A couple of weeks ago, I finally picked up Danger 5 on DVD. I watched this series twice over on SBS On Demand. The show is a ’60’s-themed World War II spy series, where the agents of Danger 5 attempt to thwart Hitler’s bizarre plans for world domination. The main characters include Tucker, Jackson, Clair, Ilsa and Pierre, and they traverse the world encountering crystal-controlled dinosaurs, Japanese-brainwashed super-soldiers and impervious diamond girls.
For a long time, I thought Australian comedy programs were pretty much dead air. These didn’t interest me in the slightest. But Danger 5 takes its inspiration from Nazispolitation, the mens’ magazines of old, bad sci-fi, The Prisoner-via-con-Thunderbirds, grindhouse schlock, along with Italian and Japanese-style television from the ‘60s. The result, an insane series, packed with action, weirdness and perfect cocktail death soliloquies. If I was Howard Hughes, Danger 5 would be playing in my private cinema on a constant loop. That is really all that I can say about how much of a thrillride this show is.
I mean just take a look at this: