History YMMV / MissionImpossible

* LicensedGame: [[VideoGame/MissionImpossibleKonami One for the NES]]. Notable because it apparently used a modified version of the NES ''VideoGame/MetalGear'' engine. It had little to do with the series other than characters' names, instead opting to create its own story. Nonetheless, many considered it a good game despite its shortcomings. There was also a "text adventure" game called Mission Impossible developed for the Commodore 64 and similar computers; its licensing status is unknown.

* LicensedGame: One for the NES. Notable because it apparently used a modified version of the NES''VideoGame/MetalGear'' engine. It had little to do with the series other than characters' names, instead opting to create its own story. Nonetheless, many considered it a good game despite its shortcomings. There was also a "text adventure" game called Mission Impossible developed for the Commodore 64 and similar computers; its licensing status is unknown.

* LicensedGame: One for the NES. Notable because it apparently used a modified version of the NES''VideoGame/MetalGear'' engine. It had little to do with the series other than characters' names, instead opting to create its own story. Nonetheless, [[NoProblemWithLicensedGames many considered it a good game despite its shortcomings]]. There was also a "text adventure" game called Mission Impossible developed for the Commodore 64 and similar computers; its licensing status is unknown.

* LicensedGame: One for the NES. Notable because it apparently used a modified version of the NES''VideoGame/MetalGear'' engine. It had little to do with the series other than characters' names, instead opting to create its own story. There was also a "text adventure" game called Mission Impossible developed for the Commodore 64 and similar computers; its licensing status is unknown.

For the film series, see [[YMMV/MissionImpossibleFilmSeries here]].

* LicensedGame: One for the NES. Notable because it apparently used a modified version of the NES.
* LikeYouWouldReallyDoIt: The episode "Memory" features a plan that requires one of the agents to go to jail for years in order to sell the cover story. It's emphasized in the briefing that he should not expect a rescue, since that might draw suspicious attention to his cover, and he's prepared to go through with it for the greater good, but inevitably there's an unforeseen change of circumstances and the rest of the team have to rapidly come up with a plan to break him out after all.''VideoGame/MetalGear'' engine. It had little to do with the series other than characters' names, instead opting to create its own story. There was also a "text adventure" game called Mission Impossible developed for the Commodore 64 and similar computers; its licensing status is unknown.

* LikeYouWouldReallyDoIt: The episode "Memory" features a plan that requires one of the agents to go to jail for years in order to sell the cover story. It's emphasized in the briefing that he should not expect a rescue, since that might draw suspicious attention to his cover, and he's prepared to go through with it for the greater good, but inevitably there's an unforeseen change of circumstances and the rest of the team have to rapidly come up with a plan to break him out after all.
* LicensedGame: One for the NES. Notable because it apparently used a modified version of the NES ''VideoGame/MetalGear'' engine. It had little to do with the series other than characters' names, instead opting to create its own story. There was also a "text adventure" game called Mission Impossible developed for the Commodore 64 and similar computers; its licensing status is unknown.

* SugarWiki/AwesomeMusic: Lalo Schifrin's iconic [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O07WucFwdq8 theme tune]], still used in parodies and commercials to this day.

* SugarWiki/AwesomeMusic: Music/LaloSchifrin's iconic [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O07WucFwdq8 theme tune]], still used in parodies and commercials to this day.

* UnfortunateImplications: The show was frequently criticized for the IMF's PayEvilUntoEvil ethos. Patrick J. White sums it up in his series history ''The Complete Mission: Impossible Dossier'':
-->''Mission: Impossible'' matter-of-factly offered the premise that the UsefulNotes/UnitedStates government sponsored a group of saboteurs who were answerable to no one. In the course of their duties, the IMF could -- and did -- lie, cheat, steal, falsify media, hold persons illegally, falsely incriminate, destroy the property of innocent people, kidnap, plot (though never personally execute) assassinations, and break any civil and criminal rule that stood in their way. Individual rights were ignored... The IMF framed and entrapped opponents with no qualms, regrets, or remorse. If they couldn't nail [a villain] for something he did, they'd see to it he was punished for something he didn't do, or something they made him do.
* ValuesDissonance: Originally, the IMF were a group of people choosing to use their specific talents in spy work purely for the good of their nation. (Starting in 1966, still the era of "[[UsefulNotes/JohnFKennedy Ask not what your country can do for you, but what you can do for your country]].") This wouldn't have worked in [[Film/MissionImpossible1996 the 1996 movie]], so it made the IMF a deeply covert part of the US intelligence services. Even in the time of UsefulNotes/RichardNixon, the idea of American agents covertly manipulating foreign countries as heroes was going out of fashion, and in later seasons the IMF spent most of their time working their wiles on organised crime at home. (Although in the revival and the movies they got to travel around the world again.)

* UnintentionalPeriodPiece: The series clearly dates itself by a combination of two factors: on the one hand, while the conflict with the Soviet Bloc could carry the stories into the 1980s, several episodes dealing with Nazis keep it from going later into the 1970s as concerns about Nazis plotting a fourth Reich faded from popular culture. Also, many episodes mention then-extravagant amounts of money that would be considered rather paltry in the 2010s thanks to fifty years of inflation.