From Amazon.com I ordered the Mission: Impossible '88 box set.
http://www.amazon.com/Mission-Impossible-88-TV-Season/dp/B005MQ5840/ref=sr_1_3?ie=UTF8&qid=1316813061&sr=8-3 Released on Tuesday, my M:I 88 package came in the mail yesterday! The first thing I noticed was that the DVD casing was the same as that of the Star Trek: the Original Series HD casing; the only difference being that ST came in blue and M:I came in translucent plastic. I knew what the front cover of the casing looked like, but I didn't know what covered the back. I was pleased that the back had more shots of the cast. The following text was also on the back --
"Your mission, should you decide to accept it..."
"IMF missions are on a need-to-know basis... and you need to know that MISSION: IMPOSSIBLE THE '88 TV SEASON is now available on DVD for the first time ever! The spy show that revived the classic series stars Peter Graves, in the reprisal of his role as Jim Phelps, brilliant leader of the Impossible Missions Force. This collectible 5-disc set includes all 19 thrilling episodes that put Jim and his new team on call to save the world... one pulse-pounding mission at time."
"Do you accept this mission?"
In fine print near the bottom, it says, "Some episodes may be edited from their original network versions. Music has been changed for this home entertainment version." (I guess that CBS/Paramount couldn't get the re-release rights on some of the music. Hmm, that means that the original music must be sitting on the Beta Hi-Fi videocassettes that I recorded from the original broadcasts.)
I immediately popped in the first DVD into the player. The first menu gave me a choice of either seeing Previews or the Main Menu. I took a brief look at the Previews, and those advertised season 1 of the new Hawaii Five-O and season 8 of NCIS now out on DVD. In the main menu section, there were no extras but a listing of the the episodes available for playback, an option for English subtitles for the hearing-impaired, and a still of Peter Graves looking at you. No music played when viewing the main menu.
I picked the first episode, "The Killers", and as I was watching it, I was "multi-tasking", i.e., enjoying the story, comparing it to the original Killers episode, and noticing how the production turned Australia into the locales for the new Killers episode (if that is supposed to be London, it's awfully bright and sunny... And what is that huge bridge in the background which doesn't seem like any bridge I've ever seen in London?
) The picture quality seemed sharp, and the sound was good (stereo, Dolby Digital).
I look forward to the final season of 16 episodes to be released.
Originally published at the ImpossibleMissionsForce mailing list on Yahoogroups,
Robert Bernardo
Fresno Commodore User Group
http://videocam.net.au/fcug
