MIDNITECAMPZ: Missão: Impossível

sexta-feira, 1 de junho de 2012

Missão: Impossível

Info About This Great Classic TV Series:

Mission: Impossible is an American television series that was created and initially produced by Bruce Geller. It chronicles the missions of a team of secret government agents known as the Impossible Missions Force (IMF). In the first season, the team is led by Dan Briggs, played by Steven Hill; Jim Phelps, played by Peter Graves, takes charge for the remaining seasons. A hallmark of the series shows Briggs or Phelps receiving his instructions on a recording that then self-destructs, followed by the theme music composed by Lalo Schifrin.
The series aired on the CBS network from September 1966, to March 1973, then returned to television for two seasons on ABC, from 1988 to 1990, retaining only Graves in the cast. It later inspired a popular series of theatrical motion pictures starring Tom Cruise, beginning in 1996.

Series overview

The series follows the exploits of the Impossible Missions Force (IMF), a small team of secret agents used for covert missions against dictators, evil organizations, and (primarily in later episodes) crime lords. On occasion, the IMF also mounts unsanctioned, private missions on behalf of its members.
The identities of the organization that oversees the IMF and the government it works for are never revealed. Only rare cryptic bits of information are ever provided during the life of the series, such as in the third season mission "Nicole", where the IMF leader states that his instructions come from "Division Seven". In the 1980s revival, it is suggested the IMF is an independent agency (as the FBI can only legally operate within the United States and the CIA can only operate outside the country). In the first motion picture, unlike the TV show, the IMF is depicted as part of the CIA.

IMF agents

The leader of the IMF is initially Dan Briggs, played by Steven Hill. As an Orthodox Jew, Hill had to leave on Fridays at 4 p.m. to be home before sundown and was not available until after dark the next day. Although his contract allowed for filming interruptions due to religious observances, the clause proved difficult to work around due to the production schedule and as the season progressed, an increasing number of episodes featured little of Dan Briggs^{[citation needed]}. Hill had other problems as well. After cooperatively crawling through dirt tunnels and repeatedly climbing a rope ladder in the episode "Snowball in Hell," in the following episode ("Action!") he balked at climbing a stairway with railings and locked himself in his dressing room. Unable to come to terms with Hill, the producers re-shot the episode without him (another character, Cinnamon Carter, listened to the taped message, the selected operatives' photos were displayed in "limbo", and the team meeting was held in Rollin Hand's apartment), and reduced Briggs' presence in the five episodes left to be filmed to a minimum.^[1] As far as Hill's religious requirements were concerned, line producer Joseph Gantman simply had not understood what had been agreed to. He told author Patrick J. White, "'If someone understands your problems and says he understands them, you feel better about it. But if he doesn't care about your problems, then you begin to really resent him. Steven Hill may have felt exactly the same way".^[2]
Hill was replaced without explanation to the audience after the first season by Peter Graves playing the role of Jim Phelps, who remained the leader for the remainder of the original series and in the 1988–1990 revival.

In theory, Briggs and Phelps are the only full-time members of the IMF. As the series was originally conceived, they would form teams made up of part-time agents who came from a variety of professions, choosing their operatives based on the particular skills necessary for the mission. In practice, however (especially after the first season), Briggs and especially Phelps would choose the same core group of three or four agents for every single mission, leading these regulars to be considered de facto full-time IMF agents. Still, many episodes also feature guest stars playing one-time additional agents who have special abilities.
The regular agent line-up during the first season consisted of:

Cinnamon Carter (Barbara Bain), a top fashion model and actress
Barnard "Barney" Collier (Greg Morris), a mechanical and electronics genius and owner of Collier Electronics
William "Willy" Armitage (Peter Lupus), a world record-holding weight lifter
Rollin Hand (Martin Landau), a noted actor, makeup artist, escape artist, magician and "master of disguise"

Landau was billed as a "special guest star" during the first season; he had been cast as a guest star for the pilot with the understanding that he would be one of four or five rotating guest star agents. His contract gave producers an option to have him "render services for (three or four) additional episodes". To fill the void left by Hill's Sabbath absences, producers wound up using Landau for more episodes, always as a "guest star". He eventually struck a deal to appear in all the first season's remaining episodes, but always billed as a "guest star" so that he could have the option to give notice to work on a feature film. Landau contractually became a series regular in season two.^[3]
As actors left the series over time, others became regulars. Replacements often possessed the same skills of their predecessors. For example, "The Great Paris" (Leonard Nimoy), Hand's replacement in the fourth and fifth seasons, was also an actor, make-up artist, magician and "master of disguise." Also seen in seasons five and six was Dr. Doug Robert, played by Sam Elliott. Cinnamon's "replacement" in season four was a series of guest stars, only one making more than one appearance: Lee Meriwether as Tracey. Season five saw the addition of Dana Lambert, played by stage and movie actress Lesley Ann Warren, who was billed as "Lesley Warren" during her tenure in the cast. In seasons six and seven, the female member of the team was cosmetologist Lisa Casey (Lynda Day George) (replaced during most of George's season seven maternity leave by Mimi Davis, played by Barbara Anderson, who had just come from the show Ironside), who in practical terms was another Cinnamon Carter replacement.^[4]
Morris and Lupus were the only actors to last through the full run of the original series. Morris also appeared in two episodes of the revival series, in which the character's son, Grant Collier (played by Morris's real-life son, Phil Morris), is also an IMF agent.

Cold War subtext

Although a Cold War subtext is present throughout the series, the actual Cold War between the United States and the Soviet Union is rarely mentioned over the course of the series. (See, for example, the mission objectives for "The Trial" and "The Confession" in Season One.) However, in the early years, specific locations behind the Iron Curtain are named (such as Lubyanka prison in the episode "Memory") and many of the targets appear to be leaders of fictional Slavic countries. Major named enemy countries include the "European People's Republic" and the "Eastern European Republic". Additionally, real languages spoken in Eastern Europe are used. In the Season One episode "The Carriers," one of the villains reads a book whose title is the (incorrect) Russian Na Voina (About War); police vehicles are often labelled as such with words such as "poliiçia", and "poIiia", and a gas line or tank would be labelled "Gaz" which is a Romanian translation. This "language", referred to by the production team as "Gellerese", was invented specifically to be readable by non-speakers of Slavic languages. Their generous use of it was actually intended as a source of comic relief. Uniforms of the target regime frequently include peaked caps, jackboots, and Sam Browne belts, hinting at connections with Nazi Germany or the Warsaw Pact.
In 2004, Professor Douglas Little of Clark University published a lengthy academic article explicitly linking the TV series to CIA history: "Mission Impossible: The CIA and the Cult of Covert Action in the Middle East".^[5]

Adversaries unrelated to the Cold War

The IMF is also assigned to bring down corrupt politicians and dictators of Third World countries uninvolved in the Cold War, such as a particularly brutal practitioner of apartheid, or corrupt Central or South American nations, as well as organized crime figures, corrupt businessmen and politicians in the U.S. In two different first-season episodes, the mission is to stop the revival of the Nazi Party in Germany. Both episodes had Rollin Hand (played by Jewish actor Martin Landau) impersonate a leading Nazi figure – Martin Bormann in one case – in a successful effort to stop the revival. In season two, Hand would successfully impersonate Adolf Hitler in another mission to stop the revival of the Nazi Party in Germany.
As noted in the reference work The Complete "Mission: Impossible" Dossier, by Patrick J. White, many IMF missions were essentially assassinations in disguise. In the first-season episode "Memory," it is established that the unspecified government agency behind the IMF has forbidden it to commit outright assassinations "as a matter of policy." To get around this restriction, many missions instead involve the IMF setting up its targets to be killed by their own people or other enemies. A notable example is the second season two-part story "The Council," later released to European movie houses under the title Mission Impossible vs. the Mob.^[6] This policy is not consistently followed; for example, in the first season's "The Legend," Briggs' original plan is to personally shoot Nazi rallying-figure Martin Bormann, which is foiled by the discovery of a dummy and a tape recorder in the "man's" sick room. Gunplay is relatively rare on the part of the IMF, as its methods are more sophisticated and subtle like those used by con men to fleece the gullible, although several episodes in the early seasons (for example, the second season episode "The Spy," as well as in the pilot episode) do show the agents shooting people when necessary (usually underlings or enemy soldiers).

Fifth season

During the fifth season, with Paramount executives having gained greater control, new producer Bruce Lansbury began to phase out the international missions. This would manifest itself the following year with the IMF battling organized crime in most episodes, though this season still featured more international forays than not. These gangland bosses are usually associated with a criminal organization called "The Syndicate," a generic organization, or its franchises. Generally when describing such assignments, the tape message notes that the target is outside the reach of "conventional law enforcement." The objectives of such missions is usually simply to obtain evidence that might be admissible in court, often taking the form of tricking the mobsters into making a confession while being recorded. Manipulating the targets into killing one another became much less frequent as well. Lansbury also attempted to replace Peter Lupus, who was expressing dissatisfaction with his part at this time, with Sam Elliott. Over the course of the fifth season, Lupus's William "Willy" Armitage appeared in thirteen of its twenty-four episodes, to the outrage of fans who demanded Armitage's return.^[7] By the end of the fifth season, Elliott was gone (he did appear in the first filmed episode of season six^[8]), and Lupus remained in the last two seasons, with Armitage being given a larger share of screen time and more demanding duties.

Format

Mission: Impossible is noted for its format, which rarely changed throughout the series. Indeed the opening scenes acquired a ritualistic feel, befitting the "quasi-official" aura the program sought for the clandestine operations it showcases.

Tape scene

Most episodes begin with the leader of the IMF getting the assignment from a hidden tape recorder and an envelope of photos and information that explains the mission. The tape always begins with "Good morning/afternoon/evening, Mr. Briggs/Phelps." Then it explains the situation and ends with "Your mission Dan/Jim, should you decide to accept it" or words to that effect, with a brief explanation of the mission. The listener is reminded, "As always, should you or any of your I.M. Force be caught or killed, the Secretary will disavow any knowledge of your actions." ^[9] The instructions on the tape were read by voice actor Robert Cleveland "Bob" Johnson. At the end of the tape's instructions, Phelps/Briggs is notified, "This tape will self-destruct in five [or, occasionally, "ten"] seconds. Good luck, Dan/Jim." Then smoke would rise from the tape, and the instructions would be destroyed. In filming, the tapes were not actually destroyed. Instead, smoke was piped into the tape recorder to create the illusion. In some initial episodes, however, self-destructing tapes were created by adding a chemical to the tape and blowing air onto it, forcing the chemical to react by crumbling. This method was abandoned due to cost.^[10]
There were a few exceptions to the use of a tape and standard photos, including a record/darkroom motif and most notably a vintage phonograph that automatically scratched its record into oblivion. In a few instances, instructions at the end of the tape would ask Briggs/Phelps, "Please dispose of [or, sometimes, "destroy"] this recording in the usual manner." Briggs/Phelps would then throw it in an incinerator or use other means to render it unplayable, causing the tape to go up in flames.
There were a handful of exceptions to the "messages from the Secretary." Instead, circumstances more or less forced a team into action. This first occurred in the program's opening season, when a "syndicate" boss kidnapped and threatened to kill the teenage daughter of a friend of Briggs unless he removed a grand jury witness against the mobster from police protective custody. How this man knew Dan was capable of such a task was not explained.^[11] The last such instance was very near the end of the series, when the survivors of a previous IMF operation (specifically, Season Six's "Casino") recognized a vacationing Phelps from security camera photos and kidnapped him to force his team to retrieve evidence that a plea-bargaining mobster is about to turn over to authorities.^[12]
In the fifth season, the producers experimented with the format by sometimes eliminating the taped briefing (and/or the team meeting in Phelps' apartment), starting the episode with the mission already underway. In a few other cases, a personal matter involving Briggs, Phelps or another IMF operative would result in an "off-book" mission being undertaken. After the first year, an entire season's worth of "tape scenes" were usually filmed all at once prior to production of the rest of the episodes, and the crew never knew which tape scene would appear with which episode until broadcast.^[13]
Some tape scenes were re-used in more than one episode, with only minor changes to various insert shots and Johnson's recorded voiceover. In the first season, for example, exactly the same tape scene was used for both "Wheels" and "Legacy". The only differences are that The Voice On Tape gives a different set of instructions in each episode, and there is very briefly a different set of insert shots that show the photographs which Dan Briggs is viewing. The cost-saving practice of recycling tape scenes continued throughout the series run; generally each season reuses at least one tape scene. One particular tape scene, of Jim finding a tape in a parking lot attendant's hut, was actually used in three widely-scattered episodes: "The Astrologer", "Recovery" and "The Vault".

Dossier scene

Next would follow what White refers to as the "Dossier Scene". Briggs or Phelps would be shown in a fancy apartment, retrieving an oversized, leather-bound dossier folder from a locked drawer. Inside this folder were plastic-wrapped dossiers (usually featuring standard 8x10 "glossies" of the respective actors) of the available IMF agents. Briggs/Phelps would toss the selected agents' dossiers onto a table. According to White, most of the never-chosen dossiers were photographs of various series staffers and their wives, including Mr. and Mrs. Bruce Geller [the author reproduces one oft-rejected agent's photo and identifies it as actually being the executive producer^[14]]. A contemporary article in TV Guide^{[volume & issue needed]} claimed that many of the photos put aside in the "dossier scene" were of studio and network executives and that it was considered a measure of one's status in the studio and network hierarchies to appear there, but White makes no such statement.
In early seasons, the agents selected often included guest stars playing agents with skills not possessed by the usual team. A doctor, particularly a specialist in a condition known to afflict the target, was a common sort of "guest agent". In numerous early episodes, the IMF leader would choose only two or three team members, though at least one of the main credited cast members was always involved. One episode, "Elena," featured a team consisting of Rollin Hand and Dr. Carlos Enero (guest star Barry Atwater);^[15] because of Landau's official status at that point as frequent guest star this meant that technically none of the series' regular players was involved. Almost as often, however, Briggs would choose all of the regulars, plus one, two, or even three others.
In later seasons, the team was much more stable, consisting of the leader and the regular cast for the season, and the use of guest agents became markedly less frequent. Numerous dossier scenes from the Peter Graves episodes feature Jim poring through the photographs, only to once again choose the series regulars that had just been shown in the opening credits. By the third season, the dossier scene had been deemed somewhat disposable, appearing only when needed to introduce a guest agent. The first mission submitted by the Secretary that did not have the dossier scene was the last mission of the second season, "The Recovery".
After a period of being seen only occasionally, the dossier scene was seen again frequently in season 4, due to the lack of a regular female team member in that season. It was dropped entirely as of season five.
In the pilot episode, the recorded message stated that the team leaders have unlimited resources and wide discretion in choosing their team. Who devises the plan is never made clear. Preparations and the necessary logistics are almost never shown, although they are generally implied by the scenes that depict various steps of the mission. It is implied that only a short period of time elapses from the initial assignment until the team is in the field. Early episodes occasionally showed more of the preliminaries. "Memory" features a montage of Dan Briggs training a guest agent to assume the role he will play in the mission. "Old Man Out, Part 1" includes a scene of Briggs approaching an operative (played by Mary Ann Mobley) in order to recruit her, meeting with resistance before he finally convinces her to join the mission.

Apartment scene

In the third segment of the opening act, called the "Apartment Scene" by White, the team would next be shown convening for their final briefing in the leader's apartment. Although the series was shot in color, the apartment had a color scheme composed of black, white, and shades of gray, such that the apartment was sometimes referred to off-camera as the black-and-white room (Steven Hill once suggested that an American flag be placed on a wall of Briggs' apartment, but Bruce Geller vetoed it, in order to maintain the color scheme^[16]). Two exceptions are the first season episodes, "Operation Rogosh", when the team immediately springs into action to capture their target in a staged auto accident, and the aforementioned episode "Action!", where the team meeting took place in Cinnamon Carter's apartment.^[17]
The Apartment Scene acted as a teaser. In discussing the plan and their roles in it, the team members would make vague references to preparations necessary for its successful execution while leaving most details undisclosed. This scene also demonstrated and thereby established credibility for various gadgets or ploys that were key to the plan, such as a TV camera hidden in a brooch, a miniature radio-controlled hovercraft, a chess-playing computer, a "mentalist" or sleight-of-hand act, or a trained animal. In addition, this scene would establish, or at least hint at, the specialties and roles of any guest-star agents. Team members posing questions about aspects of the plan or why an alternative was not considered provided the writers with an opportunity to offer explanations for what otherwise might have seemed plot holes. When summing up, Phelps would often stress the difficulties in the action they were about to undertake or some key element of the plan vital to its success, such as a deadline by which the mission had to be completed.
During the fifth season, the producers decided to drop the dossier scene and phase out the tape and apartment scenes. By the end of the season, however, it had been decided to keep the tape and apartment scenes, but the dossier-choosing scene was eliminated for the rest of the series run (this is White's version, but in fact episodes missing the tape and/or the meeting scenes were few). The 1980s revival reinstated the "dossier scene" in the first episode, when Phelps selected his new team, but since he kept the same team in subsequent episodes, no subsequent dossier scenes were made.

Plan

The episode then depicted the plan being put into action. This almost always involved very elaborate deceptions, usually several at the same time. Facilitating this, certain team members were masters of disguise, able to impersonate someone connected to the target or sometimes even the target himself. This was accomplished with realistic latex face masks and make-up. Some impersonations were done with the explicit cooperation of the one being impersonated. Also bona fides would be arranged to aid infiltrating the target organization. In some cases, the actor playing the IMF agent also portrayed the person to be impersonated (this most frequently occurred during Martin Landau's tenure on the series, notably in the pilot) or the voice of the person being impersonated was dubbed. In other cases, a guest-starring actor would play the dual role of both the original and the imposter (Rollin, Paris, or Casey). Sometimes one or more IMF team members would allow themselves to be captured in order to gain more access to or knowledge of the organization they are infiltrating, either by conversing with the target or being held in a jail cell and hatching their plan there.
A few episodes of the early seasons showed the painstaking creation and application of these masks, usually by disguise and make-up expert Rollin Hand. This was later omitted as the series progressed and the audience presumably becoming familiar with the mechanics of the team's methods. In the 1980s revival, the mask-making process involved a digital camera and computer and was mostly automatic. Most episodes included a dramatic "reveal" (also referred to as the "peel-off") near the end of the episode in which the team member would remove the mask.
Various other technological methods were commonly used as well. The team would often re-route telephone or radio calls so these could be answered by their own members. Faked radio or television broadcasts were common, as were elevators placed under the team's control. In some missions, a very extensive simulated setting was created, such as a faked train journey, submarine voyage, aftermath of a major disaster, or even the taking over of the United States by a foreign government. A particularly elaborate ploy, used on more than one occasion, saw the IMF working to convince their target that several years had passed while the target was in a coma or suffering from amnesia. In one episode, the IMF even convinced their target (an aging mobster played by William Shatner) that time had somehow been turned back more than thirty years and he was a young man again.
The team would usually arrange for some situation to arise with which the target would have to deal in a predictable way, and the team would then arrange the circumstances to guide the outcome to the desired end. Often the plans turned on elaborate psychology, such as exploiting rivalries or an interest in the supernatural. Many plans simply caused the target to become confused or erratic or irrational, lose self-assurance, lose trust in subordinates or partners, etc., so that either the target would do what the team wanted (by falling back on predictable acts of desperation), or else the target's subordinates would replace the target and then act according to the team's predictions. These various ploys would usually result in either information being revealed to the team, or the target's disgrace and discreditation, or both.
In many early episodes, the mission was to "neutralize" the target and it was made clear that the target was ultimately shot by his superiors, staff, or rivals, though this was usually not shown on screen. In later seasons, where the targets were usually organized-crime figures or similar, the goal of the mission was often simply to collect incriminating evidence not obtainable by "conventional law-enforcement agencies." The team was not above falsifying such evidence as a last resort.
Dramatic tension was provided by situations in which team members appeared to be in danger of being discovered (especially before commercial breaks). Sometimes unexpected events occurred that forced the team to improvise. On occasion, an outside party or one of the targets realized what was happening and put the success of the plan at risk.
According to White, William Read Woodfield and Allan Balter (who served as story consultants for the first two seasons and became producers of the third season, but did not last long, dismissed for believing that executive producer Geller had no authority over them),^[18] relied heavily on The Big Con, written by David W. Maurer, for their inspiration. Hence Briggs/Phelps became the "grifter-in-charge;" Rollin Hand and Cinnamon Carter were highly effective "ropers," and Barney Collier and Willy Armitage were experts at building and/or equipping "big stores."

Filming locations

The original series was filmed almost exclusively around Hollywood and the Los Angeles Basin. The series opener was held at the Griffith Park Observatory with special guest star Wally Cox. Pasadena and the Caltech campus were common locations. Another noted location was the Bradbury Building used in other films and series (from The Outer Limits to Blade Runner). During the final season, most of the exterior shots are of San Francisco, including the City Hall building and Opera House. The later revival was shot entirely in Australia (though it purported to have Phelps living in San Francisco).

Variations

Several times the series deviated from the standard format. In one episode of the original series, a gangster kidnaps the daughter of a friend of Dan Briggs and forces him to abduct a witness against him. In another, one mistake causes Cinnamon Carter to be exposed and captured by the villains, and Jim Phelps has to prepare a plan to rescue her. Another episode featured Phelps on a personal mission, when he returns to his small hometown for a visit and finds a series of murders among his childhood acquaintances, which the local law enforcement chief is unqualified to cope with. In one episode, a friend of Jim Phelps is framed for murder, giving Jim only 24 hours to find the real killer, prove his friend's innocence and save his life. On two occasions, he is captured and the team has to rescue him. In the 1980s series, former IMF agent Barney Collier is framed for a crime he did not commit and the IMF team has to extricate him, leading to a reuniting of Barney with his son and IMF agent Grant Collier (played by real life father-and-son Greg and Phil Morris). Willy is shot and captured in one episode, and captured and tortured by a drug kingpin in another. Paris is kidnapped and brainwashed in an attempt to get him to kill Phelps. Jim and Rollin are on a hunting trip when Jim is taken mysteriously ill. It turns out the residents of a "Norman Rockwell" town are hired assassins, who attempted to poison Phelps when he stumbled on their secret.

Conclusion

In most cases, the action lasted right up to the final seconds, with the episode ending in a freeze frame as the IMF team make their escape, another successful mission concluded. Most often they leave in a nondescript panel truck. A dramatic device frequently used at the end was the sound of a gunshot or a scream in the distance as the target is killed by his associates, while the IMF team make their getaway. In the 1980s revival, this format was altered with the addition of a tag scene showing the IMF team regrouping (often still in disguise) and walking away. From the middle of the first season onwards, Jim Phelps often makes a quip.

Music

Aside from the now iconic main theme, as well as the motif called "The Plot" which usually accompanied scenes of the team members carrying out the mission, the background music would incorporate minimalist innovations of percussion such as simply a snare drum and cymbals to build tension during the more "sneaky" moments of the episodes (sometimes accompanied by a flute playing in low tessitura). These quieter passages would greatly contrast the more bombastic fanfares when a mission member is at risk of getting caught just prior to a commercial break.
The main theme was composed by Argentine composer, pianist and conductor Lalo Schifrin and is noted for being in 5/4 time. About the unusual timing, Schiffrin declared that "things are in 2/4 or 4/4 because people dance with two legs. I did it for people from outer space who have five legs."^[19] "The Plot" was also composed by Schifrin, who scored three episodes in the first season and went on to score at least one or two episodes for most of the other seasons (season two is the only one to have no Schifrin-scored episodes, in part because he was helping to launch Geller's new series Mannix).
Schifrin was awarded two Grammys at the 10th Grammy Awards for his work on the first series (Best Instrumental Theme and Best Original Score for a Motion Picture or TV Show).^[20] He was also nominated for two Emmys (for the first and third seasons).Among the other composers to work on the series were Jerry Fielding, Walter Scharf, Gerald Fried, Richard Markowitz, Benny Golson, Robert Drasnin, and Hugo Montenegro.

Soundtrack album

Although two albums of re-recorded music from the original series had previously been released under Schifrin's name, Music from Mission: Impossible (Dot, 1967) and More Mission: Impossible (Paramount, 1968) the original scores were not commercially available until 1992 when GNP Crescendo released The Best of Mission: Impossible – Then and Now^[21] featuring five scores by Lalo Schifrin for the original series and five by John E. Davis for the revival (Schifrin also scored three episodes of the revival, including the premiere, but none were included.)