# "Mission: Impossible" series question
**URL:** https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mission-impossible-series-question/638167
**Category:** Cafe Society
**Created:** [October 18, 2012, 9:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mission-impossible-series-question/638167 "2012-10-18T21:48:55Z")
**Posts on this page:** 20
**Page:** 1
### Author:  [@bmasters1](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bmasters1)
#### Post date: [October 18, 2012, 9:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mission-impossible-series-question/638167/1 "2012-10-18T21:48:55Z")
I have the #1 DVD release of the 60s _M:I_, and am going through it now to see why it was the classic that it was, and so far I’m agreeing. I have a question about it, though:
At the top when The Voice (Bob Johnson) is outlining what the mission will be like, “should you decide to accept it,” what was the meaning of the disclaimer, “As always, should any member of your IM Force be caught or killed, the Secretary will disavow any knowledge of your actions”?
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### Author:  [@running\_coach](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/running_coach)
#### Post date: [October 18, 2012, 9:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mission-impossible-series-question/638167/2 "2012-10-18T21:54:23Z")
The IM Force is a secret group which officially doesn’t exist. The U.S. will not admit they were sanctioned to do what they were caught doing.
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### Author:  [@bmasters1](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bmasters1)
#### Post date: [October 18, 2012, 10:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mission-impossible-series-question/638167/3 "2012-10-18T22:08:46Z")
> [@runner pat](#):
>
> The IM Force is a secret group which officially doesn’t exist. The U.S. will not admit they were sanctioned to do what they were caught doing.
That’s kind of what I thought! That explains it very well.
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### Author:  [@silenus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/silenus)
#### Post date: [October 18, 2012, 10:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mission-impossible-series-question/638167/4 "2012-10-18T22:46:53Z")
IM Force? What IM Force? Nobody by that name around here.
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### Author:  [@Voyager](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Voyager)
#### Post date: [October 19, 2012, 12:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mission-impossible-series-question/638167/5 "2012-10-19T00:55:12Z")
At the time the series came out, the government spent a lot of time disavowing any knowledge of CIA dirty tricks, so that opening rang very true.
BTW, I always got the impression that the IMF was a private organization working for the government. Phelps had way too nice an apartment for a government employee. That’s something that really annoyed me about the movie. It is much easier to disavow the actions of a private group than of government employees, after all.
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### Author:  [@Rico](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rico)
#### Post date: [October 19, 2012, 12:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mission-impossible-series-question/638167/6 "2012-10-19T00:55:54Z")
The first rule of IM force is that you DON’T talk about IM force!
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### Author:  [@Kent\_Clark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kent_Clark)
#### Post date: [October 19, 2012, 1:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mission-impossible-series-question/638167/7 "2012-10-19T01:02:47Z")
And isn’t it just a little suspicious that the original leader, Dan Briggs, disappeared without a trace?
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### Author:  [@Doug\_K](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Doug_K)
#### Post date: [October 19, 2012, 1:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mission-impossible-series-question/638167/8 "2012-10-19T01:42:29Z")
Dan was caught or killed. Unfortunately, the secretary is disavowing any knowledge of his actions. On the other hand, the guy in the mail room might talk if you slip him a twenty.
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### Author:  [@Little\_Nemo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Little_Nemo)
#### Post date: [October 19, 2012, 1:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mission-impossible-series-question/638167/9 "2012-10-19T01:56:20Z")
> [@kunilou](#):
>
> And isn’t it just a little suspicious that the original leader, Dan Briggs, disappeared without a trace?
Dan Briggs? I don’t know anyone by that name.
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### Author:  [@Little\_Nemo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Little_Nemo)
#### Post date: [October 19, 2012, 2:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mission-impossible-series-question/638167/10 "2012-10-19T02:05:47Z")
On a side note, if you’re a fan of _Mission Impossible_ type stories, you should check out the movie _36 Hours_. It’s basically a reverse _Mission Impossible_. The hero is an American officer (James Garner) who was involved in the D-Day planning. He’s captured by the Germans and they want him to reveal the D-Day plans. They don’t want to torture him because they worry he’ll give them a plausible cover story. So they try to trick him by setting up a fake American occupation camp and telling him it’s 1950 and that he’s been suffering amnesia attacks for five years. The war’s over, America won, and to help his recovery he should talk about his wartime memories. A good movie with some interesting twists in it.
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### Author:  [@ministryman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ministryman)
#### Post date: [October 19, 2012, 1:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mission-impossible-series-question/638167/11 "2012-10-19T13:43:57Z")
In this vein, what would have happened if they didn’t accept the mission? Was the episode done for that week?
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### Author:  [@The\_Other\_Waldo\_Pepper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Other_Waldo_Pepper)
#### Post date: [October 19, 2012, 2:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mission-impossible-series-question/638167/12 "2012-10-19T14:38:22Z")
> [@Little\_Nemo](#):
>
> On a side note, if you’re a fan of _Mission Impossible_ type stories, you should check out the movie _36 Hours_. It’s basically a reverse _Mission Impossible_. The hero is an American officer (James Garner) who was involved in the D-Day planning. He’s captured by the Germans and they want him to reveal the D-Day plans. They don’t want to torture him because they worry he’ll give them a plausible cover story. So they try to trick him by setting up a fake American occupation camp and telling him it’s 1950 and that he’s been suffering amnesia attacks for five years. The war’s over, America won, and to help his recovery he should talk about his wartime memories.
Of course, they also did this in _The Prisoner_, where a team of sneaky operatives would do their level best to convince a kidnapped Patrick McGoohan that he’s now safely back in London – able to hear the chimes of Big Ben, even! – among friends dutifully working On Her Majesty’s Secret Service, such that he should naturally start in with a full debriefing; another episode had the bad guys make up a master of disguise for an impersonation con, in hopes of tricking our pumped-full-of-drugs protagonist into slipping up and revealing information.
IMHO, the stories play out pretty much the same if you imagine the IMF crew working identical ploys…
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### Author:  [@running\_coach](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/running_coach)
#### Post date: [October 19, 2012, 2:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mission-impossible-series-question/638167/13 "2012-10-19T14:41:48Z")
> [@ministryman](#):
>
> In this vein, what would have happened if they didn’t accept the mission? Was the episode done for that week?
That’s on the bonus DVD. 😃
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### Author:  [@sciurophobic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/sciurophobic)
#### Post date: [October 19, 2012, 2:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mission-impossible-series-question/638167/14 "2012-10-19T14:46:51Z")
> [@kunilou](#):
>
> And isn’t it just a little suspicious that the original leader, Dan Briggs, disappeared without a trace?
Rumor has it he changed his identity and became the District Attorney for Manhattan.
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### Author:  [@ThelmaLou](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ThelmaLou)
#### Post date: [October 19, 2012, 3:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mission-impossible-series-question/638167/15 "2012-10-19T15:37:36Z")
> [@Little\_Nemo](#):
>
> On a side note, if you’re a fan of _Mission Impossible_ type stories, you should check out the movie _36 Hours_. It’s basically a reverse _Mission Impossible_. The hero is an American officer (James Garner) who was involved in the D-Day planning. He’s captured by the Germans and they want him to reveal the D-Day plans. They don’t want to torture him because they worry he’ll give them a plausible cover story. So they try to trick him by setting up a fake American occupation camp and telling him it’s 1950 and that he’s been suffering amnesia attacks for five years. The war’s over, America won, and to help his recovery he should talk about his wartime memories. A good movie with some interesting twists in it.
Thanks for this post!! I’ve seen this movie, but had forgotten about it–fantastic film.
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### Author:  [@Greg\_Charles](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Greg_Charles)
#### Post date: [October 19, 2012, 3:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mission-impossible-series-question/638167/16 "2012-10-19T15:38:57Z")
> [@sciurophobic](#):
>
> Rumor has it he changed his identity and became the District Attorney for Manhattan.
Agh, you beat me to it!
Well, Rollin had a daughter who became a vampire … an insane vampire!
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### Author:  [@randwill](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/randwill)
#### Post date: [October 19, 2012, 3:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mission-impossible-series-question/638167/17 "2012-10-19T15:49:38Z")
When I watched the first few seasons of MI a while back I was struck by how often the same sets, redressed from show to show, turned up. There is one octagonal room set that, I swear, is in every episode. When those shows originally aired with a week in between each one, I doubt anyone noticed. But watched back-to-back, the repeated sets are very obvious.
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### Author:  [@kaylasdad99](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kaylasdad99)
#### Post date: [October 19, 2012, 4:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mission-impossible-series-question/638167/18 "2012-10-19T16:08:48Z")
To tell you the truth, I got kind of tired of M:I after a couple of seasons. Every week the tape would promise to self-destruct. And every week, it just hissed a little and gave off a bit of smoke.
I was twelve years old, fercryinoutloud! I wanted Jim Phelps scootin’ out of that room as fast as his stubby little legs would carry him, followed by an earth-shattering _ **KABLOOIE!!!** _ as the message self-destructed but GOOD!
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### Author:  [@Voyager](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Voyager)
#### Post date: [October 19, 2012, 5:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mission-impossible-series-question/638167/19 "2012-10-19T17:02:05Z")
> [@randwill](#):
>
> When I watched the first few seasons of MI a while back I was struck by how often the same sets, redressed from show to show, turned up. There is one octagonal room set that, I swear, is in every episode. When those shows originally aired with a week in between each one, I doubt anyone noticed. But watched back-to-back, the repeated sets are very obvious.
That’s true of a lot of shows from that period. When we were watching Danger Man/Secret Agent, we’d often say “we’ve seen that hotel lobby before!”
I especially liked it when MI used some Star Trek sound effects - they were both done at Desilu before it got bought.
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### Author:  [@Slithy\_Tove](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Slithy_Tove)
#### Post date: [October 19, 2012, 5:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mission-impossible-series-question/638167/20 "2012-10-19T17:09:37Z")
I seem to remember an episode of **Get Smart** opening with a parody of the MI tape recorder, adding _“and if you choose not to take this mission, you’re fired.”_
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