Danger 5: Season 2 - Back to the Fuhrer on January 4th

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Senor Tron: May 26, 2006

I was lucky enough to be given the opportunity to attend the Cast and Crew Australian premiere screening last night here in Adelaide (where the show is filmed)

We saw the first three episodes. They were shown at the world premiere in Texas a few days ago so reviews are already out there, but I figured the thread might like some of my impressions. I'm gonna keep this as spoiler-free as possible, but will include a bit of info on the premise of the second series so if you're really sensitive skip past.

I was a giant fan of the first series of Danger 5. Other people have drawn comparisons between it and the British series Garth Marenghi's Darkplace and it certainly filled the hole in my heart left by the short run of that show. The ambiguous time setting, low-budget look and anything goes writing set it apart as like nothing else currently on the air.

So when the second series was announced I was excited, but also had a fair degree of trepidation. How do you keep things rolling in that strange 1960's tv universe without them getting old? How many times can can you get a laugh from a giant talking eagle giving the team orders and putting down Claire,, and how many cocktail recipes can you hear from a dying persons lips before you stop paying attention?

It turns out the answer is 7, once for each episode of the first series. The second series could have kept to the established formula but instead the creators made the wise decision to let the first series stand by itself, and take this one in an entirely different direction. The routine is gone, and the first three episodes at least are both much more connected and at the same time more separated thematically than the first series was. If the first series was a tongue in cheek reflection on 1960's spy shows, the second series of Danger 5 is a love letter to 1980's cinema.

It's Christmas, at some unspecified time during the 1980's. The war against Hitler and the Nazis is long won and the team are living their lives as civilians to various degrees of success. This being Danger 5, it's no spoiler to say that Hitler turns out to be still alive and out for revenge against the team that continuously foiled his plans.

What follows is a surreal romp through cinema and television of the 1980's , with the occasional nod to more modern media. In what I saw there are episodes that feel like Miami Vice, 80's grit cop dramas, every high school teen flick of the 80's, and a one-liner reference to Jurassic Park that was perfectly done. The special effects are the one area where things feel occasionally off. Obvious model shots and strings are back, but there is a bit of a clash now purely because some of the effects are better than they have a right to be given the budget of the show. Some of the dinosaur effects genuinely impressed me, and there is an occasional inconsistency where a set feels real until a string appears.

All part of the Danger 5 experience, and I'm happy they kept the cheap-looking effects, but they just don't work quite as well as the first time around since they take you out of the 1980's atmosphere.

The show is filmed differently now. While the first series used the same sets repeatedly and made that part of the charm of the show, the second series feels like a greatly expanded universe. While I'm sure the nature of tv production (especially for an SBS show) means many of the same sets were actually re-used, it didn't stick out at all and the team was much more creative in hiding that. In keeping with the breakout from the confines of the first series, this is a much more graphic show. Blood abounds, and in true 80's fashion there are gratuitous topless shots a-plenty. It all feels right for the new setting, although one particularly unsavoury recurring habit Hitler has in establishing dominance over his subordinates had me squirming and will no doubt end up in some people having to turn the show off.

Not only was shaking things up a smart move creatively, it also works for covering up the changes that have occurred between the seasons. The original actor for Pierre was unavailable to film the second series, so his role is now played by the charming Pacharo Mzembe. If the second series was merely more of the same the recasting would have felt strange, but instead of aping Aldo Mignone's performance Pacharo is allowed to make the role his own and runs with it, resulting in what is both in some ways a new character, and in other ways the member of the Danger 5 team who most resembles his 1960's persona.

In the second series the team is also joined by Holly, a teenaged high school student (and target of Hitlers attention) played wonderfully by tv newcomer Elizabeth Hay. I won't give any spoilers about her role, except to say that the third episode contains events which suggests she will be an incredibly important character. She has a strong screen presence, and I won't be surprised if we see her gaining more tv roles in years to come.

The elephant in the room is of course the shows delay by SBS, with them apparently getting cold feet based on actions by ISIS that resemble something that happens in the show. We were asked to not share the details, but if you've been paying at least half-attention to current events you can probably figure it out from the comments the Danger 5 team have publicly made on the subject. Hopefully SBS changes their mind soon, because the event in question is repeatedly referenced in episodes thereafter meaning it couldn't be easily edited out.

The three episodes were over all too quickly, and when the light came on I was left wanting more, and also wishing I could rewatch what I had seen. This isn't the Danger 5 you've seen before, but it comes from the same place and I can't see any fan of the first series not loving the second.