Impossible Mission: Difference between revisions
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{{trope}}
A standard television and film plot. An assignment is received in [[The Teaser]]. A planning session is held ([[Avengers Assemble]]), complete with an [[Obstacle Exposition]]. Sometimes an [[Unwinnable Training Simulation]] follows, just to underscore how difficult the task is. Then comes [[The Caper]] or [[The Con]], often using a [[Master of Disguise]] and an [[A-Team Montage]]. The resolution is as close to end of [[The Tag]] as possible. At about the 40-minute mark, there is a [[Pseudo Crisis]]. An [[Unspoken Plan Guarantee]] will almost certainly be in play, either obviously or carefully hidden -- and sometimes an [[Impossible Mission Collapse]] will complicate matters immensely.
If it involves [[Cool Plane]]s, it becomes an [[Airstrike Impossible]].
"Caper films" share the same basic structure, with different timing and sometimes without the assignment being assigned.
The trope takes its name from the series ''[[Mission Impossible]]'', whose Impossible Mission Force did one of these every week. As such, note that not every impossible mission is an [[Impossible Mission]].▼
▲The trope takes its name from the series ''[[Mission: Impossible (TV series)|Mission: Impossible]]'', whose Impossible Mission Force did one of these every week. As such, note that not every impossible mission is an [[Impossible Mission]].
For missions that actually are impossible, see [[Impossible Task]].
Not to be confused with the video game ''[[Impossible Mission (
{{examples}}
<!-- == [[Comics]] ==
* Despite its few episodes, ''[[Firefly]]'' did two of these, in "Ariel" and in "Trash".▼
* ''[[Modesty Blaise (comic strip)|Modesty Blaise]]'' -- pending expansion of context on that page, or addition of detail from a troper familiar with the work.
* Mercilessly parodied in the ''[[Whose Line Is It Anyway]]'' game "Improbable Mission," which had agents given missions involving high stakes but ordinary tasks, such as doing laundry or mowing the lawn.▼
-->
== [[Fan Works]] ==
* The story "Diamonds in the Desert" from ''[[The Midnightverse]]''.
== [[Film]] ==
* The eponymous task of "Inception" in the [[Inception|film of the same name]].
* ''[[The League of Gentlemen (film)|The League of Gentlemen]]'' is probably the [[Ur Example]] of the trope.
* The ''[[National Treasure]]'' film series includes some of the loftiest ever devised, from stealing the Declaration Of Independence to kidnapping the President of the United States.
* ''[[Ocean's Eleven]]'' and its sequel, ''Ocean's Twelve'' both hit almost all the common features of an Impossible Mission.
* Naturally, the various ''[[Mission: Impossible (film)|Mission: Impossible]]'' films.
<!-- == [[Literature]] ==
* ''[[Modesty Blaise (novel)|Modesty Blaise]]'' -- pending expansion of context on that page, or addition of detail from a troper familiar with the work.
-->
== [[Live-Action TV]] ==
▲* Despite its few episodes, ''[[Firefly]]'' did two of these, in "Ariel" and in "Trash".
▲* Mercilessly parodied in the ''[[Whose Line Is It Anyway?]]'' game "Improbable Mission," which had agents given missions involving high stakes but ordinary tasks, such as doing laundry or mowing the lawn.
* The ''[[Farscape]]'' episode "Fractures" (S03 E18): Crichton's run on the Command Carrier.
* And of course there is the [[Trope Namer]] and [[Trope Codifier]], ''[[Mission: Impossible (TV series)|Mission: Impossible]]''.
== [[Real Life]] ==
* The plot to kill Hitler during [[WWII]] (known as [[Operation Valkyrie]]) came close to a real-world expression of this trope.
{{reflist}}
[[Category:Plots]]
[[Category:
[[Category:Action Adventure Tropes]]
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