Mission: Impossible (1988)

The revival of the nearly forgotten cult series from the sixties. Jim Phelbs is back in action. Believe it or not the movie series is not the true Mission Impossible. The movies made Mission Impossible more like the James Bond movies (and are really good). The premise is the same. There is the secret agency called IMF that takes missions that are highly dangerous or even impossible. Their goal is to stop criminals / terrorists who are above the law when the justice system cant do anything or to rescue those who were abandoned. Their missions are nonofficial and if anyone got caught or killed everything will be denied. But this is the original concept of a team based approach. Peter Graves is back in his iconic role as Jim Phelbs. He is the team leader and a man with many talents and lot of experience. Thaao Phenglis as Nicolas Black is an actor with chameleon like talents. He can slip into each persons role and can mimic them nearly perfectly (With enough preparation time and background knowledge). Phil Morris as Grand Collier is the technology expert and even a competition for Q from James Bond. Tony Hamilton is the muscles with jack of all trades talents (This is meant positive). Terry Markwell as Casey Randall and later Jane Balder as Shannon Reed are the femme fatales of the team. Never underestimate someone with a beautiful face and acting skills. The characters are fitting and deliver their roles. There is an overall good chemistry in the team. The stories reach from good to real awesome. Some episode are more realistic grounded other take are more fantasy like approach but I will say each episode is entertaining. Some will complain that it is always a villain of the week approach and repetitive because of this. I will admit that they got a point. I enjoy mostly the team play, interesting stories, humor and also the gadgets / technology. My favourite episodes are: The Killer (Pilot episode with Q / John de Lancie), The Pawn (cold war themed), The Devils (hilarious entertaining) and The Assassins. A good point is that it is so satisfying when the villains get what they deserve and fall into the traps (They are always evil, not misguided or victims of circumstances). Overall this is an insider tip and a good addition for your DVD collection and should be relatively cheap to buy. I must warn you that the visual quality is not that good because it is an old series.