Dangermouse: Close Encounters of the Absurd Kind on DVD

• Cert:
• Cat.no: PTDVD 8097
• Running time: 132 minutes
• Year: 1980
• Pressing: 2001
• Region(s): 0, PAL
• Chapters: 6 plus extras
• Sound: Mono
• Languages: English
• Subtitles: None
• Fullscreen: 4:3
• 16:9-Enhanced: No
• Macrovision: Yes
• Disc Format: DVD 9
• Price: £9.99
• Extras: Cast Biographies, Animated Menus, First Ever Count Duckula Episode

Director:

Brian Cosgrove

Producer:

Screenplay:

Music:

Voices:

He’s the greatest. He’s fantastic. He’s Dangermouse!

The cult of kids TV arriving on DVD continues with a series I regularly watchedand enjoyed before I hit double figures and which, on a recent I Love the80s, was admitted it was easy on the animators because many of the scenesthat featured in every episode, such as DM driving from his secret hideout,were copied across each time.

Six episodes are included here. For a mo I thought this would amount toaround 30 minutes screen time, but then I remembered that each one was airedin four parts (oh, how the continuing storyline would get me through yetanother unbelievably shitty week at school from Monday to Thursday; and whocared about Friday afternoons because the weekend was here!) and so lastsaround 20 minutes apiece.

Back to the plot and the six episodes are: Custard, The Duel, The Day ofthe Suds, The Bad Luck Eye of the Little Yellow God, The Four Tasks ofDangermouse and the ‘title track’, Close Encounters of the AbsurdKind in which Dangermouse (voiced by new first-time father David Jason)has to stop Baron Silas Greenback who is threatening to steal the Big EarTracking Station and Penfold (voiced by the late, great Terry Scott)has gone missing, but will DM find him before it’s too late? Daft question 🙂

It’s in 4:3 fullscreen and the print has many a scratch on it but nothing youdon’t expect and it certainly doesn’t put you off for those who were big fansand at least it makes a damn sight more bloody sense than Pokemon !

The sound is in mono which comes across clearly enough.

Wherever there is danger he’ll be there!

In the extras dept. there’s Cast Biographies for the cartoon charactersand not the voices behind them, the First Ever Count Duckula Episode,“No Sax Please, We’re Egyptian”, although he never quite did it for me,plus a brief sequence of DM being very unlucky with the birds.

The disc has no subtitles but a neat animated menu with the classic theme tune.If I had one complaint with the DVD it’s that there’s generally just onechapter per episode rather than breaking them down into individual parts.I say generally because the first episode has a chapter break randomlystuck in the middle, not between two of its parts but just somewhere whereit doesn’t belong.