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Classic Mission: Impossible and 1988 Sequel Series...

By the way, I find it interesting that every generation of M:I has a lot of people in common with Star Trek. Not surprising, since they're both from Paramount (formerly Desilu) and were sister shows to begin with, but the ties continued in the revivals.

The original had tons of Trek actors in it, mainly Nimoy as a regular, but also Shatner, Takei, Lee Meriwether, Barbara Anderson, John Colicos, Michael Strong, etc. etc. -- and some of the same people doing voiceover work, like Vic Perrin and Walker Edmiston. Also people in common behind the scenes, notably composer Gerald Fried as well as writers, directors, and people in the art department, casting department, and so on.

The revival series, in turn, began a year after TNG and has several familiar TNG actors playing villains in its first few episodes, namely John DeLancie, James Sloyan, and Judson Scott (plus series regular Phil Morris had been in "Miri" and The Search for Spock and would go on to do several more appearances in DS9 and VGR). And it had production staffers in common, notably composer Ron Jones and directors like Cliff Bole and Mike Vejar.

And there are connections in the movies too. The second movie's story was by the TNG writing team of Ron Moore and Brannon Braga. J.J. Abrams and Kurtzman/Orci got the job reinventing Trek because of their success with M:I:III, and have used Simon Pegg, composer Michael Giacchino, production designer Scott Chambliss, and others in both franchises.
 
Actually Lesley Ann Warren (or Lesley Warren, as she was billed) never impressed me that much in her time on M:I. She was not bad and not unattractive, but didn't wow me either in looks or talent. Actually I thought her acting was reasonably good at first, but there was a certain sameness to it as the season went on.

Although she was certainly better than Terry Markwell, the first female lead of the revival series. I remember that when I watched the revival in first run back in '88-'89, I found her quite stunning, but this time around her looks aren't impressing me quite as much (though she has her moments) and her acting isn't impressing me much at all. Although there haven't been many episodes where she's really been given anything to do. In at least half of the eight episodes I've seen so far, she's just sort of hovering in the background rather than playing a central role. Though she's done an adequate job when she has been given something significant to do, like in "The Killer" (the series premiere) and "The Cattle King." But I'm not surprised that they
killed her off and replaced her with Jane Badler. At the time, I was very disappointed in that change, but now I find it entirely understandable.

Although I'm also rather unimpressed with Thaao Penghlis, who's filling the Martin Landau/Leonard Nimoy role. He's demonstrated a total inability to alter his voice or accent, relying entirely on other actors' voices dubbed over his. It was a very odd choice to cast someone so lacking in versatility in the "master of disguise" role. Ironically, Tony Hamilton, who was cast to fill Peter Lupus's strongman role, has proven to be a better actor and roleplayer than either Penghlis or Markwell.

Because it was filmed in Australia, the MI remake did tend to get a bit of press coverage.

Can remember the reports of Markwell's departure being due to a falling out with the producers (probably due to not having that much to do.

Btw is she the only time we've ever seen and IMF agent disavowed?

On the subject of Pengalitis, not sure if lead to his MI casting but not long before he'd given a good performance as a terrorist badguy in a mini-series and was tending to get recognized more for that than Mission: Impossible when it was airing.
 
That's why my favorite seasons are the first and fifth -- they're the ones that vary the formula the most, that tend to have the plan going wrong and the team having to improvise a way to fix the problem (as well as making the most effort to develop the characters rather than keeping them as interchangeable ciphers). The multi-parters in season 4 are pretty good in that regard too. And a number of episodes in the '88 revival have done that as well.

Very much in agreement here. Even the series pilot had an operative (Wally Cox) get injured on the job, necessitating Briggs stepping in to fill his role.

****

Edit: Because of this thread, I looked up the intro to the 80s revival. Its tone and use of graphics (computer screens and graphics, tech shots, dossiers, a screen flipping through the cast) looks a lot like the intro for the 1996 movie, so I'd like to think that the producers were inspired by the revival as much as the original (which was primarily a montage of the episode's events) for their title sequence. In a way then, the revival also got to contribute to the movie franchise.
 
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Btw is she the only time we've ever seen and IMF agent disavowed?

On TV, yes; IIRC, the entire team was disavowed in Ghost Protocol, though it didn't last.

There is a third-season episode, "The Exchange," where Cinnamon is captured by the enemy and the team must get her out on their own, but there's no explicit mention of a risk of disavowal. The original show never made any use of that concept beyond the tape narrations.
 
I seem to recall Cinnamon getting captured once. I know the team spared no expense to rescue her, but I presume "the secretary" disavowed her when she was caught. I don't recall if it was mentioned in the ep, though.
 
^That was "The Exchange." As I said already, there was no mention of disavowal or the Secretary at all. Just that she'd been captured and the team needed to figure out a way to get her back. We can infer that they didn't contact HQ for orders because they knew she'd be disavowed and hung out to dry, but it definitely was not stated.
 
Fair enough, then let's say UNCLE fell into the bad camp camp. The ep that made me stop was the same one that Vaughn quotes when disparaging the season. It involved Africa, a cliche jungle girl, a guy in a gorilla suit, and a scene where Napoleon danced the Watusi with the gorilla in a tree house. Probably the lowest low in the series, IMHO.

No, the real low was the episode where Ilya is riding a stink bomb between his legs, trying to stop it from hitting Las Vegas! When one of the writers saw it on TV, he told his wife, 'Honey, stop expecting and cashing the checks; this show's finished.' For that and the above-mentioned Africa episodes of Man and Girl, I've avoided renting the third season of Man and won't waste my time with Girl at all.

And hey, I loved Batman too, but that style was not what a spy show should have been.

The '60s Batman is good in small doses (I'd say about a tiny drop like that of a dribble from the mouth) but not much more than that. Kids should be watching BTAS, Batman Beyond, The Batman, Batman: Brave & Bold and Beware The Batman instead.
 
Ahh, but Batman '66 wasn't just for kids. Like its contemporary Rocky and Bullwinkle, it operated on two levels. The kids took it as a straight adventure show, and the adults could see the satirical subtext, topical and political references, and sexual innuendoes beneath the surface. That was its brilliance. Indeed, shows like Justice League and The Brave and the Bold operate on the same double level. The TB&TB episode "The Mask of Matches Malone!" had a song that was so laden with sexual innuendoes that Cartoon Network refused to air it. I only just saw the full episode for the first time yesterday, now that Netflix has the full series available for streaming.

Indeed, it's odd to endorse B:TB&TB and dismiss Batman '66 in the same sentence, because B:TB&TB is heavily influenced by the '66 show and makes constant allusions to it, to the point that it could almost be considered a direct sequel, or at least a spiritual successor. And both shows are faithful homages to the Silver Age of Batman and DC comics, although TB&TB is a more affectionate tribute while '66 was more mocking.
 
I seem to recall Cinnamon getting captured once. I know the team spared no expense to rescue her, but I presume "the secretary" disavowed her when she was caught. I don't recall if it was mentioned in the ep, though.

In the 5th season episode "My Friend, My Enemy," Paris is captured by villains and is programmed to kill Jim Phelps. Like what was mentioned with "The Exchange," the IMF probably didn't contact HQ for Paris to get disavowed. However, Paris does voice that he probably thinks he would, since he disappeared for sometime with no memory of what happened to him.
 
The TB&TB episode "The Mask of Matches Malone!" had a song that was so laden with sexual innuendoes that Cartoon Network refused to air it.


Ah, love walksout the door when money comes innuendo .

Indeed, it's odd to endorse B:TB&TB and dismiss Batman '66 in the same sentence, although TB&TB is a more affectionate tribute while '66 was more mocking.

It's also the only depiction of Aquaman that was in any way cool.
 
Fair enough, then let's say UNCLE fell into the bad camp camp. The ep that made me stop was the same one that Vaughn quotes when disparaging the season. It involved Africa, a cliche jungle girl, a guy in a gorilla suit, and a scene where Napoleon danced the Watusi with the gorilla in a tree house. Probably the lowest low in the series, IMHO.

No, the real low was the episode where Ilya is riding a stink bomb between his legs, trying to stop it from hitting Las Vegas!
For me, one of the show's low points was "The Hot Number Affair," with guest stars Sonny and Cher. Set in New York's garment district, the plot was something about a secret THRUSH code hidden in the pattern on a dress. Cher played a model and Sonny played a dork.
 
The TB&TB episode "The Mask of Matches Malone!" had a song that was so laden with sexual innuendoes that Cartoon Network refused to air it.


Ah, love walksout the door when money comes innuendo .

Indeed, it's odd to endorse B:TB&TB and dismiss Batman '66 in the same sentence, although TB&TB is a more affectionate tribute while '66 was more mocking.

It's also the only depiction of Aquaman that was in any way cool.

B:TB&TB wasn't half as camp as Batman '66 was, and was more of an adventure that combined the 50's TB&TB book with elements of Justice League and Justice League Unlimited and a little schmaltz; it didn't go full-hog into parody like Batman '66 did. I'd show that (and The Batman) to any kids I had over anything like Batman '66 (and I'd also include Teen Titans, Green Lantern: TAS and Young Justice, as well as Beware The Batman-heck; I'd show them the Nolanverse Batman movies too.)
 
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Christopher, I'm pretty sure season 2 is on DVD, if you want to go that route.
It is, but I don't have a lot of discretionary income to throw around, and I'm not sure I'll like season 2 enough to want to own it. If I were getting paid to do my blog reviews, that would be another matter, of course, but since it's just for recreation, I'm not that determined.
Christopher, over the years I have enjoyed reading your insightful reviews of the original show so much, that I would love to support your reviewing of the 1988 revival show. If you are willing to PM me your Pay Pal information, it would be my pleasure to send you the money for the second season. :)
 
I appreciate the offer very much! Just click my homepage link in my signature and there's a PayPal donation button right at the top.
 
Fair enough, then let's say UNCLE fell into the bad camp camp. The ep that made me stop was the same one that Vaughn quotes when disparaging the season. It involved Africa, a cliche jungle girl, a guy in a gorilla suit, and a scene where Napoleon danced the Watusi with the gorilla in a tree house. Probably the lowest low in the series, IMHO.

No, the real low was the episode where Ilya is riding a stink bomb between his legs, trying to stop it from hitting Las Vegas!
For me, one of the show's low points was "The Hot Number Affair," with guest stars Sonny and Cher. Set in New York's garment district, the plot was something about a secret THRUSH code hidden in the pattern on a dress. Cher played a model and Sonny played a dork.

Oh God yes. And every time they appeared on screen, "The Beat Goes On" came up in the background. Every. Single. Time.

(and for a second there I swore you typed "New York's Garamet district"!) :borg:
 
wwowiewow wow!!!...I have said it before, and I will say it again, it is really cool to be a part of such an interesting and knowledgeable Board...to all of the above, and more. thank you!...I had forgotten more than I had rememebered about Mish and Five Oh...the one thing that I did remember and that still makes me smile, is that Jack Lord could easily have been James T. Kirk...he wanted a piece, and Roddenberry would not give...wonder how that would have gone... :)
 
I couldn't really see Jack Lord as Captain Kirk, not with the level of control he would have wanted over the show. (Lord became a very hands-on executive producer of Five-O following creator Leonard Freeman's death in 1974.) In particular, I can't see Lord, who was 99% of the time the center of Five-O, willingly allowing story focus to be given to a popular second-billed character like Spock.
 
I couldn't really see Jack Lord as Captain Kirk, not with the level of control he would have wanted over the show. (Lord became a very hands-on executive producer of Five-O following creator Leonard Freeman's death in 1974.) In particular, I can't see Lord, who was 99% of the time the center of Five-O, willingly allowing story focus to be given to a popular second-billed character like Spock.

I've lost a ton of respect for Lord over the years due to that kind of prima donna bullshit behavior he pulled, and this article tells why: Jack Lord, Superstar

It was a great thing he never became Captain Kirk, because the dynamics of TOS would have been disrupted beyond what Shatner did, in addition to all of the crap that was going on production-wise on the show.
 
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