Simon and Jim discuss Brad Bird's live-action feature directorial debut, MISSION: IMPOSSIBLE – GHOST PROTOCOL, a zenith of the Mission: Impossible franchise. They get into how this film finally strikes the right tone for the franchise and how that tone will be carried forward from this point, the clear intent to replace Tom Cruise in the franchise that doesn't get carried forward, how this franchise addresses Tom Cruise's aging body in an interesting way for an action franchise, and how this film is part of Hollywood desperately trying to make Jeremy Renner happen.

Content warnings: nuclear war and nuclear extremism; terrorist attacks on buildings including 9/11; Russian military invasions including the 2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine, the 2014 Russian annexation of Crimea, the 2008 Russian invasion of Georgia; climbing at dangerous heights and vertigo; sexual coercion and exploitation.

Our theme song is Star - X - Impossible Mission (Mission Impossible Theme PsyTrance Remix) by EDM Non-Stop (https://soundcloud.com/edm-non-stop/star-x-impossible-mission) licensed under a CC BY-NC-SA 3.0 license.

Full references for this episode available in Zotero at https://www.zotero.org/groups/5642177/take_one/collections/PPYF3E2I