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Mission: Impossible (TV series): Difference between revisions
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{{quote|''[[Once an Episode|Good morning, Mr./Ms. Troper.]]''}}
The show you're looking at is ''Mission: Impossible'', a unique [[Spy Drama]] based around a semi-ad hoc covert operations team employed by the US Government for dicey missions needing [[Plausible Deniability|maximum deniability]]. The television series lasted from September, 1966 to March, 1973; a total of 171 episodes were filmed over the seven season run. It was the longest-surviving of the "spy-fi" genre of US and UK-made TV series of the 1960s (''The Avengers'' aired over a 9-year period but fewer seasons and episodes were produced).
With a few rare exceptions every episode followed the same outline: First, a prerecorded briefing informs the team leader, Jim Phelps, of the target, what needs to be done to him, and why. Second, Jim assembles his team and the viewer gets to see a selected but [[Unspoken Plan Guarantee|mostly uninformative subset of their planning and briefing]]. Thirdly, the mission -- usually a [[The Caper|caper]] or [[The Con|con]] -- is executed, sometimes with real or bogus crises along the way. Finally, the team reassembles in a convenient panel truck and drives off as the target confesses, turns state's evidence, or slowly cools in a spreading pool of blood.
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* Former bodybuilder Peter Lupus as Willy Armitage, essentially a [[Gentle Giant]]. Despite being the muscle of the team, Willy displayed surprising bursts of speed on occasion, in addition to being a gifted actor and improviser.
Martin Landau played Rollin Hand, a [[Master of Disguise]], sleight-of-hand, card sharping and many other skills, as a guest star in the pilot, but was so popular with audiences that he became the [[Ensemble Darkhorse]] and was called back for virtually every subsequent episode, always billed as a "[[And Starring|special guest star]]". He was made a series regular in Season Two.
When Hill became increasingly difficult to work with<ref>As one of the few Orthodox Jewish actors in Hollywood, Hill was unwilling to abide by the show's production schedule, as it stipulated that he work on the Sabbath and after sundown of Friday when he was committed to being in prayer (source: ''The Complete Mission: Impossible Dossier'' by Patrick White).</ref>, he was gradually written out of the series; when he was replaced by Peter Graves as Jim Phelps in Season Two, the classic cast was set. Other cast changes followed; with Landau and Bain leaving at the end of Season Three, Landau replaced by [[Leonard Nimoy]], fresh from the recently cancelled ''[[Star Trek: The Original Series]]'' (which Landau turned down to do ''MI'' instead), and Bain by an assortment of leading ladies, culminating in Lesley Warren as the waif-like Dana. An ill-advised attempt at writing out Peter Lupus in favor of a medical doctor team member played by a pre-cowboy-stardom [[Sam Elliott]], until the producers realized how popular Willy was. An attempt was eventually made to invigorate the leading lady role by casting Lynda Day George as Casey, who was both the leading lady and the [[Master of Disguise]], but by then the series was on its last legs. One final cast tweak in the final season saw George temporarily replaced by ''[[Ironside]]'' veteran Barbara Anderson while George was on maternity leave.
''[[Mission: Impossible (TV series)||Mission Impossible]]'' was a thinking man's espionage program. Gunplay was kept to a minimum (with a few notable [[Early Installment Weirdness|early-series exceptions]] when the series was still finding its rhythm), and the focus was always on outwitting and outmaneuvering the foe, who usually didn't know he was being targeted at all. The IMF were never dispatched for ''ordinary'' tasks that a simple [[James Bond]] type could handle with a couple of explosions and a chase scene - they were called upon to accomplish their goals by out-planning and out-thinking their opposition, often by playing mind games with them on such a scale that more than one may have been driven into madness. After the first season, IMF operatives rarely killed anybody directly, but their targets didn't always survive as a favored outcome was usually the target being killed by his own organization.
All but invented [[Latex Perfection]] and the [[Master of Disguise]], and originated many of its own unique tropes, not the least of which is its most famous and most parodied elements, "[[This Page Will Self-Destruct|this tape will self-destruct in five seconds]]" and "if you or any member of your MI Force are caught or killed, the Secretary will disavow all knowledge of your actions." Interestingly, early seasons only used the self-destructing tape on occasion, with other methods such as melting vinyl records and hidden recordings being used more frequently. A growing number of episodes as the series went on omitted the tape scenes altogether, sometimes featuring missions joined in progress, or "[[A Very Special Episode|personal missions]]" where an IMF member goes off-book.
The show's distinctive use of what creator Bruce Geller called "a team of specialists" to carry out a complex plan inspired numerous imitators, most notably ''[[The A-Team]]'', but also shows such as ''[[Charlie's Angels]]''. None did it as well, though.
There was a two-season Next Generation-style continuation of the original series filmed in Australia in the [[The Eighties|1980s]]; Peter Graves returned as Jim Phelps, mentoring an all-new team (including Barney Collier's son); originally conceived as a straight-out remake in order to fill a hole in ABC's schedule created by a Hollywood writer's strike, the series ended up being a continuation of the original. An NES game was also developed. But a more successful revival occurred with a ''[[Mission: Impossible (film)||Mission Impossible]]'' film series starring [[Tom Cruise]], although it bears little resemblance to the tone and spirit of the original series. A TV series based on the movies is possibly being developed.
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* [[Applied Phlebotinum]]
* [[Argentina Is Naziland]]: In "The Legend", Briggs and Cinammon impersonate a former Nazi and his daughter who are invited to attend a reunion of aged Nazi leaders at the South American home of Nazi fugitive Martin Bormann, who is planning the creation of the Fourth Reich.
* [[As Long as It Sounds Foreign]]: Or looks like it on a sign. Since the IMF was frequently hacking into electric, gas, telephone, and other infrastructure, the [[Ruritania]] settings always featured appropriate signage.
** In some European countries, [[Reality Is Unrealistic|there really are]] utility covers that say "Gaz", a frequent example of "Gellerese".
* [[Avengers Assemble]]: The apartment scene.
* [[Banana Republic]]: When it isn't [[Ruritania]].
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* [[Commie Land]]
* [[Compilation Movie]]: ''Mission Impossible Versus The Mob''.
* [[The Con]]
* [[Con Man]]
* [[Couch Gag]]: Bruce Geller originally wanted each mission to be given to Briggs and Phelps in a different manner every episode (via nickelodeon, phonograph record, a card handed to him from another agent, a [[Drive-In Theater]] speaker, etc). One of these early methods was a self-destructing reel-to-reel tape. The varying methods were continued until the third season when the tape became the standard and a ''Mission'' trademark, though the fifth season attempted to do away with the sequence until popular demand reinstated it. In the 1988 version, the spool tape is replaced with a self-destructing mini-CD player (the CD actually works like a DVD, playing audio and video, even though DVDs hadn't been introduced in real life yet).
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** The 1988 update introduced an IMF device that could recover erased images from a VCR tape, which is a bit more realistic.
* [[Exactly What It Says on the Tin]]: With only a very few exceptions the episode titles are only one (ex. "Execution", "Kidnap", "Break!") or two words long (ex. "The Code", "The Legacy", "Time Bomb") describing the plan of attack or object of interest.
** Arguably What It Doesn't Say On The Tin, since episode titles weren't shown on screen. While not unheard of for a 1960s-70s-era series, it was somewhat unusual for a program of this nature not to display episode titles on screen.
* [[Fake Defector]]
* [[Faked Rip Van Winkle]]: Frequently used in later seasons, sometimes combined with [[Fauxtastic Voyage]] as one of the excuses given to a mark was that the mark was involved in an accident and was unconscious for a long time.
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** Also happens to Grant Collier in the 1988 two-parter "The Golden Serpent" when he thinks {{spoiler|his father has been killed}}.
* [[Hologram]]: The IMF has had hologram projectors since the 60s ("Phantoms", "A Ghost Story"). The 80s revival even had a episode named after the trope ("Holograms") and improved the tech to the point where it works underwater ("The Golden Serpent: Part 2", which also featured a holographic computer screen).
* [[Hot Gypsy Woman]]: The IMF employed hot gypsy acrobat Crystal Walker in the two-parter "Old Man Out".
* [[Impossible Mission]]: The [[Trope Namer]].
* [[Indy Ploy]]: When Bruce Geller first came up with the show's concept, he imagined ''every'' IMF plan to go wrong at some point, forcing the team to improvise from that point on. Luckily in practice this was not established as it most like would get A) repetitive, and B) Make Briggs/Phelps look like he doesn't know what he's doing. Indy ploys did appear occasionally, usually in the [[It's Personal|'personal']] episodes.
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* [[Insert Cameo]]
* [[Instant Sedation]]
* [[It's Personal]]: A handful of episodes have Briggs or Phelps plotting a plan to right a wrong affecting someone close to them instead of a mission given to them by the Secretary. In one episode, Phelps is kidnapped and the team members are blackmailed into helping his kidnapper commit a crime. Arguably the most "personal" of these comes in the '80s version, when {{spoiler|Casey, the new version's initial [[Femme Fatale]], becomes the ''only'' regular in either version to be killed off. Note: not to be confused with Lynda Day George's Casey character from the original series}}. The "it's personal" aspect of the storylines is usually emphasized by there being no tape scene shown.
** The '80s revival series notably ''opened'' with a personal mission - Jim's is forced out of retirement when [[Remember the New Guy?|his protegé]] is murdered, but getting to the killer and his employee is still an official IMF mission... at least as official as those missions got.
* [[Jailbird of Panama]]: Strange variation - both the jailbird and the rescuing team were in the IMF.
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* [[Latex Perfection]]
* [[Law Enforcement, Inc.]]: Series creator Bruce Geller originally intended that the IMF would be a private group that the good guys would turn to when they couldn't handle a particular bad guy. The movies changed the IMF to an official (though secret) branch of [[Central Intelligence Agency]].
* [[Leave Behind a Pistol]]: Used by leaders of the [[People's Republic of Tyranny]] to eliminate people who have failed while avoiding the publicity of a [[Kangaroo Court]].
* [[Licensed Game]]: One for the NES. Notable because it apparently used a modified version of the NES ''[[Metal Gear]]'' engine. And had little or nothing to do with the series' type of story. There was also a "text adventure" game called Mission Impossible developed for the Commodore 64 and similar computers; its licensing status is unknown.
* [[Literal Cliff Hanger]]: The end of "The Falcon: Part 1".
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* [[Master of Disguise]]: Rollin Hand, Paris, Casey and Nicholas Black, though with the assistance of one of these four, any IMF member qualifies.
** Inverted by Phelps, Willy, Barney, etc. Barney in particular - ''The Complete Mission: Impossible Dossier'' notes that Barney's apparent ability to blend in, even in countries where a black man would stand out, was occasionally criticized.
* [[The Merch]]: Record albums of the series<ref>Although ''actual music'' from the show, as opposed to re-recorded versions, would not be released until 1992.</ref>, as well as a few 'Young Reader' type books. Near the end of the run, Paramount was considering the idea of ''MI'' branded tape recorders, but nothing came of the idea. There was a game for the NES released in time for the revival.
** Also published was a series of original novels, and comic books by Dell Comics.
* [[Mind Control]]: "My Friend, My Enemy".
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* [[Showy Invincible Hero]]: An entire team of them.
* [[Spy Drama]]
* [[Spy Speak]]: At the start of every episode, Dan Briggs and later Jim Phelps would hold a seemingly innocuous conversation that provided the signs/countersigns to be given the mission briefing.
* [[Staged Shooting]]
* ''[[Star Trek: The Original Series]]'': Since both shows shared the Desilu/[[Paramount Pictures|Paramount]] soundstages, and some production personal too, it should come as no surprise that [[William Shatner]] guest starred twice as a [[Big Bad]] and [[George Takei]] as an IMF member. [[Leonard Nimoy]] became an [[Suspiciously Similar Substitute]] of Martin Landau's character -- four years after Landau had turned down the role of Mr Spock for ''[[Star Trek]]'''s first pilot "The Cage" in 1965. Herb Solow was production manager for both shows.
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* [[Unspoken Plan Guarantee]]
* [[Vehicle Vanish]]: Deliberately invoked in "Leona" to convince a mobster he is going crazy.
* [[Vehicular Sabotage]]: In the episode "The Missile", a psychotic mechanic tampers with the brakes in Dana's car.
* [[Villainous Breakdown]]
* [[The Voice]]: Two, in fact. Any disembodied voice you hear that isn't telling Mr. Phelps about the mission is probably professional announcer Vic Perrin.
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* [[We Do the Impossible]]: Rather appropriately.
* [[Where the Hell Is Springfield?]]: In the series, the team was often sent to the vaguely named [[People's Republic of Tyranny]]. Other locations included the nation of "San X" in South America or the Caribbean Sea. Whenever the mission was in the [[United States]], the city or state was rarely named beyond "Western" or "Central". Any named nation, used for a mission in Africa, was never a real nation. Finally, Western Europe was referred to as a friendly or neutral nation.
** Averted several times in the revival when Australia unambiguously appears as Australia.
* [[Why Don't You Just Shoot Him?]]: How the team survives being captured.
** Subverted in one episode of the 1988 remake when one of the regular agents IS killed to help allow a casting change.
* [[Worthy Opponent]]: In "The Mind of Stefan Miklos", Miklos remarks that he views his unknown opponent (Jim Phelps) to be this. Tellingly, {{spoiler|he says it when he thinks Jim's plan has failed to fool him, when it's actually succeeded in tricking him completely}}.
* [[Xanatos Speed Chess]]: One of the ways used by the writers to resolve a [[Commercial Break Cliffhanger]].
* [[You Look Familiar]]: Guest stars and actors were [http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0060009/fullcredits#cast recycled constantly]. Sig Haig, for example, was in the show no fewer than nine times, ranging from "Driver #1" to [[The Dragon]] to the [[Big Bad]].
* [[Zeerust]]: The ersatz future in "The Freeze"; also, the slide rule in Barney's publicity photo from "Collier Electronics".
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[[Category:American Series]]
[[Category:Crime and Punishment Series]]
[[Category:TV Series]]
[[Category:{{PAGENAME}}]]
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