Shark Bytes

what's with the inane idea that a movie with the same name caused the TV show to JTS. if the TV show ended without JTS, then it didn't JTS. and we get it: tom cruise is very commercial, self-important, all contrary to the purity of bruce gellar. it's not an interesting point the 1000th time

still more inane: the repeated certainty that "jim phelps would never be a traitor." by design, we know absolutely nothing about this guy -- not least how much he was paid. it's entirely plausible that he's take $10 million.

Mission Impossible? You mwant a Mission Impossible? Try watching the first movie all the way through without vomiting. The plot was just ridiculous, the screenplay wretched, the acting mediocre at best......and Tom Cruise?.....simply awful. Need I say more?

It was a two step jump for me. The first step came after the first season when Stephen Hill left. His Dan Briggs actually seemed like a genius who came up with the incredible scams his people needed to succeed. Peter Graves was just a pretty face as Phelps and although he was okay, the show just went from great to good under him. When Barbara and Martin left after the third year, I do not think I watched more than half a dozen episodes for the remaining five years.

the movies suck.

Jim Phelps selling out for 10 million???

were the writers so bleeping lame and hated the United States so much that thye could ever think Phelps would sell out for such pocket change?

the IMF Team could take 10 millions at any time, from bad guys.

Just finished watching an episode called 'Homecoming' on AmericanLife TV from the fifth season. A definate JTS episode. Terrible script and resolution. What were they thinking?

As far as the original show, it never truly jumped. Maybe the chemistry with the characters wasn't the same after Landau and Bain left, but the whole concept of M:I is beautiful in that you can replace or omit any character at any time...many of the 1st season episodes would only use one or two of the regulars...and the 1st season's IMF leader was replaced by season 2, no explanation given, but the quality didn't jump. I won't count the 1980's remake (a solid show, but a sequel ala ST: The Next Generation) and definitely don't count anything that involves that Tom Cruise weirdo. Fool thinks that if he takes a tested formula he has to pee in the drink to make it taste better.

In "The One-On-One Mission," there is no improvement over the other two motion pictures; in fact, all it does is make an idea that was already bad in the first place--that of concentrating on a lone-wolf operative instead of relying on teams and elaborate advance planning, even worse.

If this garbage keeps up, we're gonna need a bigger boat...and an entire ARSENAL of harpoon guns.

Both the original series and the late 80s "remake" were enjoyable. The late 80s remake, born in fortunate circumstances (the writers' strike), was not so muc a remake as a contination of the show because it stayed true to the concepts of the original, albeit updated with technology which seemed remarkable even at that time! The movies on the other hand were a betrayal of everything that was M:I.

I remember very little about the original series, but it was brought back and remade in 1988-1990 with the following cast:

* Peter Graves as Jim Phelps
* Thaao Penghlis as Nicholas Black
* Antony Hamilton as Max Harte (credited as Tony Hamilton)
* Phil Morris as Grant Collier
* Terry Markwell as Casey Randall (early episodes 1988–1989 season)
* Jane Badler as Shannon Reed (1989 - 1990)
* Bob Johnson as Voice on Disc (voice only)
This was a good show and I don't know why it was cancelled.

Mr. Phelps would often give a knowing smile when he got to Cinnamon's picture, probably realizing that some poor dope was going to fall into her web of seduction. They seemed to pair Phelps and Cinnamon up FAR more often than Rollin and Cinnamon. Barbara Bain and Peter Graves had good chemistry together. Sometimes Phelps would briefly hold a reject agent's photo in his hand and you'd wonder if that person might be picked, but they almost never were. One of the frequent reject head shots in season 1 was of Bruce Gellar himself!!! He was the dark-haired man in a sportcoat with dark glasses.

This just occurred to me after watching the first and second seasons on DVD: If Cinnamon Carter was a famous model, why didn't anyone ever recognize her?

The heart of the show was Martin Landau and wife. Once they left and it they could not find a replacement female lead it was over.

I've seen all the TV shows and agree that the better episodes were those dealing with international intrigue. Bruce Gellar was the creator and main writer in the beginning. After disputes with the studio, he left and I believe that is when the show jumped the shark, as the writes were attempting to mirror the new drug wars from the news. I think they thought the cold war was over and wanted a new slant, but it was ill conceived and not as well written. Not too many people had seen the MI II episodes, but I really began to enjoy that show, as they kept the spirit of the team alive and the missions were presented in other countries. I believe that vision was in part due to the series being shot in Australia. Tony Hamilton, who unfortunately died too soon, was a handsome guy, former dancer and model. Phil Morris,
"Barney's" real life son, was later immortalized in the Seinfeld shows as Mr. Cochrane knock-off, one of OJ's dream team lawyers. Peter Lupus was always great as the body builder tough guy and of course, Peter Graves was the star and will always be forever associated as the real Jim Phelps, not the dissed -Tom Cruise- raped-character assassinated agent.

In my opinion it jumped when it stopped doing the Behind-The-Iron-Curtain episodes and started focusing solely on the drug war. It just wasn't as interesting.

Overall, the series never truly jumped, as it remained true to it`s vision and consistently presented class-act fantasy espionage tales with style and wit. Each epsiode was like a mini-movie. The production values were excellent.( The movies?? I won`t go there. This is a tv series website, right?)

These days, I watch these eps on DVD and find myself wishing that there actually could be a clandestine Black Ops fraud squad that could take out terrorists or dictators without sending the military in to invade and occupy nations, kill hundreds of thousands of people and spend billions of dollars....
Wouldn`t that be nice?

Oh, well..That`s Life...
No attention to Art...or Intelligence.