Will not self-destruct – Real Mission tape recorders: Impossible

Before Tom Cruise played in Mission: Impossible, the name belonged to a television series featuring explosive messages, though usually on tape recorders.

The YouTube Channel Techmoan took the initiative to review the different real-life tape recorders that have had air time on this show, demonstrating how well they look when they're playing. They are not dressed for television.

To spoil a little: the doors of the recorders were usually removed so that the strips inside could be seen playing. "Self-destruction" was usually done with a fog machine introduced into the tape recorder by drilling a hole in the table on which it was placed or by other more underhand methods such as concealing it with a tube of paint.

We are sure nowadays, especially for the expensive productions, that the messages are lit, but it was simpler and cheaper times.

Even if you do not have a special interest in retro technology, it's an easy look at the real machines behind a fictional show, and it also addresses some of the challenges of editing the series, as well as some mistakes department does in the production.

Techmoan mentions this as "Ep.1" so we can see future videos exploring further the franchise and other ways in which messages are transmitted and then destroyed.

Finally, if all of this gets you excited about Mission Impossible, we can not recommend enough Mission: Impossible – Fallout. It may have become a joke because of the mustache charging / disappearing, but it's a really exciting movie that is available for home streaming now and that should be on DVD / Blu-ray in December.