Danger 5 - The Complete Second Season - DVD

Content: It's Christmas in the colorful 80s! But things don't get festive at all for the Danger 5 team when Adolf Hitler (Carmine Russo) kills their boss. International agents Jackson (David Ashby) from the US, Tucker (Sean James Murphy) from Australia, Ilsa (Natasa Ristic) from Russia, Claire (Amanda Simons) and Pierre (Pacharo Mzembe) from France must team up again to finally kill Hitler once and for all. In the process, they not only get to deal with ninjas, dinosaurs, zombies, and Hitler's deadly pee-pee ray, but they also have to go back to high school and eventually even travel back in time. But Hitler and his minions always seem to be one step ahead of them. This time, will the team of Danger 5 succeed in ridding the world of Hitler for good?

The humor of Danger 5 was already special in the first season. While this one was still set in the 60s, it's now going full throttle into the flashy 80s. The first episode of the second season doesn't bode well, though. The gags are strangely flat and the many little whimsical ideas that still seemed charming in season 1 are completely overused here (e.g. characters with animal heads). Of course, there are some nice laughs here as well, but it just lacks the very special flair of the earlier episodes. It's true that their quality isn't reached by the end, but still, the humor curve goes up again significantly with the second episode. When the typical 80s high school comedies and teen slashers are put through the mischief, one forgives the somewhat platter gags.

In the course of the season, the family sitcoms so popular in the 80s (Hitler's House), the Power Rangers, Back to the Future, Vietnam dramas, cop movies or even zombie movies are targeted. The makers have captured the Eighties look perfectly in terms of clothing, hairstyles, décor and music. Hitler himself proves to be a master of deception in each episode, appearing sometimes as an old man in a hat (Hitler doesn't wear hats), sometimes as an FBI agent, a priest, a schoolboy or the undead. It's often so delightfully silly that it's funny again. Nevertheless, a few less zoten would have done the season good.

On the other hand, the decision that the series was not dubbed for the release in Germany again has a very positive effect in season 2. Because through the multilingualism (including English and German) and the different accents, the series gains enormously in charm and wit, which would have been lost in a complete dubbing in any case. So, despite the fact that the new episodes are not as funny as the ones of the first season, Danger 5 is again in its second year wonderfully crazy trash, which has so wonderfully stupid ideas to offer, that these can actually only have been created under the influence of mind-altering substances. This may not work for everyone. Fans of the first season should definitely give it a look, though, and don't be put off by the not-so-successful first episode. Worth seeing!

Picture + Sound: With bright colors and a coherent 80s look, the clean image of the DVD can convince all along the line. Sharpness and contrast are on a consistently good level. The sound is only available in English (or multilingual) original sound with German subtitles. The stereo mix also fits well with the over-the-top trash-retro feel of the series. The dialogues are mixed well understandable and a few sound effects make sure that there is also a little dynamic. Good!

Extras: There is an audio commentary by Dario Russo and David Ashby on all episodes. Although there are unfortunately no subtitles, the commentaries are absolutely worth listening to for viewers with a good command of English.

Conclusion: Danger 5's second go-around unfortunately falls short of the delightfully weird first season. By trying to top it, many gags just overshoot the mark and are no longer clever in their over-the-top nature, but just plain stupid. But fortunately there are also many successful and really funny ideas, which at least make up for some of the flat moments. The DVD is technically well done and the (unfortunately not subtitled) audio commentaries of the makers in the bonus material are really worth listening to. That is enough despite some weaknesses then in the end for an absolutely deserved: Recommendable!

An article by Frankfurt-Tipp