Mission: Impossible (TV series)

Mission: Impossible is a 1966 - 1973 American espionage television series that aired on the CBS television network. Created and initially produced by Bruce Geller, the show chronicled the exploits of a small covert team of secret government agents known as the "Impossible Missions Force," and their sophisticated and subtle methods of deceiving, manipulating and thwarting hostile Iron Curtain governments, third world dictators, corrupt industrialists, and crime lords, among others. In the first season, the team is led by Dan Briggs (played by Steven Hill); Jim Phelps (played by Peter Graves) takes charge for the remaining seasons. Briggs and Phelps usually assemble the same core team of agents, all of whom have careers and some degree of celebrity outside of espionage. The team is occasionally supplemented by other specialists. The large supporting cast included Barbara Bain, Greg Morris, Peter Lupus, Martin Landau, and Leonard Nimoy.

A revival of the original series, also starring Graves, ran for two seasons (1988-1990) on the ABC network. It also inspired a series of theatrical motion pictures of the same name, starring Tom Cruise, beginning in 1996.

Elena (Season 1, Episode 13)

When a woman named Elena (Barbara Luna) acting as a key agent of the IMF begins to behave in a bizarre manner indicating a severe emotional disturbance, Rollin and a psychiatrist (Barry Atwater) need to find out in six days why she is behaving so strongly and decide whether she will continue to be a dangerous threat to the IMF; if not, she will be killed.

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  Elena agrees to take a hypnotic drug and be hypnotized to find out the reason for her behavior changes and amnesiac blackouts.

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  Elena falls into a deep trance.

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  under hypnosis, Elena begins to recount what happened during her amnesiac periods.

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  Suddenly, a traumatic childhood memory pops into Elena's mind, forcing Rollin to wake her from her trance.

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  Elena sees the mask that activates her hypnotic trigger, and prepares to falsely accuse someone at the international conference, causing an international incident.

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  Rollin breaks the mask at Elena's feet.

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  Elena snaps out of the trance.

The Controllers: Part 1 (Season 4, Episode 3)

Karl Turek (David Sheiner), a scientist in an Eastern Bloc nation, is trying to perfect his mind control drug, but it renders his subjects catatonic. A crooked diplomat (Alfred Ryder) plans to send two traitorous American scientists to help Turek to perfect his formula. Phelps and fellow agent Meredyth (Dina Merrill) go undercover as the scientists. Their goal is to trick Turek into killing the diplomat so that he will be discredited by his government, but the plan doesn't work out as expected.

The Controllers: Part 2 (Season 4, Episode 4)

Phelps escapes being shot, but the diplomat is not as fortunate. With their original plan in tatters, the IMF team is forced to improvise. Meanwhile, Turek gets closer to turning Martyn (Stanley Kamel) and Katherine (Brooke Bundy) into his mindless slaves.

Mindbend (Season 6, Episode 4)

Dr. Burke (Leonard Frey) is hired by a syndicate boss to turn criminals into brainwashed assassins, each of which is programmed to commit suicide after completing their mission. Barney (Morris) goes undercover as a criminal and is selected to be Burke's next 'patient.' Unfortunately, Barney is unable to take the drug needed to counteract Burke's procedure and ends up being brainwashed for real. It's up to the rest of the IMF team find Barney and his target before the former can kill the latter, then himself.