Season OneWith its combination of Cold War villains and James Bond-like techno-gadgets,Mission: Impossiblewas an instant hit when it premiered on September 17, 1966. Airing  Saturday nights at 9:00 on CBS, the series was the brainchild of  creator/producer Bruce Geller, whose formula for seven successful  seasons included a well-chosen ensemble cast, noteworthy guest stars,  and a flexible premise that inspired clever plots twists and a constant  variety of "international" locations (mostly filmed on a studio  backlot). This seven-disc set includes all 28 episodes of season 1, the  only season to feature Steven Hill as Dan Briggs, leader of the  top-secret counterintelligence team known as Impossible Missions Force  (IMF). As the no-nonsense Briggs, Hill (better known for his later role  onLaw & Orderfrom 1990 to 2000) began each episode by  sneakily retrieving the dossier and recorded instructions (voiced  throughout the entire series by uncredited actor Bob Johnson) for the  IMF's latest assignment. "Your mission, should you decide to accept it"  and "this recording will self-destruct in five seconds" quickly became  pop-cultural catch-phrases, as Briggs routinely selected his preferred  teammates based on their mastery of practical skills. With "special  appearance" billing forM:I's first three seasons, Martin Landau  played master-of-disguise Rollin Hand; his off-screen wife, Barbara  Bain, played top-model and undercover seductress Cinnamon Carter; Greg  Morris brought hip coolness (and racial diversity) to his role as  electronics expert Barney Collier; and Peter Lupus played handsome hunk  Willy Armitage, adding IMF muscle to Briggs' brainy strategies.As a Desilu production based at Paramount Studios,Mission: Impossibleshared guest stars, production personnel, locations, and even occasional sets with the originalStar Trek.  Fans of both shows will enjoy spotting these crossover details  (including George Takei's appearance in "The Carriers," a first-season  highlight), and this season's other stand-out episodes include the  "Pilot" (featuring Wally Cox as an ace safe-cracker), "Operation  Rogosh," "A Spool There Was," "Action!," "The Train," and "The Traitor."  Whether they were toppling dictators, rescuing doomed prisoners,  foiling despots, or framing Mafia kingpins, the IMF agents were  consistently blessed with taut, well-written plots, many unfolding with  minimal dialogue and highly visual schemes that demanded (and rewarded)  the viewer's close attention. Although Steven Hill eventually left the  series (as an Orthodox Jew, he preferred not to work on the Jewish  Sabbath, asM:Irequired), his single season set the stage forM:I's  long-term popularity, with Peter Graves (replacing Hill as "Jim  Phelps") leading the IMF from 1967 to 1973. And while Paramount has  again neglected to offer DVD extras with this set, the episodes look and  sound just about perfect, with a parade of guest stars including Carol  O'Connor, Simon Oakland, Fritz Weaver, Nehemiah Persoff, Barbara Luna,  Vic Tayback, and a host of other '60s TV regulars. Your mission--and you  shouldn't hesitate to accept it--is to enjoy this classic series all  over again!--Jeff ShannonSeason TwoThe classic Impossible Missions Force lineup made its debut inMission: Impossible's  sophomore season (1967-1968), which is preserved in this essential set  for classic TV fans. Gone was Steven Hill as Dan Briggs, and in his  place the supremely confident and smooth Peter Graves as new team leader  Jim Phelps, whom most viewers identify with the series. Carrying out  the missions assigned from a pre-recorded voice on the self-destroying  tape recorder was magician and master of disguise Rollin Hand (Martin  Landau, who moved up from guest star to regular cast member with this  season), top model Cinnamon Carter (Landau's real-life spouse Barbara  Bain, who won three Emmys for her work on the show), electronics genius  Barney Collier (Greg Morris), and all-purpose strong man Willie Armitage  (body builder-turned-actor Peter Lupus). Among the 25 adventures  carried out in this seven-disc set: "The Seal," in which the IMF uses a  trained cat to assist in the recovery from an important statue from  thief Darren McGavin; "The Town," with Phelps discovering that  Communists have overrun an entire hamlet; and "The Slave," in which the  team tangle with a Middle Eastern slavery ring. Guest stars include  Anthony Zerbe, Paul Winfield, Fritz Weaver, and Sid Haig, but it's the  team itself that shines the brightest, especially Landau and Bain, who  exude the breezy charm of the series itself (though both would depart  the show by the following season). Sadly, the second season set includes  no extras.-- Paul GaitaSeason ThreeSeason 3, should you decide to accept it (and you definitely should), wasMission's  most accomplished. It garnered six Emmy nominations, and an Emmy for  Barbara Bain, her third consecutive win, probably for "The Exchange,"  one of her finest hours, in which, breaking series format, her character  is captured and psychologically tortured to discover for whom she  works. As always, the first five minutes of anyMission: Impossibleepisode are the coolest: the lit fuse signaling Lalo Schifrin's  indelible theme song, the opening-credits montage teasing the action in  the upcoming episode, and Jim Phelps (Peter Graves), in some nondescript  location, receiving his covert mission (usually to some nonexistent,  but real-sounding country as Povia or Costa Mateo), on that  self-destructing tape. It always seemed a waste of time for Phelps to go  through the dossiers of possible Impossible Missions Force agents for  each mission (and he does that less this season) as he invariably chose  the same ones: model beauty Cinnamon (Bain), master of disguise Rollin  Hand (Martin Landau), electricians expert Barney Collier (Greg Morris),  and strongman Willie Armitage (Peter Lupus).Mission: Impossibledidn't delve into the team members' private lives: it was all about the  mission, and together, the IMF foils any number of domestic and  international villains. Some missions (foil a coup, rescue a dissident)  have more at stake than others (restore boxing's good name), but there's  that great moment in almost every episode when the team's target  discovers that he or she has been royally IMF'd. "Don't you see?" the  warden of a so-called escape-proof automated prison protests in "The  Glass Cage," "they thought of everything!" He's not kidding. Not even  "Q" on his best day would have come up with that faux briefcase that  secretly dispenses exact replicas of the prison's towels.Mission: Impossibletoday does seem a little low-tech, especially when compared to the  special effects-laden feature films. And for anyone who has seenAirplane,  it may be difficult initially to keep a straight face whenever Peter  "Do you like gladiator movies?" Graves is onscreen. But with its clever  and complex stories, impeccable ensemble, and fun-to-spot guest stars  (that's John "Dean Wormer" Vernon torturing Cinnamon in "The Exchange"),Missionis impossible to resist.--Donald LiebensonSeason FourFoil the invasion of a democratic country? No problem. Rescue members of  a royal family from their would-be usurper? Piece of cake. Replace the  irreplaceable Martin Landau and thrice-Emmy-winner Barbara Bain, who  departedMissionafter its third season? Now that’s impossible!  But in this classic series’ fourth season, the veteran and rookie  members of the Impossible Mission Force still put on a good show. The  most prominent new addition to the IMF dossier is Leonard Nimoy as  Paris, magician and master of disguise. Lee "Catwoman" Meriwether  appears in several episodes as Tracey. Other guest stars make less of an  impression; Alexandra Hay makes her only appearance on the show in the  season opener as Lynn, who, in the course of an elaborate plot to  shatter an alliance between two would-be dictators is caught,  strip-searched, and thrown into prison (she disappears mid-episode and  is never seen again; viewers never do get to see her sprung). An  unintentionally hilarious moment that would have madeMadmagazine proud comes in the three-parter, "The Falcon," in which IMF  leader Jim Phelps’ (Peter Graves) dossier of agents at his disposal  includes the eponymous trained animal! LendingMission: Impossibleits international intrigue are the villains from such exotic sounding  countries as Nueva Tierra. Great character actors, including John "Dean  Wormer" Vernon, Harold Gould and Pernell Roberts portray accented bad  guys to the hilt. Each bafflingly complex mission unfolds precisely to  plan. Everything must go like clockwork, and usually does, even a lame  bit in "The Falcon" in which strongman Willy (Peter Lupus) disguised as a  peasant, delays a priest from a coronation by transporting him via  horse-driven cart in a roundabout route. Like the previous season’s "The  Exchange," one mission hits closer to home. In "Death Squad"  electronics expert Barney (Greg Morris) is arrested by a brutal and  corrupt police chief who also happens to be the brother of the man who  was killed while attacking Barney’s girlfriend (Cicely Tyson, by the  way).Mission: Impossiblehas yet to self-destruct, but this  season doesn’t exactly deliver on Paris’s promise to his audience to  deliver "excitement you haven’t seen before." We have seen this before,  but watching the IMF in episode after episode pull off the impossible is  still smart and suspenseful fun.--Donald Liebenson