More Missions This Fall

TVShowsOnDVD reports that CBS/Paramount will release Mission: Impossible - The Fifth TV Season on October 7. They've even got the cover art. (I can't decide if the lovely purple sheen trumps Peter Graves' odd-looking helmet hair or not.) Season 5 introduced Lesley Ann Warren as Dana (the show's first female regular since Barbara Bain left after the third season) and a young, mustacheless Sam Elliot as Dr. Doug Robert (or was it Lang?). Doug was intended as a replacement for Peter Lupus's strongman Willie Armitage, and the two characters alternated episodes in an attempt to phase Lupus out. The fans, however, wouldn't have it, and flooded CBS with letters demanding the full-time return of Willie. A reluctant Lupus, understandably peeved, acquiesced, and Willie was back the following year with nary a sign of Doug. Peter Graves, Greg Morris and Leonard Nimoy (in his final season) all return from the previous year.

Season 5, which ran from 1970-71, is the last season to retain the series' original overseas espionage focus, with nearly half the episodes already turning toward the American "Syndicate" who would prove the IMF's enemy for its final years. So, needless to say, it's an essential purchase for spy fans!