It has been two years (well, eleven days shy of that mark) since we
first told you to expect the original 1966 version of the television classic,
Mission: Impossible, to come to DVD. At the time we suspected that this release would tie in with the debut of the third theatrical film, which had been planned on for early 2005. Then that new film - which stars and is produced by Tom Cruise - was delayed due to a change in directors, as
Narc's John Carnahan was replaced by
Alias and
Lost Director/Writer/Producer/Creator J.J. Abrams. Tom Cruise then took a year off from this to fast-track his starring role in Steven Spielberg's
War of the Worlds, and then he went back to
MI-3.
With the new film now in production and very firm for a May 5, 2006 premiere, home video industry sources are telling me with certainty that Paramount has got DVDs of the original 1966 series in development right this second, with plans to bring them to market in the weeks leading up to the new film's release!
As a reminder, the first season of the show did NOT star Peter Graves, but rather Steven Hill as "Dan Briggs." Hill was the leader of the Impossible Missions Force through the entire first season, after which he decided to leave the show due to his religious beliefs (the show's shooting schedule required him to work on Saturdays, and as Hill is Jewish it presented a conflict). So, without a lot of ceremony, the second season saw the leadership of the IMF change to Peter Graves' "Jim Phelps," where he joined Martin Landau and Barbara Bain (both later of
Space: 1999), Greg Morris, and eventually Leonard Nimoy, Lesley Ann Warren, and Lynda Day George during the remaining seasons of the show's 7-year run.
Including the pilot episode (guest starring Wally Cox as a safecracker needed to help recover a pair of stolen nukes!), there are 28 episodes during the first season of the classic adventure show. Other guest stars that year included Mark Lenard (
Star Trek's "Sarek"), Joe E. Tata (
Beverly Hills 90210), Vic Tayback (
Alice), George Takei (
Star Trek), Beatrice Straight (
King's Crossing), Lloyd Bridges (
Sea Hunt), John Colicos (
Battlestar Galactica), Carroll O'Connor (
All In The Family), Ricardo Montalban (
Fantasy Island), Pat Hingle (
Gunsmoke), Sorrell Booke (
Dukes of Hazzard), Eartha Kitt (
Batman's Catwoman), and Richard Anderson ("Oscar Goldman" on
The Six Million Dollar Man and
The Bionic Woman).
There's plenty to enjoy here, and we're just as excited about it as you are! So stay tuned, and we'll keep you posted with more updates. Don't worry...I don't think this news will self-destruct. Well, maybe.
