Episode 168: Mission: Impossible (1996)

Good afternoon, Mr. or Ms. Listener (and all the ships at sea).  Your mission, should you choose to accept it, is to listen to very special after-school episode of “I Made From TV Love You!” The movie you see before us is “Mission: Impossible,” the 1996 adaptation of yet another classic 60’s spy show that spawned a movie franchise that continues to devour everything in its path.  It has propelled the career of Tom Cruise to new heights . . . oh, um, sorry Mr. Cruise, that was insensitive . . . The show starred the ivory-haired, granite-faced Peter Graves (alumnus of the University of Minnesota) as well as a pre-Space 1999 Martin Landau and Barbara Bain as part of the IMF (“Independent Meatball Fondlers”) who went after Enemy Agents from the country of Enemyland (no real country is ever named in the show) and overcame them with cunning, meticulous planning, and brilliant disguises [disclaimer: “brilliant disguises” tended to mean rubber masks).  The film adaptation(s) do contain some meticulous planning but also way, WAY more explode-y parts.  Can Tom Cruise as Ethan Hunt fill the brogans of Peter Graves as Jim Phelps? Well, Tom Cruise did not attend the University of Minnesota, so that’s a pretty big disadvantage to overcome.  Tune in and find out! This podcast will self-destruct during your next operating system update.

Poll question: Has there ever been a movie about a profession that made you say “I want to do THAT!” Conversely, has any movie about a profession ever made you say “I NEVER want to do that!”

George Floyd Memorial Fund:  https://www.gofundme.com/f/georgefloyd

ACLU: https://www.aclu.org/

Black Lives Matter: https://secure.actblue.com/donate/ms_blm_homepage_2019

Southern Poverty Law Center: https://donate.splcenter.org/

2 thoughts on “Episode 168: Mission: Impossible (1996)”

  1. I have yet to muster the patience to get through any of the Mission Impossible movies. Action sequences alone just don’t hold my attention. I have seen the series and thought it was pretty clever for what it was and I loved the idea they were in and out without getting noticed or caught!

    Not sure this is a profession, but I took my friend Sterling to see “Aliens” and she was convinced she wanted to be a space marine. She never saw the first film and whispered in my ear immediately after seeing her first alien – “I take it back I NEVER want to be a space marine”.

    1. Yah, “clever” wasn’t a word that came to mind seeing the film. But spies doing their work and not being seen? That seems positively revolutionary in the movies! As for space marine, luckily she never got the chance. Space is dangerous out there! 😀 Thanks for the answer and comment, Vince!

Leave a Reply to Bumpy Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *