Mission Impossible
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Mission Impossible
Mission: Impossible
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Changes: Mission: Impossible (1966)

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==Dossier Sequence==
  
==Dossier Sequence==
   
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The second sequence is the shortest and simply shows Briggs/Phelps in their respective apartments using a black leather binder with the words "Impossible Missions Force" engraved on it. Briggs/Phelps would look over photos of IMF team members, selecting only those suited for the mission (usually the regular cast) and putting aside the rejected photos. Briggs/Phelps would also select one to three additional IMF members (as guest stars) in a specific mission, usually an expert in the type of work needed to carry out the mission, such as a circus performer to stage an eye-opening show as to create a distraction to brake out someone in prison or a doctor to carry out an non-lethal injection to temporarily disable the target. Once done, Briggs/Phelps would leave the binder on the table. Again, as in the tape sequence, the footage of some dossier sequences may appear in more than one episode.
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The second sequence is the shortest and simply shows Briggs/Phelps in their respective apartments using a black leather binder with the words "Impossible Missions Force" engraved on it. Briggs/Phelps would look over photos of IMF team members, selecting only those suited for the mission (usually the regular cast) and putting aside the rejected photos. Briggs/Phelps would also select one to three additional IMF members (as guest stars) in a specific mission, usually an expert in the type of work needed to carry out the mission, such as a circus performer to stage an eye-opening show as to create a distraction to brake out someone in prison or a doctor to carry out an non-lethal injection to temporarily disable the target. Once done, Briggs/Phelps would leave the binder on the table. Again, as in the tape sequence, the footage of some dossier sequences may appear in more than one episode. In Season 1, Martin Landau was credited as "Special Guest Star" as his dossier picture was shown (and, of course selected), however he was made permanent cast member for Seasons 2 and 3.
   
 
==Seasons==
  
==Seasons==

Revision as of 18:17, 26 April 2010


Mission: Impossible is an American television series that chronicles the missions of a team of secret American government agents known as the Impossible Missions Force (IMF). In the first season, the IMF leader is Dan Briggs, played by Steven Hill, then in the second season, the team gets a new leader: Jim Phelps, played by Peter Graves. He remains the IMF leader until the end of the series.

The series aired on the CBS network from September 1966 to March 1973, with seven seasons and 171 episodes. After another 15 years, though, the series would return with two additional seasons and then later would inspire a popular trio of movies in the 1990s and 2000s. Each episode deals with the IMF performing a mission, usually with world leaders, rogue figures and in later episodes, the mob underworld. In most cases, the object of the mission was to eliminate the target by means of deception or elaborate means to convince the target that he is at another location or time has passed (either forward or backward), or to recover a valuable item which if fallen to the wrong hands of the target, would alter the government of a country. Sometime the target would be a subordinate of a leader and the IMF must convince the leader that his subordinate is not on the leader's side. The ultimate result of the missions are usually the target's disgrace among his associates, a secretly taped confession of the target, or the target being shot by his own people or arrested by the police. As this end result happens the IMF team members stealthy leave the area, usually in a vehicle although at least one time two IMF members left in a boat and some other episodes simply show the team members leave the building.

With a few exceptions, the formula for each Mission: Impossible episode is the same each week for the first 4 seasons. Beginning with Season 5, an prologue was added to each episode.

Tape Scene

Considered to be among the most iconic moments of television, the tape scene is the first sequence of Mission Impossible. Briggs/Phelps is shown accessing a tape recorder with a manila envelope which contains pictures of the target(s) and other individuals who are affected by the target's actions. Usually the tape and envelope are in a store, where Briggs/Phelps exchange's codes by casual conversation with the store owner - - thus the owner leaves so Briggs/Phelps can access the tape. Other times the tape is located in a parked car, telephone booth (where certain coins must be deposited in sequence to unlock the phone), a photo booth, fire alarm box, boat, or cigarette machine. Sometimes a phonograph, film reel or telescope was used instead of the tape while in one instance Briggs received the instructions of his mission on a business card (in the Season 1 episode of "Memory"). Some tape sequences from Season 2 onward were reused more than once as stock footage for different episodes.

The recorded voice for all episodes was done by Bob Johnson and is as follows:

Good morning Mr. Briggs/Phelps. The man you are looking at is ... Your mission, should you decide/choose to accept it is to ... As always, should you or any of your IMF force be caught of killed; the secretary will disavow any knowledge of your actions. This tape will self destruct in 5/10 seconds (or "please dispose this tape in the usual manner"). Good luck Dan/Jim.

The tape itself is played backwards as the mission instructions are disseminated to Briggs/Phelps. At the end of the tape sequence when the tape "self destructs", smoke emits from the recording so as to render it useless to anyone who may find it. When the instructions are to simply dispose the tape, Briggs/Phelps would throw it into an incinerator, or use other means to render the recording useless.

Exceptions to the tape sequence were usually "off-book" missions - - unsanctioned personal missions initiated by the IMF, usually to save a fellow team member or to save a personal friend - - such as Briggs saving the daughter of his friend who was about to testify against a mobster during his criminal trial. In Season 1 "Action", Cinnamon Carter retrieved the tape and it's instructions at a women's spa instead of Briggs (who was played by Steven Hill). This was because Hill, an Orthodox Jew, was getting more and more uncooperative with the crew during filming, he slowly was written out of the series in the final 5 episodes.


Dossier Sequence

The second sequence is the shortest and simply shows Briggs/Phelps in their respective apartments using a black leather binder with the words "Impossible Missions Force" engraved on it. Briggs/Phelps would look over photos of IMF team members, selecting only those suited for the mission (usually the regular cast) and putting aside the rejected photos. Briggs/Phelps would also select one to three additional IMF members (as guest stars) in a specific mission, usually an expert in the type of work needed to carry out the mission, such as a circus performer to stage an eye-opening show as to create a distraction to brake out someone in prison or a doctor to carry out an non-lethal injection to temporarily disable the target. Once done, Briggs/Phelps would leave the binder on the table. Again, as in the tape sequence, the footage of some dossier sequences may appear in more than one episode. In Season 1, Martin Landau was credited as "Special Guest Star" as his dossier picture was shown (and, of course selected), however he was made permanent cast member for Seasons 2 and 3.

Seasons

Cast

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