MISSION IMPOSSIBLE

Just been reading through my Radio Times Christmas Double issue TV Guide (phew - that is a long task in itself) and came across the recently new Quest Channel listings (Sky channel 154) where they are currently showing reruns of the original Mission Impossible series weekdays at 10 am (or 11 am on Quest Plus 1 channel 167)

After I had bought Networks Season One Space 1999 DVDs and fallen in love with the show (and Martin Landau!) all over again, I then bought Seasons 1,2 & 3 Dvds of Mission: Impossible.

I don't remember the show from its original showing (I was too young to appreciate it at the time) but I do vaguely remember being aware of it, and in particular the very catchy and iconic theme tune. It's one of those iconic tunes that you immediately know what show the music belongs to. After I've finished doing the synopsis etc on the Space 1999 site I'm going to start working on a Martin Landau appreciation site which will include stuff on MI as well as his other work.

Indeed, Mission Impossible was a COOL Show. Love the gadgets and high tech stuff they constantly came up with time and time again - reminds me of the James Bond films and the excitement at seeing Q introduce Bond to the latest bit of expensive kit...

Spooks, currently showing on BBC TV, strikes me as very much a modern day version of Mission Impossible and also seems to have an often changing main character cast, as did Mission Impossible over the seasons.

I love Mission: Impossible, whether Landau's in it or not. It's a
great show that doesn't treat the viewer as an idiot, through the very
clever technique of not telling you what they're going to do
beforehand. You see the plot unfolding each week as they do it -
it's like watching a jigsaw puzzle be slowly assembled and taking on
form before your eyes. Rather than Spooks, I think the modern
show that's closest to the spirit of Mission is Hustle. What the
IMF are, at heart, are a team of conmen working for the US government,
setting up elaborate deceptions to effectively con their enemies into
giving them what they want. Very smart.

I agree, MI didn't treat viewers as idiots, the plots were so elaborate it was pretty tricky to guess what was going to happen, but then that was the whole idea.

Did you guys prefer Steven Hill or Peter Graves as the team leader?

The early episodes of Steven Hill's character were very interesting. He was obviously a man with hidden knowledge and skills. Unfortunately, IMO, the character became more trite as the series progressed, and it became obvious that the actor had other priorities, in this case, his religious faith.

I believe I would have enjoyed his character over Grave's if the development had continued. Phelps was always too much a cowboy.