film became a mess — one that Stern simply ignored when he returned to write and produce "Get Smart Again!"