Danger 5

I first watched Danger 5 on YouTube, the 'Diamond Girls' mini web-series. I immediately fell in love. I was even more excited when at the end of the last of the web-series there was the announcement that it would air on SBS One in February!

Each week I tuned into SBS to watch this hilarious show and I was never disappointed. The running jokes were always funny, like when the Eagle headed director came in to give the team their mission and Claire would interrupt, or how when Hitler escaped he always dived out the same window. I always found it funny and never found myself checking the guide or wondering off for some tea.

If you like over-the-top stories and action, definitely watch this television show. For anyone who has seen Black Dynamite and liked it, I guarantee you will love this.

The ridiculousness of this show is on a whole other level. This show looks and feels as though it was shot in the 70s. There's nazi dinosaurs, power ranger style mech robots, corrupt police dogs, mind control crystals and the lost city of atlantis. At one point they shoot someone through the telephone. All of the special effects are done with dolls or miniatures and make to look as intentionally corny as possible. The entire premise of the show revolves around killing Hitler, something they fail to do constantly and make mediocre accomplishments, usually foiling hitlers current hare brained plans while he escapes unscathed to plot again.

The humor in this show centers not so much around punchlines or jokes but the sheer absurdity of what is going on. At one point Hitler goes into hiding in a high school and danger 5 has to go undercover, 21 jump street style. Somehow every character who dies lives conveniently long enough to describe their perfect drink to the bartender dude in detail so he can make it to honor their memory. Ilsa speaks exclusively in Russian which makes no difference to the fact that everyone seems to understand her and respond in English as if she was speaking the same language. And every episode ends in one of those bond-esque cocktail parties, until the episode when they start doing cocaine and then its basically a cracked out version of their usual cocktail parties. Everything is so, like, groovy man.

Australia's Danger 5 is strangely funny. The special effects are right out of The Thunder Birds and cheesy, and are meant to be. The jokes are corny, funny, and rely on a lot of sight gags. Needless to say Hitlers talking dog is a bad puppet character that is really hilarious and the episode with Nazi Dinosaurs (who were armed) had me laughing so hard I couldn't get my breath. Even things in the background are funny. The "Danger 5" are spies of International makeup. A lot of language is actual French & German so the show is subtitled and even this is funny.

Danger 5 is Thunder Birds meets Allo, Allo, with a large dose of Team America World Police, bad scripting thrown in for good measure. I watched this Australian TV import with my wife, who has no sense of humor, and even she thought the show was entertaining. I'll leave it at that !

Reminiscent of "A Fistful of Yen" (from Kentucky Fried Movie) and looking like "Mighty Morphing Power Rangers," "Danger 5" succeeds at one of TV and movie making's toughest goals; making a deliberately bad production that doesn't overshoot the mark.

"These two are part of a team the Allies put together to irritate me."-Adolf Hitler in "Danger 5."

Japanese Super Soldiers with swastikas on their helmets.

Armed dinosaurs.

A gold plated Panzer tank.

All this and more, played straight and at a pace that would challenge the focus of a 30 Rock fan. Doesn't seem funny out of context? That's the genius of "Danger 5." The context is hallucinogenic and yet the stories have a peculiar coherence that allow Eagle-headed commanding officers to seem both reasonable and laugh out loud funny.

Like I said, don't try to make sense of it. But watch a few episodes and there's a good chance you'll create your own way of "getting it." And if it doesn't make you laugh, for goodness sakes don't watch, because there's no "deeper meaning" in "Danger 5."

If you aren't watching this series you have to ask yourself, why do I even have eyes? Because if you aren't using them to watch this then you are doing it wrong. Natzis(sp), dinosaurs, babes, guns, puppets, international intrigue, it has it all.

In all seriousness it is a loving send-up of a dozen different genre's and eras that on paper looks like it would be a disaster but by some miracle it is amazing. The cast is totally committed to the insane plot while never winking at the camera. The writing is totally beside the point since the story is only exists to serve the various set pieces. Worth watching alone because it isn't anything like what you've seen before.