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Mission: Impossible (1988~1990)

 
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Pow
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PostPosted: Mon Jun 27, 2022 9:19 am    Post subject: Mission: Impossible (1988~1990) Reply with quote

The Complete Mission: Impossible Dossier by Patrick J. White.

The 1988 Writers Guild strike lasted 150 days and paralyzed Hollywood. Faced with the prospect of no new product, some studio and network executives threatened (half seriously, it was believed) to reshoot old scripts.

Paramount, which had spent eight years (and much money) trying to bring back Mission: Impossible, saw a golden opportunity.

ABC Entertainment president Brandon Stoddard announced that the network had signed with Paramount to remake thirteen of the best Mission scripts as new episodes to be filmed entirely in Australia with an all new cast for a fall 1988 airing.

ABC scheduled the series for Sundays at 8:00, opposite big guns like CBS's Murder, She Wrote and NBC's Family Ties.

One of the first decisions by executive producers Jeffrey M. Hayes and Michael Fisher was to reconsider the all-new casting dictate: By mid July, Peter Graves was signed to return as Jim Phelps.

It was ultimately decided that the new series would be a sequel to the original, with a new Impossible Mission Forces team.

A quick but exhaustive search brought together an attractive new cast. Thaao Penghlis, an Australian actor of Greek descent was cast as Nicholas Black, university drama teacher and expert in disguise, acting, and languages.

Grant Collier, the son of the original series Barney Collier (Greg Morris), would be played by Phil Morris who was the son of Greg Morris. Grant would be the technological wizard of the team just as his father had been on the 1966~1973 Mission: Impossible. Grant was an MIT graduate at age sixteen and as brilliant as his father.

Beautiful Terry Markwell, an actress-model-designer living in Australia would play agent Casey Randall. Casey was a top designer who entered the IMF by helping the the team arrest the terrorist responsible for her fiance's murder.

Muscular Australian Tony Hamilton would play IMF agent Max Harte, the teams strongman. Back when he was still in high school, Max rescued his brother from a Vietnamese prisoner of war camp.
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Sidebar: Producers Hayes & Fisher absolutely made the right call on this new Mission: Impossible TV series by establishing it as a sequel to the original show.

Paramount considered simply to cast all new and younger actors as the exact same characters from the 1966 series.
Fans would dislike that as an insult to those performers on the original iteration.

It would also be confusing to audiences. How can you have a younger and different looking Jim Phelps, Rollin Hand, Cinnamon Carter, Barney Collier, and Willy Armitage in the year 1988? Doesn't that kind of erase the original show from history? Why hasn't the team aged at all, why do they look different? The new series certainly wasn't supposed to be taking place on an alternate Earth.

Another smart move by the producers was to bring back original team leader Jim Phelps and have Peter Graves reprise his character. This gave us a connection and anchor to the original show. It provided a sense of reality for the fans, as well as respect to the 60's series.
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Last edited by Pow on Tue Jun 28, 2022 8:22 am; edited 1 time in total
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PostPosted: Tue Jun 28, 2022 8:20 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

The Complete Mission: Impossible Dossier.

Besides Jim Phelps, other Mission trademarks were retained to link the new series with the old.

Lalo Schifrin came back to score the premiere episode, and his Mission theme, reorchestrated for synthesizer, electric guitar, and heavy bass line, was as riveting as ever.

Although the series didn't use a different main title montage for each episode, it did begin with the lighting of a match. This time, however, there was a face behind the flame: Jim Phelps.

Jim Phelps lives in a San Francisco apartment. those days of him looking through a IMF dossier portfolio spread out on a coffee table were no more.

Phelps had a coffee table from which a secret panel slid open and up popped a computer keyboard. He would use it to open a section of a large column in his apartment that revealed a wide viewing screen which provides all necessary data for IMF team briefings. Even Phelps is amazed by all this when he comments in the episode "Time marches on."

The self-destructing tapes were replaced by self-destructing laser discs enclosed in players which can be opened by Jim's thumbprint and operated only after a three-digit code is pushed. In the old series, the phrase "IMF Force" was never spoken except by the taped voice; here it's ubiquitous, with references to IM Computer Research, IM Laboratories, IMF Security, IMF files and more. The team's computer readouts and surveillance tapes frequently display the initials of this supposedly ultrasecret organization.

The taped voice was once again Bob Johnson, whose old "Good morning, Mr. Phelps" had mellowed into the more informal "Good morning, Jim."

In addition to familiars like face masks, needle rings, and transmitters, new IMF hardware included a hand-held "locator" to find hidden safes, eyeglasses with a liquid crystal display in the lenses to receive messages, and a spray can or dart gun to induce unconsciousness.

Grant carries a laptop computer which has many uses, including data accessing and audiovisual monitoring; and an intriguing yellow camera which, when computer linked, can falsify documents, "matte" people into existing photographs, and design holographic projections.
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My thoughts: The producers and artistic team for this new Mission: Impossible iteration all did a fantastic job of updating the series, while paying respect to the 1966~1973 Mission: Impossible TV series.

The cool looking player that Phelps would receive his mission assignments was like something out of Star Trek. The new show also would follow the original show by having Phelps report to a different locale each week in order to obtain the player after speaking in code to an agent already at the location. And of course the laser disc would go up in smoke at the end of the recording.

Jim's apartment with the table keyboard and column that opened up into a viewing screen was also a marvelous new high tech take on the show. The new producers were making all the right moves.
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PostPosted: Wed Jun 29, 2022 11:06 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

The Complete Mission: Impossible Dossier.

The IMF team shared a camaraderie not seen since the earliest days of the original series, and there was the definite presence of human feeling. Emotions have been displayed, with even Phelps expressing anger and frustration.
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Note: Allowing the cast to be more expressive with their emotions was a departure from the way the original cast conducted themselves. This was due to Mission's creator, Bruce Geller, whose vision for his show was to have the IMF agents "ciphers" to the audience.

Yes, we'd see the agents play out emotional scenes while they were undercover for the benefit of deceiving the enemy. However, Geller wanted his agents to ultimately remain a mystery to the audience by not having their personal lives or relationships revealed, other than their professional backgrounds.

Peter Graves told the story about when he performed in his first Mission: Impossible episode. At the end of the episode when the IMF defeated the enemy, Graves gave a smile as Phelps, indicating "We got the bastards."

Geller called for the scene to be reshot without Phelps smiling telling Graves that the IMF agents never reveal such emotions or make any commentaries regarding their assignments.

While that worked for the 1966 Mission, it was refreshing to see the new version give us IMF agents with feelings, as well as a sense of friendship amongst themselves.

Geller's insistence of having his agents as "ciphers" was intriguing back in 1966 on the original series. However, I liked seeing this new version of the show with relatable humans at its core.
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Bud Brewster
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PostPosted: Wed Jun 29, 2022 3:05 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

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Here's an idea, just for fun! Very Happy

Imagine a Vulcan team of experts who operate undercover for the Vulcan High Command, doing what the IMF force did — pulling off covert operations which were carefully planned and executed as only Vulcans could!

The twist in the concept is the fact that these operatives would be trained to imitate emotions and personality traits so they could deceive the people they encountered during their missions.

Obviously the couldn't just hide their ears!



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Since this is the Star Trek universe, their disguised would be more hi-tech than the rubber masks of M:I. Perhaps they'd wear portable holo-emitters which changed their appearance to look human or any kind of alien they needed to become.


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I like the idea of including scenes that showed the agents being trained to act like various human types — friendly gentlemen, grumpy old men, talkative nervous people, etc. The training center would employ various humans and aliens who would work with the Vulcan agents before each mission.


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These "instructors" would be skilled actors who could demonstrate the kind of gestures and facial expressions the agents would need to learn for each specific assignment. And like the I:M agents frequently did, the Vulcans would have to both look and act like specific individuals whose identities they would assume.


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I think it would fun to watch the dignified and unemotional Vulcans struggling to imitate non-Vulcans during their "acting classes", forcing themselves to behave so differently than they've been doing their whole lives! Very Happy

And just imagine a humorous scene in which two Vulcan I:M agents are alone for a few moments during the mission, their disguises still in place while the momentarily reverted to their normal behavior to confer quietly with each other about the mission.

Suddenly someone interrupts them, and they instant go back into their "act" while they exchange a few words with the person who showed up unexpectedly. But when he leaves, they drop the phony behavior and finish the brief conference as Vulcans before resuming their mission. Laughing

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Is there no man on Earth who has the wisdom and innocence of a child?
~ The Space Children (1958)
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PostPosted: Thu Jun 30, 2022 9:14 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

The Complete Mission: Impossible Dossier.

By filming in Australia, the show avoided the original series' greatest drawback. Australia's diverse geography (helped by matte shots) effectively passed for locales as diverse as Egypt, Paris, Africa, Greece, the Himalayas, Ireland, Hawaii...and Australia.

For once, Mission: Impossible seemed to take place in the real world, not on a studio backlot, and the plots rarely occurred in Latin American and East European settings that were so easy to duplicate in Hollywood.

The series lavish production values made the old Mission seem like a radio drama by comparison. Some episodes, like, 18, "Submarine," and 26, "Target Earth," were almost handsome enough to pass as features. Bruce Geller would have liked that.
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Sidebar: Once again, author Patrick J. White, in his Mission book beautifully encapsulates how filming in Australia greatly enhanced this new Mission TV series.

The original series did the best they could for a 1960s television series and with the budgets they had at that time.
They utilized the famous Desilu 40 Acres backlot to stand in for all of the different countries around the world where they traveled for their missions. So there was a routine sameness in the look of the episodes that did have a staleness to them for fans as the seasons went on.

Not helped was the fact that this same backlot was used by Star Trek, Hogan's Heroes, Gomer Pyle, and The Andy Griffith Show. Mission episodes would also shoot at the oft used outdoor locales such as Vasquez Rocks and Bronson Canyon. Places utilized by The Wild, Wild, West, The Big Valley, Laredo, and almost any TV western series that you can name.

Sure, it is fun to be able to spot these recognizable locations from one series to another. Ultimately though their constant reuse did work against Mission episodes.

I realize that those simply were the circumstances for the series back then and nothing could be done about it.

But the ABC network and producers were very smart to relocate the production to awesome Australia for this new show. The country could provide various financial incentives that Hollywood simply could not. These would stretch the show's budget much further and make the episodes much richer looking.

The Australian locations also added a freshness and excitement for the audiences. No longer were they utilizing Hollywood backlots that were seen over and over again.

They were now filming in a country whose cities and geography were not familiar to most audiences. This gave us new and original vistas to gaze upon. It also gave the show a realistic look and as Patrick J. White wrote "For once, Mission: Impossible seemed to take place in the real world...'
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Bud Brewster
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PostPosted: Thu Jun 30, 2022 6:32 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

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Great post, Mike! We're grateful to our M:I historian for sharing these BTS facts with us.

I'm looking forward to hearing your thoughts on my Vulcan Mission Impossible concept and all the amazing images I posted with Vulcan ears — several of which I personally painted onto various people, from the late Tim Edwards (Bulldogtrekker to the legendary Lucille Ball!

Nobody can paint Vulcan ears like Bud Brewster — although I confess I didn't create the image of Tuvok Obama. I found that one on line and was disappointed that somebody had beaten me to it. Cool



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Is there no man on Earth who has the wisdom and innocence of a child?
~ The Space Children (1958)
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PostPosted: Mon Jul 04, 2022 8:33 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Just watched the October 12, 1989 episode "Command Performance" that had a humorous double entendre from IMF leader Jim Phelps (Peter Graves).

Jim is posing as the owner of a sideshow from Texas who has joined a regular circus as part of the team's cover for their mission.

In order to execute the team's escape from the country they're in via a circus performance, along with a priest they've rescued from a prison fortress, Phelps gives the circus ringmaster some Kentucky whiskey for his performance. The whiskey is laced with a harmless substance that will temporarily take away the ringmaster's voice.

The circus owner is frantic over his ringmaster not being able to speak at all just as the show is about to get underway. Phelps steps in.

Circus owner: "How in god's name could you lose your voice?"
Phelps: "Not to worry buckaroo, I'd be honored to take over the reigns for you."
Circus owner: "You! What do you know about being a ringmaster!?!"
"Phelps: "More than you can imagine my friend."

Phelps line brought a smile to my face.
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