Returning: Danger 5

Cult comedy Danger 5 returns to SBS 2 this Sunday night ready to thwart Hitler’s ultimate quest for world domination -but in a 1980’s universe of neon, ninjas, discos, dinosaurs, pizza and prom queens.

The Adelaide-produced series was due to air last month but was delayed by SBS due to “recent ISIS actions.”

Sean-James Murphy, Natasa Ristic, David Ashby, and Amanda Simons reprise their roles as Tucker, Ilsa, Jackson and Claire. Joining the cast this season are newcomers Pacharo Mzembe, and Elizabeth Hay while Shaun Micallef was so impressed by the first series, creators Dario Russo and David Ashby created two guest roles for him.

After winning the war for the Allies in the first season, Danger 5 have since disbanded, however when Colonel Chestbridge, their wartime leader, is brutally murdered in a London shopping mall and attempts are made on each of their lives, Danger 5 re-unite to mix up a fresh cocktail of revenge, intrigue and bullets.

In a bid to protect the world and save Christmas, Danger 5 must go undercover as high school students, become fugitives of the law, battle gun-wielding dinosaurs, run from Nazi zombies, save the Pope, and even go back in time, all the while contending with an unwanted travel companion: Holly, a clueless, annoying American high school senior, who has unwittingly found herself at the centre of Hitler’s devious new plan.

The new season is set in a bizarre, post war landscape with 1980s cinematic aesthetics defined by period visual effects, matte paintings, miniatures, Schwarzenegger grade gunplay, Jim Henson style puppetry, John Carpenter inspired prosthetics, slasher gore, Christmas trees, and copious synth, all meshed together by an outrageous and surreal style of humour.

The creators have created a completely original fictional universe steeped in the familiar hallmarks of 1980’s cinema and television with each episode based on a different genre.

Episode one taps in to the tropics evoking the atmosphere of Miami Vice and Scarface, whilst episode two plays on elements of high school movies like Ferris Bueller’s Day Off and The Breakfast Club. Later episodes explore urban cop films such as The Terminator, European horror films, and zombie classics such as Dawn of The Dead.

Anything can happen in the world of Danger 5: Animal headed characters are treated as commonplace as are talking inanimate objects along with a playful disregard for the laws of physics or common sense.

Last time it was war. This time it’s personal.

January 4, 9.30pm on SBS 2.