The Original Mission: Impossible Remains Tragically Underrated
Your mission, should you decide to accept it.
A man walks into a record store, requests a specific album, is given a place to test the record, and then, while listening to his vinyl, receives a secret message, assigning him a do-or-die mission. Yes, this describes a scene featuring Ethan Hunt (Tom Cruise) in the 2015 film Mission: Impossible — Rogue Nation, but it’s also the first scene of any Mission: Impossible thing, ever. The original series, which debuted on September 17, 1966, was one of two new adventure series from Desilu Studios that year, both of which were produced and sold to different networks by producer Herbert F. Solow. Today, Mission: Impossible — created by Bruce Geller — celebrates its 60th anniversary, oddly, in the shadow of the other Desilu show sold by Solow — Star Trek.
Here’s why 60 years later, the classic Mission: Impossible remains watchable, pivotal, and strangely underrated.
Why Mission: Impossible is a forgotten classic
Like the classic Star Trek, the original Mission: Impossible has much to offer the contemporary viewer who has only seen the more recent version. In a way, Mission: Impossible is the most important spy/adventure TV series ever, and not because it created a basic idea for Tom Cruise to waltz into 30 years later. What the original M: I did was something that various Cruise-led films have basically never accomplished, not even once: fuse the pacing of a slow-burning paperback spy novel with the pop sensibilities of episodic TV.
There is an argument that few have made, but probably should, that Mission: Impossible isn’t really designed to be a movie series, because as a TV show, it's much more interesting. And unlike its sci-fi cousin, Star Trek, the original Mission: Impossible had solid ratings and ran for seven seasons from 1966 to 1973.
Even in its earliest form, in the pilot episode, Mission: Impossible is well-paced and full of plenty of slick, analog spy work. Like a Sean Connery-era Bond film, the colors pop, and the caper rests on a few things going right or wrong. Any given Mission: Impossible episode is a heist episode: The gang all have specific parts to play, and the nail-biting aspect of each story depends on everyone coming through. Today, a similar series would probably spend an entire season on the premise this show knocked out every week. You actually can’t believe how smart these episodes are, and how cool the team element of the show is without a ton of stunts and action.
But if you’re watching Season 1 now, the only thing that’s odd is that, in a sense, you’re not watching the exact version of the show that became famous.
Mission: Impossible switched lead actors in Season 2
Barbara Bain and Steve Hill as Cinnamon Carter and Dan Briggs.
The first season of Mission: Impossible had a great cast, including Martin Landau as master of disguise Rollin Hand, Barbara Bain as Cinnamon Carter, Greg Morris as Barney Collier, and Peter Lupus as Willy Armitage. But one crucial part of the team wasn’t quite right in Season 1: The leader of the IMF (Impossible Mission Force) wasn’t the legendary Peter Graves as Jim Phelps, but instead Steven Hill as Dan Briggs.
Unlike the wily and somewhat paternal figure of Mr. Phelps, Briggs is more of a hardass — a stoic, no-nonsense leader. Later, Hill would become more famous for his role as Adam Schiff in Law and Order. Shades of that more beloved role are apparent in M: I Season 1, but Hill’s Briggs feels like the least interesting thing about the series. Oddly, as a leading man in his own spy show, Hill might have been fine. But what M: I clearly needed was a leader who highlighted the different qualities of his team. Behind the scenes, Hill had some issues with the production team, which, in retrospect, may not have been entirely his fault.
Still, what Graves brought to the series when he took over for Hill in Season 2 is undeniable. Mission: Impossible had a strong start in 1966, with plenty of excellent and gripping espionage stories, on par with the spy films of the day, but made on a shoestring budget. But by 1967, when Mr. Phelps started receiving the self-destructing messages at the start of each episode, a classic series went from being good to great. If you want to celebrate Mission: Impossible, you can certainly start with Season 1, Episode 1. But if you really want a treat, Season 2, Episode 1, “The Widow,” is even better.
