Having grown up in the 60's, I was able to catch a lot of shows that most of today's MTV generation could only dream about from adrenaline-fueled, mindless motion picture remakes. While I am finding more and more new shows that I like, there are tons of them from the 60's and 70's that run circles around a lot of the claptrap you find today. "Mission Impossible" is a perfect example. Most audiences today think of "Mission Impossible" and immediately think of Tom Cruise. However, Cruise's vision of the Impossible Missions Force is really no more than a frivolously lame attempt to recapture the spirit of a show that was worlds ahead of its current counterpart in terms of intelligence and quality writing. "Mission Impossible" debuted in 1966 and ran for a heady seven seasons. The series revolved around the IMF teams who were sent out on what were deemed 'impossible missions.'

The teams were made up of government spies and specialists who were brought together for each mission by a team leader, after careful consideration of a selection of dossiers. Their missions were so super secret that it was known by all involved that if anyone were ever to be caught or killed, the government would disavow any knowledge of their actions. One of the signatures of the series was the self-destruction of the tape that held the information for the assignments.

The original cast from the first season included Steven Hill as Dan Briggs (the Team Leader), Martin Landau as Rollin Hand (The Master of Disguise), Barbara Bain as Cinnamon Carter (The Femme Fatale), Greg Morris as Barney Collier (The Electronics Expert) and Peter Lupus as Willy Armitage (The Muscle). By the second season, Hill would be replaced by the more familiar Peter Graves as Jim Phelps. (This character would late be resurrected and bastardized in the first Cruise debacle.) Though most of the later casts were still superlative, this original cast, including Peter Graves, was the best.

The series, considering it was written back in the mid 60's was superbly written. Even though the missions were deemed impossible, the ways in which the team would pull them off were always wholly credible. There was little in the way of suspension of disbelief required, even when they included some pretty tricky disguises. The characters were also written in such a way as to keep them from being stereotypical of their particular specialty, gender or race, which rarely happened back then. Each of the characters was fully fleshed out to make them 3-dimensional and played as such superbly by the cast.

Lately Paramount has been releasing a lot of the shows I grew up with, including the terrific "Wild, Wild West." "Mission Impossible" was extremely high on the list of those I wanted to see on DVD. I was really beginning to wonder if they would ever seethe light of day. I guess the one good thing to come out of Cruise's train wrecks had been a renewed interest in this original series. The first DVD set came out last year and offered up the entire first 28 episode season, with each of the episodes digitally re-mastered for the highest quality picture and sound available. Considering the age of the series, Paramount did an awesome job with the transfer. The series looked and sounded remarkable.

This month, Paramount is hitting us with the fifth season, and as usual I'm blown away by the speed with which they are able to get these releases out on store shelves. These 23 episodes explode off the TV screen as the transfer is so terrific. The episodes are spread out over six discs, which also accounts for the great quality. I was glad to see we didn’t have to deal with any double-sided discs. The only continuing disappointment for fans would be in the lack of special features. I was hoping for some interviews or cool archival footage, but no such luck. However, with a series this good, I consider it a small complaint. Paramount delivered what I really wanted, episodes of the series fully restored to look better than they did over 40 years ago.

This season really started what became a downhill run. Not that it was bad, but the episodes began to lose some of the spark that had come in the first four seasons. Leonard Nimoy continued in his role as Paris, the master of disguise and was still really good. But what really didn’t work was the addition of Lesley Ann Warren as Dana Lambert. She too, was supposed to be a master of disguise but always seemed woefully out of place amongst the rest of the IMF team. Not that it was entirely her fault. Warren has always been a capable actress, but she really just didn’t fit the part physically. What was kind of fun though was seeing a young Sam Elliott showing up from time to time.

Speaking of familiar faces, the other thing I enjoy so much about watching older shows like these is to pick out the guest stars and this season of “Mission Impossible” had its share. Here you can find the likes of Robert Conrad, Sal Mineo, Robert Alda, Larry Linville, James Shigeta, Anthony Zerbe, Mark Lenard, John Vernon, Andrew Duggan, Marion Ross, and William Smith.

If your only introduction to "Mission Impossible" has been through the three Tom Cruise movies, consider yourselves severely lacking. If you want to see the 'real' IMF in action, pick up the first and second season sets and prepare yourself for the ride. And as far as I'm concerned, Paramount cannot release the next five seasons fast enough! (By the way, I've already watched my set…. it did not self-destruct…)

Episodes:
The Killer
Flip Side
The Innocent
Homecoming
Flight
My Friend, My Enemy
Butterfly
Decoy
The Amateur
Hunted
The Rebel
Squeeze Play
The Hostage
Takeover
Cat’s Paw
The Missile
The Field
Blast
The Catafalque
Kitara
A Ghost Story
The Party
The Merchant

Starring: Peter Graves, Greg Morris, Peter Lupus, Leonard Nimoy, Lesley Warren
Extras: None
Specifications: Full Screen, Dolby Digital 5.1 Surround Sound, English Mono
Studio: Paramount
Release Date: 10/7/2008
Region: 1
MPAA Rating: NR
Website

We'll give Mission Impossible: Season 5 a B-.