Mission : Impossible
1 9 6 6 - 1 9 7 3 (USA)
171 x 50 minute episodes
 Your mission, should you choose to accept it, is to try to get
Lalo Schifrin's pulsating theme music out of your head once you
start humming it!
Paired with images of a lit fuse. its
suspenseful, jazzy urgency epitomised the promised action to come.
The Impossible Missions Force (IMF) were an elite group of
secret agents under the leadership of Jim Phelps (Peter Graves).
Their dangerous missions usually involved the rescue of a foreign
diplomat held prisoner by a fictitious communist power, or the
recovery of secret documents.
Each member of the IMF had their own particular talent, Rollin
Hand (Martin Landau) was a master of disguise, Cinnamon Carter
(Barbara Bain) was the female seductress, muscle was supplied by
Willy Armitage (Peter Lupus), and Barney Collier (Greg Morris) was
the electronics wizard.
Gadgetry and special effects featured heavily in the series
which won Emmys for Outstanding Dramatic Series in 1967 and 1968.
Surprisingly Landau and wife Barbara Bain were unceremoniously
sacked over disputes over money. Landau's tenure on the show was
unusual from day one.
He'd started as a guest performer (the original leader of the
MI team was Daniel Briggs, played by Steven Hill) but even
after he moved up to lead-character status, he refused to sign the
standard five-year contract that would've allowed the studio to
lay claim to his time.
 So when MI hit the Nielsen top 15 in
Season Two, he was free to negotiate for what he thought he was
worth, as was Bain. They
aimed high, Paramount aimed low, and the actors lost.
 Lawsuits
flew - and when Bain stepped up to the podium in 1969 to accept
her third consecutive Emmy for her work on the show, she glared at
the cameras and said: "There are many I would like to thank.
There are a couple of people I'd not like to thank - but since
they each know their names, I won't call them."
Thus continued the spin of the revolving cast door, which saw
the quick entrances and exits of Sam Elliott, Lesley Ann Warren
and a post-Star Trek Leonard Nimoy.
Graves stuck it out until the show left the air in 1973 as
did Greg Morris and Peter Lupus.
When asked for his feelings on the cancellation in 1973, the
low-key Graves avoided the dramatic and was appropriately
philosophical. "I think it may have been the right
time," he said. "Nothing lasts forever, except possibly Gunsmoke."
The brief 36 episode revival in 1989/1990 was filmed entirely
in Australia (although set in locations all over the world).
In 1996 a Hollywood blockbuster version of Mission:
Impossible - starring Tom Cruise - was released . Although it
was big on action, it lacked the magic and charm of the original
series . . . as have a number of blockbuster sequels.
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