I’m sure many of us remember the 1996 movie Mission: Impossible starring Tom Cruise. But did you know that many many years before we were born, Mission: Impossible was actually a hit television series?
It was aired on the American CBS network from 1966 to 1973, and later returned to television for another 2 seasons from 1988 to 1990. This led to the inspiration of the theatrical trio, Mission: Impossible movies in 1996, 2000 and 2006.
The theme of the television series was composed by Lalo Schifrin, and is widely noted as one of the most popular iconic television themes. The TV series consisted of a group of main characters who were involved in espionage activities. Lalo Schifrin not only wrote a
theme piece for each character, he also incorporated bits of these in the soundtrack of each episode. This reminds me of the leading-motives used in Wagner’s operas. A leading motive is a recurring theme that denotes a particular object, emotion, or in the case of Mission: Impossible, the particular characters.
I remember watching the TV series a few years back, when there was still Channel i. I vaguely remember the characters of the show. Each of them had a special “talent” which helped the team in their espionage activities and contributed to solving the case. For example, there would be the technologically savvy one who rigged hidden cameras to spy on the bad guys, while the ladies played the role of seducing them into telling certain secret information. Cool music, cool show as well. What a pity such shows aren’t shown nowadays.
Here’s something that I just found out. The original music for the TV series was written in 5/4 time. However, in the 1996 movie version, the time signature was changed to 4/4 to make it more “danceable”, upsetting some purists. This new theme was composed by Adam Clayton, bassist from the Irish band U2. What I have here on my blog is the original version in 5/4 time.
It was aired on the American CBS network from 1966 to 1973, and later returned to television for another 2 seasons from 1988 to 1990. This led to the inspiration of the theatrical trio, Mission: Impossible movies in 1996, 2000 and 2006.
The theme of the television series was composed by Lalo Schifrin, and is widely noted as one of the most popular iconic television themes. The TV series consisted of a group of main characters who were involved in espionage activities. Lalo Schifrin not only wrote a
theme piece for each character, he also incorporated bits of these in the soundtrack of each episode. This reminds me of the leading-motives used in Wagner’s operas. A leading motive is a recurring theme that denotes a particular object, emotion, or in the case of Mission: Impossible, the particular characters.
I remember watching the TV series a few years back, when there was still Channel i. I vaguely remember the characters of the show. Each of them had a special “talent” which helped the team in their espionage activities and contributed to solving the case. For example, there would be the technologically savvy one who rigged hidden cameras to spy on the bad guys, while the ladies played the role of seducing them into telling certain secret information. Cool music, cool show as well. What a pity such shows aren’t shown nowadays.
Here’s something that I just found out. The original music for the TV series was written in 5/4 time. However, in the 1996 movie version, the time signature was changed to 4/4 to make it more “danceable”, upsetting some purists. This new theme was composed by Adam Clayton, bassist from the Irish band U2. What I have here on my blog is the original version in 5/4 time.
1 comment:
Thanks for the interesting background info.
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