Genre

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.

I can remember when Beauty And The Beast first arrived on television. It was fall of 1987. I watched a couple episodes of this rather odd drama. Instantly I was drawn to the show’s world but was almost as quickly pushed away by the material. If I can be forgiven for saying so, I always considered this a “chick” show. That’s not intended as an insult at all. The truth is there likely isn’t nearly enough programming out there that is targeted for the female audience. This was without a doubt a series that was very much aimed at the young women viewers. They were rewarded with two very solid leads in Ron Perlman and Linda Hamilton. The show provided some very interesting sets and locations, most notably the underground world where Vincent and Father lived. The production values were high for the time. The makeup work on Perlman was incredible and full of detail that the actor used expertly. His ability to convey emotions was the key to one of television’s best performances. I also thought that the writing was clever and original. Still, I’m a guy, and the overt romantic arc to the story was too much of a turnoff, and I stopped watching. Now having the chance to see the show again in a complete season release I find my opinion hasn’t changed very much. I might appreciate what it was trying to do more now, but the fact remains that this is a romance story first and a crime drama second.