Mission: Impossible (TV Series) The Freeze (1968) User Reviews

Mediocre version of "Sleeper" but with interesting futuristic set design

[ftao-861-738382 · 7/10 · 22 September 2017]

"The Freeze" is similar in concept to Woody Allen's futuristic film "Sleeper", though it actually predates it by a few years. In the 1960's and 70's cryogenics was a popular topic, and some people did undergo the procedure, though there was no method to safely unfreeze people.

The Mission Impossible plot is not very believable. First of all the villain (decently played by Donnelly Rhodes) seems too gullible, not questioning the doctor's prognosis of his terminal illness. Plus one more big point, at the end (Spoiler follows), the success of the team's deception (regarding the statute of limitations running out) seems to hinge on the villain buying the newspaper outside the clinic. What if he got the newspaper elsewhere, or turned on the radio in his car, etc.?

Where I found this episode to be interesting is in the futuristic designs (more spoilers follow). The cryogenic chamber is very elaborate and impressive, like something out of "Metropolis". It is ironic, however, that in the scene where we see Jim designing the chamber, there is a schematic on the table displaying a vacuum tube circuit (transistors and other solid state circuitry were well on their way to obsoleting vacuum tubes by 1968)! After the villain wakes up, he is confronted by futuristic props such as Jetsons-like cars, instantaneous x-ray machine, videophone, and huge flat screen display (with plug in data modules like on the original Star Trek - these are not too far from modern USB drives). This is all supposed to be in 1980 - as usual, the filmmakers were too optimistic - most of these things did not appear until the 1990's or later. The flat screen monitor is particularly unbelievable - it's hanging from the ceiling, so projecting an image would be visibly obvious. I don't see how even Barney could pull this one off, even with an unlimited budget and more than a few days of development.

So, this is a fun episode to watch if you're not too picky about plot holes.

Good epsiode

[shakspryn · 8/10 · 24 December 2021]

In Seasons 6 and 7, our MI team was nearly always operating against criminals in the USA; here we have a fairly rare outing for Season 3, where they are doing just that instead of wreaking havoc on secret police in Iron Curtain countries.

This is one of those episodes where a powerful performance by a guest star really stands out. Donnelly Rhodes is excellent as the bad guy, desperate to live. You feel some sympathy for him, with the dilemma he thinks he's in. I would give this episode a grade of about B+; definitely respectable in quality, if not quite an "A" outing. This isn't one of the very best episodes, but it's much, much better than some of their worst ones, which in my opinion were all in Seasons 4 and 5; especially 5.

Fans of the show will find plenty to like in this adventure of our team. Jim and Rollin have by far the most interesting team roles to play, this time.

Weaker Third-Season Entry, but Offers Guest Stars Larger Roles

[Aldanoli · 6/10 · 22 March 2008]

"The Freeze" is one of the weaker third-season episodes, although it is redeemed somewhat by a relatively large part for guest agent John Zaremba (formerly Dr. Swain on "Time Tunnel," which also gave this series its frequent guest agent Lee Meriwhether). And, in particular, it allows guest-villain Donnelly Rhodes a significant screen presence and a chance to gnaw on the scenery mercilessly.

According to Patrick White's "The Mission: Impossible Dossier," Paul Playdon had to write this script in haste, and it shows in a number of plot lapses. First of all, we're told that the statute of limitations is about to expire for the armored car robbery that Rhodes, as bad guy Raymond Barret, committed five years before. According to the tape recording at the beginning, Barret has posed as another man for five years hoping to wait out the statute of limitations. The problem with this is that the statute isn't "saved" by finding incontrovertible evidence of Barret's guilt (namely, the stolen money); it can be stopped at any time simply by the prosecution filing criminal charges against him before it expires. Finding the money would be nice, of course -- but it's probably not necessary to gain a conviction.

And then, at the end, Barret is told that the statute has "ten more minutes" to run. Since we're also told that it's about 5:30 p.m., there had better be a court clerk's office still open somewhere -- and some district attorney ready with the charges all typed up and set to file -- if they're going to take advantage of this! The problem, of course, is that either Playdon assumed that finding more evidence, not filing charges, was necessary to "stop" the statute from running, or he assumed that the audience wouldn't know enough about the law to understand that.

The rest of the plot is essentially a combination of the first season's "Operation Rogosh" with a more cumbersome time-shifting con, and Playdon's earlier script, "The Mind of Stefan Miklos," in which the con is intended, eventually, to be uncovered both by Barret and by his two former accomplices who are pursuing him. One odd feature is that most of the duties given to Barney and Willy in this episode involves the laborious construction of the cryogenic apparatus that is supposed to convince Barret that he's been "preserved" for more than a decade until there's a "cure" for his "disease." Since the IMF could hardly have constructed a real cryogenic device, and since all that Barret really has to see is a tubular chamber with a lid that closes over him, there doesn't seem to be much point to the endless hoses being connected, the testing of various gas inputs, etc. All that this really seems to do is to give Barney and Willy something to do, and the director/editor a periodic "cutaway" from the rest of the team working to lure Barret into their con game.

Despite the plot weaknesses, Donnelly Rhodes had a plum part as the ruthless Barret, and he plays the part to the hilt. Rhodes' Barret is an eye-popping menace with nothing to lose, demanding "cooperation" from the various IMF members (even as he's falling into their trap). He probably has more screen time than any of the IMF characters, and he makes the most of it -- presaging the later seasons when capturing thugs like Barret and recovering the loot from bank robberies would become the IMF's staple instead of toppling foreign governments as they usually did during this era of the show.

As noted earlier, this episode also offered a relatively large role for John Zaremba, who always brought both an air of authority and smooth assurance to his portrayals -- which is why he was often cast as a judge, a scientist and, especially (as here) a doctor. Considering how easily Barret has to buy the story that he has a fatal disease (despite, of course, not feeling sick at all), only someone with Zaremba's gravitas could make Barret's credulity seem so reasonable. Mention also should be made of Vince Howard as Barret's former cell mate who provides the IMF with the critical information that Barret had been posing as someone else. Howard only has a few scenes (mostly to throw Barret's former accomplices onto the right scent), but he makes the most of a small role. In later years he would get better roles, and he shows flashes of the range he would bring to them here.

Ludicrous, absolutely ludicrous.

[oneklt · 3/10 · 24 January 2024]

A snarling gangster steals ten million dollars (not shown) double crosses his partners, hides the loot, then commits a second crime to cover his tracks, get arrested, and wait out the statute of limitations on the first robbery while sitting in prison for, oh, about ten years. The IMF team pose as doctors and trick him into believing he is terminally ill and can be frozen until a cure for his fatal disease is found. This necessitates letting him out of prison, naturally, so he can be tricked into leading them to the hidden loot. I could go on, but you get the picture. I suppose cryogenics had been in the news, and so producers decided to build a story around that idea. But the whole set up is preposterous. Every plot point defies logic. You'll be shaking your head in disbelief the entire time. Guest star Donnelly Rhodes doesn't generate one once of charisma, or sympathy, and poor Martin Landau looks embarrassed at the end. I'm sorry to be so mean-spirited, but the ignorance on display here is worthy of a punishingly low rating.