''Danger 5'' is an Australian

action comedy Action comedy is a genre that combines aspects of action and comedy. The genre is most prevalent in film with action comedy films, though several TV series fit this genre. Film The action comedy film is a film genre that combines aspects of actio ...

television series A television show – or simply TV show – is any content produced for viewing on a television set which can be broadcast via over-the-air, satellite television, satellite, or cable television, cable, excluding breaking news, television adverti ...

which premiered on

SBS One SBS is a national public television network in Australia. Launched on 24 October 1980, it is the responsibility of SBS's television division, and is available nationally. In 2018, SBS had a 7.7% audience share. As of 2022, SBS is the lowest ...

on 27 February 2012. The

men's adventure Men's adventure is a genre of magazine that was published in the United States from the 1940s until the early 1970s. Catering to a male audience, these magazines featured pin-up girls and lurid tales of adventure that typically featured wartime fe ...

-magazine-inspired series was created by Dario Russo and David Ashby. The first series is set in a bizarre,

campy Camp is an aesthetic style and sensibility that regards something as appealing because of its bad taste and ironic value. Camp aesthetics disrupt many of modernism's notions of what art is and what can be classified as high art by inverting aes ...

, 1960s interpretation of

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...

and follows a group of five international spies on a mission to kill

Adolf Hitler Adolf Hitler (; 20 April 188930 April 1945) was an Austrian-born German politician who was dictator of Nazi Germany, Germany from 1933 until Death of Adolf Hitler, his death in 1945. Adolf Hitler's rise to power, He rose to power as the le ...

and thwart his plans of world domination. The second series is set in a similarly bizarre interpretation of 1982, with Hitler again the villain after somehow surviving the end of the war. The second series began airing on

SBS 2 SBS Viceland (stylised as SBS VICELAND) is an Australian free-to-air television channel owned by the Special Broadcasting Service (SBS). It began as SBS TWO on 1 June 2009, and was branded as SBS 2 between 2013 and 2016. On 8 April 2017, SBS ...

on 4 January 2015.

Project history

Development

After the success of the web series ''

Italian Spiderman ''Italian Spiderman'' (intentionally spelled without the hyphen present in Spider-Man) is an Australian short film parody of Italian action–adventure films of the 1960s and 1970s, first released on YouTube in 2007. The parody purports to be a ...

'' created by Alrugo Entertainment (Russo, Ashby, Tait Wilson, Will Spartalis and Boris Repasky), Australian broadcaster SBS became interested in turning the project into an

interstitial television show In television programming, an interstitial television show (or wraparound program or wraparound segment) refers to a short program that is often shown between movies or other events, e.g. cast interviews after movies on premium channels. The ter ...

. Due to ownership and copyright issues within the production team, the project fell through. Nonetheless, SBS were still interested in Russo and Ashby and in 2009 offered a development deal for a new show. Russo and Ashby submitted three concepts that, regardless of which was chosen, they would be happy to make. ''Danger 5'' was the chosen concept, the most ambitious and dense of the three.

Broadcast

A prologue

web series A web series (also known as a web show) is a series of scripted or non-scripted online videos, generally in episodic form, released on the Internet, which first emerged in the late 1990s and became more prominent in the early 2000s. A single i ...

entitled ''Danger 5: The Diamond Girls'' was released weekly on

YouTube YouTube is a global online video platform, online video sharing and social media, social media platform headquartered in San Bruno, California. It was launched on February 14, 2005, by Steve Chen, Chad Hurley, and Jawed Karim. It is owned by ...

throughout November and December 2011, in the lead up to the Australian broadcast. The series itself premiered on

on 27 February 2012. On 11 September 2014, the crew announced that series 2 had been delayed due to unforeseen international news events and the recent

ISIS Isis (; ''Ēse''; ; Meroitic: ''Wos'' 'a''or ''Wusa''; Phoenician: 𐤀𐤎, romanized: ʾs) was a major goddess in ancient Egyptian religion whose worship spread throughout the Greco-Roman world. Isis was first mentioned in the Old Kingd ...

actions. They released the series two trailer on the same day. The second series began airing on

on 4 January 2015.

Setting and style

The first series is nominally set in World War II but uses a style more akin to a TV spy series. The titular Danger 5 are a small group of

Allied An alliance is a relationship among people, groups, or states that have joined together for mutual benefit or to achieve some common purpose, whether or not explicit agreement has been worked out among them. Members of an alliance are called ...

agents who are tasked with stopping various schemes overseen by

. Each episode sees an intentionally ahistorical version of a major

Axis An axis (plural ''axes'') is an imaginary line around which an object rotates or is symmetrical. Axis may also refer to: Mathematics * Axis of rotation: see rotation around a fixed axis * Axis (mathematics), a designator for a Cartesian-coordinat ...

person come up with a bizarre plan more in line with a TV or comic book villain of the 1950s or 60s—stealing monuments from Allied nations to build an absurd Nazi super-monument, resurrecting dinosaurs, running a fixed casino to make weapons from gold and reprogramming captured airmen as Japanese pilots. The series adds a further layer of satire by intentionally aping the production and dated values. Obvious studio sets are used for outdoor shots, model work is intentionally poor, usually featuring unrealistic movements and visible strings, the characters often laugh at bad puns immediately following the deaths of allies. All drink and smoke conspicuously while non-white characters are often played by Caucasians with poor make-up. Stock footage is also used, most notably a shot of Hitler jumping through a glass window to escape that is reused in settings that feature no such window. Further surreal humour comes from the characters treating their universe seriously and not questioning various situations that are inexplicable to the viewer.

Cast and characters

Characters

Danger 5

A team of five

operatives repeatedly given bizarre missions by Colonel Chestbridge, not to mention responsibility for killing Hitler. All are highly trained, happy to kill without feeling any remorse, drink alcohol casually before, during, and after what are pitched as serious military operations, and chain-smoke.

Jackson

Jackson (David Ashby) is a macho and fiercely patriotic American, once abandoning the team in a futile attempt to prevent Hitler stealing the

Statue of Liberty The Statue of Liberty (''Liberty Enlightening the World''; French: ''La Liberté éclairant le monde'') is a List of colossal sculpture in situ, colossal neoclassical sculpture on Liberty Island in New York Harbor in New York City, in the U ...

. He clashes frequently with Tucker on missions due to having a hedonistic and selfish approach to work. Jackson harbours an unrequited crush on Ilsa and reads ''Real Man Magazine''.

Ilsa

Ilsa (Nataša Ristić) is a Russian, and speaks all of her dialogue in Russian with subtitles, which everyone understands without comment. She wears her uniform with as much flesh showing as possible and sees little problem with using sex to help the team in their missions (once distracting

Joseph Goebbels Paul Joseph Goebbels (; 29 October 1897 – 1 May 1945) was a German Nazi politician who was the ''Gauleiter'' (district leader) of Berlin, chief propagandist for the Nazi Party, and then Reich Minister of Propaganda from 1933 to 19 ...

by performing oral sex on him) or even if she just feels like it. This may be due to the staid lack of emotions Russians in the series have. She feels Claire is a prude and is aware of Jackson's feelings for her but seems indifferent. Ilsa is also a former wife of

Erwin Rommel Johannes Erwin Eugen Rommel () (15 November 1891 – 14 October 1944) was a German field marshal during World War II. Popularly known as the Desert Fox (, ), he served in the ''Wehrmacht'' (armed forces) of Nazi Germany, as well as servi ...

Tucker

Tucker is an uptight Australian member of the team. He is straight-laced to the point that hearing

bossa nova Bossa nova () is a style of samba developed in the late 1950s and early 1960s in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. It is mainly characterized by a "different beat" that altered the harmonies with the introduction of unconventional chords and an innovativ ...

causes him to suffer nosebleeds while he is often irked by the rest of the team being so easily distracted, though he is frequently undermined when they prove successful. He is a fan of ''Sensible Chuckle'' magazine and is in love with Claire, who saves him from becoming an indestructible Japanese robot-man. He later woos her with a self-written piece for the recorder and they finally kiss when the team seemingly kill Hitler in a tokusatsu mech battle, ending World War II. Despite being portrayed in-universe as a square he still partakes in the same level of drinking and smoking as everyone else. At the start of the second series they are preparing to get married when Claire is murdered by a returning Hitler. A grief-stricken Tucker attempts to turn himself into a brooding revenge-driven ninja in response but turns out to be inept. Throughout the series, he suffers flashbacks of Claire's beheading and carries her head around with him.

Claire

Claire is a

Cambridge Cambridge ( ) is a university city and the county town in Cambridgeshire, England. It is located on the River Cam approximately north of London. As of the 2021 United Kingdom census, the population of Cambridge was 145,700. Cambridge bec ...

graduate and a prim, chaste English woman. She is frequently uncomfortable around Ilsa and Jackson's openly sexual behaviour and initially frosty towards Tucker's more reserved approaches, though in the latter case she eventually relents. Claire is easily the most intelligent and capable member of the team. In an intentional comment on the sexism of the shows ''Danger 5'' is spoofing, she is largely ignored; Colonel Chestbridge especially takes great pleasure in belittling the usually salient points she raises during briefings. She is set to marry Tucker at the start of the second series but is killed on the day of her wedding.

Pierre

Pierre is of hazy European origin and obsessed with making the team cocktails. There are a series of recurring jokes around the character—wherever the team are sent he seemingly unexpectedly runs into an old acquaintance who knows him by a different name and hints at a mysterious past for Pierre; said acquaintance then dies in his arms partway through the episode, imparting a "perfect" cocktail recipe with their dying words. Pierre is the easiest-going member of the team and something of a neutral between the headstrong Jackson & Ilsa and the conservative Tucker & Claire. He is also the only member of the team to ever show any sort of emotional reaction to the repeated deaths of most of those unfortunate enough to get involved in a Danger 5 mission. The rest of the team are always oblivious to these moments. In series 2, Pierre is played by

Pacharo Mzembe Pacharo Mzembe is an Australian actor. He has performed on stage, in several television series and in feature films. Early life Mzembe's parents originate from Malawi, but he was born in Zimbabwe. He migrated to Australia at the age of six t ...

. The change is never mentioned in the series, even when he goes back in time and interacts with his past self (played by the original actor). Between series 1 and 2, Pierre has become an internationally famous musician. He is widely recognised by the general public and beats Johnny Hitler for the title of Christmas King due to his fame. In the episode "Un Sacco Di Natale", Pierre tells the Nazis disguised as priests that he is Catholic.

Kilroy

A sixth member of the team inexplicably introduced partway through the series 1 finale, Kilroy is a cel-animated

anthropomorphic Anthropomorphism is the attribution of human traits, emotions, or intentions to non-human entities. It is considered to be an innate tendency of human psychology. Personification is the related attribution of human form and characteristics t ...

dog. His cartoon nature is never mentioned by anyone, nor is his sudden appearance. He largely speaks in hackneyed surfer vernacular until he is fatally shot in the head by Hitler midway through the episode. After imparting a dying cocktail recipe to Pierre he is never seen, mentioned or referenced ever again.

Colonel Chestbridge

The team's superior who gives them their missions, which always finish with a reminder to "kill Hitler". He has a bird's head which, in keeping with the show's style of humour, is neither explained nor mentioned by any of the characters. The Colonel displays open irritation and contempt for Claire and grows more irascible as the first series goes on due to the team's failures to kill Hitler and end the war, escalating to using a shotgun to keep order during a briefing. He is seemingly retired at the start of the second series but is targeted and killed by Hitler.

Episodes

Series 1 (2012)

This list is ordered by the original air dates on SBS One in Australia.

Series 2 (2015)

Series 2 began airing on 4 January 2015.

Legacy

''Danger 5'' has been released on

Netflix Netflix, Inc. is an American subscription video on-demand over-the-top streaming service and production company based in Los Gatos, California. Founded in 1997 by Reed Hastings and Marc Randolph in Scotts Valley, California, it offers a fil ...

in the United States, Australia, Ireland, New Zealand and the United Kingdom. A brand-new series of audio stories featuring the original cast was released in 2020 via

Audible Audible may refer to: * Audible (service), an online audiobook store * Audible (American football), a tactic used by quarterbacks * ''Audible'' (film), a short documentary film featuring a deaf high school football player * Audible finish or rush ...

.https://www.audible.com.au/pd/Danger-5-Stereo-Adventures-Audiobook/B087C5ZBXN

References

External links