Nothing's Impossible Now

Well, FINALLY!

Tom Cruise's minions have finally stopped interfering with the release on DVD of the only "Mission: Impossible" that really matters. Yes, I refer to the original television series that ran from 1966 to 1973.

Of course, it is only the first three seasons that matter. Once Barbara Bain and Martin Landau left the show (or were fired, you decide) "M:I" never recaptured the cachet that had made it great. It limped on for several more years, with only a few episodes rising to the previous standard (mostly those with guest star Lee Meriwether).

My super wonderful, sweet (and obviously highly intelligent) in-laws (so to speak) got me the wonderful first season DVD for xmas and life could not be better. Each night, Matt and I are watching an episode (in order) and enjoying virtually every minute.

There are teething pains in this first season: the light banter really does not work, and was quickly eliminated; Bain is given little to do but strut her stuff (the producers quickly saw that this was wasting an impressive talent and started giving her much more meat to work with -- little surprise, then, that Bain won an Emmy for each of her three seasons on the show); the scripts are a little wordier than they would become.

Luckily, these issues were addressed quickly turning the show into what many still consider one of the best series ever on television.