Mission: Impossible (1966–1973)

An elite covert operations unit carries out highly sensitive missions subject to official denial in the event of failure, death or capture.

Stars:

Greg Morris, Peter Lupus, Peter Graves

Won 3 Golden Globes. Another 14 wins & 37 nominations.

Cast

Complete series cast summary:
Greg Morris	...	Barney Collier (171 episodes, 1966-1973)
Peter Lupus	...	Willy Armitage (159 episodes, 1966-1973)
Peter Graves	...	James Phelps (143 episodes, 1967-1973)
Barbara Bain	...	Cinnamon Carter (78 episodes, 1966-1969)
Martin Landau	...	Rollin Hand (76 episodes, 1966-1969)

Storyline

Jim Phelps is the head of a super-secret government agency ("Impossible Missions"), and is often given secret anonymous covert missions to attempt; quite often they are unmasking of criminals or the rescuing of hostages. He picks his team depending on which tasks need to be done. One thing is vital on an Impossible Mission: the mission must be carried out in entire secrecy, often relying on high-tech equipment and elaborate deceptions.

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Plot Keywords:

mission | deception | gadget | tape recorder | famous opening theme | 

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Taglines:

Failure impossible.

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Genres:

Action | Adventure | Crime | Drama | Thriller

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Details

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Release Date:

17 September 1966 (USA)

Also Known As:

Misión imposible

Filming Locations:

Desilu Studios - 9336 W. Washington Blvd., Culver City, California, USA

Company Credits

Production Co:

Desilu Productions, Paramount Television

Technical Specs

Runtime:

50 min 50 min (168 episodes)

Sound Mix:

Mono

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

4:3

Did You Know?

Trivia

According to Robert H. Justman in his book "Star Trek: The Real Story", this show's famous theme was not the first one written. Lalo Schifrin had written a main theme, but creator and executive producer Bruce Geller decided that it was inappropriate. Instead, Geller used some chase music Schifrin had written for the end of the first episode. That throwaway musical cue became one of the most famous and recognizable television show themes in history.

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Goofs

In almost every episode someone has to pick a lock. They insert the pick, wiggle it a few times and open the door. To actually open a lock you must also rotate the cylinder just as you do with a key. For this you would use a second "L" or "Z" shaped pick to exert pressure while you moved the pins with the first pick. This is never done.

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Quotes

Voice on Tape: Good morning Mister Briggs.

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Crazy Credits

Only two things stayed unchanged in the opening: the striking of the match and the actual display of the title. The rest of the opening title showed clips which varied from episode to episode.

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Connections

Spoofed in The Loop: The Phantom (2007)

User Reviews

The Cleverest TV Show Ever

I have got to hand it to the people behind the original Mission Impossible series. Their pilot episode was bound to hook people. Mission Impossible was a winner from the start.

The Impossible Missions Force were a team of agents with no emotional attachments who went on secret missions usually against organized crime or rogue nations. They did not go in and use guns or fists to fight a problem-the name of the game was manipulation, deception, trickery, fraud, you name it. The agents were in fact anti-heroes who stooped to the level of the bad guys themselves. But I still loved them for it.

It would be unfair to reveal any of the intricate details of the plots for the series but let's just say they were clever. Mission Impossible was a show that required a viewer's full attention-you simply couldn't switch onto an episode halfway through and expect to know what's going on. Mission Impossible was clever throughout it's entire run. The IMF always had a plan which had to be strictly adhered to for it to be a success. They used every mean trick in the book to bring the bad guys down and they always slipped away at the end without the bad guys ever finding out who they were. In fact, quite a few episodes involved the bad guys falling out with each other after believing the other one was out to get him when in fact it was the IMF who had set it all up.

A clever show indeed-highly recommended.