This parody of "King Kong" features Charles Bateman as Agent Chuck Armstrong (Carl Denham in KK was played by Robert Armstrong) who is really a killer ape made to look human by KAOS scientist Dr. Rath (Reuben Singer). Before he kills, Rath sends his targets a boxed banana. When Smart gets a banana, the Chief assigns Armstrong to guard Smart (despite the fact he also was supposed to guard Agent Roberts, played by Los Angeles Dodger star Maury Wills!). When Armstrong cuts his finger, 99 bandages it, and once again the beast falls for the beauty, which leads to his downfall.
Despite a pretty good script with a number of decent jokes, "The Apes of Rath" falls a bit flat, mostly due to Charles Bateman. Unlike Dick Gautier as Hymie, who really seemed convincing as a robot, Bateman makes the effort, but just isn't convincing as an ape in a man's body. He's neither very threatening or very funny. One wonders if perhaps Bateman was a last minute substitution for a bigger "name" guest star (as season five seemed to have--Vincent Price, Victor Bueno, John Dehner, etc.). The music is also uncharacteristically wrong. Melencholy, almost melodramatic cues are heard again and again that just drain the comedy out of scenes. Usually the score can be depended on to enhance the comedy on "Get Smart", but not this time. In all, not a terrible episode, just not a particularly good one.
Despite a pretty good script with a number of decent jokes, "The Apes of Rath" falls a bit flat, mostly due to Charles Bateman. Unlike Dick Gautier as Hymie, who really seemed convincing as a robot, Bateman makes the effort, but just isn't convincing as an ape in a man's body. He's neither very threatening or very funny. One wonders if perhaps Bateman was a last minute substitution for a bigger "name" guest star (as season five seemed to have--Vincent Price, Victor Bueno, John Dehner, etc.). The music is also uncharacteristically wrong. Melencholy, almost melodramatic cues are heard again and again that just drain the comedy out of scenes. Usually the score can be depended on to enhance the comedy on "Get Smart", but not this time. In all, not a terrible episode, just not a particularly good one.