ELIMINATING THOSE PESKY WORLD THREATS, THE NEW "MISSION: IMPOSSIBLE"

Taking on baddies foreign and domestic, the newly activated MISSION: IMPOSSIBLE team. Image: CBS PARAMOUNT.

Lighting up the fuse once again for a new explosion of drama, subterfuge, misdirection and infiltration comes the return of MISSION: IMPOSSIBLE on DVD (available in the US from late November), this time its eighties resurrection, which saw the series filmed in the sunny climes of Australia (primarily for budgetary reasons) for two seasons from 1988-1990. He may look a little more craggy and the gray hair is now completely silver, but Peter Graves as Jim Phelps, summoned out of retirement and back into action, is as sharp witted and clever as ever, and his new Impossible Mission Force, a much bigger and more sophisticated set-up than anything seen previously, are a likable bunch, mixing a pool of US and Australian actors to good effect, including Thaao Penghlis as the Rolin Hand-like master of disguise Nicholas Black, beefcake Tony Hamilton (previously the co-star if the popular eighties spy series COVER UP, who replaced the late Jon-Erik Hexum (who tragically died during the making of it's first series) as series action hero Max Harte, Greg Morris, son of original MISSION's Phil, playing the equally talented son of electronics whizz Barney Collier, Grant, and lovely Terry Markwell as model/lure Casey Randall (Miss Markwell ultimately appears in only the first season, bravely killed off by the writers after 15 episodes, with the equally lovely American model/actress Jane Badler, most known to viewers worldwide as the evil Diana from V, taking over in a similar role, playing Shannon Reed, and surely at her loveliest here, proving a much better overall casting choice, closer in tone to the Cinamon Carter character, played by Barbara Bain, in the original series). In its early genesis, it was planned that this new MISSION: IMPOSSIBLE would be a genuine re-make of the original classic but the notion was swiftly abandoned and would instead be seen as a continuation, though several other classic series character veterans would return to please older viewers/fans, like the aforementioned Greg Morris and Lynda Day George, once more playing Lisa Casey like she did in the early seventies. Bob Johnson would also return to bring his distinctive voice to the mystery man initiator who talks to Jim by tape recording at the beginning of each episode: "Your mission, Jim, should you choose to accept it...".

Title sequence Season One: Mission Impossible - YouTube
Title sequence Season Two: Mission: Impossible - 1988 series - Opening Titles! - YouTube

New villains to be taken on by our heroes would include SPIDER-MAN's Nicholas Hammond, Maud Adams, Parker Stevenson,Judson Scott, John de Lancie and, having also appeared in the previous series, the likes of Barbara Luna and AIRWOLF's Alex Cord. Though the majority of the stories are new, four episodes were re-makes of classic MISSION episodes from the sixties and seventies (re-vamped and pushed into filming service due to a severely damaging writers strike taking place in America during 1988). Fine directors for the the new series would include Don Chaffey, THE X-FILES Cliff Bole and STAR TREK: DEEP SPACE NINE/VOYAGER's Kim Manners.

It may not have the depth of plotting that its illustrious forebear had, and it takes a little bit of time to find its feet, but by the mid-way point of its first year and well into its second, THE NEW MISSION: IMPOSSIBLE, based on the format originally created by the clever and quirky Bruce Geller, eventually gets its confidence and tells some very enjoyable hokum. Made on film but sadly converted at the time of first screening to murky video, the 35 episode series conversion to DVD will hopefully be of the best possible quality that PARAMOUNT can provide...and good old fashioned adventure, made with dedication and enthusiasm, never goes out of style!


THE NEW MISSION: IMPOSSIBLE can also be seen in weekday re-runs on the UK's CBS ACTION channel.