Mission Impossible – The Fifth TV Season

Jim Phelps (Graves) led his team in a fourth season of Mission Impossible starting in 1969. The show continued its trademark traditions. Jim would receive a mission from the “self destructing” tape and would gather his IMF (Impossible Mission Force) team. The team was necessarily eclectic in nature, and it changed significantly in the fourth season. Still in the team we had Barney Collier, the gadget man, played by Greg Morris. The muscle was still supplied by Willy Armitage, played by brute Peter Lupus. Leonard Nimoy joined the team in season four as Paris, who also had a skill for disguise. He was a magician, so his sleight of hand skills came in … well, handy. Together they took on missions that the government could not be officially a part of. They were always admonished that should they be caught “the secretary would disavow any knowledge” of them.  Usually they were sent somewhere to put some evil mastermind out of business. Their tactics ranged from scams to outright theft. Sometimes they were a rescue team, while other times they would infiltrate a group of bad guys. There were certainly cold war elements to the whole thing. Each week the team concocted some convoluted con to play on their mark, walking away at the end of each episode often without getting any credit or congratulations.

This season Leslie Ann Warren joined the cast, in essence replacing Barbara Bain who left a year prior with her real life husband Martin Landau. While it may sound sacrilegious to the show’s purist fans, I found her character to be a far better one. She not only looked much better, but she was a far better actress, and her role was more rounded and complete. Another strong addition to the cast would be western film icon Sam Elliott as Dr. Doug Robert. He would supply medical expertise in the missions. Elliott has always been a fine actor, and this role was no exception. Sadly, neither of these two new characters would last more than a year. Notable guest stars in this set include: Robert Conrad, Robert Alda, Sam Mineo, Dana Elcar, Larry Linville and Loretta Swit (not in the same episode), Mark Lenard, and Marion Ross. There were a couple of episodes less this season with only 23. That means you get 6 discs instead of the usual 7.

Video

Each Mission Impossible episode is presented in its original television full frame format. We’re talking about a 40 year old television show, and your expectations should be adjusted accordingly. Overall the transfers are remarkably solid. While colors are a bit soft, the picture itself is rather clean. Print defects are minimal when you consider the age. Black levels are noticeably stronger than in other shows I’ve seen from this era.

Audio

The Dolby Digital 2.0 track does what it needs to do, nothing less, nothing more. You get to hear the dialog and the famous theme perfectly even if not in a more modern dynamic presentation. Explosions are often muffled. The music even distorts at times, but for the most part this 40 year old soundtrack delivers enough to keep you in the mission.

Special Features

Unfortunately nothing at all.

Final  Thoughts

The new faces make this one of the more interesting seasons to watch. No matter what, you’re just not going to want to stop your collection here. The show might have added some faces, but the staple of the series remained the “Impossible Missions”. With more elaborate scams than ever, you won’t want to miss the 5^th season of this groundbreaking show. You can own it now. But, “you must have some money”.