194 replies to this topic

[Daddy Bond]

Indeed, Mission Impossible is one of TV's greats. It used to be my favorite show before it was replaced by The Saint. But this show was WORLD'S better than the Cruise movies (and I really like Mission: Impossible 3). Although, by its 5th season, Mission Impossible, the TV show, really did start to decline, with the loss of Landau and Bain and others, and a decrease in budget. Still, there were some really good episodes in the remaining seasons.

I'm looking forward to this! Along with season three, the sixth season remains in my memory more than any of the others. Lynda Day George was one hot dish! I'm also looking forward to the continued fashion degradation as the IMF battles "the syndicate." This season just oozes early seventies "charm." The early 1970s remains a fascinating era and a period that time forgot, and probably wanted to! It's my job to bring it back!

I just hope they don't edit Barney's vocal of "(Sittin' On the) Dock of the Bay."

Really, anyone who has seen the movies and NOT seen the TV show have NO idea what Mission Impossible is even about.

[Brian Flagg]

M:I's Fifth Season:

I still haven't bought this. Why?

1) The rearranged theme. Sounds like a re-record from one of those cheesy "TV's Greatest Hits" tapes from the 1980s. It comes back for the seventh season, unfortunately.

2) Lesley Ann Warren and Sam Elliott. I enjoy their work in other contexts, but here, at the beginning of their careers, they're just not appropriate for this show.

3) The pandering to the "Counterculture." Yeah, I hate yuppies...I mean hippies...as much as the next person, and the IMF represents "The Man", so the producers and writers, in their infinite wisdom chose to have the occasional youngster ambivalently "help" the team. They hinted at this crud in S4 and it was amusing, but too much here.

4) The junking of the tape, dossier, and apartment scenes. I love those and they're in roughly half the episodes in S5. Thank goodness they bring 'em back for S6.

A few months ago, Deepdiscount had S5 for $23.94 and I still passed on it. Maybe the next time they have a sale, I'll pick it up, for completion's sake, and to see "The Killer", which is a masterpiece.

I have a feeling I'm one of the few who feel this way about the show's fifth season.

[Turn]

M:I's Fifth Season:

I still haven't bought this. Why?

1) The rearranged theme. Sounds like a re-record from one of those cheesy "TV's Greatest Hits" tapes from the 1980s. It comes back for the seventh season, unfortunately.

2) Lesley Ann Warren and Sam Elliott. I enjoy their work in other contexts, but here, at the beginning of their careers, they're just not appropriate for this show.

3) The pandering to the "Counterculture." Yeah, I hate yuppies...I mean hippies...as much as the next person, and the IMF represents "The Man", so the producers and writers, in their infinite wisdom chose to have the occasional youngster ambivalently "help" the team. They hinted at this crud in S4 and it was amusing, but too much here.

4) The junking of the tape, dossier, and apartment scenes. I love those and they're in roughly half the episodes in S5. Thank goodness they bring 'em back for S6.

A few months ago, Deepdiscount had S5 for $23.94 and I still passed on it. Maybe the next time they have a sale, I'll pick it up, for completion's sake, and to see "The Killer", which is a masterpiece.

I have a feeling I'm one of the few who feel this way about the show's fifth season.

I haven't bought it either. I am somebody late to the MI television series. I remember the show when I was a little kid, but don't recall it in syndication at all and it never seemed to play any of the cable networks I ever had.

I will admit to being a fan of the Cruise films. I feel there is some spirit there, although I find the MI2 to be one of the worst films I've ever seen in that regard.

I got season 3 for Christmas a year ago and bought season 4 the day it came out, but haven't come anywhere close to finishing it. Since I have Blu-rays and many other DVDs, I just haven't watched them only sporadically. Plus, I still don't have seasons 1 and 2.

I will, hopefully, pick these all up someday, but at a low price. The great part is being able to discover these since I wasn't all that familiar with them.

[Diabolik]

I find it amusing that the original M:I doesn't receive anywhere near the attention on this board as the reviled movies made by the best-known Scientologist in the world. I guess another thing that keeps more people from being interested is the fact that an ex or future Bond actor never appeared on M:I...forgive an old man his grumpiness...

I think Mr. Cruise had a hand in it. You notice they waited until AFTER Cruise had left the franchise before starting to release them. I would have figured they would release the TV series on DVD as a tie-in with the M:I movies coming out. But mysteriously, no...

Then Cruise leavers the film franchise and immediately Paramount begins releasing them. Hmmm....

I'm just glad they are coming out on DVD now.

Edited by Diabolik, 15 February 2009 - 06:02 PM.

[Brian Flagg]

I find it amusing that the original M:I doesn't receive anywhere near the attention on this board as the reviled movies made by the best-known Scientologist in the world. I guess another thing that keeps more people from being interested is the fact that an ex or future Bond actor never appeared on M:I...forgive an old man his grumpiness...

I think Mr. Cruise had a hand in it. You notice they waited until AFTER Cruise had left the franchise before starting to release them. I would have figured they would release the TV series on DVD as a tie-in with the M:I movies coming out. But mysteriously, no...

Then Cruise leavers the film franchise and immediately Paramount begins releasing them. Hmmm....

I'm just glad they are coming out on DVD now.

That reminds me of the evil that was the Will Smith Wild Wild West, back in '99 I thought that the movie, as bad as it was, might have gotten the original 1960s show a retrospective, behind-the-scenes book as a sort of tie-in. Nope; the Smith film was so awful an experience that we fans of the original show didn't get even that fringe benefit.

And, like you, I'm happy we have the show, even with the Cruise-era logo on the front covers; we still get the classic logo on the back.

[Brian Flagg]

M:I's Fifth Season:

I still haven't bought this. Why?

1) The rearranged theme. Sounds like a re-record from one of those cheesy "TV's Greatest Hits" tapes from the 1980s. It comes back for the seventh season, unfortunately.

2) Lesley Ann Warren and Sam Elliott. I enjoy their work in other contexts, but here, at the beginning of their careers, they're just not appropriate for this show.

3) The pandering to the "Counterculture." Yeah, I hate yuppies...I mean hippies...as much as the next person, and the IMF represents "The Man", so the producers and writers, in their infinite wisdom chose to have the occasional youngster ambivalently "help" the team. They hinted at this crud in S4 and it was amusing, but too much here.

4) The junking of the tape, dossier, and apartment scenes. I love those and they're in roughly half the episodes in S5. Thank goodness they bring 'em back for S6.

A few months ago, Deepdiscount had S5 for $23.94 and I still passed on it. Maybe the next time they have a sale, I'll pick it up, for completion's sake, and to see "The Killer", which is a masterpiece.

I have a feeling I'm one of the few who feel this way about the show's fifth season.

I haven't bought it either. I am somebody late to the MI television series. I remember the show when I was a little kid, but don't recall it in syndication at all and it never seemed to play any of the cable networks I ever had.

I will admit to being a fan of the Cruise films. I feel there is some spirit there, although I find the MI2 to be one of the worst films I've ever seen in that regard.

I got season 3 for Christmas a year ago and bought season 4 the day it came out, but haven't come anywhere close to finishing it. Since I have Blu-rays and many other DVDs, I just haven't watched them only sporadically. Plus, I still don't have seasons 1 and 2.

I will, hopefully, pick these all up someday, but at a low price. The great part is being able to discover these since I wasn't all that familiar with them.

It would seem that I have a fifth season-shaped hole in my heart, so I finally ordered it and will just enjoy those shows on their own campy merits. I do look forward to "The Killer" with Robert Conrad as hitman Eddie Lorca.

[Brian Flagg]

Got my fifth season DVDs yesterday (just in time for the weekend!) and late last night I watchedthe season opener, "The Killer."

I liked it but don't think it's on the same level as earlier M:I masterworks from the first three seasons, but highly enjoyable nonetheless.

I'm used to seeing the middle-aged Victor/Victoria era Lesley and seeing her as a twentysomething was quite a pleasant surprise; she's hot! I had to chuckle at her minidress after being "shot" and lying on the ground with her ankles crossed; must maintain dignity in death!

I see that Nimoy and Braney are embracing the "Hip Revolution" style with Barney's 'fro and Paris' sideburns and hip shades in full evidence. Oh, to be a middle-aged Neo-Edwardian hipster!

Lalo Schifrin's brilliant, funky score listen to that electric *and* acoustic bass lines, wow! I'd love to know who those session musicians were; probably ex-jazzmen. Nice that they left the main theme in its original form for the first couple episodes.

I remember the teaser being used in S6 but still had to get used to it here.

[Brian Flagg]

While I enjoy season five a heck of a lot more than I thought I would, I think that they're overdoing it with the "mission gone wrong" premise, though I enjoy any episode that showcases Barney ("The Hunted"). I miss the intricate planning and fun gadgetry of previous adventures.

I'm also glad I got another Anthony Zerbe fix, as "The Amateur" is worth it for his scenery chewing. Five-O's Ron Feinberg did a splendid job as the police chief in that same episode in a role quite different from the "developmentally challenged" characters he often played on H50.

Oh, and the Leonard Nimoy-Mark Lenard reunion in "The Rebel" was enough to make my day.

[Brian Flagg]

More fifth season thoughts:

Lesley Warren's scene at the seance in "Cat's Paw" was pretty...ripe. Barbara Bain would have played that role with reserve and she would've been so much more effective. Lesley should have toned things down in several of her scenes throughout the season. She must say "please" fifty times during her interrogation scene in "Flight"!

Sam Elliott adds nothing to the show and I miss Willy! See how he saves Barney from the firetrap? The team needs a strongman!

I liked "Butterfly" with Khiegh Diegh adding his usual menace to the proceedings.

I got a big kick out of seeing that Saurian Brandy bottle make a sudden appearance about 33 minutes into S5's "The Missile"--right next to Nimoy! LOL! Nice to see Paramount using those old Desilu props!

The showcase for Barney ("Cat's Paw") is so far my favorite episode. Well, either that or "Squeeze Play" with former Playboy Playmate Victoria Vetri doing a fine job. She's also known as "Angela Dorian."

Edited by Brian Flagg, 02 March 2009 - 07:21 PM.

[Turn]

I got a big kick out of seeing that Saurian Brandy bottle make a sudden appearance about 33 minutes into S5's "The Missile"--right next to Nimoy! LOL! Nice to see Paramount using those old Desilu props!

The showcase for Barney ("Cat's Paw") is so far my favorite episode.

Technically, "Cat's Paw" is borrowed from Star Trek too. It's the name of the second season Halloween-themed episode.

[Brian Flagg]

Just watched "The Catafalque" and I have to say seeing the great John Vernon once again is a pleasure. He'll be Dean Wormser(?) to most, but he'll always be "The Mayor" to me...

Good episode, with Nimoy doing a full "peel away" and Johnny Bench(!) in a cameo and getting special billing in the credits!

I'm enjoying the fifth season much more than I ever thought I would!

[Turn]

Johnny Bench(!) in a cameo and getting special billing in the credits!

You know, I forgot all about that. I am from Ohio and Bench was a huge name at the time (still is) and it's one of the few things I actually remember of the series in its original run when I was just a preschool kid. My family was excited to see that episode for his cameo.

[Brian Flagg]

Johnny Bench(!) in a cameo and getting special billing in the credits!

You know, I forgot all about that. I am from Ohio and Bench was a huge name at the time (still is) and it's one of the few things I actually remember of the series in its original run when I was just a preschool kid. My family was excited to see that episode for his cameo.

You've got a few years on me, so I remember Bench more for a saturday morning kid show called The Baseball Bunch from 1982. And speaking of the Big Red Machine, I met Tony Perez just after he was announced for the HOF; he's a nice guy--and much taller in person!

As for his M:I cameo, I wonder if he was just a fan of the show? The appearance must have been just after the Reds' loss in the 1970 World Series...anyway...I have one disc left to watch of season five and then I await "The Syndicate"!

[Turn]

Johnny Bench(!) in a cameo and getting special billing in the credits!

You know, I forgot all about that. I am from Ohio and Bench was a huge name at the time (still is) and it's one of the few things I actually remember of the series in its original run when I was just a preschool kid. My family was excited to see that episode for his cameo.

You've got a few years on me, so I remember Bench more for a saturday morning kid show called The Baseball Bunch from 1982. And speaking of the Big Red Machine, I met Tony Perez just after he was announced for the HOF; he's a nice guy--and much taller in person!

As for his M:I cameo, I wonder if he was just a fan of the show? The appearance must have been just after the Reds' loss in the 1970 World Series...anyway...I have one disc left to watch of season five and then I await "The Syndicate"!

I remember The Baseball Bunch too. During that Big Red Machine era, Bench and Pete Rose were like rock stars here in Ohio. I've heard Tony was a nice guy.

Bench was probably the highest profile player in baseball back then, he won two MVPs in three years, was one of America's most eligible bachelors and such, so it's no surprise he got the cameo. He also had a cameo on an episode of The Partridge Family around that time, playing a waiter, when they did an episode at Kings Island amusement park near Cincy.

[Brian Flagg]

"Kitara" is probably the only episode that gives Sam Elliott significant screen time. The episode could have been a disaster, but was handled pretty well. I was waiting to cringe, but that never happened. I noticed that the governor was like the Wild, Wild West's Gustave Mauvais in S2's TNOT Bottomless Pit, bald and obsessive-compulsive. Okay, the WWW guy was a germphobe, but the similarity was there...

One more disc to go!

Edited by Brian Flagg, 06 March 2009 - 12:03 PM.

[Brian Flagg]

In anticipation of the sixth season dvds later this month, I thought I'd regale you all with my season five top ten list:

10) Cat's Paw
9) The Missile
8) Flipside
7) Hunted
6) Squeeze Play
5) The Catafalque
4) My Friend, My Enemy
3) Butterfly
2) The Killer
1) The Field

[Brian Flagg]

A sixth season DVD review. M:I's sixth season is due April 28, 2009.

[Blofeld's Cat]

MODERATOR NOTE: Topic title updated.

[Brian Flagg]

I am happy to report that M:I's sixth season episode BLUES is uncut. All songs ("You Send Me"; "Dock of the Bay"; "Judy's Gone") are present and the original ones. Guess I gotta get that Greg Morris album now! I had long feared that Paramount would cut the Otis Redding song, or rather, Greg Morris' version of it for rights issues. They didn't.

I still remember seeing this episode 23 years ago and being stunned by how good Greg Morris' "junky scene" was. It's still impressive. Love that early-seventies "hip" though it's still a bit jarring going into these "Syndicate" stories!

Funny that Peter Lupus carried on Leonard Nimoy's Neo-Edwardian styles!

And Jim's glasses during the tape recorder scene---I need a pair of those shades!

[Brian Flagg]

re: Encore

Strange that Sam Elliot is in this episode. I kept expecting Willy to say, "What are you hangin' around for?" Anyone know why Elliot made this one-off appearance this season?

Kudos to Shatner for his restrained (for him) performance

First below-average episode of S6 is "Shape-Up", which is a half-arsed ghost story with a lot of overdubbed Gerald S. O'Laughlin dialogue. Lynda Day George has been underwhelming so far, at least in the six episodes I've watched so far. I hope she gets an episode to "strut her stuff."

On the other hand, "Mind Bend" is an excellent entry, as I like it when M:I does "psychological" stories. Only the ending seemed a bit rushed and with unnecessary exposition about Barney being okay. Fine score by Robert Prince. Cinnamon had a rougher time mending her broken heart at the end of S1's "The Short-Tail Spy"!

I'm enjoying Benny Golson's musical contributions to the show. He has his own sound yet manages to get that "Lalo Vibe" in his arrangements. He, like Oliver Nelson, were composers I only knew of in the jazz idiom despite the fact that as a youngster, I probably heard their TV music first.

[Brian Flagg]

"Underwater" was a nice return to form after the last couple below-average episodes. The IMF were smooth, clever, and this adventure was quite low-key, but effective. I had to chuckle at Jim's outfit at the end, but that's part of what I like about S6. Nice of them to get off the Paramount lot for awhile, and the underwater sequences moved along pretty well.

I thought I recognized some music from season five's "The Killer" in this one.

[Brian Flagg]

The Bride" is the best episode so far, and it was an additional treat to see Woodrow Parfrey-- Jaffe the hot dog vendor from Dirty Harry-- as the funeral parlor director, Collins.

Lynda did manage to keep her Irish accent throughout, too. James Gregory--not so much; he definitely descended into Inspector Luger territory at times. Still, he's always great, as was Brad Dexter. Charles Dierkop's "Richie" wins the worst hair award; I've lost track of the amount of times I've seen him play the thug on TV.

And Phelps wears his hip, purple shades again.

[Brian Flagg]

My top ten for Mission: Impossible's sixth season:

10) The Visitors
9) The Tram
8) Invasion
7) Casino
6) Committed
5) Underwater
4) Blind
3) Blues
2) Mindbend
1) The Bride

[Brian Flagg]

With only one more season remaining in the show's run, only Barbara Anderson remains to be compared with Barbara Bain. So far, only Lee Meriwether even comes close as a woman from that mid-1960s/mid-1970s period who approached Bain's poise. And Meriwether doesn't have Bain's acting chops, either. Anne Francis only did the one S4 episode, and the former Honey West star should've been given another chance. The various "Cinnamon Substitiutes" of S4 barely registered at all, and Lesley Ann Warren was too young for the part, and even Lynda Day George wasn't as good as I seem to recall her being when I first saw those sixth season shows twenty-five years ago. Looks like Barbara Bain was THE dame on Mission: Impossible.

[Brian Flagg]

Mission: Impossible season seven due out November 3rd!

[JimmyBond]

Wasnt it the seventh season where they stopped doing cold war style plots and started going after a group called the Syndicate?

[Brian Flagg]

Wasnt it the seventh season where they stopped doing cold war style plots and started going after a group called the Syndicate?

"The Syndicate" is the common name used for organized crime/the mob/ etc. during the late sixties-early seventies. It's also known as "The Organization." Those terms were used so as not to invoke the other name, Mafia, which according to J. Edgar Hoover, didn't exist...

The Syndicate episodes began full force in the sixth season, but there are a smattering of organized crime missions since the first season. You may find it amusing that during the tape recorder sequences, when Phelps receives his assignment, three common phrases are often heard:


"the Syndicate"
"conventional law enforcement agencies have been unable..."
"Your mission, Jim, should you decide to accept it, is to put [name or group here] out of business for good."

I actually love the syndicate years, because of the gaudy early-70s fashions, the superior music scores, the absence of pseudo-European accents, and most of all, the fact that Barney (Greg Morris) gets more undercover work, therefore giving him more of the spotlight.

[Napoleon Solo]

///"The Syndicate" is the common name used for organized crime/the mob/ etc. during the late sixties-early seventies. It's also known as "The Organization." Those terms were used so as not to invoke the other name, Mafia, which according to J. Edgar Hoover, didn't exist... ///

Over on Mannix, M:I's sister show, they also use "the Syndicate" or similar names. Ditto for QM's The FBI series, officially sanctioned by Hoover. In the first few seasons, mob bosses have last names like Vincent or Toby. A second-season episode, though, does have an accurate description of a mafia family, except everything is labeled in anglo terms ("boss," "underboss," "counselor," etc).

When The Godfather came out in 1972, the jig was up. I remember an episode from a later season of Mannix, where he refers to "the Don." And I've read in the season of The FBI (which was after Hoover died), they had at least one episode where the mobsters have Italian names.

[Brian Flagg]

was watching a S1 episode of MANNIX yesterday and in the pre-titles scene one of the characters actually says "Mafia"! This was actually jarring to me! I'm so used to hearing "Syndicate"! Later in the episode Mannix himself says "Syndicate", and all was once again right with the world.

Mission: Impossible season seven now up for pre-order on Amazon. Yes, my order is in.

[Napoleon Solo]

was watching a S1 episode of MANNIX yesterday and in the pre-titles scene one of the characters actually says "Mafia"! This was actually jarring to me! I'm so used to hearing "Syndicate"! Later in the episode Mannix himself says "Syndicate", and all was once again right with the world.

Mission: Impossible season seven now up for pre-order on Amazon. Yes, my order is in.

If Mannix makes it season 7 or 8, you can hear Joe refer to "the Don," which I can't imagine in the early seasons. :-)