While not my favorite spy series from the 1960s and early 1970s, Mission Impossible is certainly on the Top Ten list. Ranking a bit below I Spy, The Saint, Danger Man, and The Persuaders, MI nonetheless deserves a place at the table, especially the Bain/Landau episodes. Like all the great spy/thriller dramas from the 1960s, MI excelled with its storyline. The producers, writers, and directors knew the value of constantly advancing the story, a skill in short supply for current TV fare, as anyone who has watched 24 over the past few seasons can testify. Mix in an acting ensemble capable of top level performances, instead of cartoon caricatures, and you had, in MI, a rare and wonderful treat for TV.
Two other things, however, deserve mention. First, I personally found the first year with Steven Hill to be my favorite. While I liked the Peter Graves episodes, somehow, he will always be "the new guy" in my book. Maybe it's because the entire MI experience is impressed on my memory by context. Namely, I remember how during that first season, following the weekly visit my parents took to see my grandparents, my father would then race back across town just in time for us all to tune in. I seem to remember that was on Saturdays--early. We never had that experience with subsequent years, as, I believe, MI moved to late Sundays in 1967.
Second, there is the issue of the set design and costuming. Granted, this is only something I've become sensitive too since the initial run of the series back in the 1960s. But the studio shoots, the sometimes too artificial set designs, and the generic uniforms used for East bloc guards and soldiers cause the series to suffer a bit, especially in comparison to the exotic locations of the other great American spy drama from the Sixties, I Spy.
Finally, about Bain and Landau. There was a tremendous amount of buzz about this couple while the series aired. Barbara Bain, in particular, exemplified an allure that is timeless. What a disappointment, then, when, after leaving MI, they finally re-appeared together on TV in the dreadful Space: 1999. Both had faded as stars. But worse, both let their reputations suffer by placing themselves under the direction of one of the worst schlock profiteers in TV at the time, Gerry Anderson. Thus, what a joy it is to see them both on DVD editions of Mission Impossible, in their prime, when it seemed they would conquer television as thoroughly as any couple in its, then, relatively short history.
Two other things, however, deserve mention. First, I personally found the first year with Steven Hill to be my favorite. While I liked the Peter Graves episodes, somehow, he will always be "the new guy" in my book. Maybe it's because the entire MI experience is impressed on my memory by context. Namely, I remember how during that first season, following the weekly visit my parents took to see my grandparents, my father would then race back across town just in time for us all to tune in. I seem to remember that was on Saturdays--early. We never had that experience with subsequent years, as, I believe, MI moved to late Sundays in 1967.
Second, there is the issue of the set design and costuming. Granted, this is only something I've become sensitive too since the initial run of the series back in the 1960s. But the studio shoots, the sometimes too artificial set designs, and the generic uniforms used for East bloc guards and soldiers cause the series to suffer a bit, especially in comparison to the exotic locations of the other great American spy drama from the Sixties, I Spy.
Finally, about Bain and Landau. There was a tremendous amount of buzz about this couple while the series aired. Barbara Bain, in particular, exemplified an allure that is timeless. What a disappointment, then, when, after leaving MI, they finally re-appeared together on TV in the dreadful Space: 1999. Both had faded as stars. But worse, both let their reputations suffer by placing themselves under the direction of one of the worst schlock profiteers in TV at the time, Gerry Anderson. Thus, what a joy it is to see them both on DVD editions of Mission Impossible, in their prime, when it seemed they would conquer television as thoroughly as any couple in its, then, relatively short history.