Mission: Impossible (1966 TV series)
Mission: Impossible is an American espionage television series that aired on CBS from September 1966 to March 1973. It was revived in 1988 for two seasons on ABC. It also inspired the series of theatrical motion pictures starring Tom Cruise beginning in 1996.
For other uses, see Mission: Impossible (disambiguation).Mission: Impossible
Action
Spy fiction
United States
7
171 (list of episodes)
50 minutes
Desilu Productions
(1966–1968)
(seasons 1–2)
Paramount Television
(1968–1973)
(seasons 2–7)
September 17, 1966 –
March 30, 1973
Created and initially produced by Bruce Geller, the show chronicled the exploits of a small covert team of secret government agents, known as the Impossible Missions Force, and their sophisticated methods of deceiving, manipulating and thwarting hostile Iron Curtain governments, third world dictators, corrupt industrialists, and crime lords, among others. In the first season, the team is led by Dan Briggs (played by Steven Hill); Jim Phelps (played by Peter Graves) takes charge for the six remaining seasons. Briggs and Phelps usually assemble the same core team of agents, all of whom have careers and some degree of celebrity outside of espionage. The team is occasionally supplemented by other specialists.
The series was financed and filmed by Desilu Productions.[1]
Overview[edit]
The identity of the agency that oversees the Impossible Missions Force (IMF) is never revealed. Only rare cryptic bits of information are ever provided, such as in the third-season mission "Nicole", where the IMF leader states that his instructions come from "Division Seven". It is suggested that the IMF is an independent agency of the United States government. This is implied by the fact that, for several years, towards the end of the taped briefing messages, the narrator states: "As always, should you or any of your IM force be caught or killed, the Secretary will disavow any knowledge of your actions", or words to that effect.
No main character was ever killed or disavowed in the original series, but a character could disappear between episodes or seasons without explanation or acknowledgment. A main character was killed in the 1980s revival, however. Mimi Davis is the only character whose recruitment as an IMF agent was shown on screen, although such a scene was filmed for Dana Lambert (Lesley Ann Warren) and discarded.[2]
In North America, Mission: Impossible received limited VHS format release in the waning days of video cassettes: There was a subscription through Columbia House; GoodTimes Home Video issued a sell-through version of Episode 3, "Memory" (under the multiply erroneous title "Butcher of Balkins"); and Paramount Home Video released twelve two-episode volumes of "The Best of Mission: Impossible," six tapes at a time, in 1996 and 2000. Here are the episodes on the mentioned VHS releases:
Volume 1:
Volume 2:
Volume 3:
Volume 4:
Volume 5:
Volume 6:
Volume 7:
Volume 8:
Volume 9:
Volume 10:
Volume 11:
Volume 12:
For laserdisc, Volumes 1–6 are available on that format, and in Japan's case, the first four seasons in their entirety are released onto the format by CIC video.
CBS DVD (distributed by Paramount Home Entertainment) has released all seven seasons of Mission: Impossible on DVD in Regions 1, 2 & 4. The episodes of the original series of Mission: Impossible on the CBS DVD/Paramount Pictures Home Entertainment DVD releases were presented digitally restored and remastered from the original film negatives for picture clarity and sound, and are also presented in its original broadcast presentation and order.
On December 11, 2012, Paramount released Mission: Impossible – The Complete Television Collection on DVD in Region 1. The 56-disc collection features all 171 episodes of the series as well as bonus features.[45]
On October 6, 2015, CBS Home Entertainment released a repackaged version of the complete series set, at a lower price.[46]
On December 1, 2020, CBS Home Entertainment released a Blu-ray Disc version of the complete series set.