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Mission: Impossible (1966 - 1973)
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Bud Brewster
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PostPosted: Mon Dec 16, 2013 9:47 pm    Post subject: Mission: Impossible (1966 - 1973) Reply with quote

The TV series Mission: Impossible is available as a streaming video from Netflix!

I have very fond memories of this show. It was all about a team of intelligent and highly trained professionals who followed an elaborate plan designed to defeat the enemies of the free world.

Hi-tech devices were often used, and sometime they were more hi-tech than what actually existed, so I figured we could sneak this show in as borderline science fiction.

Each episode of the series was skillfully written, masterfully directed, artfully filmed, and beautifully edited. The music is a huge plus for this series. The title theme is a classic, and it's basic melody is used at key moments during the show -- the same way the James Bond theme is used during those dramatic moments when Bond is being especially cool.

Just a quick word to the guys: Barbara Bain is insanely hot in this series. In one scene she appears wearing nothing but a small, tightly-wrapped bath towel, a pair of high heels, and a flirtatious smile. This scene and others like it in the pilot episode require the presence of a fire extinguisher near the TV to deal with the threat of spontaneous combustion.

Forewarned is forearmed, gentlemen.

Concerning Martin Landau's famous face masks: in the pilot we see him painstakingly creating a mask by applying it carefully in pieces -- the way Hollywood make-up artist do when they spend hours preparing for a single day's shooting for a major motion picture. The process is extremely believable because it is so elaborate and time consuming.

This scene alone caused me to have renewed respect for this popular series. The big-budget Tom Cruise movies have nothing on the pilot episode of this TV series. It's so far ahead of it's time that I consider it equal to Star Trek (TOS) in many ways.

If you have Netflix, I strongly recommend you watch this show. It's an amazing piece of work, especially in view of the fact that it was made as a TV series back in the 1960s. When compared to trendy and unrealistic shows like The Man from Uncle, this series is a work of art.

On a personal note, I saw the first few seasons of this show (when Steven Hill was the leader of the group) on my family's old black & white TV. Later I saw the Peter Graves episodes on our color TV. Because of this, I thought the first few seasons were in B&W and the later ones were in color.

Imagine my surprise and delight today when I discovered that this series began in color and offered beautiful photography, even in the pilot episode!

Amazon offers box sets of this show, but each season is about $30.00 -- and there are six seasons!

Worse yet, none of them are in Blu-ray, and Brent would chew me out royally if I didn't wait for the Blu-ray version of this show. (He'd be right, of course.) The streaming videos from Netflix look wonderful, so if I watch them for a year or two while I wait for the Blu-ray discs to come, I'm sure I won't die too bad (as a friend of mine used to say).

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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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Bongopete
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PostPosted: Thu Dec 19, 2013 10:41 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

When 'Space 1999' aired, it was Landau and Bain from Mission Impossible that I was expecting. Wrong.
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Bud Brewster
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PostPosted: Thu Dec 19, 2013 3:45 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

_______________________________

No sir, we never saw this in Space: 1999.




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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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Bongopete
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PostPosted: Fri Dec 20, 2013 3:05 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

She really changed over a couple of years didnt she?
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Pow
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PostPosted: Wed Oct 01, 2014 12:23 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Jonnie Burke was the head of the special effects department on M:I.

He was approached & offered a job on one of 2 brand new tv shows debuting that fall of '66. One was M:I & the other was Star Trek. He thought that ST would be way too much work as it was a sf show & would require original & exotic props for each episode.

So he chose M:I instead figuring how demanding would an espionage series be? You can't blame him. The M:I pilot has few gadgets & even Bruce Geller, creator of M:I, never envisioned it as a show that would have new gizmos each week. However, as the series first season progressed, writers began incorporating wild new mechanical devices for each show.

In the end ST was less work & M:I was daunting with their prop requirements for each new episode.

But Mr.Burke was more than up to the task.

The Complete Mission: Impossible Dossier by Patrick J. White


Last edited by Pow on Fri Dec 03, 2021 4:35 pm; edited 1 time in total
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Pow
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PostPosted: Sat Dec 13, 2014 11:37 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

I see that MeTV will be airing the first of a 2-part episode from season one this weekend.

Its entitled Old Man Out & by coincidence the guest star is the lovely Mary Ann Mobley who passed away earlier this week.

Great ep by the way.
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Pye-Rate
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PostPosted: Sat Dec 13, 2014 7:25 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

I recently watched MI:III. Only two things save it, the toys and the ending was filmed in Seattle. Ivar's Acres of Clams oh yum!
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scotpens
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PostPosted: Sat Dec 13, 2014 11:10 pm    Post subject: Re: Mission: Impossible Reply with quote

The genius of Mission: Impossible was getting viewers to tune in week after week to watch essentially the same story: The IM Force's mission is to make the bad guys do what we want them to do (reveal the location of the MacGuffin, turn against each other to end a corrupt dictatorship, whatever). They accomplish this by carrying out an elaborate ruse, often involving amazingly realistic rubber masks and cheesy fake accents. But the charades were so intricate and well-plotted that we stayed glued to our TV sets, wondering just how they were going to pull this one off.

It's worth noting that the multitalented Bruce Geller, creator of M.I., died tragically in the crash of his small private plane at the age of 47.


Bud Brewster wrote:
Just a quick word to the guys: Barbara Bain is insanely hot in this series. In one scene she appears wearing nothing but a small, tightly-wrapped bath towel, a pair of high heels, and a flirtatious smile.

It's all a matter of taste, I suppose, but I never found Barbara Bain particularly sexy. She was pretty the way a department-store mannequin is pretty, and had about as much emotional range.

Bud Brewster wrote:
On a personal note, I saw the first few seasons of this show (when Steven Hill was the leader of the group) on my family's old black & white TV.

Steven Hill (as Daniel Briggs) played the group's leader only in the first season (1966-67). Starting with season 2, the leader was Jim Phelps (Peter Graves).
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Bud Brewster
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PostPosted: Sat Dec 13, 2014 11:50 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Thanks for the correction about Mr. Hill, Scotspen. As for Miss Bain, it was mostly a teenage fixation — except for that scene with the teeny tiny towel.

Rrrruuff!
Twisted Evil
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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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Krel
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PostPosted: Sun Dec 14, 2014 12:18 am    Post subject: Re: Mission: Impossible Reply with quote

scotpens wrote:
They accomplish this by carrying out an elaborate ruse, often involving amazingly realistic rubber masks and cheesy fake accents.

As I recall, it wasn't like that in the beginning. They used to pick actors that looked something like M.L., and then would make him up to look like the actor using appliances. This later changed to the rubber masks. I don't know if it was the expense, or a health problem with the makeup used. There have been shows where the actor, or actress had to leave due to developing an allergy to the makeup. It could have been a time saving measure, or just wanting the guest star on the show for the whole episode.

I remember as a kid, that my Mom thought that the show was awful because the IMF team used to gather around the radio to listen to the bad guy's people kill him at the end. It was rather blood thirsty. Laughing

David.
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Pow
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PostPosted: Mon Dec 15, 2014 1:31 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Somewhat along these lines I saw an interview with Robert Conrad about TWWW tv series.

They had a group of stuntmen that the series kept on as regulars, which was unusual for that time. The Stuntman's Association felt that was unfair & did not allow for other stunt people to appear on the show.

Conrad's contention was that they had a well oiled machine with their stuntmen & why mess up the formula?

In any event, he said that often they'd try to match their guest stars looks to one of the regular stuntmen for continuity.
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PostPosted: Mon Dec 15, 2014 2:56 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Krel: I don't remember that aspect of the show, but mothers pick up on motherly things that leave their young sons scratching their heads and thinking grumpy thoughts about what party poopers their moms can be. Crying or Very sad
_____________________________________

Pow: I'm surprised to hear the Royal Order of Stunt Dudes would interfere that way with the director's decisions about which stuntmen to use. I thought the selection of stunt people was the exclusive right of the director.

Not that I know a back flip from a butt kick when it comes to the wild world of professional stunts . . . Smile

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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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Krel
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PostPosted: Mon Dec 15, 2014 9:46 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Pow wrote:
Somewhat along these lines I saw an interview with Robert Conrad about TWWW tv series.

They had a group of stuntmen that the series kept on as regulars, which was unusual for that time. The Stuntman's Association felt that was unfair & did not allow for other stunt people to appear on the show.

Conrad's contention was that they had a well oiled machine with their stuntmen & why mess up the formula?

In any event, he said that often they'd try to match their guest stars looks to one of the regular stuntmen for continuity.

The book on the WWW tv show stated it differently. The WWW was a very stunt heavy show, that ran short of stuntmen for the show when "The Great Race" started filming. To keep that from happening in the future they started their own school for Stuntmen for the series. The Stuntman's Association didn't like that, as it took away jobs from the Association. So they refused to certify or hire any of the WWW trained stuntman.

A note, Red West was one of the show's Stuntmen.

I've read that Steve Hill was released from the show, because he refused to work on Saturdays, as it was against his religion. You have to admire his commitment, to leave a hit show that way.

David.
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Pow
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PostPosted: Tue Dec 16, 2014 10:33 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

Probably a combo of what Conrad said & the info from TWWW book, I should imagine.

Yeah, Red West, Elvis's high school buddy & former bodyguard, was one of the intrepid part of the stunt company for TWWW.

Dick Cangey was another one. Former boxer who got Conrad interested in learning the manly art of self defense.

In season one of TWWW you see Conrad do more judo/karate type moves during his fights.

After Cangey got him into boxing you see West do more boxing moves in his elaborate fight scenes on the show.
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Bud Brewster
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PostPosted: Tue Dec 16, 2014 11:33 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

Great discussion, guys.

I get funny mental images from the phrase "stuntman school". Big burly guys sitting in undersized desk while the teacher draws a stick figure of a man falling from a building.

A mother in the kitchen calling out, "Hey, boys! What's all that racket coming from your room?'

"We're just doing our homework, Mom!"

A school bus stops on the corner, and a plump mother hands a lunchbox to her 6 foot tall, 220 pound son, kisses him on the cheek, and tells him she hopes his first day at school will be nice. A dozen rugged-looking guys hang out the windows along the side of the bus while they jeer and laugh and tease the new kid.

Chuck Lorre should consider this for a sitcom.
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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