Had a pleasant surprise at the local Best Buy today - the 1988 season of Mission Impossible and the first season (plus pilot films) of The Six Million Dollar Man are out on DVD today. SMDM has of course actually been out for a year - I ordered the Time-Life box set last November - but it's nice to see the individual seasons starting to show up at the retail level for those who didn't want to invest in the box.
As for Mission Impossible 88 I've already watched a couple of the episodes and it's actually better than I remembered. It doesn't hurt that the first episode features not only John De Lancie as the coolest assassin I've seen on TV in a while, but Virginia Hey from Farscape also puts in an appearance in the Australian-filmed revival. Jane Badler of V joins the series later in the season, though I'd forgotten how hot Terry Markwell, who played the Cinnamon Carter analogue in the new series, was (Badler replaced her midway through the season, which I remembered being annoyed with back in the day). BTW I'm talking about this show SF/F because this was the series that in one episode had the IMF team cobble together a dream recorder in order to trap a guy, among other sci-fi trappings.
Only major complaint I have is that the picture quality royally sucks on the DVD. I mean, some of the VHS tapes I took of the show off air probably look the same, and I have a plasma that's usually quite forgiving with 1980s-era picture quality. And it's not as if I haven't seen DVDs made of shows from the same time period - TNG, Max Headroom, Remington Steele and Sledge Hammer, to name a few, look fine on DVD. Even 1988 Doctor Who (not HD quality, of course). It's a shame, but if I basically think of it as watching one of those old videotapes, but knowing the machine isn't going to eat the tape and the picture and sound won't degrade with each play, then that's better than nothin'.
Anyway, I guess we have the new M:I movie to thank for the revival being released (there's still a second season left to be released, which I imagine will follow eventually). I recall it was the release of either MI2 or MI3 that sparked the original series' release to DVD, so I guess the Tom Cruise movies were worthwhile for something!
Back to the SMDM S1 release, I have it a quick look and it appears to have the same extra features, etc as the version in the box set. From what I understand is the plan is to release the regular seasons at retail, but the bonus set that included the revival movies, syndicated edits of the TV movies, and interview with Lee Majors is supposed to, in theory, remain exclusive to the Time-Life box set (sort of like how only the Get Smart box set included the major bonus features). But if you're just interested in the regular series - especially the Bond-inspired first movies and season - it's a good deal (sorry - no Bigfoot, but you do get to see Farrah Fawcett playing against type as Astronaut Kelly Woods). And the end of a long wait for a lot of people.
Alex
As for Mission Impossible 88 I've already watched a couple of the episodes and it's actually better than I remembered. It doesn't hurt that the first episode features not only John De Lancie as the coolest assassin I've seen on TV in a while, but Virginia Hey from Farscape also puts in an appearance in the Australian-filmed revival. Jane Badler of V joins the series later in the season, though I'd forgotten how hot Terry Markwell, who played the Cinnamon Carter analogue in the new series, was (Badler replaced her midway through the season, which I remembered being annoyed with back in the day). BTW I'm talking about this show SF/F because this was the series that in one episode had the IMF team cobble together a dream recorder in order to trap a guy, among other sci-fi trappings.
Only major complaint I have is that the picture quality royally sucks on the DVD. I mean, some of the VHS tapes I took of the show off air probably look the same, and I have a plasma that's usually quite forgiving with 1980s-era picture quality. And it's not as if I haven't seen DVDs made of shows from the same time period - TNG, Max Headroom, Remington Steele and Sledge Hammer, to name a few, look fine on DVD. Even 1988 Doctor Who (not HD quality, of course). It's a shame, but if I basically think of it as watching one of those old videotapes, but knowing the machine isn't going to eat the tape and the picture and sound won't degrade with each play, then that's better than nothin'.
Anyway, I guess we have the new M:I movie to thank for the revival being released (there's still a second season left to be released, which I imagine will follow eventually). I recall it was the release of either MI2 or MI3 that sparked the original series' release to DVD, so I guess the Tom Cruise movies were worthwhile for something!
Back to the SMDM S1 release, I have it a quick look and it appears to have the same extra features, etc as the version in the box set. From what I understand is the plan is to release the regular seasons at retail, but the bonus set that included the revival movies, syndicated edits of the TV movies, and interview with Lee Majors is supposed to, in theory, remain exclusive to the Time-Life box set (sort of like how only the Get Smart box set included the major bonus features). But if you're just interested in the regular series - especially the Bond-inspired first movies and season - it's a good deal (sorry - no Bigfoot, but you do get to see Farrah Fawcett playing against type as Astronaut Kelly Woods). And the end of a long wait for a lot of people.
Alex
