Tape Recorders of Mission Impossible Ep.1

[@verdatum]

Speaking as a replica prop fabricator; I'm glad I've never had to do this prop, and you've done an _incredible_ job in your research. Brilliant choice for a topic, and brilliantly presented.

[@Clay3613]

You on any forums?

[@xaenon]

I just watched a 15 minute video of a guy discussing the details and statistics of an obsolete tape recorder prop from a TV show made five decades ago. What am I doing with my life? It doesn't matter; I loved every minute of it! Thank you, Techmoan, for being you and doing what you do!

[@davidmarquardt2445]

And the briefing had a format. First a rundown of the subject and then; "Your mission, should you decide to accept it is to.....". And then "As always, if you or any of your IM force are caught or killed, the Secretory will disavow any knowledge of your actions. Good luck Jim."

[@rricci]

Techmoan has a VERY way of explaining things. I bet he could read a phone book or explain how to use a toaster and make it interesting/entertaining.

[@MurrayMints]

@@rricci a VERY way ? *Dafuq* !

[@Landrew0]

We make fun of the people who criticize minutia in the comments, but it's fun to watch a video criticizing the minutia in a TV show.

[@ryanfoley8035]

You’re doing the right thing

[@peterjf7723]

In the 1970s my fathers secretary was a Mission Impossible fan so when he gave her a tape of notes to be typed he would often add Mission Impossible style intros and finish with 'this tape will self destruct in five seconds'.

[@oz_jones]

Peter JF oh, nice. Your father seems like a lad

[@frankdenardo8684]

That's funny.

[@CriticalEatsJapan]

Sweet intro. And I am pleased to notice this is only Ep 1

[@Marty2011uk]

That is how the show went.

[@kathrynradonich3982]

I go from watching your niku day video to this 😂

[@techno-sorcery9852]

​@@HelenGPitts r/antiMLM/

[@maxgusatz5644]

Techmoan, you just get better and better!

[@XavierAncarno]

Max Poilu No. _Betterer_ !!!

[@JuanManuel-il5qf]

It's getting better all the time

[@renemunkthalund3581]

10 secs into Techmoan video and I'm cracking up. Personality and humour raises Mat above any other retro tech channel…

[@7seatea7]

They go through all that trouble of hiding the player, then destroy it in such a visible way. "Quick, someone call the fire brigade; that talking telescope is on fire".

[@3DMegadoodoo]

"Police are on the look-out for an elderly luddite serial arsonist, who has been spotted around town setting fire to various pieces of audio equipment."

[@johnfrancisdoe1563]

7seatea7 The hiding is to protect the tape contents and the relationship between the deniable black ops team and the agency placing the message in the dead drop. Hence why the unmanned locations were preferred to the cutaway guard agent. Unlike the modern movie version, I don't think the original MI team ever visited the agency headquarters or used embassy cover. They really don't want a situation like when those two Russian "tourists" in Salisbury were recognized as known officers of some agency or other.

[@loopshackr]

7seatea7... Mad Magazine did a parody during the show's run - "Mission Improbable" or "Inscrutable" or something like that. Several panels featured blase' passers-by observing "That [whatever it is] is dissolving itself! Isn't that the most suspicious thing you've ever seen?" My Mad-reader friends got a big kick out of that.

[@3DMegadoodoo]

@@loopshackr OR DID THEY!?!?!?!? (Well... I guess they did...)

[@rricci]

Loopshackr, Didn't MAD magazine put out a CD ROM with all of their early stuff on it/ I bet that parody would be on that. I would be interested in seeing that!

[@MrMaxeemum]

Wow, your attention to detail and your enthusiasm for your chosen subject never ceases to amaze me. Keep up the excellent work.

[@russellhltn1396]

I can't help but giggle over the fact someone made a spreadsheet over what models were used on what shows. I mean, I consider myself a bit of a nerd, but that's taking it to a whole new level.

[@andrewsmactips]

I remember Peter Graves saying that there literally was a stage hand crouched under the desk, smoking and blowing into a tube.

[@fordtechchris]

Chube.

[@SuperSmashDolls]

@@fordtechchris Toob.

[@Ass_Burgers_Syndrome]

Sounds more like the Oval Office when Bill Clinton was president

[@markmarkofkane8167]

@@Ass_Burgers_Syndrome like when Elaine aired up Otto on Airplane!

[@keithj3223]

OMG... That makes perfect sense no need to get all the mechanics of an air handler and a pump and a tube... When you can put a stagehand under-the-table who's smoking Salems. Thank you I loved this video I was 12 and had that same tape recorder... And eventually had my own professional recording studio as an adult.

[@lezzman]

I loved the first series where the message was left on a vinyl record in a plastic seal. The record would self-destruct a certain number of seconds after the seal was broken. I remember thinking "Dan would be buggered if the needle got stuck and he couldn't re-track it before it disintegrated.'" The sign-off would have been "Bad luck, Dan."

[@markpenrice6253]

Pretty certain I've seen some kind of patent for a single-play vinyl record where the act of drawing the needle through the groove sliced it up into a very long curly ribbon. Possibly made out of some kind of confectionary. Or maybe that was a fever dream.

[@lezzman]

@@markpenrice6253 Sounds like it would be more fun to play the record and then eat it.

[@rricci]

LOL "Your mission, Dan, should...Your mission, Dan, should....Your mission, Dan, should ^record self destructs. Dan: Shit! I hate when that happens!

[@TestGearJunkie.]

@@lezzman There's a video of a chocolate record somewhere, wasn't it Techmoan who did it..?

[@L00PdeL00P]

mini reel to reel recorders always fascinated me. there's something so novel about a tiny version of the large studio oriented recorders. It reminds me of a reel to reel microcassette

[@jamalmoss9543]

I love analog tape technology, and I find your videos entertaining and very educational. Keep 'em coming!!

[@Wingwarper]

What a wonderful, historical video and as you say, "reel" pieces of 1960's tech! Being a reel-to-reel fan I must say VERY well researched and presented! Thank you!

[@bobjones5166]

Mission Impossible has always been one of my all time favorite shows. I own the entire collection and on cold rainy days I can pull them out and binge watch them. Now I have more too look for in them. Thanks for a great episode. :)

[@vacuumelite2065]

Fantastic ! Absolutely no doubt in my mind, that watching Mission Impossible from 1970 gave me a fascination with tape recorders. Early/mid 1970's my two brothers and I begged mum/dad to have cassette recorders for Xmas. We chose the Pye 9118. We looked at various models with piano keys but just loved the joystick. We would make music tapes with the mic pushed up against the speaker on dads Bush Radio.......and I am still in the sound game !!

[@jeenkzk5919]

I loved watching this show in the late 80s as a kid! Outdated or not, the tech still wowed me! As an adult I was able to call BS on some of the situations, however the stories are so good that I don’t care. If anything, adds charm. Far better than the Tom Cruz movie series

[@basicbits6244]

I even watched this show in the '90s. Sometimes, on rare occasions, reruns are a good thing.

[@marsilies]

If you were watching in the late 80s/early 90s, it might've been the 1988 revival of the series, which, due to a writer's strike, was based on scripts from the original run.

[@julienvergne6478]

I'm a fan of the show since reruns during my childhood . It's so cool to see a detailed presentation of the prop used and little errors in the show. Great work and great channel.

[@CatsMeowPaw]

I never watched the original 60s/70s series, but really liked the 80s reboot. I always thought the mini CDs with full motion videos were completely impossible and fantasy, then VideoCD came along just a few years later.

[@nickwallette6201]

That's what I remember too. The tiny discs were SoOo high tech at the time! I liked the LEDs showing your place in the message too.

[@Stefan-]

CatsMeowPaw Since i was born in the early 70´s i missed out on the original run, but watched the late 80´s reboot and thought it was entertaining. You mentioned the mini cd´s with videos, Its funny how alot of science fiction items gets realised many years later, we have seen this with Star Trek for example although we dont have any starships yet ;-) It is also interesting how these items has gone from science fiction items to reality in my own lifetime.

[@NomadOfNorad]

I'm actually wondering how real those props in the 80s remount were. Were they an actual, off the shelf item modified to look more high-tech? Would be interesting if Techmoan tracked that down. Maybe that's what he's going to talk about in the purported Part 2. :D

[@rricci]

If you have Amazon Prime, then you can watch the original MI episodes. Just go to the search box and type in "Mission Impossible". Skip past the movies and look for one labeled "Season x".

[@muddshshshark]

I watched the original show in the 60's as a young boy and was fascinated by the self destruct mechanism,, I also had a small reel to reel as well as a Sanyo cassette player which provided hours of fun, I remember finding one tape decades later with our juvenile horseplay on it.

[@yoonki]

Always loved your channel but I’m really impressed with how you’ve managed to find your niche in recent years with obscure retro hardware. Excellent video!

[@BobBell808]

What a time-warp. I was pre-teen at the beginning of this series’ original run and I so loved the gadgetry of the tape players. My parents bought me a number of these midget open reel recorders over the years. I would pretend to give myself secret instructions before the machine would “self-destruct.” Thanks for the memories.

[@helloiamchuck]

For reasons I can't quite fully articulate, Mat's wig for this episode screamed more "Ed Straker" than "Jim Phelps" to me.

[@SpudGun200]

Speaking of Ed Straker - would be great if Mat could do a review of some of the props from Gerry Anderson shows. I loved the tape computers in UFO and other futuristic ideas on display.

[@jremy7]

Discovered your channel recently while researching laserdiscs. Have enjoyed so many of your videos since. As a big fan for the original 'Mission Impossible' series, this video is the one that me join your Patreon effort. Thank you for all your work!

[@RMoribayashi]

Thanks so much. I watched the original US run of MI as a chid. It was the theme music that influenced me, with its jazz based 5/4 rhythm and driving bass line played by legendary LA session musician Carol Kaye.

[@bruceinoz8002]

Lalo Schiffrin composition.

[@jameskeyes1131]

I had the LP of the music from the show. Lalo did the music for many shows and movies. This theme became very popular and has been used many times thru the years including the Tom Cruise movies. Classic.

[@thebonesaw..4634]

Oh, my god. I had no idea that Craig was Sanyo (this is literally the first I've heard of that). My best friend had a Craig stereo system in his car. That's awesome.

[@djdrwatson]

The wig wasn't that bad - the rubber face mask was *terrible* !! 😜

[@panicBoydotcom]

djdrwatson OH SHIT 🤣

[@panicBoydotcom]

djdrwatson OH SHIT 🤣

[@AndyR072]

HA, With the wig you look like my old Boss, You must have got it from the same place

[@DirtyHairy1]

@techmoan don't get too attached to either of those!

[@MrWombatty]

Apart from being on back-to-front!

[@curtchase3730]

LOL. That was pretty good! I never thought someone would drill that far down to put the M.I. tape recorder up on a pedestal. I used to watch the show during it's original airings as a young kid and laughed when the tape would "self destruct", but never really gave it a second thought. Pretty neat.

[@Kumimono]

Just the other week, I saw a mini documentary on the show. They literally had a bloke with a cigar at the other end of the pipe.

[@toonbat]

So it was the show's staff who was self-destructing all along!

[@CornishMotorcycleDiaries]

Techmoan at his best. This is what we want to see. Can't wait for the next one!

[@mikecowen6507]

Fabulous, Mat! One of my all-time favorite TV shows. Kudos for getting the first season "recording" quirks correct! In re-watching the shows in present time, it's fun to notice *many* details that were smudged by the broadcast limitations of the day. Take note of many "jail cells" where you can now clearly see the wood grain under the immaculate silver paint. There were hundreds of little glitches that now thoroughly amuse me in trying to spot them all. Also a healthy understanding of the common shooting locations is fun in deconstructing the scenes (mainly the "40 Acres" backlot and the Paramount backlot).

[@punkgift]

The Thirty Mile Zone around Los Angeles where the crew wages are cheaper.

[@Fuzy2K]

It's not a TV show, but in Short Circuit when Johnny Five is flipping through the channels on the TV, you can tell when they've used actual footage from the TV screen and when they've replaced the screen with a matte. You can even see the matte abruptly change size at one point (I think during the Ore-Ida commercial) Similarly in WarGames, there is one scene where David Lightman's computer monitor is a completely different one than is used throughout the film. There's even a shot where the computer monitor reads "People sometimes make mistak", and I kind of wonder if they did that one on purpose as a joke. :P

[@mikecowen6507]

Fuzy2K The TV matte was very common (and often painfully obvious) in the day, owing to the poor CRT contrast under bright filming lights, and the different frame rate between the 24 FPS film, and the 30 FPS video. The screen in WarGames was an Easter egg. One that was plain stupid, was in The Net, where IP octets *above* 255 were commonly used on screen. Try that crap in real life... I think their "technical consultants" were grievously overpaid.

[@johnfrancisdoe1563]

Mike Cowen The bytes >255 were to prove to authorities they weren't giving away real hacking techniques, unlike the Matrix.

[@mikecowen6507]

John Francis Doe And they couldn't have used a legitimate 127.x address with the same effect, without it being absolutely ridiculous? A "technique" would still be valid, regardless of what address was shown. It's the method that matters. It's like saying "we wanted to make a hijacking film, but not give away any legitimate methods, so we put the engines inside the cabin, and strapped the passengers to the wing to protect any secrets".

[@Bleats_Sinodai]

Here in Brazil there was this show called Mundo da Lua where a boy used a Geloso tape recorder he got from his grandpa as a diary, talking about imaginary scenarios and leaning from them. The prop was heavily modified with lights and mechanisms that made buttons move up and down, and the exact model is now a holy grail amongst collectors.

[@Milnoc]

"Reely" funny pun! 😁 At the time, I don't think anyone was aware just how far technology would evolve to the point that we'd be watching these old TV shows on huge TVs in high definition thanks to the shows originally being recorded on film, and that we'd be able to spot all of the scene recycling and prop mistakes many years later.

[@ablacknambercat]

Or watching on our phone.

[@joinedupjon]

I really notice the huge size of font used on the credits when they re-run a 70's or 80's show and you see it on a large HD telly.

[@greenanubis]

Makes me wonder how future will turn out. Maybe we will have AI's upscaling 1080p to 16k with details or turning movies into 3D by constructing movie environment on the go.

[@chrisbalfour466]

@@greenanubis Or they'll enslave the human race and force us to endlessly reenact them. That's my bet.

[@multishit6664]

We already do that.. the A.I. threat is humanity. Our cortex is slowly programmed from birth with A.I.

[@SJITZ]

I love living in a time where we see passionate individuals like yourself create content about such a specific thing. It's fun to see how content creators share information and opinions about things hardly anyone would bother to research. As long as you have fun doing these things, I'll continue watching!

[@dcflake5645]

I never knew I wanted to know so much about a single tape player. Can we get the one from Evil Dead next?

[@espurious]

Are you crazy? He'll have Deadites all over the place, and they're a real bugger to get rid of.

[@scottplumer3668]

@@espurious I'd love to see him dressed up like a Deadite! "Mind if I steal your soul?"

[@iknowaguy1564]

You have one of the best channels I have seen. Thank you for taking the time to put together these very fun and educational videos. I really appreciate the education that you give me. It means a lot.

[@dhavidcg]

Looking quite sharp in that suite, mate 😀

[@blazeelvirafirehoof7844]

Techmoan should make another channel where he does suit rewievs :D

[@AnOfficialAndrewFloyd]

*wearing a suit in a hotel suite?

[@rricci]

Um, a better question: How does one wear a suite?

[@C.I...]

@@rricci cut leg holes in a sofa glued to two arm chairs and wear it.

[@FlyCasual1]

The amount of detail in Mat's videos is astounding. I wonder how many hours of going through MI footage he spent making this video? Hats off old chap, excellent!

[@ge200099]

Wonder what his neighbours are thinking everytime he's making a video in his backyard....

[@phishpot]

ge200099 "I think he's making a video in his back yard again!!"

[@pe1etr]

They just assume he is making another porno as he is wearing his wig.

[@espurious]

@@phishpot "He's got a wig on this time. Summink wrong with that fella"

[@MisterMcHaos]

I think that Colin Furze wins the "wot *are* the neighbours finking?" competition: kzbin.info/www/bejne/qZu3pn2mnN6UjZo

[@rricci]

Is it me or does Techmoan look like a '70s porn star in that wig?

[@cl3mens]

Yes, more of this please! I guess that these old 1960-1970's shows could provide material for a lot of episodes if you want to.

[@aussiebuster4988]

My freind was lucky to see the filming of a Mission Impossible Episode, Here In Australia. The Train they used to represent Prauge was a Qld Railwat Train. Love The Series.

[@ptdavidson87]

I just started rewatching all these great old MI episodes. Really fun.

[@frmcf]

Ayayay... no excuse for misthreading a reel-to-reel on a film set, you've got the sound crew right there, just ask them!

[@chartle1]

Probably not, those close up shots are done separately and no need for a sound crew since sound is added later. There may not even be a sound crew for the entire sequence since it mostly silent. Any sounds like a car door opening and closing are done by foley artists. I just watched one and since there was no dialog all sounds were probably added later. Its all movie magic.:)

[@thehappylittlefoxakabenji8154]

Fraser McFadyen I agree its surprising how often it happens tape recorders cassette and reel to reel often seen recording when in playback mode ! record decks playing without the turntable rotating the sound being turned off or turned down on a tuner amplifier by turning the tuning knob ! the list goes on

[@fordtechchris]

@@chartle1 The magic is usually ruined when they play a car screeching to a stop and the tires just stop slowly with no skid.

[@frmcf]

Cliff, if it's part of a title sequence or montage that was always going to be mute, then you may be right that there was no sound crew on set. But these tape recorders are famous for appearing in the opening scenes where the mission was revealed, so it's part of the main action. What we typically do is shoot all the more important stuff, before doing any quick 'pop in' on props, but still on the same set, with the same lighting - otherwise it wouldn't match. These types of shots are very much filmed as part of the scene, with the full crew present, unless for some reason it was a 'pick up' filmed on another day, but there's no reason for that to be the case. Besides, it's good practice to run sound on these prop shots, since there's plenty of sound on it: buttons, mechanisms, etc. Even if it's going to be replaced later (on TV it's probably not), the dubbing editor needs a guidetrack to work to.

[@loopshackr]

@@fordtechchris... on a dirt road.

[@SuhailRehman]

It's worth mentioning that in the first film reboot, the mission briefing was on a video 8 tape played onboard a commercial airline with the self destruct happening quietly in the armrest of the airline seat. Pretty cool!

[@2drx4]

Wow, by chance I'm awake when Techmoan releases something. This is a special day!

[@greeleyman]

Love this episode! In the late 60's my aunt dated a service member who was overseas during Vietnam, and they traded tape reels more often than letters. A little begging got my brother and I our own systems (we were 7-8 years old) and I still have a reel I've been moving around ever since. Some day I'll shell out for an old player; wonder if anything is still on it?

[@housevil2]

This comment will self-destruct...

[@r99pinball24]

how was this posted 23 minutes ago but your comment is 2 days old o_O?

[@HermesMatamoros]

Aliens!!

[@RMoribayashi]

@@r99pinball24 Early Patreon privileges maybe?

[@Dust599]

@@r99pinball24 we are second class viewers, Ie not patreons

[@Alex-fv2qs]

The self-destruct mechanism isn't working, the comment is still here

[@fastfiatjamest6437]

I would love this serises to be a regular thing. If anyone else was doing it on youtube I probably wouldn't watch it, but the amount of research, effort and passion you put in to these videos make them a joy to watch. Keep up the great work!

[@FrankOlsonTwins]

The hottest holiday gift of 2018!

[@chrisbalfour466]

Self destructs by 2019.

[@TheEmperorPigeon]

Your comment about watching Mission: Impossible in the 80s reminded me of when I watched Channel 4's repeats in the 90s right after showing Rawhide. I'd watch all these with my Mum when we'd filled a tape with assorted programmes we wanted to binge through as most of us used to back then. Good memories! :)

[@LelouchLamperouge235]

This is gonna 100 percent end up in a ytp video of you stalking the 8-bit guy :D You will step your tactics up to espionage :D

[@johnfrancisdoe1563]

LelouchLamperouge235 Perhaps someone local instead, like Big Clive, Scola Gladiatoria (another Matt) or that high voltage guy. Or use the last days of free travel to conduct a mission to Sicily (the Metatron) or Slovenia (James Bond location for Casino Royale and Star Wars location for Anakin's affair with the Senator).

[@sweethomeboston2720]

So, does this mean you are "terrible person"?

[@Darkbeatdk]

My absolute favorite tv show when I was a kid was the late 80s version of Mission: Impossible. It was more modern, sci-fi and overall interesting than the 70s show, in my opinion, but I was really bummed when that Tom Cruise movie came along. To me, Mission: Impossible was all about teamwork and how the specialists used their individual skills to solve the problems. Having one guy who was a super agent who could do everything was not what I wanted, but the most recent one is probably one of the best action movies in recent years.

[@williamyeong69]

Your old mate Craig. It's an old mate you can carry with you.

[@clydesight]

Nice video! Years ago, I spoke to one of the prop masters for this show and he told me that at first, Sanyo (who made Craig) wanted their logo to show - for sales purposes - but when they saw the machine self-destruct, they complained and asked the show to cover it over. Sanyo was afraid the public would avoid buying their machines for fear of them catching fire. Also, the cassette used was made by SONY-- the A-B logo in the top left corner was unique to their early cassettes. Again, by this time, the show knew to cover the logos identifying the mfg so the public would not think their products were defective. And that's from a guy who actually worked with the props.

[@Tomsonic41]

I always assumed the message was actually recorded on the tape so that Peter Graves would have some frame of reference for when he's supposed to be listening (then they'd dub a clean recording on later). The machine smoking and blowing up looked good on camera - but a much easier method would have been to mount a permanent magnet on the right side of the player so the tape erases itself on the take-up reel!

[@markpenrice6253]

Far too obvious, they wouldn't have thought of that :D ... plus it just wouldn't look as flashy. Of course if a real agent wanted to get rid of the tape they could just set the spool on fire with a cigarette lighter. As for having something to act against, it would probably have been enough to just have the floor manager reading through the script at roughly the same pace. If there was any particularly surprising info that he'd be expected to emote to, and the timing was a bit off, they could then easily re-sync the footage in post, thanks to the frequent cuts back to the spinning tape reels.

[@johnfrancisdoe1563]

Tomsonic41 Magnetic erase is imperfect as illustrated by modern techniques of extracting data from overwritten hard drives. The medium needs to be physically destroyed such that the pieces are smaller than recorded bits/waves and can't be puzzled together in other ways. Hence burning or dissolving, not erasing or shredding.

[@Zeem4]

@@johnfrancisdoe1563 That only applies to floppy disks and hard drives made in the 1980s or earlier.

[@JohnHoggard_aka_DaddyHoggy]

Loved this show growing up in the 80s, watching it with my dad who must have seen them not long after they originally aired. I loved the convoluted plots and props and, of course, the iconic, self-destructing tape message.

[@kh103]

Joey, have you ever been in a cockpit before? Ever been in a Turkish prison?

[@russellhltn1396]

I picked a bad day to stop sniffing glue.

[@TheRustylungs]

Ever watched gladiators fight to the death..?

[@anononomous]

What's our vector, Victor?

[@rricci]

(for the 184,276th time) Stop calling me Shirley.

[@Ass_Burgers_Syndrome]

Have you ever seen a grown man naked?

[@poisonknees]

You've absolutely outdone yourself here, Matt. Amazing work. MI, The Prisoner and The Avengers will stand as the finest TV work ever in my book.

[@GustoTheGamer]

with hair you look like an English Prime Minister😂😂

[@jeromemckenna7102]

I enjoyed this very much. As someone who saw this show during its original run, I am curious as to what younger people think. Special effects in older tv shows can be quite cheesy this one wasn't too bad. If you look at older Twilight Zones some of the stuff is almost embarrassing.

[@video99couk]

Occasionally people send me audio recordings where the speed varies through the tape, so clearly recorded on a machine similar to this. I probably need to get one because adjusting the speed in Audacity is very fiddly.

[@markpenrice6253]

...or get a different audio editor, or at least a better VST plugin, that can do proper sliding speed adjustment over time?

[@video99couk]

@@markpenrice6253 Would like to know what plugins there are to solve that, any information very welcome!

[@loopshackr]

I had a similar Craig machine when I was a kid, with standard 3" reels. I still have some of the tape, I think, so I may try this: Using an original-sized takeup reel, play back on any R-R machine, and either thread around the capstan or block back the pinch roller so only the takeup reel is pulling. Then as the takeup reel fills, the tape speed will change as it originally did, producing some random but relatively-uniform playback speed. Then use Audacity (etc.) to adjust the resulting speed to something that sounds acceptable.

[@scottbrady7499]

as a youth, i was fortunate enough to sit around and watch these "repeats" on a rather large color television. we're talkin' '72-'76. never gave the little bastard much thought, really. my favorite post by you is the remote doorbell dealie! hilarious sh**. more muppet guy with the glasses. i'm positive it's time consuming and a giant pain in the ass, but as fun as your evaluation of the rollie fryer. good work, once again. can't say enough

[@Otokichi786]

Should any of your Techmoan team be caught or killed, The Secretary will disavow knowledge of your actions...')

[@richkh]

This is actually one heck of a coincidence... I'd just found my dad's MC-2 a couple of days ago, and I've been recovering the 50+ year old recordings from it! I also had the same issues with the batteries not fitting properly - I just hooked up some externally using alligator clips!

[@casualriley]

Always a bit disappointed when there's no puppets at the end, but the intro made up for it this time. Briefly thought you were impersonating Terry Jones at first.

[@chucku00]

Me doctor ?

[@RTheren]

Thanks to you, I started watching Mission: Impossible. I ABSOLUTELY LOVE IT

[@MansisHotaOfficial]

From where did you download the episodes, pls tell me. I want to watch.

[@uss_04]

Warning: Do not play on a Commercial Flight

[@ot0m0t0]

Back then you could smoke on planes. Bah there where no terrorists, I bet you could have a knife also :)

[@AlanEvans789]

IIRC they did do one of the openings on a commercial flight. I had an old reel to reel portable that I used to play with as a kid, made being Mr Phelps much easier in out games. That was because my dad had got one of those Philips cassette players. I inherited that as a hand me down too when he upgraded to a stereo with tape player. Had a lot of good times with that cassette recorder too.

[@erkkiruohtula632]

Thanks! I did not watch Mission Impossible when it was new, but a couple of years ago got the entire series on DVDs sets and the whole family enjoyed them. I think better than the later movies. Miniature tape recorders must have been exotic high tech back in the sixties.

[@Belzediel]

Um, probably not particularly relevant, but if you wanted to do the tape destruction for real (and I'm fairly sure it'd not destroy the player itself) you'd need.... Magnetic tape based on cellulose instead of other plastics. A basic chem lab, such as, say, in a school. Nothing magic, you just want to use the inert gas box. A very small sample of finely ground lithium aluminium hydride. A fine brush or toothpick. Some superglue. A suitably sized reasonably airtight bag, such as a zip-loc or a scottish granny's handbag. Method: Record message at your leisure onto the tape. After stating the required duration before flumffing wait for that period, then hit stop. Place the recorder, tape, and everything else listed above into an inert gas chamber, and fill with something suitable. Argon's good. Nitrogen's good. Vaporised cheese is very bad. Extract the tape and using the fine brush or tooth pick trace a line of glue down the centre of the tape, on the inside if you want it to look really swish, but it doesn't really matter. This line should be as thin as possible, and as close to dead centre of the tape as possible. Carefully add LAH to the glue, and allow to dry. Shake off and rebottle remaining LAH. TIGHTLY wind the spool back to the beginning. Place the tape into the bag. Degas the box, Degas' L'Absinthe, and extract everything, putting back in the places when necessary. As late as possible prior to being picked up, remove the tape from the bag and place in the recorder, making sure not to let the spool unwind. Stand back and watch in amazeballs as the tape plays, then continues to run, sooner or later exposing the LAH to air, which will then ignite a little bit (being pyrophoric), enough to set the cellulose spool on fire a tad, which ought to burn enough to destroy the tape, but not run hot enough to do more than smudge and sooty sweep the actual recorder. Maybe melt the reels a bit, but even that'd be a stretch. Snigger to oneself as that dapper Mr Phelps goes off to frame your mother in law for betraying the State Secrets of Uchbocklechistranistan. I am 100% certain there are other ways to do this. I am also 100% certain I can think of other ways to do this but whaddaya want for free?

[@lawrencedoliveiro9104]

I always wondered about the vapourized cheese ...

[@markpenrice6253]

"Vaporised cheese is very bad" are definitely words to live by. I take it that the method of manipulating the tape and applying the glue and accelerant whilst it's in the oxygen-free atmosphere is left as a trivial but diverting exercise for the reader?

[@richkurtz6053]

My dad used to have both paper tapes and acetate tapes of old recordings. They would have been easy to self destruct.

[@johnfrancisdoe1563]

Mark Penrice Glovebox

[@Belzediel]

@@markpenrice6253 - Every laboratory inert gas box I've ever seen has those sexy gloves on tubes things you see in every film about a mad scientist weaponising manflu. So, I kinda took that for granted, but, yes, I took that for granted, my bad.

[@puggawompy]

Thank you for keeping it REEL Techmoan... another blast my past, used to act scenes out from some shows with my brother & sister, so cheesy now.... but holds a special place in my memories.

[@clemstevenson]

Two of Mission Impossible team were then recycled in the series Space: 1999 (or, ‘Mission Even More Impossible Than Mission Impossible’).

[@markwanklyn4195]

also Leonard Nimoy (Spock) was a couple of the seasons - CBS Action (freeview 39) in the UK has been showing Mission Impossible over recent months on a Saturday evening in the 7:00pm and 8:00pm slots

[@AtheistOrphan]

Stephen Clementson - I’ve just bought the complete Space 1999 on Blu-Ray. Memories!

[@clemstevenson]

Yes, Leonard Nimoy was in some of the Mission Impossible episodes...a wonderful actor.

[@clemstevenson]

Space: 1999 was fun, but you had to suspend knowledge of reality to enjoy it. Let’s face it; even if the moon had been accelerated to a million miles an hour out of the solar system, it would still be 670 times slower than the speed of light. That means it would take the moon a good 2880 years to reach the nearest star.

[@AtheistOrphan]

Stephen Clementson - I agree. Also, on the moon’s travels in Space 1999, it’s surface is always brightly illuminated. Where’s the light coming from?

[@johnpersonage7220]

Mission Impossible was one of my favourite shows when I was younger and you're my fave KZbinr now. This video today is the greatest thing I have seen in a long time. Techmoan, you rule mate.

[@olipito]

It is forbidden by federal law to magnetise the Queen!

[@morawski64]

Amazing, clever, and funny intro. I appreciate how you did the green screen effects the justice they deserve. Love it!

[@robertgaines-tulsa]

I kind of cringed when he threw the tape into the lake.

[@jur4x]

But would it actually destroy it?

[@jparky1972]

I wonder if it is still there?

[@Stefan-]

@@jparky1972 Maybe its still playable...

[@JacobFrey]

Yes, that was super cringy.

[@therealgaragegirls]

Because he was littering?

[@quadders9198]

I'm a bit OCD and very organised but.......this video is the most amazingly well researched and detailed video about a tiny part of a tv show from the sixties!! I love it!!!

[@grandinosour]

I am from the u.s. and Craig was considered the "cheap" brand in the electronics world... I am not sure, but i think they became part of Audiovox which is another budget brand.

[@7seatea7]

Ugh, make sense it would share my name.

[@johnfrancisdoe1563]

grandinosour Strange they didn't use a Sanyo/Craig cassette player too. But perhaps they wanted to honour the compact cassette inventor.

@@HamtaroEL but to add i can see why those in US back then didnt wanna use them the war wasnt that long ago (not to mention since 80s japans products got even better in quality)

@@_Thrackerzod well i did say since 80s they were the best.... LOL

[@anononomous]

7seatea7 - You're called Audiovox?

[@vmitodd]

A most entertaining effort. A fine example of the quality that makes yours the only channel to which I subscribe.

[@mrburnz884]

That scene continuation was hilariously bad.

[@Stefan-]

Ha ha, yeah they needed a script supervisor.

[@LordWilsonVILLA]

I like the way you said "real or imaginary" just as you showed the reel (Real or Reel - GREAT!) superb timing. I love your videos you should be on TV they are so informative.

[@MrBuffaloBrent]

That wig, man.....

[@Space_Emperor]

This is now instantly my new favourite series! Bang on!

[@Fireglo]

Thumbs up if you never knew Mission Impossible was originally a TV show XD

[@mercoid]

Wow! I really appreciate the work you put into this. Very interesting content, and delightfully nostalgic for me. Thank you.

[@BrantRaven]

What an absolutely masterful analysis of Mission Impossible. Really enjoyed this one.

[@stephendougal7756]

I grew up in the 50s and 60s. I loved the IMF series. They always had some geeky devices that most of the time didn't really work but it was fun to imagine. Now there are fantastic working inventions that certainly dates the series obsolescence. Of course I am thinking of cell phones, digital photography wireless bluetooth stuff, anything with LSI circuits GPS etc. and much more. I remember my first reel to reel tape recorder around 1967. It was a Mayfair model 1602 battery operated portable. It wasn't much bigger than the IMF recorders and I had a lot of fun with it back then.

[@panicBoydotcom]

I love what you do, Mat. Keep it up, I get excited every time a new episode pops up.

[@scatterkeir]

Great timing, me any my wife have recently been watching the series for the first time ever, on CBS Action. One episode led to us watching your video on wire recorders!

[@demonocolips]

this looks like an interesting series if you can get the equipment together. looking forward to it.

[@drakefallentine8351]

Always enjoy your videos Techmoan. I was expecting you would give an honorable mention (and the usage count) for two runners up in this catagory....namely the Concord F-20 and the Craig 212. The studio "self destructed" several F-20's over the series run. Slightly larger than this model, attractive styling, but still rim drive. The 212 was large enough for 5" reels with capstan drive and had a "T" style lever control. I'm waiting for your video about the Mohawk Midetape, which can actually be seen in an early Twilight Zone episode entitled "Execution". State of the Art in 1960. Thanks for the memories.

[@camdenrock297]

After watching the whole episode through and hearing Mat discuss the great acting by Peter Graves with fake listening. I went back and re-watched the intro and saw mats best attempt (@ :39) to fake listen as well. Great stuff!

[@digitaltos2696]

This is my new favorite episode. Wonderful!

[@RaExpIn]

This video felt kind of different to the others, because it was more like finding bloopers in the series, but I still enjoyed it as much as all the other videos. Very nice! :)

[@FCV0511]

That intro was great, as was the depth at which you can speak about these recorders. Keep up the excellent work!

[@oc2phish07]

I enjoy ALL your videos but this was especially interesting as I was a very keen fan as a child MANY years ago. Excellent stuff, keep ‘em coming please.

[@joeblow8593]

This has got to be among your best episodes, I grew up watching Mission Impossible too.

[@mjg263]

They also used a Craig 212 and a Concord F88 "Sound Camera" in the opening sequences. Loved that show as a kid growing up in the 60's and I always kept an eye out for the tape machines they would use. Classic threading fail was in the helicopter scene in Apocalypse Now, the tape isn't even threaded through the heads and the reels on the Akai deck are whizzing around!

[@jinglebones6990]

Nice! I have never actually watched this show, but I love this era of US TV. Interesting video!

[@MarkyShaw]

Just when I think I couldn't love this channel any more than I already do.

[@paulorobalo7216]

I finally discovered TIME TRAVEL IS POSSIBLE! You just have to watch Techmoan's videos... :-) A mix of 20th century history and technology! Simply wonderful... as usual