DANGER 5

My friend Matt was over the other day and suggested that we watch a fun, campy show that he had recently discovered via the internet (or something like that). The show is called 'Danger 5', and it is really fresh, funny, and different. Here's a little background on the project: 'Danger 5' is an Australian action-comedy series which first premiered on an Australian national public television network back on February 27, 2012. It's a bizarre 1960s interpretation of World War II that follows a group of five international spies on a mission to kill Adolph Hitler. And that's only where the hilarity begins because the show is just so chock-full of oddity (clearly influenced by the world of Sid and Marty Kroft) that you're sure to be simultaneously laughing AND scratching your head in a "WTF is going on here?" sorta way.

To give you an example of just how kooky things get, here's an official plot synopsis of one of the episodes titled 'Lizard Soldiers of The Third Reich':

American GIs are being decimated by Nazi dinosaurs all over the Western front. Danger 5 heads to Belgium to investigate and has a series of close shaves with a trigger-happy Triceratops and a perverted Nazi Pterodactyl. Claire discovers that the dinosaurs have all been implanted with a mysterious type of crystal, native to Antarctica and Danger 5 embark on a journey to the South Pole. Antarctica proves to be a lost plateau of prehistoric wonder where Danger 5 encounter the bizarre Dr. Josef Mengele and his sinister volcano base filled with Nazi dinosaur minions.

Does THAT give you a clear enough idea of the silliness level they're operating on? Speaking of silly, you should see the guy that portrays Hitler. Well, here you go, take a look below...

And here are yet some more stills from the crazy show...

Trigger-happy Triceratops

Here's aiming at you, kid!

Leader of the '5', known as Chestbridge (or "The Colonel")

Don't ask me! I haven't seen this episode yet...

Clearly, a Nazi Dog.

Clearly, a Nazi Nun?

Ummm...

Last, but not least, here's a promotional shot of our intrepid '5'.
L to R - Jackson, Pierre, Claire, Ilsa, and Tucker

Now, if any of that has you intrigued, you should be able to find 'Danger 5' on Netflix for your viewing pleasure. Hope you enjoy it, I sure have!

A Boy's Toy Joy: The Fisher-Price Movie Viewer

There is probably only a handful of toys that I can fondly remember playing with as a child growing up in the 1970s. I plan to feature them one at a time, so as to give them the attention I feel they deserve.

The first toy that I would like to "focus" on is the Fisher-Price Movie Viewer. Its design was suggestive of an old movie camera and it even hand-cranked like one. The main difference, of course, was that you used it to watch movies, not film them. The movies that I can remember viewing with it were all animated cartoon shorts. And there were only two of those that I used to watch again and again.

Walt Disney's 'Lonesome Ghosts' was my all-time favorite. It starred Mickey Mouse, Donald Duck, and Goofy as ghostbuster/private eye types investigating an old haunted house. They even had on hats like Sherlock Holmes wore, and a magnifying glass, I think...

My favorite sequence was when they were already inside the old house and Mickey opens a door, only to be nearly drowned by a HUGE wave of water that comes rushing in! And four "spooky" ghosts come-a-floating on that very tidal wave. One of the neatest things about the viewer was that, because you powered it by hand-cranking the red dial, you could make it go as fast or slow as you wanted. Even frame by frame or BACKWARDS! So, the whole water sequence alone had a myriad of possibilities and could keep me fascinated for hours. The tale concludes when the three bumbling "detectives" are being chased by the ghosts and crash into a stack of flour barrels. They are then covered head-to-toe in white powder and end up scaring the ghosts away!

The End.

This was my 'Blade Runner'

at the tender age of 4!

My second favorite was Walt Disney's 'Three Little Pigs'. Now, I don't have to tell the story of that one, do I? Again, the thing that I loved to do was watch it in slo-mo or throw it in reverse when the Big Bad Wolf blew down the pigs' houses. I also enjoyed all the happy pig dancing and laughing in this one!

Their houses would get blown
down, then rebuilt again and again...

Thanks to a retro toy seller, I can now crank-up these gems whenever I feel like remembering some of the simpler joys of my youth. There ARE others, but I'll save those for another time!