Mission Impossible - The Complete Third Season
The Mission Impossible DVDs

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Season 3, should you decide to accept it (and you definitely should), was Mission's most accomplished. It garnered six Emmy nominations, and an Emmy for Barbara Bain, her third consecutive win, probably for "The Exchange," one of her finest hours, in which, breaking series format, her character is captured and psychologically tortured to discover for whom she works. As always, the first five minutes of any Mission: Impossible episode are the coolest: the lit fuse signaling Lalo Schifrin's indelible theme song, the opening-credits montage teasing the action in the upcoming episode, and Jim Phelps (Peter Graves), in some nondescript location, receiving his covert mission (usually to some nonexistent, but real-sounding country as Povia or Costa Mateo), on that self-destructing tape. It always seemed a waste of time for Phelps to go through the dossiers of possible Impossible Missions Force agents for each mission (and he does that less this season) as he invariably chose the same ones: model beauty Cinnamon (Bain), master of disguise Rollin Hand (Martin Landau), electricians expert Barney Collier (Greg Morris), and strongman Willie Armitage (Peter Lupus).

Mission: Impossible didn't delve into the team members' private lives: it was all about the mission, and together, the IMF foils any number of domestic and international villains. Some missions (foil a coup, rescue a dissident) have more at stake than others (restore boxing's good name), but there's that great moment in almost every episode when the team's target discovers that he or she has been royally IMF'd. "Don't you see?" the warden of a so-called escape-proof automated prison protests in "The Glass Cage," "they thought of everything!" He's not kidding. Not even "Q" on his best day would have come up with that faux briefcase that secretly dispenses exact replicas of the prison's towels. Mission: Impossible today does seem a little low-tech, especially when compared to the special effects-laden feature films. And for anyone who has seen Airplane, it may be difficult initially to keep a straight face whenever Peter "Do you like gladiator movies?" Graves is onscreen. But with its clever and complex stories, impeccable ensemble, and fun-to-spot guest stars (that's John "Dean Wormer" Vernon torturing Cinnamon in "The Exchange"), Mission is impossible to resist. --Donald Liebenson

Season 3 (1968–1969)

Title	Director	Original Airdate	#
The Heir Apparent	Alexander Singer	September 29, 1968	3x01
Cinnamon impersonates a lost princess to foil the planned coup of a would-be military dictator (Charles Aidman).
The Contender Part 1	Paul Stanley	October 6, 1968	3x02
Barney impersonates a boxer to prevent gangsters from corrupting U.S. sports. Sugar Ray Robinson guest stars as a gangster's henchman.
The Contender Part 2	Paul Stanley	October 13, 1968	3x03
The conclusion of the previous episode.
The Mercenaries	Paul Krasny	October 27, 1968	3x04
The IMF go to Africa to stop a gold-hungry mercenary (Pernell Roberts) and his reign of terror.
The Execution	Alexander Singer	November 10, 1968	3x05
To stop a brutal racketeer (Vincent Gardenia) from controlling the U.S. grocery industry, the IMF must convince his hitman to turn state's evidence.
The Cardinal	Sutton Roley	November 17, 1968	3x06
To secure power, a general replaces a country's beloved cardinal with a lookalike; the team devises a plan to switch them back.
The Elixir	John Florea	November 24, 1968	3x07
In South America, the IMF must prevent a vain, Evita-like matriarch (Ruth Roman) from seizing power in a coup.
The Diplomat	Don Richardson	December 1, 1968	3x08
In Paris, the IMF must discredit a rogue diplomat (Fernando Lamas) who is supplying a foreign power with U.S. defense secrets.
The Play	Lee H. Katzin	December 8, 1968	3x09
The IMF must discredit a foreign minister of culture whose influence prevents his president from establishing an accord with the West.
The Bargain	Robert E. Thompson	December 15, 1968	3x10
In Miami, "the Syndicate" must be prevented from funding an exiled dictator's (Albert Paulsen) plan to launch a counter-revolution.
The Freeze	Alexander Singer	December 23, 1968	3x11
A bank robber (Donnelly Rhodes) plans to wait in prison on a lesser charge until the statute of limitations expires on his theft; the IMF must convince him to retrieve the loot early, before his double-crossed partners get wind of the con.
The Exchange	Alexander Singer	January 4, 1969	3x12
Cinnamon is captured behind the Iron Curtain and Phelps must kidnap, break, and trade an enemy agent before she breaks.
The Mind of Stefan Miklos	Robert Butler	January 12, 1969	3x13
A double agent within U.S. intelligence is being fed false information, but his suspicious handler asks for a security check. Miklos, an enemy mastermind, is sent to investigate and the IMF must convince him that the information is true and the handler is the traitor.
The Test Case	Sutton Roley	January 19, 1969	3x14
A "hired gun" bacteriologist is developing a deadly but short-lived virus for the Warsaw Pact; the IMF must eliminate him and his virus.
The System	Robert Gist	January 26, 1969	3x15
When a crime boss escapes justice the IMF must trick an underling operating a crooked casino into turning state's evidence.
The Glass Cage	John Moxey	February 2, 1969	3x16
Barney and Willy get arrested in an eastern bloc nation to fake the escape of a resistance leader, who is in an escape-proof cell.
Doomsday	John Moxey	February 16, 1969	3x17
When an overextended European industrialist (Alf Kjellin) tries to recover his fortunes by selling a nuclear bomb to the highest bidder, the IMF must keep the device out of the hands of third-world nations.
Live Bait	Stuart Hagmann	February 23, 1969	3x18
An enemy internal security chief (Anthony Zerbe) uses his own assistant (Martin Sheen) in the hope of out-foxing the IMF.
The Bunker Part 1	John Moxey	March 2, 1969	3x19
Imprisoned underground in an Eastern European nation, a brilliant scientist is being forced to develop a deadly missile.
The Bunker Part 2	John Moxey	March 9, 1969	3x20
In the conclusion of the previous episode, the IMF must rescue the scientist (Milton Selzer) and his wife (Lee Meriwether) before another nation's master of disguise can assassinate him.
Nitro	Bruce Kessler	March 23, 1969	3x21
A near-eastern ultra-nationalist assigns a demolitions expert (Mark Lenard) to blow up his own government; the IMF must act in time.
Nicole	Stuart Hagmann	March 30, 1969	3x22
Phelps, shot and captured during exfiltration, is joined by an attractive double agent (Joan Collins) - but whose side is she really on?
The Vault	Richard Benedict	April 6, 1969	3x23
Coup plotters (Nehemiah Persoff, Jerry Riggio) have looted a treasury to unseat a South American president (Rodolfo Acosta).
Illusion	Gerald Mayer	April 13, 1969	3x24
The IMF must eliminate two of the three contenders for chief of secret police in an eastern European nation.
The Interrogator	Reza S. Badiyi	April 20, 1969	3x25
An enemy officer (Henry Silva) knows a deadly secret, but is under interrogation in another hostile nation. This is the final episode to feature Martin Landau as Rollin Hand and Barbara Bain as Cinnamon Carter.