"Good morning, Mr. Phelps. Your mission, Jim, should you decide to accept it, is to recover the fail-safe before Shipherd can take it apart, and bring Shipherd back. As always, should you or any of your IM Force be caught or killed, the secretary will disavow any knowledge of your actions. Please dispose of this recording in the usual manner. Good luck, Jim." - Bob Johnson as the voice on the tape giving agent Jim Phelps his assignment in "Recovery"
Mission: Impossible: The Second TV Season DVD Review
By Jude Clement
What happens with the U.S. government has an important diplomatic task to accomplish but can't get officially involved? It could call on Judge Judy, but a better bet is the Impossible Missions Force in the 1960s spy series Mission: Impossible: The Second TV Season.
In season one, the Impossible Missions Force was led by Daniel Briggs (Steven Hill). Beginning in season two-and continuing in all subsequent seasons-James Phelps (Peter Graves, Airplane!) takes over the leadership position. Each week, Phelps receives a secret communiqué detailing a touchy situation the government needs solved quickly and efficiently. The assignments, of course, are top secret, and the messages self-destruct after they have been delivered.
After receiving the assignment, Phelps retreats to his home where he leafs through a portfolio of IMF operatives to determine the best roster for the particular task. This is merely a formality, since Phelps basically picks the same crew every week: "Man of a Million Faces" Rollin Hand (Martin Landau, Space 1999), electronics whiz Barney Collier (Greg Morris, Vega$), world record holding muscleman Willie Armitage (Peter Lupus, Police Squad!), and Elite magazine "Model of the Year" Cinnamon Carter (Barbara Bain, Richard Diamond, Private Detective). Only occasionally is another expert brought in, and sometimes one of the team is given the week off (African-American Barney, for example, would have probably been a distraction when the team faced off against neo-Nazis in "The Echo of Yesterday").
All of the IMF's assignments are covert. If they are caught, the government will deny any knowledge of them. Because they are, in essence, acting outside of the law, they don't have to worry about due process and national or international laws. A typical case involves the team pulling a con that causes the bad guys to turn on and kill each other or that leads a criminal to implicate himself in a previously hidden crime.
At times in season two, they face off with drug czars ("The Widow"), treasure hunters ("Trek"), Nazis ("The Bank," "The Echo of Yesterday"), unscrupulous charities ("Sweet Charity"), and a variety of threats to or from numerous small countries. Many of the cases and villains seem a little repetitive and, truth be told, the IMF's intricate plans don't always make much sense.
One of the season's best episodes is "The Town" which doesn't even involve an assignment. Instead, Jim gets sidetracked on his way to meet Rollin for a vacation. Stopping at a gas station, he stumbles onto a secret plot to assassinate a Soviet defector. The entire town, it seems, is made up of Communist spies. When Jim is put into a medically-induced coma by the burg's leader, it is up to the IMF team to save him. This is a fun variation on the oft-seen malevolent village plotline.
The actors add much to the series' credibility. Graves is as serious as his name. Landau is never less than engaging, even when involved in impossible imitations. (After all, even if we accept the fact that Rollin is able to concoct an exact mask of any person he meets, he is often a completely different body type than those he is impersonating.) Bain is cool and carefree in a way that makes her both fun to watch and scary. If this was a different kind of show, there is little doubt that Cinnamon could easily kill her foes with no remorse or regret. Morris stands out because of the simple fact that not many African-Americans were given such large, integral roles in shows of the time. And Lupus...well...he stands out because he's so darn huge.
Familiar faces in season two include William Windom (My World and Welcome To It), Dan O'Herlihy (Twin Peaks), Mark Lenard (Planet of the Apes), Sid Haid (Jason of Star Command), Pernell Roberts (Bonanza), Brock Peters (The Young and the Restless), Darren McGavin (Kolchak: The Night Stalker), Fritz Weaver (Against the Law), Will Geer (The Waltons), Vincent Gardenia (All in the Family), Nicholas Colasanto (Cheers), Eric Braeden (The Young and the Restless), Wilfrid Hyde-White (Buck Rogers in the 25th Century), Anthony Zerbe (The Young Riders), Karl Swenson (Little House on the Prairie), Peter Donat (Rich Man, Poor Man Book Two), Kevin Hagen (Little House on the Prairie), Michael Tolan (The Bold Ones: The Senator), Victor French (Little House on the Prairie), Paul Winfield (The Charmings), and Bradford Dillman (King's Crossing).
The twenty-five episodes that make up Mission: Impossible: The Second TV Season are divided onto seven discs. The discs are housed in four slim, clear plastic keepcases, three of which hold two discs. The fronts of the cases feature photos of the series' stars...including the lit fuse that begins each episode's opening credits. The backs of the cases include titles and brief synopses for each episode. The interiors of the cases include a stylized map of the world. The keepcases slide into a cardboard outer sleeve.
The static DVD menus are simple and easy to navigate. Viewers can play all of the disc's episodes or choose them individually. The episodes are divided into chapters, but there are no scene selection menus.
