Line #70 Trivia/MissionImpossible


1	Trivia for the ''Series/MissionImpossible'' TV series.
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3	* AccidentallyCorrectWriting: Some of the gadgets used on the show happened to closely resemble being developed and used by real spies, leading the the production getting more than one visit from the US government.
4	* ActingForTwo: Several instances:
5	** Creator/MartinLandau essayed double roles in the pilot and "Wheels."
6	** In "Shock" guest star James Daly played a kidnapped U.S. envoy, the enemy agent impersonating him ''and'' Dan Briggs disguised, thanks to Steven Hill's difficulties.
7	** When Creator/LeonardNimoy replaced Martin Landau as the disguise expert, he played his regular role of Paris and the BigBad in "The Choice," and Paris, a double of a deceased premier and said premier (in pictures), plus the "Robot" of the title. There were also several times when he played minor roles in disguise and the audience had no idea it was him.
8	* AlanSmithee: Used in both the original series and the revival - due to Meyer Dolinsky's script for the original's "Live Bait" being changed drastically en route to the screen, one "Michael Adams" receives co-teleplay and story credit; the revival's remake of "The Condemned" credits "John Truman" with the story[[note]]the script was by the show's supervising producer, Australian TV veteran Ted Roberts (whose credits include a lot of action series.... and ''Series/ACountryPractice'') and series executive producer, American TV veteran Michael Fisher who put in a lot of time writing action shows not a few on Creator/AaronSpelling's dime.[[/note]] because Laurence Heath, author of the original, took his name off the remake (as did William Read Woodfield with the remake of "The Legacy" - credited "Michael Lynn" and Allan Balter; Balter was Woodfield's deceased writing partner.).
9	* AwardCategoryFraud: "The Seal" got Music/LaloSchifrin an MediaNotes/EmmyAward nomination for Outstanding Achievement in Musical Composition - even though a) the episode was almost completely tracked with music written for other episodes... and b) the only piece of original music in the episode was written by Jacques Urbont!
10	* CaliforniaDoubling: And, in the case of the 80s revival, [[CaliforniaDoubling Australia Doubling]].
11	** Although the latter averted it in three episodes ("The Cattle King" and the two-parter "The Golden Serpent"), which were set wholly or partly in Australia.
12	** The episode "Action!" centers on an Eastern European film studio, which is actually Creator/DesiluStudios, where ''Mission: Impossible'' itself was filmed.
13	** In one season one episode it was literal - the team was trying to trick a Russian spy into believing that the compound they were holding him in outside UsefulNotes/LosAngeles was actually a KGB facility near UsefulNotes/{{Moscow}}.
14	* TheCastShowoff:
15	** Shannon went undercover in several roles that required her to sing, which allowed Jane Badler to showcase her talent as a singer.
16	** In "Gunslinger", Jim Phelps remarks that he used to be pretty good with a sixshooter and does a few GunTwirling tricks to the admiration of his teammates. The filming makes it obvious that actor Creator/PeterGraves (who cut his acting teeth in westerns in the 1950s) is doing his own twirling.
17	* CreatorBacklash:
18	** Paul Playdon, script consultant in seasons three and four, was so ashamed of his own "Time Bomb" ([[OldShame as were many who worked on the episode]]) that he actually ''left the show''. (While he contributed "The Catafalque" in season five and has story credit on season six's "The Tram," he never returned as a staff member.)
19	** Creator/LeonardNimoy had critical comments about the superficiality of the writing, as the show's format provided no opportunities for the actors to explore and develop their characters. As Spock, he needed to put a lot of work into understanding the character's nuances and keep a lot of subtext in mind when performing. As Paris, all he needed to do was show up and say his lines.
20	* TheDanza: Subverted. Bruce Geller wrote Creator/MartinLandau's part with the actor in mind, going so far as to name the character "Martin Land" in the pilot script. Landau said he was honored, but requested the name be changed, which it was to "Rollin Hand". Played straight in "The Tram," with Victor French as Vic Hatcher (although even then it was nearly averted, as French replaced originally cast Keenan Wynn).
21	* {{Defictionalization}}: According to the book ''The Complete Mission: Impossible Dossier'' the government contacted the producers to find out how they created a tiny hovercraft-like device that was (in show) controlled by remote control and sent down a shaft, somehow missing the somewhat obvious strings that were actually controlling the gizmo.
22	** The self-destructing [=CDs=] seen in the 1980s revival series appear to act like [=DVDs=] - even though [=DVDs=] weren't introduced until the 1990s. They were meant to be miniaturized laserdiscs (video discs that were read using laser like a CD, but were the size of a long-play record), which existed since the mid-80s.
23	** In the episode "Robot" Leonard Nimoy plays his part under heavy make-up. This allows Paris to rip off his face mask in one take instead of the standard 'mask actor starts to take off face, cutaway to something else, cut back to IMF agent removing last bits of latex' routine.
24	*** At least in the first season, Creator/MartinLandau often played (with similar amounts of make-up) the people Rollin Hand was called on to impersonate.
25	* DirectedByCastMember: Peter Graves, "Kidnap".
26	* [[EditedForSyndication Edited For F/X]]: When US cable channel F/X ran the series, bits with Briggs/Phelps giving [[SpySpeak counter-statements]] to agents in order to gain access to the recordings were removed, with the Tape Scenes beginning with Briggs or Phelps turning on the devices to hear the assignment. Other than that, episodes were presented edit free.
27	* FakeNationality:
28	** Israeli-born Creator/NehemiahPersoff played the BigBad three times: once as an Arabian, once as a Latin American, and once as an Eastern European.
29	** The team adopt numerous ones in-universe, but the WhatTheHellIsThatAccent-worthy "Australian" one Paris puts on in "Chico" is notable because [[spoiler: it's ''meant'' to be fake, as part of a persona which the week's BigBad is supposed to unmask as fake, as part of the IMF's plan]].
30	*** Barbara Luna (from UsefulNotes/NewYorkCity) played a Latin American and an Asian in the original series, and a Latin American BigBad in the revival.
31	** Khiegh Dhiegh, an actor of Anglo-Egyptian Sudanese ancestry (born Kenneth Dickerson) who specialized in playing East Asian characters like Wo Fat in the original ''Series/HawaiiFiveO'', plays a Japanese villain in a Season 5 episode. The same episode also stars Chinese-American actors Lisa Lu and Benson Fong as Japanese characters.
32	* HostilityOnTheSet: The relationship between the producers and Creator/StevenHill became increasingly tense due to difficulties everyone had accommodating Hill's observance of the Jewish Sabbath (leading to a reduction in Hill's role and his absence in some episodes) and an incident where he refused to perform a stunt and locked himself in his trailer, necessitating that the entire episode be rewritten and reshot without him.
33	* LicensedGame: [[VideoGame/MissionImpossible1990 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.
34	* TheMerch: Record albums of the series[[note]]although ''actual music'' from the show, as opposed to re-recorded versions, would not be released until 1992[[/note]], as well as a few 'Young Reader' type books. Published by Whitman, ''The Money Explosion'' was particularly good. Near the end of the run, Creator/{{Paramount}} was considering the idea of ''MI'' branded tape recorders, but nothing came of the idea. There was a game for the NES released in time for the revival. There were also a series of original [[TieInNovel tie-in novels]], and a ComicBookAdaptation by Creator/DellComics.
35	* NonSingingVoice: Averted by Barbara Bain in "Illusion" (the three songs she sings here were written for the show, and can be heard on Creator/LaLaLandRecords' multi-disc set that came out in 2015), Creator/LesleyAnnWarren (who had musical experience before [and after] her stint on the series) in "Flip Side," Greg Morris in "Blues" and Lynda Day George in "Trapped." And by Lynn Kellogg, an actual professional singer, in "The Martyr."
36	** To give you an idea of just how bad it would have been without the dubbing, in Greg Morris' case, [[http://www.amazon.com/Soul-Legend/dp/B00779MOC4/ref=sr_shvl_album_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1340109021&sr=301-2 here's his one and thankfully only album.]]
37	* ThePeteBest: Steven Hill as Dan Briggs.
38	** Possibly also Terry Markwell as the 1988 revival's Casey Randall [[spoiler: whose character is killed off after only a dozen episodes]].
39	* RealLifeRelative: In the revival, Barney Collier's son Grant was played by Creator/GregMorris's son [[Creator/PhilMorris Phil]]. Greg reprised his role as Barney in three episodes of the revival ("The Condemned" and "The Golden Serpent" parts 1 and 2).
40	** Christopher George guest-starred in the episode "Nerves", opposite his real-life wife Lynda Day George, one of many times they appeared together on television.
41	* RecycledScript: Done out of necessity in the revival series due to a writers' strike, but it was resolved early enough that only a handful of episodes ("The Killer," "The Legacy," "The Condemned" and "The System") were outright recycled from the original show.
42	* RoleEndingMisdemeanor: Creator/StevenHill wasn't invited back after the first season due to him being difficult to work with. Being one of the few Orthodox Jewish actors working in Hollywood at the time, he refused to work on the Sabbath, even walking off the set ''while an episode was in the middle of filming''. He was suspended near the end of the season when he refused to climb rafters as per the script of "Action!" and when he returned, his role was severely reduced.
43	* SimilarlyNamedWorks: Both the original and the revival have an episode called "Submarine" - but unlike the episodes listed in RecycledScript above, the revival's "Submarine" is ''not'' a remake.
44	* TechnologyMarchesOn: They went from tapes in the original 60s series to miniature compact discs in the 80s revivial. Likewise, in Jim's apartment, he uses a TV with a remote control to view the dossiers of agents and his table opens to reveal a computer with hard CD-type drives that were fancy for 1988. He wistfully goes, "Time ''does'' march on." The keyboard and remote then used to choose, then "accept" agents. Once Grant's selected, though, Jim has his team of four then, and another press of the remote finalizes them as "Mission Team."
45	* ThrowItIn: Because the characters were stoic and spoke very little by design, Creator/PeterGraves once decided to throw in an unscripted smile to try and convey Jim Phelps' appreciation of a job well done only to get chewed out for "editorializing". However, the shot with his smile ended up being used in the final cut.
46	* UnCanceled: The 1988 ABC revival.
47	* WhatCouldHaveBeen:
48	** Bruce Geller wanted ''Music/HenryMancini'' to write the theme music (but because Mancini wouldn't get to keep the publishing rights, he said no).
49	** The original concept was for the show to have a constantly rotating cast of specialists to be mixed and matched according to the needs of each episode's mission with Dan Briggs as the leader holding it all together. This was dropped in favor of having a core cast and the occasional guest team member and the only thing that remained of the original idea was having the main cast credits take the form of Briggs[=/=]Phelps flipping through a stack of dossiers and picking out the ones he needed.
50	* YouLookFamiliar: Guest stars and actors were [[http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0060009/fullcredits#cast recycled constantly]].
51	** Creator/SidHaig, for example, was in the show no fewer than nine times, ranging from "Driver #1" to TheDragon to the BigBad.
52	** Creator/LeeMeriwether guest starred as a kidnap victim in a Season 3 episode, then was one of the ''femme fatale'' team members in Season 4.
53	** Since ''M:I'' shared the Desilu/Creator/{{Paramount}} soundstages and some production personel with ''[[Series/StarTrekTheOriginalSeries Star Trek]]'', it should come as no surprise that Creator/WilliamShatner guest starred twice as a BigBad ("Encore" and "Cocaine" - sadly for ''Franchise/StarTrek'' fans, both came after Creator/LeonardNimoy's tenure as an IMF agent... although the latter episode did reunite him with Barbara Anderson, alias Lenore Karidian from "The Conscience Of The King") and Creator/GeorgeTakei as an IMF member ("The Carriers"). Creator/LeonardNimoy became an SuspiciouslySimilarSubstitute of Creator/MartinLandau's character -- four years after Landau had turned down the role of Mr Spock for ''[[Series/{{Star Trek\|The Original Series}} Star Trek]]'''s first pilot "The Cage" in 1965. Herb Solow was production manager for both shows. Creator/RicardoMontalban (Khan Noonien Singh) played a season one BigBad, who was one of the only villains to be directly killed by the IMF team.
54	*** Going in the other direction, Robert Johnson, the mysterious voice on the MI tapes, provided uncredited voice work on at least two ''Star Trek'' episodes -the unaired pilot "The Cage" and the episode "The Gamesters of Triskelion". On the latter episode he provided the voice of "Provider #3", a disembodied brain in a container which engaged in an often quoted/parodied discussion about betting on the survival of Kirk & Company at hand to hand combat ("I'll bet 2,000 quatloos on the newcomers!") Johnson also voiced a few aliens on ''Series/TheOuterLimits1963''.
55	*** In at least one case, some alien artwork featured in an episode of ''[[Series/StarTrekTheOriginalSeries Star Trek]]'' was actually the discarded protective styrofoam piece that housed an ''M:I'' prop tape recorder spraypainted orange and green.
56	*** One of ''Star Trek's'' infamous gag reels makes use of the ''Mission: Impossible'' theme music.
57	** In Universe Example: Rollin Hand shows up in in a few photos with different names.
58	** Barbara Luna is one of the few people to appear in the original (twice, as the title character in "Elena" and as an IMF agent in "Time Bomb") ''and'' the revival ("The Fortune," as a dictator's evil wife [[spoiler: and killer of Casey Randall]]).

Context Trivia / MissionImpossible