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47 of 53 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
MISSION: IMPOSSIBLE #5: The Hip Revolution!, June 30, 2008
Good evening. This is the fifth season (1970-1971) of "Mission: Impossible" which is fully produced by Bruce Lansbury from season 4 and supervised by top writer Laurence Heath who, nevertheless, produces six episodes. Here is a complete revision of the series because of its ideological shift through a leaning towards the thematics of the youth movement (for instance: students' agitators and radicals in "Takeover", NLF guerrillas in "The Rebel", far left terrorists in "The Hostage" and subversive revolutionaries in "Blast").
You will find some deep changes: a new-hip-younger "regular" leading lady named Dana Lambert (played by Lesley Ann Warren) introduced in "Flip Side" (in which she performs two folk songs), a replacement of Willy in twelve episodes out of twenty three via a young physician named Doug Robert and also named Doug Lang (played by Sam Elliott), a faster-harder-urgent urban main theme music (moreover, four episodes contain the original main theme music), no more multi-part episodes, a recursive portable gadget used to stun that can be described as a "golden needle ring" (created by writer Ken Pettus in a season 4 episode of "The Wild Wild West" and introduced in a late MISSION season 4 entitled "The Crane", and over-used by producer Bruce Lansbury), no dossier scenes, a dramatic prologue-teaser followed directly by the tape scene before the opening credits, downbeat and realistic kind of narratives with accidents and failures, assignments in progress, improvisations, and caught up agents. The fashion design of the team is also renewed and reflects the trend (casual or outrageous) of the 1970's: pay attention to Jim's outfits (suits and sunglasses) during the tape scenes which will blossom from season 6.
Anyway, two of the series' main ingredients remain: a master of disguises (Paris) and foreign intrigues (around sixteen). Actor Leonard Nimoy shines again in these offerings: brainwashed Fred Stark in "My Friend, My Enemy", Kabuki performer Nakamura Taizo in "Butterfly", abducted business man Walter A. Phelan in "The Hostage", criminal Alfredo Sanchez/old convict Martin Sanchez in "The Catafalque", professional gambler Harry Kroll in "The Merchant". You'll still discover top episodes: the masterpiece "The Killer" (guest starring Robert Conrad), "The Innocent" (a controversial plot re-written by Laurence Heath that calls into question the methods of the IMFers who blackmail a young "hippie" scientist so that he works with them), "Flight" (guest starring John Colicos), "The Catafalque" (written by scripts genius Paul Playdon and guest starring John Vernon) and good ones: "My Friend, My Enemy" (guest starring Peter Mark Richman), "The Merchant" (guest starring George Sanders), "The Hostage" (guest starring Lou Antonio), "The Amateur" (guest starring Anthony Zerbe), "The Missile" (guest starring David Sheiner), "The Party", "The Field". As in season 4, intimistic stories centered around IMFers return: Paris ("My Friend, My Enemy" in which we learn his past as a magician), Jim ("Homecoming" in which we get a glimpse of his hometown and his family background), Barney ("Cat's Paw" in which we meet his brother). The music scores are powerful: "The Killer and "Takeover" by Lalo Schifrin and "The Rebel" by Hugo Montenegro.
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11 of 12 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
This set is OKAY - it has NOT been CBS/Paramount-ized !, October 28, 2008
Mission: Impossible 5th season set
Well, to my fellow CBS/Paramount skeptics, I'm glad to report that this 5th season of Mission: Impossible is okay, and has not been bastardized by any tampering from the CBS/Paramount music-changing service labs.
I waited until I had heard from another reviewer before even ordering this set, and still kept my fingers crossed. I've watched a few episodes, and I'm happy with the set. No music has been removed, and, more importantly, none has been injected in.
The video and audio quality is fine, the same as the earlier Mission sets -- but, of course, this is the set where the 1970s "hipness" begins. Dated, yeah, but, at least it's the way it was originally aired.
After the awful and unforgiveable debacle with what CBS/Paramount did to The Fugitive Season 2 Vol. 1, we're all scrutinously skeptical of anything they put to DVD. Let's hope they decide to make good for how they've disappointed us all with The Fugitive. Maybe they'll re-do that set right. Or maybe they'll drop the whole rest of that excellent series. If so, it's their loss as well as ours.
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15 of 18 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
one of the BEST since season three~ great writing~, July 20, 2008
Peter Graves, Greg Morris, Peter Lupus and Leonard Nimoy return for yet another season of this series~ NO FULL TIME FEMALE LEAD has been seen since Barbara Bain left at the end of Season Three~ along comes Leslie Ann Warren~ unfortunabely she is bit of a bore~
what makes up for anything else is the WRITING IS BACK ~AND SOME GREAT GUEST STARS~ SEVERAL OF THE BEST ARE~
The Killer has Robert Conrad as a Hired Killer who changes his plans EVERYTIME HE MOVES ABOUT~ so to trap him is even more difficult~ his natural ability to "blend" is fantasic and the team sets up very detailed surveilance and one of the most fun clever plot twists we have not seen since season one~
Homecoming~ Jim Phelps travels back to his home town where a serial killer suddenly emerges~ a Vietnam Vet is the primary suspect but the team moves in to help solve this well written and acted epiode~ one of the BEST~
DECOY is fun~ watch the team help a brother and sister escape under the eyes their many guardS with a mini racer in the back of a hearse~ WELL WRITTEN AND SOME CLEVER GADGETS~
NOW BACK TO LESLIE~ she was "very" young when she made this series~~ and HER BACK GROUND WAS SINGING/DANCING~ suddenly she attempts acting~ I LOVED HER IN VICTOR / VICTORIA SHE IS GREAT BUT IN THIS SERIES SHE ALWAYS FALLS SHORT~ SHE ONLY LASTED ONE SEASON ...THANK GOODNESS~ lol but THE CLEVER PLOTS AND GREAT WRITING PULL THIS SEASON BACK UP WHERE WE LOVE IT~ I GIVE IT A SOLID 9 OUT OF 10 FOR WRITING IN MOST OF THE EPISODES~
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