Mission: Impossible - Season 6

Good morning. This is the sixth season (1971-1972) of "Mission: Impossible" which is again produced by Bruce Lansbury (from season 4 and 5) and supervised by top writer Laurence Heath who also produces six episodes. The series returns to its genesis (the original theme music, a sophisticated leading lady) and solely focuses on the American gangsters threat also known as the Syndicate: the IMF now does Feds jobs instead of Secret Service operations.

There're substantial changes: find a small crew of four IMF agents, a new and real "glamorous" leading lady named Lisa Casey (played by Lynda Day George) who also replaces the master of disguises Paris, the departure of Dr. Doug Robert (which appears once in "Encore") and character Barney who becomes a major asset for the plots and displays his acting knacks, especially in "Mindbend" as a brainwashed fugitive, "Blues" as a junky soul music performer in which he sings twice: "Judy's Gone Now" and Otis Redding's "Sittin' on the Dock of the Bay", "Image" as a Tarot dealer and he plays twice a master of disguises (actually, his new talent was first shown in the season 5 "The Hostage"): in "Underwater replacing a gangster's henchman and in "Bag Woman" replacing a gangster's right-hand man. A brand new director popsup named Leslie H. Martinson who achieves the masterpiece "Invasion" and will blossom next season.

Above all, this is a showcase for actress Lynda Day George who not only act--her best efforts are highlit in "The Bride" and in "Committed"--but performs a song ("The Gentle Rain") in "Trapped" and we witness her husband Christopher George in "Nerves".

Top episodes are still here as "Encore" (guest starring William Shatner as an old gangster who believes traveling into his own past: June 30, 1937), "Invasion" (an unusual espionage intrigue, guest starring Kevin McCarthy as an American defector who thinks that America has been taken over by the Soviet army), "Mindbend" (a disturbing plot, guest starring Donald Moffat, about brainwashed small-time criminals trained like Pavlov's dogs to kill politicians which foreshadows Alan J. Pakula's "The Parallax View") and fine episodes are numerous as "Blind" (in which Peter Graves gives his best performance as a corrupted Federal agent by simulating the pathology of blindness combined with alcoholism), "The Tram" (from a story written by scripts genius Paul Playdon and guest starring Victor French), "The Miracle" (guest starring Joe Don Baker as a Christianism-hating drug dealer who is conditioned by the IMF to become his moral opposite: good!), "Underwater" (guest starring Fritz Weaver and Jeremy Slate), "Blues" (guest starring William Windom), "The Connection" (guest starring Anthony Zerbe), "The Bride" (guest starring James Gregory), "Committed", "Bag Woman" (guest starring Robert Colbert and Georg Stanford Brown), "Casino" (guest starring Jack Cassidy). As usual, the music scores are inspired, especially "Blind" by Benny Golson who launches the sound of the Syndicate, "Run for the Money" by Robert Drasnin, "Encore" and "The Miracle" by Lalo Schifrin, "Mindbend" by Robert Prince who composes a modernist electronic music.

Ok,looking at the series objectively, Season 6 is the best season so far released on DVD. The early seasons evoke more nostalgia in some people, and that's ok. However, if you look at the early years of Mission: Impossible it seemed that almost every episode took place in some make-believe east bloc communist country,with phoney accents and uniforms. Season 6 is different and more exciting, it takes place mainly in the USA and brings organized crime into the element. The scripts are tight, more believable, and the cast works together like a fine swiss watch. Great viewing, even thought the episodes are almost 40 yrs old. Highly recommend.

I loved the old Mission Impossible series. It was way better than the Tom Cruise movies, with all the sense of adventure and teamwork which the movies lacked. Unfortunately, by the sixth season, the series seemed to have become a little tired. Martin Landau and Barbara Bain were long gone, and Leonard Nimoy, who provided much of the life in Seasons 4 and 5 was now out of the series as well. The international nature of previous seasons had also departed, with most Season 6 episodes covering activities of the "syndicate" which "conventional law enforcement agencies" had been unable to combat.

Although this classic series is always interesting, and way better than the movies, for anyone who loves the series and doesn't have any of the DVDs, I would recommend seasons 2 through 5 (Season 1 is good, but the series became much better with the arrival of Peter Graves, playing the team leader Jim Phelps, at the beginning of Season 2) over this rather tired effort.

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