I have complained so bitterly in other IMDb venues about the recent Tom Cruise film versions of this franchise, I thought it was time to add my comments about the REAL "Mission: Impossible." Everyone knows the premise of the show, or they wouldn't be reading this, so I won't re-hash the details. After nearly forty years, I can vividly remember sitting in my living room at 7:30 on a Saturday night in September of 1966, by chance watching the local CBS affiliate. I had no idea what to expect when I saw a disembodied hand, holding a match, light a fast-burning fuse. What followed was a collage of previews for the coming sixty-minute adventure. So superb was the plotting, dialog, and characterization, I was hooked for the next seven years! This series was such an intellectual exercise, it was like watching a fast-paced chess match, if you can imagine such a thing. Three of my favorite episodes come immediately to mind. "The Mind Of Stefan Miklos" was Peter Graves' personal favorite, and mine. It was the the true epitome of this series. To the uninitiated, it may have appeared confusing, but this was quality television. Unlike so many current television shows and movies, this episode, and the entire series, credited viewers with having a brain. If you were paying attention, you could actually follow the supremely intricate plotting. Next was "The Glass Cage" with guest villain Lloyd Bochner as the warden of a high-tech Iron Curtain prison. IMF scammed Bochner's character into releasing a high-profile prisoner after convincingly planting false evidence of mistaken identity. Finally, there was "Doomsday" with Alf Kjellin as the incumbent "baddie" auctioning off a stolen atomic weapon to the highest bidder. IMF cleverly rendered the weapon inert just as the Kjellin was being paid for his now-useless goods. I can name at least five other episodes that are, far and above, superior to the three big-screen versions recently released. Perhaps Paramount is listening. For the next big-screen venture, I suggest a retro-cold-war plot set in the 1950's or 1960's when IMF was first formed, tied to contemporary headlines like the Suez Crisis, Berlin Wall, or Cuban Missile Crisis complete with Peter Graves or Martin Landau look-alike actors. Any others suggestions out there?