Mission: Impossible
This 7-year series chronicled the adventures of the Impossible Mission Taskforce (IMF), a team of government spies and specialists who were assigned "impossible missions" by the unseen "Secretary". Although the cast varied over the years, the main characters included The Team Leader (Dan Briggs the first season, then Jim Phelps the other six), The Techno-Wizard (Barney Collier), The Strongman (Willy Armitage), The Master of Disguise (first Rollin Hand, then The Amazing Paris), and The Femme Fatale (Cinnamon Carter, Casey, Dana Lambert, Mimi Davis). The series is best known for its opening mission assignment (conducted by a pre-recorded tape), the leader's selection of mission agents from a dossier, the opening briefing, the intricate use of disguises and a typical "mask pulloff" scene near the end of most episodes, and the relative lack of characterization of the characters.
Peter Graves | James Phelps | |
Peter Lupus | Willy Armitage | |
Lynda Day George | Lisa Casey | |
Greg Morris | Barney Collier | |
Bob Johnson | Person on Tape | |
Barbara Anderson | Mimi Davis | |
Joanna Cassidy | Stewardess | |
Jim Michael | Jerry Cross | |
Arline Anderson | Sandra | |
Bob Harks | Policeman | |
Peter Mark Richman | Dr. Hargreaves | |
Walker Edmiston | Dave Waley | |
George P. Wilbur | Driver | |
Mickey Golden | Pool Referee | |
Tom McDonough | Prison Guard | |
Ervin Richardson | Pusher | |
William Shatner | Joseph Conrad | |
Roddy McDowall | Leo Ostro | |
Dean Stockwell | Gunnar Malstrom | |
Geoffrey Lewis | Proctor | |
Alex Rocco | Dall | |
Paul Gleason | Lieutenant Blair | |
John Vernon | Norman Shields | |
Charles Napier | Roland | |
Donnelly Rhodes | Joel Morgan |
Phelps poses as a pool shark to break up a gambling ring led by Krebbs and Allen, and recover microfilm left behind by a dead agent.
Before he can sell it to a foreign power, the IMF force must trick a treasonous scientist into revealing the whereabouts of a cache of nuclear material by convincing him he is now living 28 years after nuclear war has devastated the country.
Mobsters Larson, and Rogan have made a deal to support Gen. Oliver Hammond in his bid to take over the island nation of Camagua. The IMF capture the mobsters en route, and force them to reveal the location of the safe deposit key before Hammond can apprehend the group.
In order to rescue a federal agent being tortured by criminals, the IMF create a conflict between the two leading organized crime bosses in the area: Mike Apollo and Joe Epic.
A domestic terror group has sent one of their agents to pick up a container of a deadly biological weapon in a small desert town. But the IMF convinces him that he's already been exposed to the germ, and the military is sealing off the town to contain the leak.
The IMF knows that within 72 hours, drug smuggler and distributor Carl Reid plans to bring the largest shipment of cocaine ever into the U.S. To learn what Reid's plans are for getting the cocaine into the country, the IMF tries to convince Reid's lieutenant, Joseph Conrad, that they've created a machine that can create pure cocaine synthetically. Conrad believes that this "miracle machine" is real, and decides to go into business for himself -- driving a wedge between him and his former boss, Reid.
A gang specializing in smuggling criminals out of the country manages to free Gunther Schell, a Syndicate finance man who knows the location of $27 million in Syndicate money. But this same gang instead tries to use psychological torture methods to get Schell to reveal the location of the money. To recapture Schell and to put a stop to the fugitive smuggling operation, the IMF publicizes that Jim Phelps is a doctor wanted for murder who also needs the services of the fugitive smuggling operation.
Crime boss Norman Shields runs an operation that has been infiltrating the entertainment industry. His latest takeover target is Pantheon Studios, where the brother of Shields' Syndicate financier, Theo Dane, is coming to take over the movie-making operation. Because Shields and Dane have never met, the IMF comes up with a plan to substitute Jim Phelps for Dane, and then make a movie dramatizing a notorious real-life murder -- that was committed by Norman Shields.
Syndicate operative Sam Dexter has just been sentenced to a year in prison for income tax evasion. The IMF arranges for Barney to get close to Dexter while he is in prison and then arranges for Dexter to escape with Barney's assistance - all in the hope that a grateful and trusting Dexter will lead him to additional evidence of wrongdoing, allowing both Dexter and his former associates to be put away for good.
IMF must find a rogue scientist, who has threatened to set off a bomb unless certain members of Congress step down and foreign policy is changed.
In a sequel to Season Six's "Casino," Jim Phelps is on vacation with Barney when he is recognized by one of the criminals that the IMF outfoxed in the earlier episode. Jim is held hostage while Barney is given an ultimatum: retrieve an incriminating letter from a safe deposit box that a former criminal intends to turn over to the authorities, or Jim Phelps will be killed. Barney enlists Casey and Willy to obtain the letter, but also has a plan to free Jim.
Law enforcement agencies believe that Peter Cordel is a killer for hire, but no evidence linking him to any killings has been uncovered. The IMF is assigned to obtain the evidence needed to arrest Cordel, and to learn the identity of his Syndicate boss. The IMF's lures Cordel, who is a chess master, into a game where he can be given a drug that induces post-hypnotic suggestions. The IMF is then able to convince Cordel that he's suffering from blackouts during which he kills a number of people close to him -- and that his impending mental breakdown will make the Syndicate want him dead.
Crime boss Paul Ostro is reported to have suffered severe facial injuries in a hunting accident, and lies bandaged in bed at his estate. But the IMF suspects that Paul's brother Leo actually killed Paul and substituted a bandaged "puppet" in his place, to issue orders to the family's criminal subordinates, with Leo actually making the decisions. With the family reputed to be planning a new criminal enterprise involving over one hundred million dollars, the IMF's mission is to learn the family's new plan -- which they hope to do by unmasking Leo's surrogate for his brother.
Hannah O'Connel and her sons have stolen gold bullion, and hid it somewhere in the US before escaping to an island in the Caribbean. The IMF must force Hannah to make a move for the stash so she can be arrested on US soil.
Syndicate hood Johnny Vayle, on his way to meet his underworld associates, is convinced to land at a rural airport by his wife, Eve, and murdered. She informs Johnny's former associates that she has the documents and blackmails them into paying her off for the rest of her life. The IMF's job is to recover the documents -- which the team plans to do by suggesting to Eve that her husband may still be alive.
A foreign agent assassin defects to the US, or he may be a foreign mole. It is up to the IMF team to kidnap him from his US safe-house, then uncover if his defection is real or a hoax.
Syndicate hood Thomas Bachman steals two incriminating computer reels, and also tries to kill his rival, Matthew Drake, with a bomb, but only manages to cripple Drake. Bachman is on the run from Drake in northern Mexico when Bachman arranges for a private plane to fly him back to the United States. Barney intercepts and poses as the pilot, setting the stage for the IMF to bring Bachman to an isolated mansion where they hope to dupe him into revealing the location of the hidden computer reels.
The IMF's assignment is to undermine the Syndicate's involvement in the boxing world by driving a wedge between Jay Braddock, a no-nonsense hood, and Paul Mitchell, his more weak-willed partner, who had been honest before Braddock enticed him to become involved in the Syndicate. To do so, the IMF takes advantage of the budding romance between Mitchell's daughter, Susan, and one of Braddock's and Mitchell's contract boxers, Pete Novick.
Sam Hibbing is the largest dealer of speed on the West Coast, and has recently hijacked several million dollars worth of raw amphetamine powder, which he plans to auction in pill form to the highest bidder. The IMF substitutes Casey for Hibbing's rebellious, motorcycle-riding daughter, Margaret (who is herself hooked on speed). This allows Jim Phelps to insinuate himself close enough to Hibbing for Jim to intercept the speed when it is ready for shipment.
Gunnar Malstrom is one of the leaders of the Pendulum, a secret terrorist organization seeking to overthrow the United States government. The IMF is informed that the Pendulum is shortly planning a major attack on the government, code-named Nightfall. With no knowledge of other members of the Pendulum, the IMF lures Malstrom to the headquarters of a phony corporate conglomerate, where they learn bits and pieces of the plan -- but fail to uncover that the official who is supposedly the target of Nightfall has already been replaced by a Pendulum double.
Partners Van Cleve and Matthew Royce have recently looted the Azteca Museum of $5 million dollars in Pre-Columbian art, which they then brought to the United States to hide. Cleve is also thought to have killed his partner, Royce, to keep the entire haul for himself. To recover the treasure, the IMF makes Cleve believe that he has begun to have precognitive visions, culminating in premonitions of a giant earthquake that will destroy a local dam, kill him, and engulf the treasure -- unless he relocates it soon.
The IMF team go after a glamorous jewel thief who has stolen Marnsburg's crown jewels.