# "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:** 2
### Author:  [@randwill](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/randwill)
#### Post date: [October 19, 2012, 5:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mission-impossible-series-question/638167/21 "2012-10-19T17:43:02Z")
“Mission Impossible” also re-used footage in those openings where Jim arrives at a location and is presented with the new mission. Since the mission instructions were a recorded voice-over, all they had to do was shoot new inserts of someone’s hands shuffling through the photos.
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### Author:  [@CalMeacham](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CalMeacham)
#### Post date: [October 19, 2012, 7:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mission-impossible-series-question/638167/22 "2012-10-19T19:08:01Z")
> [@randwill](#):
>
> “Mission Impossible” also re-used footage in those openings where Jim arrives at a location and is presented with the new mission. Since the mission instructions were a recorded voice-over, all they had to do was shoot new inserts of someone’s hands shuffling through the photos.
Actually, they used several variations in the opening sequence. They were usually in different locations. And sometimes Jim Phelps or Steve Briggs had to dispose of the recording in a furnace or something, instead of it self-destructing.
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### Author:  [@Voyager](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Voyager)
#### Post date: [October 19, 2012, 7:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mission-impossible-series-question/638167/23 "2012-10-19T19:19:42Z")
> [@Slithy\_Tove](#):
>
> 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.”_
Every Inspector Gadget opened with an MI parody, with the tape blowing up on his boss.
ETA: Make that almost every - I just remembered one which was different.
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### Author:  [@CalMeacham](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CalMeacham)
#### Post date: [October 19, 2012, 7:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mission-impossible-series-question/638167/24 "2012-10-19T19:21:32Z")
> [@Voyager](#):
>
> Every Inspector Gadget opened with an MI parody, with the tape blowing up on his boss.
Johnny Carson did a number of parodies as skits on [iThe Tonight Show\*, as well.
And, of course, there was the parody in MAD, where in the splash panel Jim Phelps is standing at a Pepsi machine, having pressed the button marked “MESSAGE”.
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### Author:  [@randwill](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/randwill)
#### Post date: [October 19, 2012, 7:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mission-impossible-series-question/638167/25 "2012-10-19T19:32:06Z")
> [@CalMeacham](#):
>
> Actually, they used several variations in the opening sequence. They were usually in different locations. And sometimes Jim Phelps or Steve Briggs had to dispose of the recording in a furnace or something, instead of it self-destructing.
Yes, I know there were many variations of the opening sequence. What I’m stating is that some of those variations were re-used with only the voice message supposedly coming from the tape (or other source) and the photos of the bad guys changed.
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### Author:  [@Dr.Rieux](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dr.Rieux)
#### Post date: [October 19, 2012, 8:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mission-impossible-series-question/638167/26 "2012-10-19T20:32:59Z")
IIRC, as Bruce Geller intended it, the IMF was not a government agency, but an independent contractor–a group of con artists for hire. It wasn’t until the first movie that they became part of the CIA.
My guess is that, since (at least in the early years) they operated largely in foreign countries, if they were caught or killed, the State Department had plausible deniability.
I’ve long wonderd what missions Briggs–and later, Phelps–turned down for ethical, political, or other reasons.
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### Author:  [@CalMeacham](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CalMeacham)
#### Post date: [October 19, 2012, 8:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mission-impossible-series-question/638167/27 "2012-10-19T20:50:08Z")
“Rollin, for this next Mission, you’re going to have to look like Bela Lugosi…”
After MI went off the air, Geller tried to come up with another series where a Briggs or Phelps lead a team of ordinary citizens chosen by computer because of their unique concatentation of skills and specific knowledge. The citizens would change every week – mit was like MI, but with a rotating cast of amateurs. (Also they required multiple skills, so you didn’t have a Makeup Artist – you’d have a Makeup Artist who spoke Swahili and knew all the baseball stats. Or something like that. )They made a pilot (which I saw), but it evidently didn’t take off, because nothing came of it.
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### Author:  [@Andy\_L](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Andy_L)
#### Post date: [October 19, 2012, 8:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mission-impossible-series-question/638167/28 "2012-10-19T20:50:25Z")
> [@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.
I think there was a Star Trek novel with that theme - Klingons trying to convince Kirk that he’s in the future, after Klingons and humans have made peace.
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### Author:  [@Valgard](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Valgard)
#### Post date: [October 19, 2012, 10:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mission-impossible-series-question/638167/29 "2012-10-19T22:33:24Z")
> [@CalMeacham](#):
>
> “Rollin, for this next Mission, you’re going to have to look like Bela Lugosi…”
>
> After MI went off the air, Geller tried to come up with another series where a Briggs or Phelps lead a team of ordinary citizens chosen by computer because of their unique concatentation of skills and specific knowledge. The citizens would change every week – mit was like MI, but with a rotating cast of amateurs. (Also they required multiple skills, so you didn’t have a Makeup Artist – you’d have a Makeup Artist who spoke Swahili and knew all the baseball stats. Or something like that. )They made a pilot (which I saw), but it evidently didn’t take off, because nothing came of it.
“Come Spy With Me” by any chance? I thought it was pretty cool.
I remember one episode ending with the bad guy getting a huge payoff. He’s in his limo, rolls down the window and throws the briefcase (now empty) to the spymaster and says something like “You didn’t think you’d kill me with with the old exploding suitcase trick, did you?”
The spymaster calmly replies “No, it’s the old exploding money trick” and drives off right before the limo blows up.
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### Author:  [@Valgard](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Valgard)
#### Post date: [October 19, 2012, 10:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mission-impossible-series-question/638167/30 "2012-10-19T22:46:31Z")
> [@Valgard](#):
>
> “Come Spy With Me” by any chance? I thought it was pretty cool.
>
> I remember one episode ending with the bad guy getting a huge payoff. He’s in his limo, rolls down the window and throws the briefcase (now empty) to the spymaster and says something like “You didn’t think you’d kill me with with the old exploding suitcase trick, did you?”
>
> The spymaster calmly replies “No, it’s the old exploding money trick” and drives off right before the limo blows up.
OK, I got the title wrong and now I can’t find info on the shows. It’s gonna stick in my head until I can dig it up…
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### Author:  [@audit1](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/audit1)
#### Post date: [October 20, 2012, 12:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mission-impossible-series-question/638167/31 "2012-10-20T00:40:36Z")
> [@CalMeacham](#):
>
> “Rollin, for this next Mission, you’re going to have to look like Bela Lugosi…”
>
> After MI went off the air, Geller tried to come up with another series where a Briggs or Phelps lead a team of ordinary citizens chosen by computer because of their unique concatentation of skills and specific knowledge. The citizens would change every week – mit was like MI, but with a rotating cast of amateurs. (Also they required multiple skills, so you didn’t have a Makeup Artist – you’d have a Makeup Artist who spoke Swahili and knew all the baseball stats. Or something like that. )They made a pilot (which I saw), but it evidently didn’t take off, because nothing came of it.
This may have been CALL TO DANGER . There were two pilots made one before MI and one after, both with Peter Graves as head of the fictional Bureau of National Resources. (cause a nations greatest resource is it’s people. ] The first one, they had to find a barber who could pick locks and also a knowledge of stamp collecting. The second required a beekeeper who could drive stock cars and also be a champion archer.
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### Author:  [@The\_Other\_Waldo\_Pepper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Other_Waldo_Pepper)
#### Post date: [October 20, 2012, 1:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mission-impossible-series-question/638167/32 "2012-10-20T01:32:17Z")
> [@audit1](#):
>
> This may have been CALL TO DANGER .
Or [Masquerade](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Masquerade_(TV_series)).
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### Author:  [@Hail\_Ants](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hail_Ants)
#### Post date: [October 20, 2012, 2:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mission-impossible-series-question/638167/33 "2012-10-20T02:02:33Z")
> [@bmasters1](#):
>
> 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”?
Just to clarify, the ‘_Secretary_’ in question would be the United States **Secretary of State**.
Like someone said the original agent went into Witness Protection, surfaced as a NYC DA, then disappeared again. A husband & wife pair became astronauts and were lost when the Moon went out of orbit on Sept 13, 1999, another agent was actually a time-traveling alien working undercover for Section 31 of Starfleet, and the strongman agent later became Off. Nordberg for Police Squad (his evil twin-brother replaced him in the movies and then murdered his wife…)
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### Author:  [@Valgard](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Valgard)
#### Post date: [October 20, 2012, 5:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mission-impossible-series-question/638167/34 "2012-10-20T05:54:55Z")
> [@The\_Other\_Waldo\_Pepper](#):
>
> Or [Masquerade](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Masquerade_(TV_series)).
Bingo, that’s the showI was thinking of.
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### Author:  [@SCAdian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SCAdian)
#### Post date: [October 20, 2012, 5:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mission-impossible-series-question/638167/35 "2012-10-20T17:06:47Z")
> [@kaylasdad99](#):
>
> 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!
> [@CalMeacham](#):
>
> And, of course, there was the parody in MAD, where in the splash panel Jim Phelps is standing at a Pepsi machine, having pressed the button marked “MESSAGE”.
Wasn’t the MAD parody the one where the person who recorded the tape was complaining about being sued by businesses because sometimes the tape did more than self-destruct? (As I recall, in this scene Phelps was in the produce section of a supermarket…)
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### Author:  [@BMalion](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BMalion)
#### Post date: [October 20, 2012, 6:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mission-impossible-series-question/638167/36 "2012-10-20T18:34:05Z")
And on a local Cleveland comedy skit (Hoolihan & Big Chuck!) Jim Phelps listened to the message in a phone booth, then he couldn’t get out! It exploded and he looked like a burned cartoon charator.
Good times.
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### Author:  [@Little\_Nemo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Little_Nemo)
#### Post date: [October 20, 2012, 7:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mission-impossible-series-question/638167/37 "2012-10-20T19:42:48Z")
> [@Hail\_Ants](#):
>
> Just to clarify, the ‘_Secretary_’ in question would be the United States **Secretary of State**.
Why not the Secretary of Defense or the Secretary of the Treasury? Or the Secretary-General of the United Nations (if Napoleon Solo and Illya Kuryakin could work for the UN, why couldn’t Jim Phelps and his crew?)
Or maybe it went something like this:
“Mr President, we have a Commissar Badenov on the phone. He’s says they’ve captured a group of spies who were wearing masks and pretending to be from an alternative world where Germany won World War II. He’s asking if you know anything about this.”
“Oh crap. Tell him I just stepped out of the office. And disavow any knowledge of those bozos.”
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### Author:  [@running\_coach](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/running_coach)
#### Post date: [October 20, 2012, 7:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mission-impossible-series-question/638167/38 "2012-10-20T19:45:27Z")
> [@Little\_Nemo](#):
>
> Why not the Secretary of Defense or the Secretary of the Treasury?
Generally, the capture of spies is a diplomatic problem.
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### Author:  [@terentii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/terentii)
#### Post date: [October 27, 2012, 7:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mission-impossible-series-question/638167/39 "2012-10-27T07:13:37Z")
> [@Voyager](#):
>
> 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.
Not just sound effects, but some of the music as well, especially the “Kirk in Jeopardy” theme (not to be confused with the “Gladiatorial Combat” theme).
A couple of years ago, I had the chance to watch _Perry Mason_ seven or eight times a week. As far as I could tell, they had only one “Rich People’s Mansion” interior, and they used it in almost every episode.
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### Author:  [@terentii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/terentii)
#### Post date: [October 27, 2012, 7:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mission-impossible-series-question/638167/40 "2012-10-27T07:19:42Z")
> [@randwill](#):
>
> “Mission Impossible” also re-used footage in those openings where Jim arrives at a location and is presented with the new mission. Since the mission instructions were a recorded voice-over, all they had to do was shoot new inserts of someone’s hands shuffling through the photos.
This happened a lot toward the end of the first season, when they were having trouble with Steven Hill and had already decided to phase him out. Or, someone else would just go and pick up the message, and Hill wouldn’t even be in that episode (Cinnamon Carter, aka Barbara Bain, did it at least once).
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