Impossible Missions Force

The "Impossible Missions Force (IMF)" is a fictional independent espionage agency commonly employed by the United States government. It was introduced in the 1966-73 television series ', and later in the that ran from 1988 to 1990. Beginning in 1996, the IMF has been featured in three theatrical films starring Tom Cruise, ', ', and '.

Methods

In the television series, thanks largely to the involvements of William Read Woodfield and Allan Balter as writers, story editors and producers, the IMF operates primarily by executing confidence tricks on its mission targets, sometimes with the aid of high-tech gadgetry. The agents are able to deceive their targets into cooperating with them without detecting a set-up until the mission is accomplished; by that time, the IMF personnel have already vanished from the scene.

Original "Mission: Impossible" series

As depicted in the original series, IMF agents were mostly part-time operatives who kept regular day jobs. Regulars included Rollin Hand (Martin Landau), a performer billed as "The Man Of A Million Faces"; Cinnamon Carter (Barbara Bain), a fashion model and cover girl; Barney Collier (Greg Morris), a technological genius who had founded an electronics company; and William "Willy" Armitage (Peter Lupus), a bodybuilder known as "The World's Strongest Man". Later regulars included Leonard Nimoy as stage magician The Great Paris and Lynda Day George as Lisa Casey. Other occasional members included specialized experts such as doctors, lawyers, circus acrobats, and even entire repertory companies. The only "full-time" member identified was the team leader. In the first season of the original series, this is , played by Steven Hill; starting in the second season and continuing into the revival series, the team leader is James Phelps.

All team members displayed skill in social engineering and misdirection, improvisational acting, hand-to-hand combat, sleight of hand, and fluency in multiple languages.

IMF agents are anonymously sent on covert missions to tackle the dangerous worlds of counterterrorism, espionage, political subversion, international crime and domestic organized crime. Their international actions tend to counter Communists, dictatorships, and other opponents of democracy. The television series never directly specifies who oversees the IMF, though it is assumed to be the United States government or the United Nations; all team members are American. They operate under non-official cover status, and if they are captured or killed, their employers will disavow any knowledge of their actions. In the secret tape messages issued to the team leaders, reference is made to "the Secretary", but exactly which secretary is never specified. The IMF team leader is also given the option to reject a mission with which he does not feel comfortable or if he believes it truly is impossible to accomplish. This has not yet been shown to happen in either television series or any of the movies.

Other "missions" are undertaken by the team as personal favors to the team leader.

1980s revival series

In the 1980s revival series, the IMF is implied to be an independent agency, with multiple IMF teams as well as specialized divisions for research and development.

Jim Phelps is still leader of an IMF team. Grant Collier, a prodigy and son of the original series' Barney Collier, is also a member (played by Phil Morris, son of Greg Morris). Other members were Nicholas Black (Thaao Penghlis), a university drama professor; Max Harte (Tony Hamilton), an Australian mercenary; and Casey Randall (Terry Markwell), a fashion designer. Randall was killed partway through the series and replaced by Shannon Reed (Jane Badler).

Films

Jim Phelps is also depicted as the leader of the IMF team in the first "Mission: Impossible" film; however, the movies do not keep continuityFact|date=May 2008 with the television series. In the second and third films, the team leader is Ethan Hunt (Tom Cruise). Other members shown are Claire Phelps (Emmanuelle Béart), Jim Phelps' spouse; Sarah Davies (Kristin Scott Thomas); and Jack Harmon (Emilio Estevez), a computer expert. Later agents include Luther Stickell (Ving Rhames), initially disavowed but later reinstated; Franz Krieger (Jean Reno), disavowed; Billy Baird (John Polson), a pilot; and Sean Ambrose (Dougray Scott), an agent gone rogue.

In the , the IMF is implied to be a black operations division of the Central Intelligence Agency. In "," it is not clear to whom the IMF answers or reports, if anyone, though it is implied it is connected to a larger worldwide network, and all three films include agents of various nationalities other than American. In "," the IMF is indeed identified as the independent agency (whose majority of agents front as Virginia Department of Transportation employees) of the television series, but is referred to by Hunt as the "Impossible Mission Force."

As noted earlier, the films do not keep continuity with the television program, many fansWho|date=May 2008 of which, for that reason, refuse to recognize them, or any of their content, as legitimate.

References

*Patrick J. White, "The Complete Mission: Impossible Dossier". New York: Avon Books, 1991.

External links

* [http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/12614271/ MSNBC article on the Impossible Missions Force]