This week we are so lucky to be chatting with IMF team member Zhen Lei herself Maggie Q! We discuss her history in Hong Kong cinema, learning from Jackie Chan and how Brett Ratner was being courted for “Mission: Impossible III” before J.J. Abrams accepted the gig. We also get great stories about costume designer Colleen Atwood, her iconic red dress and working with Philip Seymour Hoffman. Also, lots of dog-talk and dog noises!

Here it is! The moment you’ve been waiting for! For our 200th episode we are joined by Tom Cruise himself! But that’s not all, we are also joined by “Mission: Impossible – Dead Reckoning” writer/director Christopher McQuarrie, editor Eddie Hamilton and actors Mark Gatiss and Nick Offerman. Plus, we get a cameo from “Top Gun: Maverick” stars Glen Powell, Greg Tarzan Davis and Danny Ramirez. This episode is very much worth the wait!

This week we dip into the “Mission: Impossible” multiverse by exploring the Robert Towne draft of the first movie. We go through the script, picking apart the changes from the final film, both subtle and substantial, while comparing it to the David Koepp drafts that both preceded and followed this draft. It’s a peek at a never-made ‘Mission’ that very nearly was!

We’re back, baby! It’s time for a new episode of Light the Fuse and this time we’re talking to perhaps the most important guest ever, Kerry Warn, the chief hair stylist for “Mission: Impossible 2.” Yes, this is the man behind the longest, wildest haired Ethan! Warn talks about how it was his suggestion to John Woo to leave Tom Cruise’s hair longer, what it was like working on “Eyes Wide Shut” with Cruise, and a screen test with a wind machine to watch how the hair moved. Just glorious.

While this is technically another episode of Light the Fuselage, we do veer into Light the Fuse material as we talk to “Top Gun: Maverick” score producer/composer Lorne Balfe, who is also composing the score for “Mission: Impossible – Dead Reckoning Part One.” We talk a lot about the music for the “M:I-7” trailer, whether or not the music from “Fallout” carries over and what the chorus is singing in the trailer music.

We’re still firmly in Light the Fuselage territory with “Top Gun: Maverick” score producer/composer Lorne Balfe. Lorne breaks down the contributions of every composer on the movie (which also includes Lady Gaga, Harold Faltermeyer and Hans Zimmer), the challenges of composing during the pandemic and how initially the score was more ‘80s-indebted.

This week we continue our exploration of the Danger Zone with Kevin LaRosa, Jr., the aerial coordinator for “Top Gun: Maverick.” LaRosa, Jr. tells us about his CineJet project and how he captured the flying stunts in the movie, when Tom Cruise leaps into action and the movie’s seamless mixture of CGI and practical effects. We also get him to talk about his favorite “Mission: Impossible” movie!

It's time for the conclusion of our Light the Fuselage chat with “Top Gun: Maverick” editor Eddie Hamilton. We talk about the first training montage (including how an unreleased Rolling Stones song from the 1960s nearly scored it!), what Edgar Wright contributed to the movie and Tom Cruise’s very best note. You don't want to miss this!

We’re back for part two of this special Light the Fuselage epic with “Top Gun: Maverick” editor Eddie Hamilton. This week, he talks about approximating the look of Tony Scott’s original “Top Gun” (and how they had to stay away from the HD remaster), we go in-depth on the introductory bar scene in “Maverick” and discuss what went into the big scene with Val Kilmer. Plus learn what Chris Lebenzon and Stephen Mirrione contributed to the final edit.

This week on Light the Fuselage we are joined by “Top Gun: Maverick” editor Eddie Hamilton, who we had on the main show many years ago (he also edited “Mission: Impossible – Fallout”). This week we talk about how editing “Top Gun: Maverick” was like climbing a mountain, we get into the Screen X presentation and just how laborious the action production was. Also learn how long he’ll have been on “Mission: Impossible 7” and “8.”