MartinHafer In 1988, CBS decided to revive the old "Mission: Impossible" TV show. However, to cut costs they did something odd...they filmed the show in Australia! The first season was made in Queensland (north of Sydney) and the second season was made in Melbourne. Generally, this isn't all that obvious, though some of team members sure sound like Aussies...especially Anthony Hamilton. So is it any good? Generally, very good...with a few exceptions. First, because of the writers strike, several of the early episodes are just remakes of old episodes. A few of the episodes (such as "The Devils" and "Bayou") are just insanely bad--with plots such as convincing a mark that Mr. Phelps is Satan himself!!! But generally, the show avoided this sort of thing and brought us more of what everyone loved back in the 60s and 70s...lots of cool plots and gadgets. And, even though Peter Graves was a good bit younger, the shows worked well. It's just too bad the network lost faith in the show and moved it in their schedule...making folks miss out on it because of the change. By the way, BOTH seasons of the reboot are available on DVD and are worth having.

welshNick I don't know who was short of money when the decision got taken to remake a classic, but this series was truly dire. First of all, Peter Graves looked about ninety, he just didn't seem to be a top undercover spy. I understand this was made in Australia owing to a strike in Hollywood and boy oh boy it showed. What was originally a wonderful programme full of suspense and intrigue lurched into almost a comedy with none of the class of the earlier show. The scripts were not even new, they were all lifted from the original and hideously changed to try and fit a new environment. A dire show that luckily for the viewer didn't last too long, though then we had to contend with the two films. Please leave these old series alone to be released on DVD so the next generation can see the original classic and not this monstrosity.

Victor Field For this revival (which not only returned the classic series to television but also four of its original episodes - "The Killer" , "The Condemned," "The System" and "The Legacy") Peter Graves again assumed command of the IM Force with a new set of equivalents for the old unit, shot in Australia and with stronger effects... but lesser scripts.Watching the originals again, they're miniature gems particularly in the first few years; the new version just isn't as compelling, although having Casey Randall be the first IM member to actually die in the course of duty was unusual. The episode "Submarine" pretty much encapsulates the remake's inferiority; written by the show's visual effects supervisor Dale Duguid, there's an unfortunate emphasis on how the illusion required to trap the villain is done, which suffuses any suspense.The show does, however, have more fidelity to the concept than the misguided cinema version from Cruise and DePalma, which is why this is ultimately preferable. But the original show is the one to watch.

Jason I didn't see the 1960's series of Mission Impossible. However, I did catch this when it first started, and again when it was repeated on Saturday nights. Every episode was exciting to watch, and held my interest right to the end. All the gadgets and tricks they used to accomplish their missions were awesome, especially the dude with the face masks.I was disappointed when it was taken off, and think it's a real shame this series didn't last longer than two years. I don't think the Tom Cruise movie would even be a patch on this.All in all an excellent series, extremely well done and very well filmed (with Australia "doubling-up" for some of the more out-of-the-way places).