New Shows for Old!

I picked up some new DVDs over the holidays.

To start off with, an old show, Mission: Impossible, the first season. I had seen some of these episodes before (on TVLand if I remember correctly), but certainly not all of them. To start off with, the first season was very different from what most people think as "classic" Mission: Impossible. Martin Landau, who was part of the cast in seasons 2 and 3, was merely a "Special Guest Star" in the first season. There was a cast of other guest stars as well, and an episode in which it was implied that the supernatural was real! (Zubrovnik's Ghost)

The biggest difference was the leader of the IMF team. It wasn't "Mr. Phelps" during that first season, but rather "Mr. Briggs". Dan Briggs, to use his full name, played by Steven Hill (well known in recent years for playing the D.A. on the original "Law and Order"). Why did he leave? Not for any failing as an actor, but because Mr. Hill was an Orthodox Jew. Apparently, the producers of "M:I" wanted him to work on the Jewish Sabbath, and he wouldn't do that. He brings a different dynamic to the team, as do the roster of guest stars.

Some of the episodes in this season are really good and interesting, like "A Spool There Was", where Rollin and Cinnamon travel to a lakeside resort in an Eastern European country to find a missing spool of wire on which is encoded vital information. This episode is unusual in that these are the only two team members on the mission. But, as usual, it is completed successfully. Another interesting part of this episode has Cinnamon talking to a pillow as though it is Rollin, which is actually very amusing.

Another series I have purchased on DVD is CSI: Crime Scene Investigation. I got all of the first three seasons on DVD.

I can see at least one thing in common about the two series: they are both rather cerebral and focus on the "How?" of things rather than "Who?" or "Why?". In M:I the focus is "How are they going to do this (whether it is bring this guy down, steal the McGuffin, or whatever)?" and with CSI, we see the crime or dead body, and the question is "How did this happen? or How did this progress to this point?" And it's linked to my earlier interest in TLC/Discovery Channel programs such as "The FBI Files" and "The New Detectives: Case Studies in Forensic Science", which I used to watch many years ago. Another thing is that they are both "team" shows. Both shows cannot be the vehicle of a single actor or actress. The shows rely on all the team members doing their parts to be successful. In this way, the Mission: Impossible movies (yearg, blech!- and I really honestly *HATE* those movies) are completely different from the series, and only have the names in common. It is a betrayal of the series concept to have them be a star vehicle for *any* star, Tom Cruise or no. And the whole idea of Jim Phelps as a traitor expressed complete contempt for the series the movie purported to emulate. It leaves a bad taste in the mouths of many fans, including myself.

The cases of CSI are very interesting, showing the work of a modern forensics lab. In real life, the Crime Lab in Las Vegas is the second busiest crime lab in the country, after the FBI Crime Lab in Quantico, Virginia. (or, it may be located in Alexandria, I'm not all that sure of the exact location.) The producers of the show make every effort to ensure that the equipment and techniques are the same ones in use at actual forensics and crime labs. In addition, they intercut the information with real terms used by cops and CSI's, such as "DFO" or "Done Fell Over", used to describe a person collapsing and dying for unknown reasons. There is also "Murder Central", which is a hotel room at the end of a corridor, next to the stairwell, so named for an easy getaway (stairwell) and 50% less chance of being heard in the killing (because the room abuts only one other room). You also get to hear terms like AFIS and CODIS (The first being for identification of Fingerprints, the second for DNA).

Other DVDs I have picked up in the past few months harken back to either my childhood, or my extended childhood. In fact, I can really say I am still in my extended childhood, as I still watch cartoons. I picked up the Animaniacs, Volumes 1 and 2, the first DVD of the series Voltron, and the series "Blackstar". I already own one DVD of "Action Man" (the CGI version) and 4 volumes of "The Adventures of the Galaxy Rangers". Are there other series I want to get? Heck yeah. But many of them haven't been released yet. When they are? I am *so* there!