Danger Mouse (1981 TV series)

This article is about the 1981 television series. For the 2015 reboot, see Danger Mouse (2015 TV series)
Danger Mouse
Genre Children's, comedy, espionage
Created by Brian Cosgrove
Mark Hall
Voices of
Narrated by David Jason
Country of origin United Kingdom
Original language(s) English
No. of series 10
No. of episodes 161 (list of episodes)
Production
Running time 5–25 minutes
Production company(s) Cosgrove Hall
Distributor FremantleMedia Enterprises
Release
Original network CITV
Picture format 4:3
Original release 28 September 1981 (1981-09-28) – 19 March 1992 (1992-03-19)
Chronology
Related shows
External links
Danger Mouse official site

Danger Mouse is a British children's animated television series produced by Cosgrove Hall Films for Thames Television. It featured the eponymous Danger Mouse who worked as a secret agent. The show was a parody of British spy fiction, particularly the Danger Man series and James Bond. The show originally ran in the United Kingdom from 28 September 1981 to 19 March 1992.

A reboot of the original series, under the same name, began airing in September 2015 on CBBC.[1][2] The series also spawned a spin-off show, Count Duckula, which aired between 1988 and 1993.

History

Danger Mouse was created by Mark Hall[3] and Brian Cosgrove for their production company, Cosgrove Hall Films. Danger Mouse was based on Patrick McGoohan's lead role in Danger Man.[4]

The series was intended to have a more serious tone as seen in the pilot episode but Mike Harding gave Brian Cosgrove and Mark Hall the idea to make the series silly. Mike said: "The characters had got stuck in reality and were doing James Bond type things rooted in the solid real world. I argued that once you invented a Mouse Secret Agent then all of creation and a good chunk of not creation was his oyster. In other words we could be as barmy (crazy) as we wanted."[5]

By 1983, Danger Mouse viewing figures hit an all-time high of 21.59 million viewers.[6] On 4 June 1984, Danger Mouse was the first British cartoon to appear on Nickelodeon and become one of the earliest British cartoons to be in syndication in America,[7] as the series appealed to both pre-teens and adults with its quick-witted English humour.[8]

In the UK, Channel 4's 100 Greatest Kids' TV Shows, Danger Mouse came third, beaten only by The Muppet Show and The Simpsons.[9] The original Danger Mouse returned to terrestrial television after the BBC purchased episodes of the series to broadcast in its daytime schedules with its first broadcast on 12 February 2007.[10][11]

The series was expensive to make, sometimes needing 2,000 drawings[12] thus footage was reused while certain scenes were set in the North Pole or "in the dark" (i.e. black with eyeballs visible only, or, in Danger Mouse's case, simply one eyeball) as a cost-cutting measure. This time-and-money saving device was cheerfully admitted by both Brian Cosgrove, who conceived the character and the show, and Brian Trueman, who wrote almost all the scripts from the beginning.

Revival

It was reported in 2013 that the series was under consideration for a reboot,[13] and in June 2014 it was announced that a new series was being made for broadcast on CBBC in 2015.[14] The reboot is produced by Boulder Media for FremantleMedia Kids. It is directed by Robert Cullen[15] with Brian Cosgrove, one of the original creators, acting as creative consultant.[16] Alexander Armstrong and the actor Kevin Eldon voices Danger Mouse and Penfold, Dave Lamb takes the role of the narrator, whilst Stephen Fry and Ed Gaughan takes the roles of Colonel K and Baron Greenback respectively.[17] Armstrong's Pointless co-host Richard Osman appears in the series as Professor Strontium Jellyfishowitz.[18] John Oliver voices the character Dr Augustus P Crumhorn III and Lena Headey voices the character Jeopardy Mouse, a character newly introduced into this series.[1] This series will be aired on Netflix in the US.[19] Kevin Eldon describes the animation style as 'much the same as the original'.[20]

Jazwares is the master toy partner, Penguin Books will publish a range of printed books, including story books, official guides, sticker books, novelty books, annuals and electronic titles and D.C. Thomson & Co. will publish a monthly magazine with comic strips, puzzles, fact files, poster and competitions.[2]

The first episode aired on 28 September 2015.

Other adaptations

A long-running comic strip adaptation, written by Angus P. Allan and illustrated by Arthur Ranson, ran in Look-in magazine and was syndicated in various other magazines. Ranson also provided some backdrops for the TV series. Allan and Ranson's work was highly appreciated by Cosgrove Hall, and the pair were awarded an "Oh Goodness!, Oh Crikey!" award in appreciation of their services. Some of Allan's stories were adapted for the television series, although Allan's name was misspelled "Angus Allen". Artist Ranson later went on to illustrate Judge Anderson in the UK comic 2000 AD.

A series of video games based on the character also appeared. The first were Danger Mouse in Double Trouble and Danger Mouse in the Black Forest Chateau (both in 1984) followed by Danger Mouse in Making Whoopee! in 1985.[21][22][23]

Two mobile games were published by ZED Worldwide; Danger Mouse: Quiz in 2010 and Danger Mouse in 2011.

Some stories were also available as read-along cassettes with accompanying books. These were re-read by the cast for audio.

Merchandise

During its run, the series spawned a wide range of merchandise, including story books, hardback annuals, jigsaw puzzles, a Panini sticker album, View-Master disks and of course, VHS releases. In the years since, Danger Mouse products have continued to sell, often aimed at the now-adult audience which grew up with it, such as T-shirts, mugs, keyrings, fridge magnets and posters. To coincide with the 25th anniversary, Cosgrove Hall also licensed rights to a number of companies to produce a range of new anniversary merchandise including Blues Clothing (women's and girls' underwear and sleepwear) and Concept 2 Creation (collectible figurines).

FremantleMedia launched a webshop run by Metrostar e-commerce where a wide variety of goods were for sale, including the CD Audio adaptation of two Dangermouse episodes using the original artists voices, released by Steve Deakin-Davies: The Ambition Company.

Characters

Main characters

Danger Mouse, as seen in the title sequence.
Penfold in
"The Odd Ball Runaround".

Supporting characters

Episodes

DVD releases

Other appearances

Broadcast history

Danger Mouse has the initials 'DM' prominently emblazoned on his chest. This causes problems for those translating the series into other languages, where a literal translation of the words 'Danger' and 'Mouse' do not have those initials; the Scots Gaelic version, for example, calls the series (and the lead) Donnie Murdo (two given names unconnected either with mice or danger).[25] He was Dzielna Mysz (brave mouse) in Polish, Dundermusen (Thundermouse) in Swedish, and Dare Dare Motus in French,[26] "Dare Dare" being French slang for "as fast as possible". The Slovene translation omitted the DM initials entirely, however, dubbing Danger Mouse Hrabri mišek ('Brave Mouse').

In Australia, it was first broadcast on ABC TV, then moved to Network Ten in 1996. It is still best remembered as a Classic ABC program. It was also the first British cartoon to break into Cheez TV, being shown on the weekdays.

Europe

Americas

Australia and New Zealand

Asia

Middle East

References

  1. 1 2 Ben Beaumont-Thomas. "Crumbs! Lena Headey and John Oliver join Danger Mouse remake". the Guardian.
  2. 1 2 "Jazwares, Penguin and DC Thomson sign with Danger Mouse". licensing.biz.
  3. "Danger Mouse co-creator Mark Hall dies". BBC News.
  4. "Club DM". danger-mouse.net.
  5. "Cosgrove Hall". mikeharding.co.uk.
  6. "Cosgrove Hall: 30 years". BBC Manchester (BBC). Retrieved 1 June 2012.
  7. Georg Szalai. "'Danger Mouse' Remake: More Female Characters Planned". The Hollywood Reporter.
  8. Hannah, Warner (2004). Fascinating TV Facts (1 ed.). London: Ted Smart. p. 99. ISBN 0-7535-0919-9.
  9. "100 Greatest Kids' TV Shows". channel4.com. Archived from the original on 4 August 2002. Retrieved 26 August 2010.
  10. "Dangermouse (1981-1992)". British Film Institute.
  11. "Dangermouse back on 25th birthday!". BBC News. 5 September 2006.
  12. Roz Laws (23 July 2011). "Nostalgia: Danger Mouse (1981-1992)". birminghammail.
  13. "'Danger Mouse' reboot considered after CITV Old Skool weekend success". Digital Spy. 12 March 2013.
  14. "Danger Mouse to return to TV screens". BBC News. Retrieved 17 June 2014.
  15. Koch, Dave (18 June 2014). "Three New Animated Series, Reboots All". Big Cartoon News. Retrieved 18 June 2014.
  16. "BBC - Danger Mouse back on TV as new series announced for CBBC - Media Centre". bbc.co.uk.
  17. "Danger Mouse to be voiced by Alexander Armstrong".
  18. "Stephen Fry and Richard Osman join cast of CBBC's Danger Mouse". Prolific North.
  19. Jacob Kastrenakes. "Netflix picks up Inspector Gadget and Danger Mouse reboots". The Verge. Vox Media.
  20. http://www.wow247.co.uk/blog/2015/05/13/kevin-eldon-interview-danger-mouse-brilliantman/
  21. "Danger Mouse in Double Trouble". World of Spectrum. Retrieved 26 August 2010.
  22. "Danger Mouse in the Black Forest Chateau". World of Spectrum. Retrieved 26 August 2010.
  23. "Danger Mouse in Making Whoopee!". World of Spectrum. Retrieved 26 August 2010.
  24. "Interview with Brian Cosgrove on danger-mouse.net". Retrieved 7 December 2012.
  25. "BBC ALBA - Donnie Murdo/Danger Mouse". BBC.
  26. 1 2 3 4 5 http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0081848/releaseinfo?ref_=tt_dt_dt#akas
  27. Memo84. "Programación Martes 1 de octubre de 1991". fotech.

External links

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