# Mission: Impossible season 3

The third season of the original Mission: Impossible originally aired Sundays at 10:00–11:00 pm (EST) on CBS from September 29, 1968 to April 20, 1969.

## Cast

| Character | Actor | Main |
| Jim Phelps | Peter Graves | Entire season |
| Rollin Hand | Martin Landau | Entire Season |
| Cinnamon Carter | Barbara Bain | Entire Season |
| Barney Collier | Greg Morris | Entire Season |
| Willy Armitage | Peter Lupus | Entire Season |

## Episodes

| No. overall | No. in season | Title | Directed by | Written by | Original release date | Prod. code |
| 54 | 1 | "The Heir Apparent" | Alexander Singer | Robert E. Thompson | September 29, 1968 (1968-09-29) | 52 |
| Cinnamon impersonates a lost princess to foil the planned coup of a would-be military dictator (Charles Aidman). Cinnamon Carter poses as the blind elderly Princess who apparently survived the attempt on her life. |||||||
| 55 | 2 | "The Contender: Part 1" | Paul Stanley | William Read Woodfield & Allan Balter | October 6, 1968 (1968-10-06) | 54 |
| Barney impersonates a boxer to prevent gangsters (Ron Randell, John Dehner) from corrupting U.S. sports. Sugar Ray Robinson guest stars as a gangster's henchman; Robert Conrad has a cameo as Barney's sparring partner. The IMF will return to the boxing ring in the seventh season episode "The Fighter" (S07/E17). |||||||
| 56 | 3 | "The Contender: Part 2" | Paul Stanley | William Read Woodfield & Allan Balter | October 13, 1968 (1968-10-13) | 55 |
| The conclusion of the previous episode. |||||||
| 57 | 4 | "The Mercenaries" | Paul Krasny | Laurence Heath | October 27, 1968 (1968-10-27) | 51 |
| The IMF travel to Africa to stop a gold-hungry mercenary (Pernell Roberts) and end his reign of terror. |||||||
| 58 | 5 | "The Execution" | Alexander Singer | William Read Woodfield & Allan Balter | November 10, 1968 (1968-11-10) | 56 |
| To stop a brutal racketeer (Vincent Gardenia) from controlling the U.S. grocery industry, the IMF must convince his hitman to turn state's evidence. |||||||
| 59 | 6 | "The Cardinal" | Sutton Roley | John T. Dugan | November 17, 1968 (1968-11-17) | 58 |
| To secure power, a general replaces a country's beloved cardinal with a lookalike; the team devises a plan to switch them back. |||||||
| 60 | 7 | "The Elixir" | John Florea | Max Hodge | November 24, 1968 (1968-11-24) | 59 |
| In South America, the IMF must prevent a vain, Evita-like matriarch (Ruth Roman) from seizing power in a coup. |||||||
| 61 | 8 | "The Diplomat" | Don Richardson | Jerry Ludwig | December 1, 1968 (1968-12-01) | 53 |
| The IMF must discredit an enemy diplomat (Fernando Lamas) who is supplying a foreign power with the locations of U.S. missile control centers. |||||||
| 62 | 9 | "The Play" | Lee H. Katzin | Lou Shaw | December 8, 1968 (1968-12-08) | 57 |
| The IMF must discredit a foreign minister of culture whose influence prevents his premier from establishing a non-aggression pact with the United States. |||||||
| 63 | 10 | "The Bargain" | Richard Benedict | Robert E. Thompson | December 15, 1968 (1968-12-15) | 61 |
| In Miami, the IMF must prevent a crime syndicate from funding an exiled dictator's (Albert Paulsen) plan to launch a counter-revolution. |||||||
| 64 | 11 | "The Freeze" | Alexander Singer | Paul Playdon | December 22, 1968 (1968-12-22) | 63 |
| A bank robber (Donnelly Rhodes) plans to wait in prison on a lesser charge until the statute of limitations expires on his theft; the IMF must convince him to retrieve the loot early, before his double-crossed partners get wind of the con. |||||||
| 65 | 12 | "The Exchange" | Alexander Singer | Laurence Heath | January 5, 1969 (1969-01-05) | 60 |
| Cinnamon is captured behind the Iron Curtain, and Jim must kidnap, break, and trade an enemy agent before she breaks, bargaining with a treacherous officer (John Vernon) in the process. This is the first episode which begins in medias res, showing the IMF team in the middle of an ongoing mission before Cinnamon is captured and imprisoned. |||||||
| 66 | 13 | "The Mind of Stefan Miklos" | Robert Butler | Paul Playdon | January 12, 1969 (1969-01-12) | 62 |
| A double agent within U.S. intelligence is being fed false information, but his suspicious handler (Edward Asner) asks for a security check. Miklos (Steve Ihnat), an enemy mastermind, is sent to investigate and the IMF must convince him that the information is true and the handler is the traitor. |||||||
| 67 | 14 | "The Test Case" | Sutton Roley | Laurence Heath | January 19, 1969 (1969-01-19) | 64 |
| A "hired gun" bacteriologist is developing a deadly but short-lived virus for the Warsaw Pact; the IMF must eliminate him and his virus. |||||||
| 68 | 15 | "The System" | Robert Gist | Robert Hamner | January 26, 1969 (1969-01-26) | 65 |
| When a crime boss escapes justice the IMF must trick an underling operating a crooked casino into turning state's evidence. This episode was remade as the second episode in the revival series. |||||||
| 69 | 16 | "The Glass Cage" | John Moxey | S : Alf Harris T : Paul Playdon | February 2, 1969 (1969-02-02) | 66 |
| Barney and Willy get arrested in an Eastern Bloc nation to fake the escape of a resistance leader, who is in an escape-proof cell. |||||||
| 70 | 17 | "Doomsday" | John Moxey | Laurence Heath | February 16, 1969 (1969-02-16) | 68 |
| When a nearly bankrupt European industrialist (Alf Kjellin) tries to recover his fortune by selling a nuclear bomb to the highest bidder, the IMF must keep the weapon out of the hands of third-world nations. |||||||
| 71 | 18 | "Live Bait" | Stuart Hagmann | T : James D. Buchanan & Ronald Austin S/T : Michael Adams | February 23, 1969 (1969-02-23) | 67 |
| An enemy internal security chief (Anthony Zerbe) uses his own assistant (Martin Sheen) in the hope of out-foxing the IMF and exposing a high-ranking American agent. Larry Linville guest stars. |||||||
| 72 | 19 | "The Bunker: Part 1" | John Moxey | Paul Playdon | March 2, 1969 (1969-03-02) | 69 |
| Imprisoned underground in an Eastern European nation, a brilliant scientist is being forced to develop a deadly missile. |||||||
| 73 | 20 | "The Bunker: Part 2" | John Moxey | Paul Playdon | March 9, 1969 (1969-03-09) | 70 |
| In the conclusion of the previous episode, the IMF must rescue the scientist (Milton Selzer) and his wife (Lee Meriwether) before another nation's master of disguise can assassinate him. |||||||
| 74 | 21 | "Nitro" | Bruce Kessler | Laurence Heath | March 23, 1969 (1969-03-23) | 71 |
| A near-eastern ultra-nationalist assigns a demolitions expert (Mark Lenard) to kill his nation's leadership so a peace treaty can be replaced with a declaration of war. The IMF must act in time. |||||||
| 75 | 22 | "Nicole" | Stuart Hagmann | Paul Playdon | March 30, 1969 (1969-03-30) | 73 |
| Jim, shot and captured during exfiltration, is joined by an attractive double agent (Joan Collins) – but whose side is she really on? (Unusual for a non-season 1 episode, only two regular IMF members – Jim and Rollin – appear.) |||||||
| 76 | 23 | "The Vault" | Richard Benedict | S : John Kingsbridge S/T : Judy Burns | April 6, 1969 (1969-04-06) | 72 |
| Coup plotters (Nehemiah Persoff, Jerry Riggio) have looted a treasury to unseat a South American president (Rodolfo Acosta). |||||||
| 77 | 24 | "Illusion" | Gerald Mayer | Laurence Heath | April 13, 1969 (1969-04-13) | 74 |
| The IMF must eliminate two of the three contenders for chief of secret police in an eastern European nation. |||||||
| 78 | 25 | "The Interrogator" | Reza S. Badiyi | Paul Playdon | April 20, 1969 (1969-04-20) | 75 |
| An enemy officer (Henry Silva) knows a deadly secret, but is under interrogation in another hostile nation. This is the final episode to feature Martin Landau as Rollin Hand and Barbara Bain as Cinnamon Carter. |||||||