Mission Impossible
Episode Titles List
You may wonder who the voice was who gave Mr. Phelps (or Mr. Briggs in the 1st season) his orders at the beginning of each episode. Lucille Ball & Desi Arnaz purchased the bankrupt old RKO studio and used it to produce tv series on a shoestring budget.* One of these was Mission Impossible. Someone remembered that the bookkeeper had a nice deep voice, so once a week, he went down the hall and made the recording that played on the self-destructing tape player "...and if any member of your team is caught or killed, the Secretary will disavow any knowledge of your mission."SEASON 1 1. Pilot 2. Memory 3. Operation Rogosh 4. Old Man Out, Part 1 5. Old Man Out, Part 2 6. Odds On Evil 7. Wheels 8. The Ransom 9. A Spool There Was 10. The Carriers 11. Zubrovnik's Ghost 12. Fakeout 13. Elena 14. The Short Tail Spy 15. The Legacy 16. The Reluctant Dragon 17. The Frame 18. The Trial 19. The Diamond 20. The Legend 21. Snowball In Hell 22. The Confession 23. Action! 24. The Train 25. Shock 26. A Cube Of Sugar 27. The Traitor 28. The Psychic SEASON 2 29. The Widow 30. Trek 31. The Survivors 32. The Bank 33. The Slave, Part 1 34. The Slave, Part 2 35. Operation "Heart" 36. The Money Machine 37. The Seal 38. Charity 39. The Council, Part 1 40. The Council, Part 2 41. The Astrologer 42. Echo Of Yesterday 43. The Photographer 44. The Spy 45. A Game Of Chess 46. The Emerald 47. The Condemned 48. The Counterfeiter 49. The Town 50. The Killing 51. The Phoenix 52. Trial By Fury 53. Recovery SEASON 3 54. The Heir Apparent 55. The Contender, Part 1 56. The Contender, Part 2 57. The Mercenaries 58. The Execution 59. The Cardinal 60. The Elixir 61. The Diplomat 62. The Play 63. The Bargain 64. The Freeze 65. The Exchange 66. The Mind Of Stefan Miklos 67. The Test Case 68. The System 69. The Glass Cage 70. Doomsday 71. Live Bait 72. The Bunker, Part 1 73. The Bunker, Part 2 74. Nitro 75. Nicole 76. The Vault 77. Illusion 78. The Interrogator SEASON 4 79. The Code 80. The Numbers Game 81. The Controllers, Part 1 82. The Controllers, Part 2 83. Fool's Gold 84. Commandante 85. Mastermind 86. Robot 87. The Double Circle 88. The Brothers 89. Time Bomb 90. The Amnesiac 91. The Falcon, Part 1 92. The Falcon, Part 2 93. Submarine 94. The Falcon, Part 3 95. Chico 96. Gitano 97. Phantoms 98. Terror 99. Lover's Knot 100. Orpheus 101. The Crane 102. Death Squad 103. The Choice 104. The Martyr SEASON 5 105. The Killer 106. Flip Side 107. The Innocent 108. Homecoming 109. Flight 110. My Friend, My Enemy 111. Butterfly 112. Decoy 113. The Amateur 114. Hunted 115. The Rebel 116. Squeeze Play 117. The Hostage 118. Takeover 119. Cat's Paw 120. The Missile 121. The Field 122. Blast 123. The Catafalque 124. Kitara 125. A Ghost Story 126. The Party 127. The Merchant SEASON 6 128. Blind 129. Encore 130. The Tram 131. Mindbend 132. Shape-Up 133. The Miracle 134. Encounter 135. Underwater 136. Invasion 137. Blues 138. The Visitors 139. Nerves 140. Run For The Money 141. The Connection 142. The Bride 143. Stone Pillow 144. Image 145. Committed 146. Bag Woman 147. Double Dead 148. Casino 149. Trapped SEASON 7 150. Break! 151. Two Thousand 152. The Deal 153. Leona 154. Tod-5 155. Cocaine 156. Underground 157. Movie 158. Hit 159. Ultimatum 160. Kidnap 161. Crack-Up 162. The Puppet 163. Incarnate 164. Boomerang 165. The Question 166. The Fountain 167. The Fighter 168. Speed 169. The Pendulum 170. The Western 171. Imitation
In 1988, a long writer's strike forced the network to put Mission Impossible back in production, remaking the original scripts. For example, episode #2 of the 1988 series was based on "The Legacy" from season 1. The 1988 series had an all-new cast with the exception of Peter Graves, who returned as Mr. Phelps. Greg Morris guest-starred in one episode, and his son was one of the stars of the new series. The reel-to-reel portable tape player of the old series was replaced by a CD-player, which still self-destructed in fizzling smoke.
Though the scripts were the same, they were updated. For example, one episode involves a hijacked Space Shuttle in the 1988 series. To save money (and avoid the Hollywood writers strike picketers), the 1988 series was filmed in Australia.
* Other tv series produced by Desilu included Star Trek, The Untouchables, the hour-long pilot episode of The Twilight Zone (I'm not sure if Rod Serling's company filmed the TZ series at Desilu/RKO as well), and of course I Love Lucy.