[profh0011]

MISSION: IMPOSSIBLE:  Chico
The Cute Little Doggie Affair   (6 of 10)

A pair of competing drug lords each has attained one half of a list of undercover DEA agents, on microfilm, which can only be read when combined.  One of them has attached his microdot to a rare stamp, part of his massive collection, kept in a secure guarded underground vault.  Jim’s job is to retrieve the list, before it can be used to identify and murder the agents.

Fernando Lamas (100 RIFLES) is “Ramon Prado”.  He’s converted his money into rare stamps, and is deeply resentful that the Feds have been giving him so many hassles, while his rival has been doing business without any trouble.

Percy Rodrigues (STAR TREK: Court Martial) is “Arturo Sandoval”.  He’s has to be convinced to join forces with Prado, but doesn’t realize exactly what’s going on.

Gregory Sierra (SANFORD AND SON) is “Prado’s butler”.  I always remember him when he played “Chico”, Fred Sanford’s Puerto Rican neighbor.

“Chico the Terrier” (so credited at the IMDB) is “Chico”, this week’s pinch-hitting IMF member.  YES, REALLY.  I remember when they used a trained cat to sneak into a vault, and thinking, dogs are much smarter and easier to train.  I also remember when Eartha Kitt played a contortionist who had to sneak thru an air vent much smaller than the usual ones.  Well, this time, the air vent is REALLY small, and even this tiny little dog has to scrunch down to squeeze thru.  I was shocked when I realized, after he got thru the vent twice, he then had to go BACK to replace what he grabbed!  The most nerve-wracking part had to be when the automated vent door failed to open, and as Jim stood in the room with the 2 rival gangsters, saw Chico standing on the floor, and did what he could to not let the villains see the dog until he was able to escape.

The rest of the plot is too complicated for me to want to even bother trying to describe.  Just watch it for yourself.  Leonard Nimoy gets to put on a fake Australian accent, until his ruse is discovered… ON PURPOSE.  It’s always nuts when the IMF’s plan include making the villains think they’ve uncovered a plot against them… and they STILL don’t know what the real plot involves.

[profh0011]

MISSION: IMPOSSIBLE:  Gitano
The Young King  (6 of 10)

A 12-year-old King of a tiny country is in danger because his advisor wants to kill him, take over, and invade their neighboring country.  A former friend of his advisor, in the next country, kidnaps him to save his life.  But the King refuses to believe bad of his advisor.  Jim’s mission, is to CONVINCE him of the truth.

Mark Richman (THE OUTER LIMITS: The Borderland) is “Colonel Stefan Aragas”, the ambitious advisor with murder and invasion on his mind.

Barry Atwater (THE NIGHT STALKER) is “Grand Duke Clement”, who kidnapped the young King with good intentions, then lets him go, hoping for the best but fearing the worst.

Rudi Solari (STAR TREK: The Paradise Syndrome) is “Colonel Moya”, working for Clement, but really loyal to Aragas.

Barry Williams (THE BRADY BUNCH) is “King Victor”, who arrogantly thinks he knows it all, and winds up put through some rather humiliating circumstances before he realizes the truth.  (I wonder if there was a bit of “The Prince And The Pauper” in the make-up of this story?)

“Paris” (Leonard Nimoy) poses as a gypsy who rescues the young King following a road “accident” (staged by Jim’s team, OF COURSE).  In order to hide from those seeking to kill him, Victor winds up disguised as a girl.  To say he’s not happy about this is an under-statement.  I think Paris was the one person in this story who was probably in the most real danger, when he went to see Aragas with information about where Victor was.

It all ends in a warehouse basement, where a sheet of bullet-proof glass was all that stood between cold-blooded murder and the realization of the truth.

[profh0011]

MISSION: IMPOSSIBLE:  Phantoms
The Murderous Dictator   (7 of 10)

The aging, paranoid dictator of an Eastern-European country plans to do yet another purge of young dissidants, this times writers and artists.  Jim’s mission is to REMOVE him from office.  Classic CIA behavior.

Luther Adler (D.O.A.) is “Premier Leo Vorka”, who’s been known to have hallucinations.  Jim takes advantage of this, by staging a BBC interview in his office, which gives Barney an excuse to plant equipment that will project images and sounds that only Vorka will see and hear (thanks to his glasses being replaced in the process).

Ben Astar (BATMAN: Hi Diddle Riddle) is “Deputy Premier Bartzin”, eager to replace Vorka in light of his increasingly-insane behavior.

Gregory Sierra (SANFORD AND SON) is “Gomal”, one of Vorka’s bodyguards.

Ivor Barry (McCLOUD: The Barefoot Stewardess Caper) is “Edmund Moore”, the English TV interviewer.

Jeff Pomerantz (McCLOUD: Give My Regrets To Broadway) is “Stefan Zara”, a young writer being interrogated, and who refuses to sign a fake confession which would condemn 100 friends of his for crimes that none of them have committed.  The IMF’s plan is to convince Vorka that Zara is really his long-missing (and believed dead) SON.

Antoinette Bower (STAR TREK: Catspaw) is “Nora Bennett”, this week’s pinch-hitting IMF member, who, with a little help from make-up expert Paris, is made to look exactly like Vorka’s long-dead girlfriend, who he had murdered many years before.  She’s made to appear to him in a vision to tell him he’s about to murder his still-alive son.

Paris gets to play 3 different roles in this story: a security officer, an old man, and Zara (albeit, Leonard Nimoy is only playing 2 of those parts onscreen).  He also impersonates a 4th person over the phone (and I’m pretty sure that wasn’t Nimoy’s voice in that scene).

[profh0011]

MISSION: IMPOSSIBLE:  Terror
The Middle-Eastern Jailbreak   (6 of 10)

Somewhere in the Middle East, a convicted terrorist scheduled to be executed for his many crimes is suddenly about to receive a pardon, due to a government official secretly working with the terrorists for years.  Jim’s mission is to prevent the man’s release, and expose the official.

Michael Tolan (THE OUTER LIMITS: The Zanti Misfits) is “Ismet El Kebir”, who at one point states hie will not have won against the goverenment until HE is the government.

David Opatoshu (STAR TREK: A Taste Of Armageddon) is “Ahmed Vassier”, Kebir’s secret ally in the government.  Paris impersonates him at one point, to make the terrorist group believe Kebir will be executed, while the real Vassier panics and insists Kebir should be released immediately.

Arlene Martel (THE OUTER LIMITS: It Crawled Out Of The Woodwork) is “Atheda”, Kebir’s girlfriend, who the IMF convinces to break Kebir out of prison via a long-forgotten underground aquaduct.  I’ve seen Martel in a number of things, but somehow, I almost didn’t recognize her in this story.

Barney & Willy pose as army deserters who’ve stolen a truck full of nitro, which Barney must process in order to blow a hole in the wall of the prison, hopefully without killing anyone.

Also in the cast are Joe De Santis (THE OUTER LIMITS: The Human Factor) as “Maj. Marek”, and Ron Feinerg (NIGHT COURT: Wonder Drugs) as “Jenab”.

It blows my mind that the team went through so much trouble to break a guy out of prison, mostly so he could be KILLED anyway.

[profh0011]

MISSION: IMPOSSIBLE:  Lovers’ Knot
The Blackmailed Traitors   (7 of 10)

A foreign spy ring is blackmailing American agents into working for them, until their usefulness is ended, then killing them.  Jim’s mission, is to uncover the head of the spy ring.

Jane Merrow (THE PRISONER: The Schizoid Man) is “Lady Cora Weston”, claiming to be bored with her much-older husband, as a way of luring agents into the spy ring’s power.  But she’s bitten off more than she can chew this time.

John Williams (the BATTLESTAR GALACTICA pilot) is “Lord Richard Weston”, who doesn’t seem to mind that his much-younger wife has occasional “fun”.

Don Knight (McCLOUD: The Barefoot Stewardess Caper) is the ring’s enforcer, who loves killing too much, and killed off their last victim before he was able to give them what they needed.

Jerry Douglas (GOOD GUYS WEAR BLACK) is “Marvin Rogers”, an American intelligence man in England that Phelps and his team wind up working closely with.  Phelps allows himself to be blackmailed so he’ll hand over a “de-scrambler” device that will allow the baddies to listen in on confidential embassy communications.  But knowing what he’s giving them, the code will be changed as soon as the baddies are fed FALSE info that will help uncover the head of the ring.

Vic Perrin (“The Control Voice” on THE OUTER LIMITS) is “Peter Stone”, the never-seen boss of Rogers, whose pre-recorded voice becomes half of a phone call that tells the baddies that Paris is suspected of double-crossing his own men and stealing millions in the process. 

Charles Macauley (HEAD) is “Conway”, who runs a crooked gambling hall, where Jim winds up losing $50,000—but he does it on purpose!

This was the 4th episode in a row written by Laurence Heath, who did 23 episodes in all.  I wonder if he wasn’t getting bored with the tight format of the series, because in this one episode, he deviates from just about every standard imaginable!  There’s no “tape” scene, no “team photos” scene, no mission briefing, the team is activing working with ANOTHER government agency, and, Paris winds up falling in love with a woman he KNOWS is rotten and involved with espionage and murder.  And, while the show had a tradition of conning one bad guy into murdering another, this time, the main bad guy, all on his own, winds up comitting SUICIDE.  That’s a nice variation!  (In my time, I’ve written TWO scenes like that, so, here, I kinda saw it coming.)

[profh0011]

MISSION: IMPOSSIBLE:  Orpheus
The Mysterious Eastern-Sector Assassin   (6 of 10)

In what can only be East Germany, an assassin unknown even to his employers is set to kill another victim.  Jim’s mission is to stop him, permanently, and take his contact man out of action as well.

Albert Paulsen (THE MANCHURIAN CANDIDATE) is “Eric Bergman”, the go-between who has never even met the hit-man.  He becomes the target of one of Jim Phelps’ patented insanely-complicated scams.  Two funny moments in this otherwise DEAD-serious story are when his pet cat wanders into a room where Barney is secretly working, and, when he suddenly finds himself face-to-face with Paris—disguised as himself.

Bruce Glover (DIAMONDS ARE FOREVER) is “Major Deiter”, Bergman’s right-hand man.

Jessica Walter (PLAY MISTY FOR ME) is “Valerie”, this week’s pinch-hitting IMF agent, who poses as a security officer from “Central Command”, who bosses her way around Bergman’s office, warning him not to contact her superiors or it will mean his death, and planting the seeds that there’s a traitor in his organization.

Jim poses as a defector who, it turns out, is also a heroin addict.  Bergman doesn’t know whether to believe he’s a legit defector or not, but decides one way or the other, he’ll get whatever info he wants before killing him!

Paris poses as a man supposed to have already been killed by the assassin, and his still being alive makes it look like something really wrong is going on.

Booth Colman (MY GUN IS QUICK) is “Stavros”, alias the assassin “Orpheus”, who’s planted a bomb to kill a certain doctor, and is then told at the very last minute that he needs to cancel the hit.

Parts of this were interesting, but overall, I found it almost too dense to follow from scene to scene.

This marked the 100th episode of MISSION: IMPOSSIBLE!  Given the behind-the-scenes stuff going on at Paramount at the time, it amazes me that this series lasted 4 whole years longer than STAR TREK did.

[profh0011]

MISSION: IMPOSSIBLE:  The Crane
Manhunt   (8 of 10)

In Hungary (“Lugos” was a former territory), a resistence leader fighting a corrupt military junta has been captured awaiting execution.  Jim’s mission is to rescue him, and put a stop to the junta.

Carl Betz (McCLOUD: Who Says You Can’t Make Friends In New York City?) is “General Yuri Kozani”, currently in charge of the country, bent on executing the man set on over-throwing him.  “When someone tries to kill you, the best way to respond is by killing them first.”  That’s his motto.

Felice Orlandi is “Colonel Alex Strabo”, Kozani’s right-hand man.  Ernesto Macias is “Constantine”, head of the resistence, who, inexplicably, is voiced by Vic Perrin (“The Control Voice” from THE OUTER LIMITS).

Jim poses as a member of the resistence, who, incredibly, walks right into Kozani’s office, and announces he KNOWS that resistence leader Constantine has betrayed his own people by making a deal with Kozani—and that Jim’s going to KILL Kozani.  He stopped by Willy, posing as a security guard!  Instead of killing Jim right then, Kozani wants to know WHY he thinks Constantine has made a deal. 

While this is going on, Paris, Barney & Willy manage to rescue Constantine and, knowing the entire area will be sealed off, making it impossible to get him out, hide him in plain sight—unconscious, inside a work crane bucket, suspended high above the very street he was grabbed from.  Out of the entire 4th season of this show, THIS visual has so far been the one and ONLY thing I clearly remember from when I saw this first-run back in March of 1970.  (56 YEARS ago!)  I don’t remember any other details of the plot at all, but that crane bucket has always stuck with me, especially when a similar bucket was used in one sequence in the 1969 movie ON HER MAJESTY’S SECRET SERVICE.  Did writer Ken Pettus get the idea from watching that film?  Maybe!

As usual, Jim Phelps NEVER takes the easy route.  Anyone else would have just shot the 2 baddies and let it go at that.  But that’s just NOT his style!  Instead, he builds suspicion between them, until, as we’ve seen so many times before this already—one winds up SHOOTING the other one dead.  But somehow, the suspense leading up to that scene in this episode, I felt, was better-played than in most of its predecessors.

Inexplicably, this episode is listed as “Setup” on the Blu-Ray’s menu.  Go figure.

[profh0011]

MISSION: IMPOSSIBLE:  Death Squad
Barney On Death Row   (8 of 10)

Jim & Barney pick a bad place to vacation: a Central American country with a murderous Chief of Police.  When the man’s brother accidentally goes out a window while trying to attack Barney in a jealous rage over a woman who dumped him, Barney is sentenced to death, regardless of if he actually comitted murder or not!  Jim hatches a scheme on the spot to free him, before that happens, and at the same time, gather evidence to put the Chief of Police away for good.

Cicily Tyson (B.L. STRYKER: Winner Takes All) is “Alma Ross”, a NYC artist who falls in love with Barney, but knows nothing about what he really does for a living.  I always remember her from when she hosted SNL, and told Garrett Morris to his face, “Look what ya’ll did to Detroit. That used to be a nice place to live!”  (Hilarious.)  Is it safe to assume that her character may be Grant Collier’s mother in the revival series?

Pernell Roberts (BONANZA) is “Chief Manuel Corba”, who used to be the executioner at the State prison, liked it, and has recruited like-minded officers for his local Police force, forming a “death squad” who execute people in secret by hanging, stealing their valuables, and disposing of the bodies in a vat of sulphuric acid.  Jim convinces him that he and Barney were both involved in a huge theft of emeralds, as a way of delaying Barney’s death—though by the end, Corba decides to go ahead with the murder, even WITHOUT getting a share of the take.  I guess murder was more important to him than money.

John Schuck (McMILLAN & WIFE) is “Lieutenant Jocaro”, known to always be on the take.  Paris poses as a jewel fence pretending to be a Policeman wanting to join the death squad, as a way of conning him and his boss into thinking Jim was part of the jewel theft.

Leon Askin (SHERLOCK HOLMES AND THE DEADLY NECKLACE, HOGAN’S HEROES) is “Riva”, a small-time petty thief who Corba decides to murder just for kicks.  When Barney is put in the cell right across from him, Riva is amazed at how close Barney came to escaping entirely on his own—before the guards decided to check on their prisoners.

The warehouse where the double-gallows was set up reminded me a lot of the one seen in the film IN COLD BLOOD.  This was another very off-beat episode, and one of the more entertaining ones!  Every time I see Leonard Nimoy, I keep thinking, I bet he had a lot of fun working on this show.  I also keep wondering why he left after only 2 seasons.

[profh0011]

MISSION: IMPOSSIBLE:  The Choice
The Mystic Monk   (7 of 10)

In an obvious tribute to both THE PRISONER OF ZENDA and RASPUTIN, THE MAD MONK, The Duchess of a tiny country has fallen under the influence of an alleged mystic, who hopes to take over the country when she’s gone.  Jim’s mission, is to prevent that from happening.

Leonard Nimoy gets to play 2 roles in this one, as Paris turns out to be a dead ringer for “Emile Vautrain”.  He’s not only conned the country’s ruler into thinking she’s sick and he’s cured her, and, that her right-hand man has turned against her, but also, that’s he’s immortal.

Jim & Paris pose as a pair of con men, in yet another example of the IMF making the baddies think they’ve exposed the heroes, while still never allowing them to know who they REALLY are.  Their con this time involves a stage show with a working electric chair.

Among the guest cast are Nan Martin (26 episodes of THE DREW CAREY SHOW), Arthur Franz (THE ATOMIC SUBMARINE), Alan Bergmann (STAR TREK: The Empath) and Sid Haig (BATMAN: The Spell of Tut).

There’s a moment at the climax where I wasn’t sure who was Paris and who was Vautraine.  At the very end, only The Duchess’ real friend figured it out, and thanked Paris for what he did.

[profh0011]

MISSION: IMPOSSIBLE:  The Martyr
The Youth Congress   (6 of 10)

The dictator of yet another in an endless line of Eastern-European countries arranges a “youth congress”, hoping to convince them to endorse his regime despite their idolizing his predecessor, who was murdered 20 years earlier.  Jim’s mission is to prevent that from happening.  Could his agenda be any less specific than that?

John Larch (DIRTY HARRY) is “Premier Anton Rojeck”, who is worred the young people of his country may rise up against him.  By the end of the episode, I began to think his character was written as a parody of Richard Nixon.

Scott Marlowe (THE OUTER LIMITS: It Crawled Out Of The Woodwork) is “Josef Czerny”, Rojeck’s henchman, desperate to please his boss under repeated threats to his life.  Yeah, good way to prove you’re in favor of free speech, when your own right-hand man is constantly afraid of dying.

Ken Swofford (THE ANDROMEDA STRAIN) is “Florian Vaclav” a bookstore owner who claims to be part of the youth resistence, but is really loyal to Rojeck.

Anna Lee (489 episodes of GENERAL HOSPITAL) is “Maria Malek”, whose husband and young son were murdered 20 years earlier, and she’s been kept in a mental hospital ever since.  Jim hopes to use her as part of his plan, and get her to safety at the same time.

Peter Brocco (THE OUTER LIMITS:  I, Robot) is “Dr. Valari”, who implants a miniature device in Jim’s ear, and also tells Rojeck info that would seem to hurt Jim’s plan—but not really.

Lynn Kellogg (a singer who also had a brief acting career) is “Roxy”, a folk singer who does a passable rendition of Bob Dylan’s “The Times They Are A-Changing”.  Her character’s name is never once mentioned in the story, and we don’t learn until the very end of the episode that she was actually this week’s pinch-hitting female IMF agent!  Well, she was cute.

Paris spends most of this story pretending to be the son of Maria Malek, unaware of his true identity until Rojeck finds out about it, and allegedly hating his late father’s politics.  Rojeck sees him as an opportunity to convince the young people that he’s an okay guy, which, as you might expect, doesn’t play out the way he hoped.

Some reviewers have mentioned “hippies”, but nobody in this story dresses or acts the way American hippies ever did.  And if there’s one thing I just couldn’t believe, it was that anyone would ever think Paris or Barney were “youths”.

[profh0011]

MISSION: IMPOSSIBLE:  The Killer
Hitman Hotel   (6 of 10)

A professional hit man is scheduled to arrive to do a hit.  Jim’s mission is not only to prevent it, but to learn who his employer is.

Robert Conrad (THE WILD WILD WEST) is “Eddie Lorca”, a professional contract killer who likes to improvise by choosing where he stays and how he kills at random, at the last minute, which makes things challenging for Jim’s team.  Jim and a large numer of un-named assistants set up shop at a hotel with all its identification removed, so they can generate the name of whatever hotel Lorca picks out of the phone book at random on the building and all its paperwork, towels, and so on.  Then it’s a matter of making sure the job is finished by the time Lorca’s cab (driven by Paris) arrives.

Davis Roberts (WESTWORLD) is “William Barton”, Lorca’s target.  Barney takes his place and sets up a dummy in his hotel room, figuring on a head shot, but not expecting an entirely-different method of murder.

Byron Morrow (2 different Admirals on STAR TREK) is “Alfred E. Chambers”, who only has the briefest of cameos when it’s revealed he’s “Scorpio”, Lorca’s regular employer.

Leslie Ann Warren (VICTOR/VICTORIA) is “Dana Lambert”, the new regular IMF team member.  I’ve read some fans complaining that she’s too young for this show, but after only one episode, I have no problem with her.

I was not surprised that this was Arthur Weiss’s 1st (of episodes on the show, as several things in the writing strongly suggested somebody new was taking a whack at it here.  To start off, a short prologue is followed by the Mission recording, BEFORE the usual opening credits!  Later, the entire situation with the hotel was far simpler while also somehow more absurd than the usual thing from Jim Phelps, and, there were more unexpected glitches as the plan unfolded than usual, like Willy losing Lorca in traffic, or Barney almost getting blown up in the hotel room.  (Weiss had previously written the “Visitors From Beyond The Stars” episode of THE TIME TUNNEL, the first outragiously “sci-fi” story on that show’s run.)

I suspect a big part of this may be that series creator Bruce Geller was finally BANNED from the Paramount lot about this time.  Somebody wanted to make a point that it was a whole new era for the show, for good or bad.

Out of all the episodes I’ve watched so far, this one was the most familiar to me—simply because it was re-written & re-used as the pilot for the 1988 revival series, with John De Lanci taking Robert Conrad’s place as the killer, who, in that story, WAS “Scorpio”.

[profh0011]

MISSION: IMPOSSIBLE:  Flip Side
Drugs Are Bad, M’kay?   (6 of 10)

An American pharmaceutical manufacturer gets around the law by shipping his drugs to Mexico, before they’re then shipped back to a large drug distributor in California.  Jim’s mission is to take out ALL 3 top men involved.  Shouldn’t this be a job for the DEA, not the IMF?

Dana plays an aspiring singer whose mother was involved with the man in Mexico many years before.  She also plays up to the married man right in front of his jealous wife.  Paris poses as her musician-partner & mentor.

Sal Mineo (EXODUS) is “Hal Bracken”, described as the biggest illegal drug distributor on the west coast.  He’s approached by Jim & Willie, who pay him $100,000 up-front for a huge shipment of drugs, which never arrives, thanks to Barney first planting electronic tracing devices among the shipment, then getting caught by the driver, than having to leave the driver unconscious somewhere on the road, then getting the idea to replace all the canned drugs with canned vegetables instead.  Which, suffice to say, pisses off the alleged “buyer” and drives an instant wedge between the men involved in the smuggling operation.  (Barney really deserved a raise after this mission.)

Robert Alda (TARZAN AND THE SLAVE GIRL) is “Diego Maximillian” once known as “Uncle Max” to the daughter of the woman he knew many years ago.  This bogus connection gets Dana and Paris an “in”, and leads to shocking results.  You know, as an actor, I’ve always liked him more than his more-famous son, Alan.

Dana Elcar (35 episodes of DARK SHADOWS, 2 episodes of GET SMART, and 2010) is “C.W. Cameron”, who insists he’s doing nothing illegal by shipping his products to Mexico.  Dana comes on to him, and after a too-friendly dinner, goes back to his hotel room to party, and suddenly takes a whole lot of pills to loosen up—before (apparently) dropping DEAD right there!  In a panic, he bribes Paris to get rid of the body…

Whereas most IMF missions leave the bad guys completely in the dark as to who Jim and his people are, in this one, it’s perfectly clear who they were, especially when the team winds up turning the baddies over to the cops at the end!  I guess that sort of explains why the “If you or any of your IM Force are caught or killed…” part of the mission message was not included this time.  This feels like you’re wantching an entirely different show, with mostly the same cast!

[profh0011]

MISSION: IMPOSSIBLE:  The Innocent
The Deadly Chemical Lab  (7 of 10)

Somewhere in the Middle East, a disillusioned American scientist has helped develop a deadly chemical that can kill in a few hours.  Jim’s mission is to destroy the chemical, and prevent the scientist from ever developing it again.

Sounds simple?  Guess again.  The episode starts with the mission already in-progress.  Barney is accidentally dosed with the poison, and Willy has no choice but to get out and leave him behind.  As the mission requires Barney’s skill operating the computer that contains the chemical formula, Jim is forced to recruit—completely against his will—a college drop-out who’s anti-government sentiments make him totally opposed to helping!  This is like a a dark, nightmarish version of THE MAN FROM UNCLE, where Solo often worked with “innocents” recruited for various reasons.  The writers on this show were really playing with the format during the 5th season!

Christopher Connolly (13 episodes of PAPER MOON) is “Dr. Jerome Carlin”, apparently the only man besides Barney capable of operating the enemy’s computer so the chemical formula can be erased.  First they try to hire him, then they try to con him by pretending his girlfriend has been arrested for drug possession.  These are the good guys?  Eventually he comes around, but only once he sees they’re also trying to save Barney’s life.

Robert Ellenstein (STAR TREK IV) is “Dr. M. Vazan”, the traitor who’s developed the poison and is supervising its production.  Jim winds up kidnapping him and taking him back to the States so he can never do this again.

Larry Linville (121 episodes of M*A*S*H) is “Colonel Leo Orlov”, in charge of security.  Did Linville EVER play any nice characters?

Sam Elliot (FROGS, ROAD HOUSE, TOMBSTONE) is “Doug Robert”, this week’s fill-in IMF member, who wound up appearing in no less than 13 episodes.  This was back when he was young and handsome, before he became middle-aged and “grizzled”.

Normall Jim Phelps’ plans are meticulously worked out in advance to the last detail.  This season, more and more, we’re seeing what happens when he has to improvise.

[profh0011]

MISSION: IMPOSSIBLE:  Homecoming
The Small-Town Strangler Case   (8 of 10)

When visiting his home town, Jim runs across a pair of murders, and after deciding to help out the local Sheriff, a third one occurs.  He calls in his team, and while Barney poses as a “criminologist”, Dana takes a job as a waitress.

Frank Webb (THE COMPUTER WORE TENNIS SHOES) is “Seth Morley”, a young Vietnam vet who saw his entire unit killed in action, and has been disturbed ever since.  Jim befriends him and wants to get him some psychiatric help, but when he turns out to be the chief suspect, I figured he was just too obvious to be the real killer.  In order to give the real killer an alibi for his next murder, Willy winds up sneaking Seth out of his jail cell in a coffin and herse!  Tragically, Webb died at the age of 26 as a result of a multi-car collission.

There’s several other actors I’m familiar with from other things, including Jacqueline Scott (Richard Kimble’s sister on THE FUGITIVE), Joe Maross (General Custer on THE TIME TUNNEL), Sharon Acker (2 episodes of HEC RAMSEY), Loretta Swit (251 episodes of M*A*S*H), and James B. Sikking (144 episodes of HILL STREET BLUES).

If there’s a single thing in this story I have trouble with, it’s one woman who felt she “wasn’t pretty”.  She sure as hell was!

I was surprised when, 3 weeks into the 5th season, they replaced the recording of the theme song with a new arrangement.  Ususually, they do that at the start of a season.  But, this week, the original recording was reinstated.  Hmm.  (Kinda reminds me of when Irwin Allen’s VOYAGE TO THE BOTTOM OF THE SEA replaced its theme song with a completely-different piece of music—but then went back to the original, after only 1 week!)

[profh0011]

MISSION: IMPOSSIBLE:  Flight
WHO is Plato?   (8 of 10)

Several top security men in a small country plan to stage a coup by murdering their President while he’s making a speech at the U.N.  Jim’s mission, is to discover the identity of the assassin, and stop them.

John Colicos (STAR TREK: Errand of Mercy) is “Manuel Ferrar”, Chief of Internal Security, the only person who knows the identity of “Plato”, the assassin.  Jim has him kidnapped just before his plane to the US takes off, and pulls one of his patented scams to get the info he needs out of him.

Lloyd Battista (who dubbed voices in THE GOOD THE BAD ANSD THE UGLY) is “Francisco Diaz”, the corrupt Chief of Police.  He turns out to be almost as smart as Jim, when things unexpectedly go wrong with Jim’s plan.

Tol Avery (LOST IN SPACE: Fugitives In Space) is “Stone”, a pinch-hitting IMF member this week, who takes part in Ferrar’s abduction.

Sam Elliot (TOMBSTONE) is “Doug Robert”, in his 2nd of 13 episodes as an IMF team member.  Here, he’s replacing Willy (Peter Lupus), who for some reason I haven’t found out yet, someone wanted kicked off the show!  Elliot may be young and handsome, but he barely registers and does almost nothing in this story.  A proper replacement for Peter Lupus he was NOT.

The producers must have really wanted to play with the format this season.  Not only do we once again have a prologue with the baddies, we also see Jim receive his mission, before the opening credits.  But in addition to that, not one but TWO things go very wrong in this week’s mission, and, frankly, both times due to imcompetence on the part of the team members.  First, the ambulance taking the unconscious Ferrar away is involved in a near hit-and-run with 2 other cars and a pair of people on bicycles, and, their license number is reported to the police.  Second, when the cops (headed by Diaz) track Jim’s team down to a warehouse, Dana (Lesley Ann Warren), against Jim’s orders, runs back in to grab some audio tapes, and is arrested! 

Diaz figures out so much of what must be going on, one would think he’d make a good IMF team leader—if he wasn’t a totally-corrupt bad guy bent on over-throwing his country’s government.  Dana has to pull out all the stops to get the cops to allow her to go to her “rendezvous” at a hotel, which involves essentially telling them she’s a government agent trying to stop an assassination, things they’re already aware of.  It adds an extra level to the scheme of things as it unfolds.

Meanwhile, Ferrar wakes up in what he’s made to believe is an island populated by escaped prisoners.  Paris poses as one of Ferrar’s own men, who he’s never met in person, who tells him that “Plato” is actually a traitor working for the US government.  Once Ferrar reveals Plato’s identity, he winds up being completely baffled as to what is really going on…

For the 2nd episode this season, the theme song has a new recording.  I wish long-running shows wouldn’t mess with perfection this way.  It’s so obviously a ploy by someone in charge to put their own “stamp” on a show they didn’t create in the first place.

[profh0011]

MISSION: IMPOSSIBLE:  My Friend, My Enemy
The Brainwashing Episode   (6 of 10)

En route to Geneva on a motorcycle following a mission, Paris is kidnapped by enemy agents, who use an electronic implant to turn him into an unknowing assassin, with his target being his “control”—Jim.

Mark Richman (THE OUTER LIMITS: The Borderland) is “Dr. Paul Tabor”, who has already turned a lovable German Shepherd viscious, and is confident he can do the same with a man.  He takes what appears “unimportant” info from an interrogation, involving a woman Paris once fell in love with and the man who murdered her, to make Paris connect in his mind Jim with that previous killer.

Bruce Glover (DIAMONDS ARE FOREVER) is “Ernst Bandar”, a henchman who follows Tabor to a hotel where they’re hoping Paris will unknowingly lead them to his supervisor.

Wesley Lau (5 episodes of THE TIME TUNNEL) is “Karl Maur”, the Communist agent whose arrest Paris was involved with a year earlier.  When his fingerprints turn up on Paris’ wrecked motorcycle, Barney immediately realizes that Paris was actually in enemy hands.  Ironically, while this was Lau’s 2nd of 3 appearances on M:I, he played different characters in each of them.  You’d think they could have actually brought back one of the villains from Season 4!  I’m reminded of how, in THE RETURN OF THE MAN FROM UNCLE, they “brought back” several old villains who never actually appeared in all 5 seasons of UNCLE.  You’d think they could have brought SOMEBODY from the original show back, but, they didn’t.)

Jill Haworth (THE OUTER LIMITS: The Sixth Finger) is “Enid Brugge” and “Marla Kassel”—the woman Paris once loved, and, the Communist agent hired to seduce him.  Shockingly, she doesn’t realize what her employers have in mind for her.

Tony Giorgio (“Palancio” in MAGNUM FORCE) is “Meerghan”, the man who murdered Paris’ girlfriend, who appears only in his mind.

The moment Paris fails to turn up, Jim calls his team together and they begin investigating what happened to him, assuming he must be “in enemy hands”, which may mean he’s finished as an agent.  When he turns up, Jim has Doug examine him, stressing he’s not going to report Paris as unreliable, as he wants to make every effort to get to the bottom of it without taking that drastic step, which, at one point, it’s suggested may involve the government KILLING him!

Leonard Nimoy really gives a tour-de-force performance in this episode.  The more I see of his episodes here, the more I suspect he may have been happy to put STAR TREK behind him!

When the story started, it reminded me of an episode of VOYAGE TO THE BOTTOM OF THE SEA, “The Saboteur” (2-22-65), in which Captain Lee Crane is captured & brainwashed.  However, soon into it, when Jim & co. suspect something’s wrong and do all they can to fix it, it reminded me far more of the UFO episode “Kill Straker!”(11-4-70), in which Paul Foster is programmed by aliens to kill his boss Ed Straker.  Funny enough, that episode didn’t air in England until a month after this one aired in America.

The producers were really determined to play with the format this season!

[profh0011]

MISSION: IMPOSSIBLE:  Butterfly
Murder In Japan   (8 of 10)

A prominent businessman is framed for murdering his Japanese wife by her brother, who hates America and hopes to disrupt a new trade deal.  Jim’s mission, is to clear the man, and help nail the real killer.

Russ Conway (18 episodes of RICHARD DIAMOND, PRIVATE EYE, OUR MAN FLINT) is “Harry Kellem”, accused of stabbing his wife to death—and being stupid enough to pick up the murder weapon and getting his fingerprints in it.  He’s then nearly murdered in his jail cell, but somehow, doesn’t eat the meal I presume must have been poisoned!

Khigh Dhiegh (15 episodes of HAWAII FIVE-OH) is “Toshio Masaki”, a powerful and corrupt businessman who kills his own sister, then finds himself blackmailed by someone who allegedly got film of the murder.

Lisa Lu (a 1959 MIKE HAMMER and a 1987 SEA HUNT) is “Mioshi Kellem”, who begins to believe her father is guilty, until Paris, impersonating a Japanese Kabuki actor, assures her, her father is innocent.

James Shigeta (THE OUTER LIMITS: Nightmare) is “Shiki”, Masaki’s loyal henchman.  I knew the face, as I’d seen him in several things over the years (including MIDWAY), and when I saw his name in the credits, I knew it was him.

Fuji (THE WRECKING CREW) is “Osaki”, a professional fighter working for Masaki.  I saw him many times on TV, fighting as a professional wrestler, “Mr. Fuji”, the sidekick of “Professor Toru Tanaka”.  Together, they were the virtual “James Bond villains” of pro wrestling!

Benson Fong (“Tommy Chan” in 6 of the Monogram CHARLIE CHAN films!) is “Inspector Akita”, who, it turns out, could not be bribed by the main villain.

Outragiously, Barney, Paris & Dana create a fake film of the murder, while Willy’s job is to create a distraction by fighting Osaki long enough to get the “evidence” on film.  Even though the killer KNOWS the film is a fake, it winds up being his downfall.  The part I found strange was that Paris was wearing no make-up when he started his impersonation, but later, he was.  Frankly, Leonard Nimoy did not need any make-up to look Japanese.  I’ve seen many Japanese actors who look western, like Susumu Kurobe, who starred as “Hayata” on the 1966 ULTRAMAN.