BLOG The Merits of a Mouse

American blogger Laura McConnell looks back at Danger Mouse from across the pond

SFX 193’s Rewind feature took me on a trip down memory lane.

I’ve been traveling. One of the portable means of entertainment I took along on my trip was the April 2010 issue of SFX and as I was flipping through the pages while marooned briefly in Texas, I got quite a surprise. For there, two-thirds of the way through the mag, a long-lost friend appeared out of nowhere. I must confess I gasped out loud when I saw him.

Danger Mouse!

How fun is that? I know some would argue that the great DM isn’t exactly sci-fi, but I’d argue that it is. I mean, there’s a flying car, some aliens here and there, and all manner of talking critters. So I commend SFX for covering Danger Mouse in the monthly Rewind retrospective slot.

Now, let me explain something. I’m American. In my country, historically, it took effort to watch British television. Reruns of Doctor Who, Red Dwarf, Black Adder, and Are You Being Served? were shown late at night on Saturdays if they were shown at all. The schedule was constantly changed, and one could never predict what would be shown when. That’s a lot better now, with the advent satellite television, BBC America, and DVR, but when I was young, no one had VCRs and cable TV was in its infancy. Even if I’d had friends in the UK then, they couldn’t have recorded programs and sent them to me. No one had heard of such things then. We Yanks were at the mercy of public television for whatever British programs it chose to send our way. But there was some hope. This cable thing was already showing some promise. Ah, yes. Cable did exist. I didn’t have it, but a friend did.

This friend of mine got Nickelodeon, a US children’s channel, a decade before I did. And somehow, someway, that channel aired a little British show about a mouse.

Like most UK programs, it was hard to know when it would be on, especially with its short length, but my friend managed to figure it out. Danger Mouse came on after some other short show we liked that I’ve long since forgotten. It filled the short spot left over after that show went off and before the next came on, and we loved it more than anything else we watched then.

I always tried to be at my friend’s house when DM was on, and we watched it religiously.

I loved Danger Mouse!

This month’s Rewind also made me realize how much my Danger Mouse education is lacking. I had no idea DM was on for ten years! I moved away from my Danger Mouse supplier in 1985, and I lost touch with my favorite special agent rodent. I’ve never seen DM on television here in the States since those childhood days. I always thought it was a fluke crazy show; a flash in the pan of memory. As a tiny one, I’m not even sure I knew DM was British (or even what that meant), but while I learned that very important fact later, and while I’ve seen occasional signs of DM online in recent years, I still haven’t seen hide nor hair of Danger Mouse on TV since those childhood days in the early eighties.

Until now. Rewind this month did more than give me some nostalgia. It also tipped me off to the fact that Danger Mouse is out on DVD, so I can bring him to my TV screen again. Now that I’m finally back in the land of reliable internet connections, a quick Google search has revealed that a region one release exists! How did I miss this? Oh, it doesn’t matter. All that matters is that I found it now!

Squee! Thanks for the heads up, SFX!

You're welcome. This is a personal article by blogger Laura McConnell. There are other blogs to be found here . Anybody else loving Danger Mouse? Comments welcome as always...