Line #6 YMMV/MissionImpossible


1	YMMV entries for the ''Series/MissionImpossible'' TV series. For the film series, see [[YMMV/MissionImpossibleFilmSeries here]].
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3	* SugarWiki/AwesomeMusic: Lalo Schifrin's iconic [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O07WucFwdq8 theme tune]], still used in parodies, commercials and especially the film series to this day.
4	** Special mention to Schifrin's scoring during the church climax of "The Heir Apparent" with Cinnamon trying (with some previously supplied help from Barney) to open a puzzle box that only the woman she's impersonating - [[NoCelebritiesWereHarmed who is absolutely not Anastasia]] - could have opened; this particular cue gets reused often in later episodes. [[spoiler: And yes, she does get it open.]]
5	*** You can now get a boxset of music from throughout the series, via Creator/LaLaLandRecords.
6	%%Do NOT add CompleteMonster entries without going to the cleanup thread first.
7	* CompleteMonster:
8	** Original series's "The Carriers": [[VileVillainSaccharineShow Janos Passik]] takes 200 people into his mission to become as American as possible. "Teaching" them how to become American, Passik travels with the trainees to America and give them jobs as well as hotels to stay in. Passik uses this as a way of killing, and has been spreading a [[SyntheticPlague highly lethal disease]] with which he will infect the agents, who will then infect their colleagues on their jobs, and so on. While Passik displays some romantic interest in the protagonists [[FemmeFatale Cinnamon Carter]], he still has no problems with trying to kill her by trying to infect her with the disease. At the end, Passik plays a game of RussianRoulette when he discovers that they are planning on stopping his plan.
9	** 1988 series:
10	*** "The Plague": BlackMarket dealer Catherine Balzac is a ruthless killer who takes the Xerxes virus. A deadly strain that brings [[CruelAndUnusualDeath horrific death]], Balzac intends to [[ArmsDealer sell it]] to those who will deploy it to kill millions, with Jim Phelps having to act before countless innocents are given a nightmarish death.
11	*** "Bayou": Jake Morgan is a wealthy, [[FatBastard grotesquely obese]] Southerner who makes most of his money by secretly running a [[HumanTraffickers human trafficking]] operation. Having kidnapped hundreds of young women to be sold into [[SexSlave sexual slavery]], Morgan also has those who cross him [[FedToTheBeast fed to his pet alligators]].
12	* EnsembleDarkhorse: During the first season, Creator/MartinLandau quickly eclipsed series star Creator/StevenHill, even though he was only intended as an occasional guest star.
13	* HarsherInHindsight: "Action!" centered around [[FramingTheGuiltyParty a staged film purporting to show atrocities committed by American troops in Vietnam]]. In light of what was later revealed, it gets uncomfortable fast. On the other hand, the episode also takes some self-deprecating jabs at the movie business, and this part resonates as well as it ever did. Some things never change.
14	* HilariousInHindsight:
15	** In "Encore," Creator/WilliamShatner plays a 60-year-old gangster who's de-aged by the IMF for several hours. The show's idea of an old William Shatner is a bit at odds with how he really turned out...
16	** In "Gitano", Peter Mark Richman plays a VillainOfTheWeek who tries to make it look like an EvilUncle tries to kill his nephew, Richman would later play [[Film/FridayThe13thPartVIIIJasonTakesManhattan one in another Paramount production]].
17	* HollywoodHomely: "Homecoming" features a mystery concerning the murders of young, beautiful women. [[spoiler: It turns out that the killer is a local barmaid, ostensibly unattractive, who is jealous of how much attention the pretty women get from a man she is in love with. The homely barmaid is played by [[Series/{{MASH}} Loretta Swit]] in unflattering makeup.]]
18	* 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.
19	* MemeticMutation:
20	** The show's whole concept - ImpossibleMission is a trope of its own.
21	** The theme tune still represents clever operations to outwit a target, from jewel heists to squirrels looking for nuts.
22	** "[[ThisPageWillSelfDestruct This tape will self-destruct in five seconds]]" - especially popular for parodies, where the self-destruct is often over-powered and bad news for the person close to it.
23	* MorePopularReplacement: Jim Phelps (played by Creator/PeterGraves) was the second leader of TheTeam and is the series' most iconic character. The original leader, Dan Briggs (played by Creator/StevenHill), only appeared in the first season and is forgotten by all but the most dedicated fans.
24	* {{Narm}}: "Some of that dialogue is terrible, isn't it?" - ''Mission: Impossible'' writer-producer William Read Woodfield. Example, from "A Game Of Chess" (which Woodfield and his partner Allan Balter, in fairness, did ''not'' write):
25	-->'''Jim''': Then we're all set except for the typhoid. Who's got it?
26	-->'''Rollin''': I do.
27	* NarmCharm: The series is ridiculous and often centers around problems governments would generally solve in a far more straightforward way (as Creator/MartinLandau pointed out, "In reality, there'd be an assassination"). But it's still a lot of fun to watch.
28	* NightmareFuel: In "The Exchange", Cinnamon is captured and, during questioning, inadvertently reveals she has {{Claustrophobia}}. So, she's dosed with mind-weakening drugs and locked in a very small cell. She becomes so desperate to get out that she pries open an air vent and tries to crawl out. As soon as she's inside, the vent is closed off in front of and behind her, leaving her in a space no bigger than a coffin. She's so horrified, she goes into shock.
29	* ReplacementScrappy: Dr. Doug Robert for Willy Armitage in most of the fifth season. He was written out early on in Season 6 while Willy returned to the IMF team full time.
30	* SeasonalRot: This trope set in after the third season, with the departures of producer Bruce Geller and co-stars Creator/MartinLandau and Barbara Bain. Landau's role was taken over by Creator/LeonardNimoy, who made the most of his opportunity but never seemed completely comfortable with his character. The lack of continuity in the female co-lead also affected the show’s chemistry, with Creator/LeeMeriwether (adequate), Creator/LesleyAnnWarren (clearly miscast), Lynda Day George (a slight improvement over Warren), and Barbara Anderson (a temporary replacement for George when the latter went on maternity leave) taking on that role and falling short of filling Bain's shoes. Later seasons were also hit with increasingly limited budgets, which resulted in formulaic scripts that had the IM Force almost exclusively battling organized crime.
31	* ValuesDissonance:
32	** 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.)
33	** 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'':
34	--->''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.

Context YMMV / MissionImpossible