194 replies to this topic

[Brian Flagg]

Season Three due out tomorrow.

[Brian Flagg]

A third season DVD review; looks to be the same high-quality, no extras format:


http://andersonvisio...nt/view/2317/1/

[007Bond]

I've got the three seasons.
Great show, but the first season is great thanks to Martin Landau...

[Brian Flagg]

Got my season three DVD set today. Already watched "The Mercenaries", guest-starring the great Pernell Roberts as Col. Hans Krim. A fine score by Robert Drasnin, though some of Lalo Schifrin's season one music must be tracked in there, too, like that run of brass as the IMF truck leaves the enclave. Overrall, brilliant 1960s television!

Of course, season three is the last hurrah for the "classic cast" of Graves/Landau/Bain/Morris/Lupus and IMO they never truly were able to replace Barbara Bain with another actress with so much presence. Lynda Day George came closest, and I like her work in season six, but when Bain left, man, did that show lose a lot.

For those of us here who love the original Star Trek, Leonard Nimoy will appear in his first of two season beginning with season four.

[Daddy Bond]

Well, IMHO, Mission Impossible was one of the greatest shows ever, especially during its first three seasons (with two and three being the best). Seasons four and five were pretty good as well, but Landau and Bains gave the show that extra edge. Things were never quite the same once they left. I'm expecting my Season 3 in the mail today (or soon) from Amazon. I have Season 1 & 2 already and will certainly by 4 & 5 when they come out.

For now, my top three favorite TV shows are:
1. The Saint
2. Mission Impossible
3. Secret Agen/Danger Man

See a pattern? However, so far, I just can't seem to get hooked on Man from U.N.C.L.E. or Avengers.

[Brisco]

Since it seems like you like grittier, slightly more serious spy shows, Daddy Bond, than the more fantastical ones, I'd recommend trying the early Avengers episodes. Those are much more in keeping with the tone of Danger Man than the later Emma Peel ones, certainly than the color episodes. Go back as far as A&E's "The Early Years," which has the few remaining Dr. Keel episodes, all the earlierst Cathy Gales, and a couple of other partners Steed tried on for a bit. All of these episodes have a darker, more real world feel to them. If you like them, you'll find it much easier adjusting to the later incarnation of the show if you keep going in order. The Avengers is a great show, and I'd hate for anyone to miss out!
Brisco

Edited by Brisco, 23 November 2007 - 09:04 AM.

[Brian Flagg]

I've watched two discs so far and while the shows themselves are uniformly excellent, I'd like to point out the fantastic music within the episodes themselves. Jerry Fielding's score for "The Execution" immediately comes to mind as do Lalo Schifrin's and Robert Drasnin's work. This IMO is the show's best season and I'm already mourning the breakup of the "Classic Cast."

Edited by Brian Flagg, 26 November 2007 - 03:19 PM.

[Turn]

I knew I was going to order one of the MI sets for Xmas and after reading the strong review on the Double O Section blog, I went for season three.

I considered ordering all three of the seasons, but I plan on getting the Man From UNCLE box set and already have the Kubrick box and Help! and don't want to overextend myself too much. I'm particularly excited about MI because I haven't seen any of those and it will be new to me whereas I've seen most UNCLE episodes many times over.

[Brian Flagg]

Note to M:I newbies: "The Mind of Stefan Miklos" is not to be missed!


BTW, copies of Patrick White's Mission: Impossible Dossier are selling for $45.00 at the Amazon Markeplace. Guess the DVD release has also inspired interest in the OOP book.

[Daddy Bond]

Note to M:I newbies: "The Mind of Stefan Miklos" is not to be missed!


BTW, copies of Patrick White's Mission: Impossible Dossier are selling for $45.00 at the Amazon Markeplace. Guess the DVD release has also inspired interest in the OOP book.

I ordered a couple of Mission Impossible videos a couple of years back on ebay and the guy threw in this book for free. It's an interesting read and a good guide to the episodes.

[Brian Flagg]

BTW, I love the "Clunky Technology" in this show! The high-tech gadgetry like suitcase-sized [name of gadget here!] and all of those large knobs, switches, and red lights, knockout gasses, immunity-to-all-drugs pills, et al. are so much fun to look at! Nowadays everyone has stuff like this, only smaller, boring, and oh-so yuppified. I'm afraid now that the masses can possess this technology, it loses its luster. But back in 1968, when Barney Collier was at work, it seemed so much cooler!

[Daddy Bond]

BTW, I love the "Clunky Technology" in this show! The high-tech gadgetry like suitcase-sized [name of gadget here!] and all of those large knobs, switches, and red lights, knockout gasses, immunity-to-all-drugs pills, et al. are so much fun to look at! Nowadays everyone has stuff like this, only smaller, boring, and oh-so yuppified. I'm afraid now that the masses can possess this technology, it loses its luster. But back in 1968, when Barney Collier was at work, it seemed so much cooler!

Very true.

By the way, I now have seasons 1 - 3 sitting nicely side by side on my media shelves. I plan on purchasing through Season 5 at least. The show was never the same after Landau and Bain left, but it was also got worse again after Nimoy left. He was in it for Seasons 4 & 5 correct? So basically, when I consider classic Mission Impossible I see it this way:

Seasons 4-5: Good - 3 1/2 stars
Season 1: Great - 4 1/2 stars
Seasons 2-3: Fantastic, the Best of the Best - 5 stars

The best group included Graves, Landau and Bain IMO.

Excuse the bad grammar - that was a typo.

[Brian Flagg]

I'm completely unfamiliar with seasons 5 and 7, as I've never seen an episode. The sixth year is pretty strong, even if there's a lot of "Syndicate" episodes. I have fond memories of Lynda Day George as "Casey." Still, they never had a female character as effective as Barbara Bain. Great voice, too.

Season 5 will be the strangest: a larger cast, no decent female agent, less screen time for Willy Armitage (Peter Lupus) and the addition of Sam Elliott as a doctor/agent. Ugh. This being before he "found himself" years later in Westerns.

[Turn]

BTW, copies of Patrick White's Mission: Impossible Dossier are selling for $45.00 at the Amazon Markeplace. Guess the DVD release has also inspired interest in the OOP book.

I wish I had known this 10 years ago when I bought my copy. This book came out about the time of the first Cruise MI film and a year later several copies were available in two covers at Half Price Books for like $6 each. I picked mine up because the series intrigued me even then. They seemed to keep those things around forever.

As far as the series goes, I am really only familiar with the latter years as I have vague memories of it as a child. I always liked the song and the animated opening with the various scenes from the episode and the lit fuse and then watching the tape self destruct. And that one song that had kind of a military march sound to it. Not much else, though.

That's why I'm excited to see the classic years because those are all new for me.

[Napoleon Solo]

I'm completely unfamiliar with seasons 5 and 7, as I've never seen an episode. The sixth year is pretty strong, even if there's a lot of "Syndicate" episodes. I have fond memories of Lynda Day George as "Casey." Still, they never had a female character as effective as Barbara Bain. Great voice, too.

Season 5 will be the strangest: a larger cast, no decent female agent, less screen time for Willy Armitage (Peter Lupus) and the addition of Sam Elliott as a doctor/agent. Ugh. This being before he "found himself" years later in Westerns.

I can't explain it, but Peter Lupus in M:I had an intangible that made him very likable. I'm glad he kept a cool head when his on-screen time was getting cut back and glad the producers realized their mistake and brought him back full time.

[Brian Flagg]

I'm completely unfamiliar with seasons 5 and 7, as I've never seen an episode. The sixth year is pretty strong, even if there's a lot of "Syndicate" episodes. I have fond memories of Lynda Day George as "Casey." Still, they never had a female character as effective as Barbara Bain. Great voice, too.

Season 5 will be the strangest: a larger cast, no decent female agent, less screen time for Willy Armitage (Peter Lupus) and the addition of Sam Elliott as a doctor/agent. Ugh. This being before he "found himself" years later in Westerns.

I can't explain it, but Peter Lupus in M:I had an intangible that made him very likable. I'm glad he kept a cool head when his on-screen time was getting cut back and glad the producers realized their mistake and brought him back full time.

Yes. Lupus, like Zulu over on Hawaii Five-O had an onscreen charm/presence called "charisma" and it clearly can't be taught.

[Daddy Bond]

BTW, copies of Patrick White's Mission: Impossible Dossier are selling for $45.00 at the Amazon Markeplace. Guess the DVD release has also inspired interest in the OOP book.

I wish I had known this 10 years ago when I bought my copy. This book came out about the time of the first Cruise MI film and a year later several copies were available in two covers at Half Price Books for like $6 each. I picked mine up because the series intrigued me even then. They seemed to keep those things around forever.

As far as the series goes, I am really only familiar with the latter years as I have vague memories of it as a child. I always liked the song and the animated opening with the various scenes from the episode and the lit fuse and then watching the tape self destruct. And that one song that had kind of a military march sound to it. Not much else, though.

That's why I'm excited to see the classic years because those are all new for me.

You should enjoy the first 3 seasons a lot (if you liked the later seasons). The first three are the best, especially 2 and 3. Enjoy!

[Brian Flagg]

Please don't dismiss the first season! I'd like to have seen more of Dan Briggs, but he's not in as many episodes as I'd like, owing to actor Steven Hill's well-documented difficult behavior. He's great in "Operation Rogosh" as the incompetent, nebbishy attorney. I think we only got to see the surface of his ability. It would have been interesting to see more of Steven Hill.

[Daddy Bond]

Please don't dismiss the first season! I'd like to have seen more of Dan Briggs, but he's not in as many episodes as I'd like, owing to actor Steven Hill's well-documented difficult behavior. He's great in "Operation Rogosh" as the incompetent, nebbishy attorney. I think we only got to see the surface of his ability. It would have been interesting to see more of Steven Hill.

No, season 1 is excellent too, but for me, it is mainly because of the rest of the team that I really like season 1. Briggs was fine, but not as much of a leader as I would like in the head of the MI team.

[Napoleon Solo]

Please don't dismiss the first season! I'd like to have seen more of Dan Briggs, but he's not in as many episodes as I'd like, owing to actor Steven Hill's well-documented difficult behavior. He's great in "Operation Rogosh" as the incompetent, nebbishy attorney. I think we only got to see the surface of his ability. It would have been interesting to see more of Steven Hill.

In "Operation Rogosh" there's a nice scene where we see Briggs "become" the attorney, going from standing up straight to being hunched over. It's a nice touch and that's one of my favorite first season M:I episodes overall.

[Brian Flagg]

My season 3 top ten:

1. The Mind of Stefan Miklos
2. The Mercenaries
3. The Cardinal
4. The Exchange
5. Doomsday
6. The Diplomat
7. The System
8. The Glass Cage
9. The Bunker
10. The Play

[Brian Flagg]

A question for those familiar with the full running times: "The Contender" Part I runs at 50 minutes and Part II clocks in at 45 minutes. Have there been any edits? The rest of the shows run at 50+ minutes each and appear to be complete.

[Napoleon Solo]

A question for those familiar with the full running times: "The Contender" Part I runs at 50 minutes and Part II clocks in at 45 minutes. Have there been any edits? The rest of the shows run at 50+ minutes each and appear to be complete.

50 minutes was the standard running time for hour-long shows in the mid- to late-1960s.

[Brian Flagg]

A question for those familiar with the full running times: "The Contender" Part I runs at 50 minutes and Part II clocks in at 45 minutes. Have there been any edits? The rest of the shows run at 50+ minutes each and appear to be complete.

50 minutes was the standard running time for hour-long shows in the mid- to late-1960s.

Understood. But the second part runs only 45 minutes, not including the seven or eight minute recap at the beginning. Another 2-part episode, "The Bunker", has both parts running at 50 min each. Could Part II of "The Contender" been cut?

[Napoleon Solo]

A question for those familiar with the full running times: "The Contender" Part I runs at 50 minutes and Part II clocks in at 45 minutes. Have there been any edits? The rest of the shows run at 50+ minutes each and appear to be complete.

50 minutes was the standard running time for hour-long shows in the mid- to late-1960s.

Understood. But the second part runs only 45 minutes, not including the seven or eight minute recap at the beginning. Another 2-part episode, "The Bunker", has both parts running at 50 min each. Could Part II of "The Contender" been cut?

I would have thought the recap was part of the running time of Part II.

[Turn]

In the review on the Double O Section blog, it says some of the episodes may be the syndicated version with some cuts made. If so, that's especially sad. From what I understand, MI is a show where just about everything that happens means something and can play into something somewhere later in the episode and such cuts can take away from things.

It sucks when that happens with TV shows on DVD. With shows like these it's the hardcore and loyal fans who get burned. We buy these, often paying good money, because we want to watch what we couldn't in syndication or at all in some cases.

Are the studios that put these out just being lazy in not seeking out the uncut prints or is nobody checking or what? You sure don't see that happening with shows like Star Trek, incidentally made by the same studio as MI, Paramount.

[Brian Flagg]

It is sad. Upon rechecking "The Contender", it appears that both parts 1 & 2 have a running time of 45:31, but it's the only episode that appears trimmed.

[Napoleon Solo]

It is sad. Upon rechecking "The Contender", it appears that both parts 1 & 2 have a running time of 45:31, but it's the only episode that appears trimmed.

Awwwwww, nuts! Isn't that the finale for the Woodfield-Balter team on M:I?

[Brian Flagg]

Season four has one two parter and a three parter, but 5-7 have none, so if they're gonna do any more editing, it will have to be on the 50min episodes, which Paramount hasn't done...yet. So maybe the damage will be minimal.

[Jackanaples]

A question for those familiar with the full running times: "The Contender" Part I runs at 50 minutes and Part II clocks in at 45 minutes. Have there been any edits? The rest of the shows run at 50+ minutes each and appear to be complete.

50 minutes was the standard running time for hour-long shows in the mid- to late-1960s.

Understood. But the second part runs only 45 minutes, not including the seven or eight minute recap at the beginning. Another 2-part episode, "The Bunker", has both parts running at 50 min each. Could Part II of "The Contender" been cut?

It's possible also that the while making the show in the first place, they realized that they'd need an extended runtime to tell the story. While expanding the story over two episodes maybe there was enough material for 90-95 minutes, but not 100. This is quite possible, as M:I is not a show known for much in the way of filler. Do the episodes play well?