Danger Mouse (Western Animation)

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He's the greatest! He's fantastic!
Wherever there's danger he'll be there!
He's The Ace! He's amazing!
He's the strongest, he's the quickest, he's the best!
Danger Mouse! (amazing)
Danger Mouse!! (astounding)
DANGER MOUSE!!!

— Opening theme

British animated series by Cosgrove Hall, running on ITV from 1981 to 1992, starring (now Sir) David Jason as the voice of Danger Mouse, a mouse who is the world's greatest secret agent. Accompanied by his somewhat more timid and bumbling hamster partner, Penfold (voiced by comedy veteran Terry Scott), Danger Mouse saves the world each week from a variety of menaces ranging from fiends such as criminal mastermind and arch-enemy Baron Silas Greenback, as well as monsters and even their own narrator. Although an entertaining and original series in its own right, Danger Mouse actually began as a parody of Danger Man (which is better known in the United States as Secret Agent, and as the forerunner of The Prisoner).

Not to be confused with the music producer of the same name (aka Brian Burton). David Morgan-Mar of Irregular Webcomic! has also taken Danger Mouse as a nickname.

A revival of the show consisting of 52 episodes was announced in June 2014, 23 years after the end of its original run and 5 since the closing of Cosgrove Hall. Danger Mouse (2015) has its own page now.

Both the original series and the 2015 reboot are now available on the streaming service Tubi.

Wherever there is danger, there'll be tropes!

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A to C

Accent Adaptation: Odd example in Stiletto Mafiosa. In the original broadcast he had an Italian accent, but when the show was handed over to Nickelodeon in America, he was redubbed with a Cockney accent. The DVD set by A&E gives him back the Italian accent, which is quite a surprise to people who grew up on the Nickelodeon cartoons. A few of Stiletto's lines were changed as well- as seen in "Public Enemy No. 1" after DM suffers his amnesia-inducing bump to the head, there is this exchange:
Stiletto: All right...I am surrendered!
DM: Hmmm? Oh...how do you do, Mr. Surrendered.
Stiletto: Eh? Is that-a English joke, signor? (In America with Stiletto's accent change, the line was changed to "Don't you know who I am, guv?")
AcCENT upon the Wrong SylLABle: One of DM's catchphrases was "You fiend", which he would inexplicably pronounce as "FEE-end."
The Ace: DM himself; his Theme Song even tells you outright!
Action-Hogging Opening: Two sets of bomb-dodging, multi-sword wielding spider, rescuing Penfold from an alligator pit, then jumping into the Mark III and over to the narrator.
Added Alliterative Appeal: Frequently used, and just as frequently lampshaded by the narrator:
"London, a city shrouded in shadows. From Shoreditch to Shooters hill, from Shaftesbury Street to Shepherds Bush, shoppers shrink as shady shapes shuffle shiftily. Who can shatter the sinister shutters? Shout for the nation's shield! Shend for Dangermoushe!"
- The main characters are usually given descriptive titles, with DM as "the White Wonder", Penfold "the Hopeless Hamster", and Greenback "the Terrible Toad".
- In "The Great Bone Idol" when DM discovers the Idol in a chamber full of sleeping elephants:
Positively packed to the portals with prostrate pachyderms!
Agony of the Feet: DM meets Bigfoot and finds the poor creature suffers so many foot-related ailments that he regularly blacks out from the pain.
A.I. Is a Crapshoot:
- The rebellious electrical appliances in "Mechanised Mayhem" are being controlled by a sentient supercomputer bent on world domination. DM and Penfold cause it to crash (literally) by reciting the "My dog has no nose."/"How does he smell?"/"Terrible!" joke.
- Grovel, the robot servant to the alien Quark, fits this to a tee.
  Quark: Jangs, when I find the idiot what programmed you...
- In "The Good, the Bad and the Motionless," the computer in DM's car tells him off.
  Computer: Listen...before you start asking questions, forget it.
  DM: I beg your pardon?
  Computer: Oh, I know what it's gonna be. You're faced with an insolvable problem. Well, don't ask me. On two pan cells and two-and-a-half K of RAM, you have to be kidding!
All for Nothing: ZigZagged in episode "All Fall Down". Mac the Fork and Dudley Poyson have built a world-shattering earthquake device from plans stolen from Puttinghamdown Research Centre. Once the device is built, DM studies the blueprints for it and lets the villains try to use it. As DM and Penfold escape and the villains activate the device, the very building they're in (and only the building) comes crumbling to earth over them. DM notes that Colonel K must have spilt his tea on the blueprint, making what was left of it only able to get the device to enable localized quakes. Penfold wonders if he and DM went through all that for nothing, but DM reasons it did put pay to two nasty villains.
All Just a Dream: In "Danger Mouse Saves The World...Again", DM and Penfold are in a room full of explosives with no way to escape, but just as the giant digital timer on the wall counts down to zero, it suddenly plays the alarm indicating an incoming call from Colonel K. Cut to DM on the sofa in his pillarbox jumping up in shock, revealing the entire episode up to that point to have been a dream.
Americans Are Cowboys:
- Played straight in "The Trip to America", in which the only American DM meets is a cowboy.
- Averted in "The Statue of Liberty Caper": The White House Secret Service Men all wear sunglasses and talk in government-ese, and the crowd viewing DM and Penfold's ticker tape parade at the end are regular folk.
Animated Outtakes:
- In "Duckula Meets Frankenstoat", DM flubs his line twice when breaking in to confront Frankenstoat.
- In "Where There's a Well, There's a Way," Copperconk Cassidy flubs his line twice as he is about to manifest Merlin's mystic inkwell.
Animation Bump:
- For the show's low budgets, DM's dance for the tickleohippuses in "Multiplication Fable" was quite fluid.
Arbitrary Skepticism: The first show's episode "Close Encounters of the Absurd Kind" has DM refusing to believe they're dealing with aliens until the very end. The previous episode, "Custard", had him jetting all over the universe interacting with all kinds of weird space characters.
Arrowgram: DM and Penfold receive a message tied to an arrow which is impaled in a tree—with Penfold's cap attatched to it—in "Once Upon A Timeslip".
Arson, Murder, and Jaywalking:
- The Mega-Brain Computer ("Mechanised Mayhem") claims to have 48K megabytes of RAM, an exponentially developing intelligence and two tickets to the cup finals.
- In "Tiptoe Through The Penfolds", DM assesses Greenback's Magnetic Molecular Molder, which is out of control making Penfold duplicates:
  DM: Let's see...if that's the phase loop rectifier and that's the PH discriminator then that must be a plastic clothes peg.
- In "The Spy Who Stayed In With a Cold," Agent 57 fills in for bedridden Penfold. As he explains why he changes his form when he sneezes:
  Agent 57: I had an accident with a molecular fragmenter when I worked at research HQ.
  DM: Ah...molecular fragmenter! Lost critical voltage?
  Agent 57: Mmmm...no...
  DM: No? Shorted out the tripendo?
  Agent 57: Mmm...no...um...ran into with my tea trolley, actually.
Ask a Stupid Question...:
- From "Bandits, Beans and Ballyhoo":
  Colonel K: They don't call him El Loco for nothing.
  DM: Yes. Um...why do they call him El Loco?
  Colonel K: Went off the rails at the age of 3.
- In "Chicken Run" after a giant egg falls and splatters the Mk. III with yolk:
  DM: Penfold, we've got a problem.
  Penfold: What's that, sir?
  DM: Where can we get a rasher of bacon five yards long?
Attention Whore: Count Duckula.
Attack of the 50-Foot Whatever: In "Chicken Run", Penfold grows to giant size after jumping into a feeder full of Professor Squawkencluck's growth serum. He winds up being the episode's hero as a result, capturing Greenback and Stiletto in the process.
Bad "Bad Acting":
- At the beginning of "The Four Tasks of Danger Mouse", Greenback reveals to Danger Mouse that he is behind Penfold's kidnapping, and shows him a live feed of Penfold in his cell. Penfold claims he is being treated well, but the fact that he makes this claim in an awkward, wooden monotone clearly indicates that he is just saying what he has been told to say (if the occasional prompting from Greenback wasn't enough of a giveaway):
  Danger Mouse: Penfold! Are you all right?
  Penfold: (monotone) I'm - being - treated - well.
  Greenback: Good, good!
  Penfold: (still monotone) The frost in my cell is very pretty, I am not hungry anyway, and, erm, erm...
  Greenback: And the beetles!
  Penfold: Oh yes. And the beetles are awfully friendly.
- In the last act of "The Duel", after Penfold has been hypnotized by "Madame Stiletto" — not just monotone, but also in "Madame's" fake Roma accent:
  Penfold: I want-a to go-a for a ride on-a Big Dipper.
  DM: Yes, yes, alright, we're on the Big Dipper!
  Penfold: An' I-a will not-a tell-a you... it is-a a trap!
  DM: Alright! Then don't!
- DM and Penfold do the opening of "Bandits, Beans And Ballyhoo" after the narrator storms off. Their dialogue is delivered hammily and slowly.
  DM: (gestures to the lift) Come on, erm... Penfold, my faithful assistant!
  Penfold: (clears throat) I'm coming, Danger Mouse. 'Cor, it's nice to be back in the Mayfair headquarters of the world's greatest secret agent! (he indicates DM, who mugs at the camera and shows off his badge)
  DM: Yes. Although that holiday in Mexico was most enjoyable. (Penfold shows the "Mexico" label on their luggage)
  Penfold: Yes. It certainly was, Danger Mouse.
Bait-and-Switch Comparison: In "Once Upon a Timeslip," a technical issue permits the narrator to make the characters act out a Robin Hood story. DM, as Robin Hood, comes across Little John (Penfold) on a log bridging a stream. Penfold brandishes his quarterstaff spasmodically as DM just passively looks at him.
Narrator: And as these two fellows struggled in cunning fight, it formed a bond of friendship twixt the two. One admiring of the other's skill, the white one thinking what a twit he was.
Banana Peel: DM deliberately slips on one during his fight against himself (It Makes Sense in Context) in "Attack of the Clowns".
Batman Can Breathe in Space: DM and Penfold seem to be able to breathe in space after being shot into it in "The Bad Luck Eye of the Little Yellow God".
- Handwaved in "Project Moon" where DM and Penfold take oxygen pills prior to their mission on the moon.
- Subverted in "Gremlin Alert" when after DM dispatches of the anti-logic gremlin, the lack of atmosphere kicks back in leaving DM gasping for air.
Be Careful What You Wish For: After DM causes the Mega-Brain computer to blow up in "Mechanised Mayhem", it eventually stops Greenback's travel device from attacking their HQ. Greenback wants a bigger and better computer, and the Mega-Brain computer crash lands on top of him and Stiletto.
Stiletto: Oh, well...it-a could been worse, Barone.
Greenback: How worse, you dolt?
Stiletto: Well, ya coulda wanted the Q.E. II! (they both laugh, but then they hear a steamship horn; they glance up, groan "Oh, no!" as the Q.E. II lands on top of them)
Bedsheet Ghost: DM and Penfold disguise themselves as this to scare off Greenback and Stiletto in "Trouble With Ghosts." Then two actual ghosts appear behind DM and Penfold and scare them.
Ghost: He can move for a little 'un, can't he?
Big Bad: Baron Silas Greenback. In the 1979 pilot "The Mystery of the Lost Chord", he was named Greenteeth. In the 2015 reboot, Silas's name is slightly extended to Baron Silas Von Greenback. In what could be a bit of Foreshadowing, the head of the International Egg Company (1981 episode "Chicken Run") identifies him as Baron Von Greenback.
Big Bad Wannabe: Dr. Crumhorn, a wolfish creature introduced in series 10, has Penfold imprisoned ("Penfold Transformed") and calls Greenback a "fat and feckless fool." Of course, Greenback takes umbrage and sends in Stiletto in a Penfold outfit to pair up against Crumhorn's Penfold robot in a bid to see who can destroy Danger Mouse first.
Bigfoot, Sasquatch, and Yeti: Featured in "The Four Tasks of Danger Mouse" and "Bigfoot Falls".
Bizarre and Improbable Ballistics:
- In "The Duel", Greenback claims to have hit all targets in a shooting gallery. He hands DM a shotgun with the muzzle bent almost entirely back on itself. DM then one-ups him by aiming the bent shotgun just right that the shot Pinball Projectiles off the edges of the gallery, hitting every target, including one last ricochet that takes a long pause to arrive.
- In their first scene of "The Bad Luck Eye of the Little Yellow God", DM and Penfold are playing snooker. DM is lining up his shot when the alarm heralding an incoming message from Colonel K sounds, causing him to miscue wildly... and still manage to pot all six coloured balls, in the correct order (yellow, green, brown, blue, pink, black).
  Colonel K: Ah, DM. D'you believe in luck?
  DM: Luck? Good heavens, no, sir!
  Penfold: (indignant) What, after a shot like that!?
- In "Afternoon Off With the Fangboner", DM can shoot a golf ball in all eighteen holes in one shot. (He actually hits it in seventeen holes, but the ball rolls in the eighteenth after he and Penfold leave.)
  DM: I sometimes wonder if that round-in-one at Gleneagles was just a fluke.
Blind Without 'Em: Penfold. Well, he is a very molish-looking hamster. Hamsters are in general very near-sighted (and color-blind to boot). Possibly an example of Shown Their Work.
Blowing a Raspberry: In "'Cor! What a Picture," Penfold involuntarily blows raspberries at DM. He's under control of Baron Greenback who is using a photo of him in a machine that can physically manipulate him.
Borrowed Catchphrase:
- In episode "The Ultra Secret Secret", it's Greenback who tells Penfold to shush, and DM objects.
- In another episode, he objects when Penfold says "Good grief!"
- In "Bandits, Beans and Ballyhoo", DM is groping for an explanation on how El Loco the bandit snuck into his luggage when Colonel K abruptly says "Danger Mouse...shush."
- DM says "Oh, crumbs!" at the end of "Tower of Terror" when he and Penfold find themselves facing a monster banana.
Bowdlerise: Stiletto's lines for international shows were re-recorded with a different accent to avoid offence. See Accent Adaptation.
Bragging Theme Tune: Possibly the most bragging theme tune ever:
He's the greatest! He's fantastic!
Wherever there's danger he'll be there!
He's the ace! He's amazing!
He's the strongest, he's the quickest, he's the best!
Danger Mouse! ... Danger Mouse! Danger Mouse!
By the Lights of Their Eyes: Standard for any scene set in darkness.
Call-Back: In "Penfold Transformed", Greenback plants Stiletto in a Penfold costume with Danger Mouse and refers to the mistake he made creating too many in "Tiptoe Through The Penfolds".
Cartoon Bomb: You know what you're in for after the opening credits.
Catchphrase:
- "Oooh, crumbs/crikey/heck!", "Good grief", "Penfold, shush"", "Ah, good show, D.M!", "You fiend", "Si, Barone" ("Roight, Baroni" for Americans), "You're not laughing''" etc. etc. Everyone gets one.
Cats Are Mean: "Planet of the Cats" and Greenback's feline robot in "Cat-astrophe". Somewhat justified in that the main characters are rodents.
Chest Insignia: Danger Mouse has his initials in a red circle on his chest. According to "Alping Is Snow Easy Matter" and "Lost, Found and Spellbound", it's a badge made of titanium alloy.
Chromosome Casting: Female characters are few and far between in the original series. Among them are a secretary ("Chicken Run"), a witch ("Where There's a Well, There's a Way"), Penfold's aunt ("The Statue of Liberty Caper," "Ants, Trees and Whoops-a-Daisy"), the voice of Miss Boathook and a mention of DM's paramour Fifi ("Statues," "Mechanised Mayhem").
Chuck Cunningham Syndrome: Leatherhead, Greenback's other crow henchman, who only appears in the pilot and two episodes of the main series.
Cliffhanger:
- The stories in Series 2-4 aired in five minute segments every weekday. The first four episodes generally ended with a cliffhanger over a To Be Continued screen, and at the beginning of the next day's episode, the narrator would deliver a Previously on… summary to remind viewers where they were the previous day. For example, Episodes 4 and 5 of "Close Encounters of the Absurd Kind" are bridged by a scene in which Penfold is sucked out of the airlock of a spaceship:
  Narrator: (at the end of Episode 4) Is Penfold destined to be the first Penfold to go where no Penfold has gone before? Can Danger Mouse get him back? Can our heroes escape from their alien captors? Will the guard lose his no-claim bonus on his hoverpod? And where is Baron Greenback? To find out, tune in next time to Danger Mouse in "Close Encounters of the Absurd Kind"!
  (at the beginning of Episode 5) Colonel K warns Danger Mouse that the evil Baron Greenback is out to steal the Big Ear tracking station. But as he tries to seek out the evildoers, Penfold disappears in midair! About to be destroyed by Greenback's missile, Danger Mouse is sucked miraculously out of its path, and held prisoner by the strange creatures who idiotnapped Penfold. Mistakenly believing that they have been captured by the Baron, our heroes escape their captors, but while searching for a door to the outside, are once more parted! Will they ever meet again? Stay tuned for Part 5 of "Close Encounters of the Absurd Kind"!
Clip Show: "Demons Aren't Dull" uses scenes from previous episodes in the segment where DM is being humiliated on a testimonial show. "The Return Of Count Duckula" uses a slightly altered segment from "The Four Tasks Of Danger Mouse".
Codename Title: Secret Agent Protagonist Title, named as a reference to Danger Man.
Colour-Coded for Your Convenience: The title card for "The Good, the Bad and the Motionless". White for "The Good" (Danger Mouse), red for "The Bad" (DM's evil clone), and blue for "The Motionless" (Penfold).
Comic-Book Adaptation: Danger Mouse regularly appeared in ITV-Thames' Look-In series of books and was generally very faithful (adding a new character—Greenback's "white sheep" nephew Hopalong Casually). Displaced in Marvel Comics' editions (seen in issues of the Count Duckula book)—no pillar box, Off-Model art (an eyebrow over DM's eyepatch), and continuity issues (Miss Boathook seen as a sexpot who in one story flirts with DM).
Comically Missing the Point: In "Duckula Meets Frankenstoat" where DM and Penfold are on a skiing holiday:
DM: This morning we're going to tackle the giant slalom.
Penfold: Well, I'm not all for tackling giants but anything's better than skiing.
DM: A giant slalom is skiing, Penfold.
Penfold: Ah, well...we won't have to worry about tackling him. He'll probably fall and break his neck anyway!
- At the conclusion of "Public Enemy No. 1" after DM gets his memory back:
  Penfold: Chief...you're back!
  DM: (turns his head to look at his back) What's wrong with it?
  Penfold: No, I don't mean "your back." I mean "You're back!"
- Once the calamity of "Play It Again, Wufgang" has been established:
  Narrator: Only one hope remains for the world as even now in his cylindrical headquarters in Mayfair, Danger Mouse is alerted. (That's funny, I thought he was a secret agent. Oh, well...)
- Colonel K is prone to this. In "The Good, the Bad and the Motionless," DM tells him Penfold is carving up a swede for Halloween (a swede is a root vegetable like turnips and rutabagas), to which the Colonel says he didn't know Penfold could play tennis, thinking DM was talking about Björn Borg.
- Another Colonel K moment from "Tiptoe Through the Penfolds," when a Penfold clone suddenly rises and disintegrates:
  DM: One of the Penfolds just blew up...went off, pop!
  Colonel K: So did I when I was his age. Went in for lemon and barley.
- From "One of Our Stately Homes Is Missing," after DM asks whose home has been stolen:
  Colonel K: The Duke of Bedbug. But we think we know who's behind it.
  Penfold: Well, there may be lots of people behind it.
  Colonel K: How's that?
  Penfold: It's a very big mansion!
  DM: (slowly after a beat) Behind the theft, Penfold. Not behind the house.
Comically Small Demand:
- More a request, in "Turn of the Tide," Keith—the proprietor of the junk yard on the Moon's Copernicus crater wants only one thing in exchange for all the accumulated wreckage (which caused Earth's tides to go haywire)—eyebrows. Penfold's in particular.
- Similarly, the ant tribe from "Ants, Trees and Whoops-a-Daisy" have Penfold tied to a concrete tomb where as a sacrifice they demand "the sacred caterpillars" (re: his eyebrows). DM offers his rubber duck for Penfold's release but the tribe rejects it for an imperfection—the squeaker is missing.
Cool Car: DM's wheels, officially named "The Hero's Car" (or the Mk. III/IV depending on which incarnation).
Cool Ship: The Frog's Head Flyer (also Humongous Mecha relative to the rest of the cast of course).
Cowardly Sidekick: Penfold. In the first series episode "Rogue Robots", the narrator reveals that his codename is "The Jigsaw", because "when confronted with a problem, he goes to pieces." If he's not trying to make excuses not to go on the latest adventure, he's running off screaming or cowering behind the more traditionally heroic Danger Mouse.
Criminal Amnesiac: DM in "Public Enemy No. 1". Greenback makes DM think he's a bandit called the White Shadow and sends him on a crime spree. Unfortunately for all involved, including Greenback, DM turns out to be just as good at committing crimes as he usually is at stopping them.
Crossover: Seven months after airing its finale of the original series, Danger Mouse crossed over into an episode of Victor & Hugo: Bunglers in Crime. (Victor and Hugo were human versions of Gaston and Pierre, two inept avian criminals who appeared on Count Duckula.) "French Exchange" had the two hired to deliver DM's Mk. III car to Baron Greenback.
Crouching Moron, Hidden Badass: Penfold on a few occasions. He takes the initiative in "Public Enemy No. 1" (when DM gets amnesia) and "Beware of Mexicans Delivering Milk" (after DM's strength is sapped). This is inverted in "Penfold Transformed" as the Penfold robot (whom DM assumedly doesn't know is a robot) answers a Crossword Puzzle clue that DM can't:
Penfold Robot: Having trouble with the crossword, chief?
DM: Um...
Penfold Robot: What's the clue?
DM: "Overgrown, confused, having lost its way initially but winds up taking charge."
Penfold Robot: How many letters?
DM: Eight.
Penfold Robot: "Governor."
DM: What?
Penfold Robot: "Governor." An anagram of "overgrown" without the "W" which "lost its way initially." First letter in "way." You see?

D to F

Delayed Reaction:
- In "The Good, the Bad and the Motionless," DM is battling his demonic alter ego who admonishes him for using his car computer for advice on how to fight him, saying it was "against the rules." DM looks prepared for some punishment until it dawns on him:
  DM: Hey, wait a minute...what rules??!
- In "Ee-Tea!," crates of tea on the docks of Bombay suddenly get pulled into the skies and into space.
  Penfold: Oh...must be high tea, chief! Hee hee hee!
  DM: (chuckles) "High tea!" That's a—(quick beat) Penfold, not at a time like this!
- From "The Long Lost Crown Affair": Penfold mistakes DM tapping his fingers as a tarantula so he bashes his hand with a mallet. After a rather long pause:
  DM: (softly) Wait here, Penfold. There's...something I have to do. (Goes behind a wall and lets out a protracted howl of pain)
Demoted to Extra: Greenback, Stiletto and Nero were nearly in every episode for the first five seasons. Starting with season 6, they began to appear less in favor of more villains for Danger Mouse to face.
Description Cut:
- From the opening of "Dream Machine":
  Narrator: Springtime in England, on a day unlike any other. (a sparkling green cloud floats over the Houses of Parliament) For on this day, that crown prince of malevolent ne'er-do-wells, Baron Silas Greenback, cast an evil shadow across the country's capital, starting a chain of events that were to develop to nightmarish proportions for the world's greatest detective. (exterior shot of DM's pillarbox bearing a note saying "No milk today. Thank you") Who, even now, stands in readiness, coiled like a panther, ready to spring to the defence of the weak and the helpless!
  (inside DM's pillarbox, DM and Penfold are sprawled across the sofa, fast asleep)
  Narrator: (irritated) ... I said, "coiled like a panther, ready to spring"- oh, forget it...
Deus ex Machina: Four noted examples:
- In "Journey To the Earth's 'Cor!," Penfold keeps a bottle of camphorated oil in the Mk III's glove compartment. DM uses it to defeat the villain, Obediah Crumsell, who is staging a global takeover from the Earth's core.
- In "Mechanised Mayhem," London's machines and appliances are staging a rebellion. All except DM's car which conveniently has an anti-mutiny module.
- In "The Duel," DM and Penfold are in a room with spiked walls that are closing in on them. Penfold just happened to have a huge larger-than-him spanner DM gave him for Christmas which DM uses to stop the walls.
- From "Play It Again, Wufgang," the emergency tape "in the radiation-proof glass-fronted box that can resist any attempt to break into it and contains any sort of background music we need for our activities while saving the world."
Dick Dastardly Stops to Cheat: Baron Greenback invokes this trope in "The Duel", most notably in the car race. And, as with Dick Dastardly, his pauses to cheat end up costing him victory (albeit deliberately so) in some of the events.
Did You Just Punch Out Cthulhu?: Danger Mouse traps the Demon of the Fourth Dimension ("Demons Aren't Dull") between our dimension and its own, rendering it powerless. DM then has the door in which the demon is encased transported to Alpha Centauri.
Disembodied Eyebrows: Penfold's float in the air above the rims of his spectacles.
The Dragon: Stiletto.
Dumbass Has a Point: "The Aliens Are Coming" has DM and Penfold as the welcoming party of an alien spacecraft arriving in Scotland. The craft they encounter is described by Penfold as a "clockwork mushroom", which DM dismisses. Turns out Penfold was right—it was a toy clockwork mushroom the aliens almost leave behind.
Dub Name Change: Done out of neccessity, for the translators would otherwise have had to explain why the hero has a "DM" logo on his chest when most literal translations of "Danger Mouse" don't share that same acronym. In most countries, the solution they settled on was to rename the hero something that still fitted the acronym. For instance:
- The Scottish Gaelic version infamously renamed him Donnie Murdo (two given names not connected with either danger or mice).
- In Poland, he's known as Dzielna Mysz (Brave Mouse).
- In Sweden, he's called Dundermusen (Thundermouse).
- The French version refers to him as Dare Dare Motus ("Dare Dare" being French slang for "as fast as possible").
- In Slovenia, however, the translators chose to ignore the "DM" initials entirely, renaming him Hrabri Mišek (Brave Mouse).
Electric Joybuzzer: One of the multitude of practical jokes DM and Penfold have to endure while attempting to get direction from The Prankster Funny Bone in "The Invasion of Colonel K".
Elephants Are Scared of Mice: In "The Great Bone Idol", Count Duckula steals the idol and awakens a herd of elephants in the underground cavern in which Danger Mouse and Penfold had traversed to locate the idol. On seeing DM, the elephants naturally freak out.
Everything's Louder with Bagpipes: In "Who Stole the Bagpipes", Baron Greenback is trying to build a sonic death ray with 10,000 bagpipes that he has stolen.
Evil Brit: Baron Greenback; justified since it's a British production.
Evil Sounds Raspy: Baron Silas Greenback, bordering on Vader Breath.
Evil Twin:
- In the Marvel Comics (as part of the Count Duckula title), we have Dangerous Mouse, who Baron Greenback brings to the main universe while shooting Danger Mouse to that Mirror Universe (where we see Stiletto as a police officer, shining a signal light to summon "Greenback-Man", a Superman Expy, and "Nero the Hero"). There is also, "Billfold", a rougher Penfold who Danger Mouse is able to con into thinking he's really Dangerous Mouse, and so needs to get back to make the plan work. The final scene has DM sharing a joke with Colonel K and Penfold, while Greenback-Man is taking Dangerous Mouse to the authorities.
- In "The Good, the Bad and the Motionless," DM's evil alter ego appears at Stonehenge and challenges DM to a fight. Looks just like DM apart from the horns, tail and colored red.
Explain, Explain... Oh, Crap!: Once DM has defeated the Gremlin in "Gremlin Alert", Penfold is surprised when he falls from a great height but stops just short of the ground. Danger Mouse tells him that the Gremlin's anti-logic field has dissipated, so they're now weightless in space again, which causes him to start floating as well. He adds that there's no atmosphere... which causes him to start choking.
Exploding Cigar: In "The Invasion of Colonel K", Funny Bone forces cigars on DM and Penfold, despite their protestations that they don't smoke. The cigars immediately explode in their faces.
Expository Theme Song
Eyepatch of Power: DM has this. He doesn't actually need it in the original series due to actually having two eyes, but wears it anyway as part of the outfit - in fact, he actually wears it on the wrong eye in one episode and switches it over accordingly.
"Fantastic Voyage" Plot: "The Invasion of Colonel K" centres around Greenback shrinking himself, Nero, and Stiletto down to microscopic size to literally get into Colonel K's brain and learn all the state secrets he knows. DM and Penfold are also shrunk down to microscopic size to go in after them.
Filming for Easy Dub: The low animation budget means that characters often speak when seen from behind or in silhouette or otherwise with their mouths obscured, especially in the early series. This is most obvious in scenes taking place in Danger Mouse's car; Penfold can only be seen from the nose up, while DM frequently turns his head at just the right angle to hide his mouth while speaking.
Flying Car: The Mk. III converts instantly between driving on the road and flying through the air by deploying (or retracting) a set of wings.
Follow Your Nose: When Greenback releases a cloud of noxious gas on London in "There's No Place Like Greenback", it's shown doing things like forming itself into hands that ring doorbells to gain entry to people's houses.
Food Eats You: When Penfold is complaining about how dangerous recent missions have been in "Danger at C Level", a Cutaway Gag shows him being attacked and eaten by a plate of spaghetti bolognese.
Foreshadowing: It's been noted at the Danger Mouse fandom wiki that DM's evil self in "The Good, the Bad and the Motionless" was the inspiration for the reboot's Sinister Mouse.
Foul Waterfowl: Duckula is a bloodthirsty megalomaniac and a recurring antagonist in the series.
Funny Animal: The whole cast. DM is a mouse, Penfold and his aunt are hamsters, Greenback is a toad, Stiletto is a crow and Colonel K. is...er, either a chinchilla or chinchilla disguised as a walrus.

G to I

Gambit Pile Up: In "Penfold Transformed", Dr. Crumhorn captures Penfold and replaces him with an efficient robot double, which is programmed to transform into a Killer Robot and destroy Danger Mouse when he gives the signal. At the same time, Greenback decides to disguise Stilleto as Penfold so he can infiltrate Danger Mouse's headquarters. Danger Mouse ends up using the two plans to thwart each other while at the same time, rescuing the real Penfold.
The Ghost:
- Colonel K's secretary, Miss Boathook.
- DM's French lady friend Fifi, whom he doesn't like to talk about.
Giving Them the Strip: In "The Duel", DM and Penfold find themselves stuck to the seat of a rollercoaster car after Greenback coats it with glue. They extricate themselves by removing their trousers.
Got Me Doing It: In "Chicken Run", the character of Flying Officer Buggles Pigeon is a parody of the stereotypical upper class RAF officer, and his Verbal Tic of ending sentences with "what?" is both confusing and, apparently, contagious:
Buggles: Good show, what?
Penfold: What?
Buggles: What?
Penfold: You said "what".
Buggles: No, you said "what".
Penfold: (irritated) Because you... said "what".
Buggles: Hm? Jolly confusing, what?
DM: What? (groans) Oh, this- I'm at it now!
Grand Finale: "The Intergalactic 147", for the original series.
Half-Dressed Cartoon Animal: Count Duckula in the original show and Isambard.
Harmless Freezing: Baron Greenback's "ghost buses" are actually molds made of ice ("The Strange Case of the Ghost Bus"). He seals DM and Penfold in one, but after freeing himself and Penfold, DM reciprocates to Greenback.
Headdesk
Heel–Face Turn: "The Ultra Secret Secret" has Greenback presumably wanting to join forces with Danger Mouse in staving off an alien attack. Subverted in that the alien attack is Greenback's ruse to lure DM and Penfold to their doom.
Here We Go Again!: The end of "Gremlin Alert".
Heroic BSoD: Several episodes or serials end in ways DM and/or Penfold were not anticipating, causing one or both of them to shut down in some way.
- In "Close Encounters of the Absurd Kind", DM spends the serial convinced that his and Penfold's stint on Dr. Zokk's spaceship is just part of an elaborate scheme by Greenback, pretending to be Dr. Zokk himself. However, in the episode's final scene, he is confronted by Greenback in the Frog's Head Flyer... which is then abducted by Dr. Zokk to continue his Earthling anatomy lessons. After spending a moment with a Thousand-Yard Stare, DM laughs nervously and then passes out, leaving Penfold trying to bring him round.
- In "The Odd Ball Runaround", DM and Penfold have spent the serial scrambling to retrieve a rugby ball containing secret plans from Greenback's castle. When they finally get back to London, Colonel K tells them that they are planning to send Greenback a set of decoy plans while they get the real plans off the ground... and the decoy plans are the ones in the rugby ball. Penfold is so distraught he breaks down sobbing and has to be consoled by Danger Mouse.
- At the end of "Penfold BF", DM and Penfold have finally caught the Patagonian pygmy pigeon being used as a carrier pigeon, and Colonel K has decoded the message the pigeon was carrying... which turns out to advise against using Patagonian pygmy pigeons as messengers, as they have no sense of direction. DM and Penfold groan and faint dead away.
Heterosexual Life-Partners: DM and Penfold. Which, of course, means Rule 34 is in full force. Any Big "NO!" reaction to this fact would be understandable.
- Look for Rule 34 to be amplified in the new series as a female agent—Jeopardy Mouse—will be introduced.
Hollow World: In the episode "Journey to the Earth's 'Cor!", DM and Penfold fly into a hole in the earth where robots (overseen by caretaker Stanley Ackrington) control earth's functions. A megalomaniac named Obediah Crumsell is disrupting the operations.
Honor Among Thieves: Implied to be none between Greenback and Dr. Crumhorn. In "Penfold Transformed", Crumhorn outright calls Greenback "a fat and feckless fool." Greenback takes umbrage.
Hurricane of Puns: Often during the To Be Continued segments at the end of the first four parts of the five-part serials, but they show up everywhere. Some juicy ones, to boot.
- From "The Man From GADGET":
  Murphy: Egregious M. Murphy, senior sales representative of Gadgets Incorporated.
  DM: Egregious M. Murphy? What's the "M" for?
  Murphy: The M-4 is a motorway that runs from London to South Wales, ask me another Magnus!
  Penfold: This is definitely getting worse.
- From "What a Three-Point Turn-Up for the Book", as DM and Penfold look for their bicycles:
  Narrator: Has Danger Mouse taken to handlebars because he must dash? (Moustache? Must dash? Get it?)
- In "Turn of the Tide", Professor Squawkencluck gets frustrated with an explanation of what's caused the ocean to submerge London and started screaming some amount of "Nein, nein, nein!" Whenever he did, Penfold would be nearby with a calculator, reading off the total of the "nines".
- Almost everything the rebellious machines say in "Mechanised Mayhem" is some sort of appliance or electricity pun.
  - When Danger Mouse and Penfold find their flat's appliances have unionised:
    Telephone: My comrades and I have risen against exploitation to cast off our domestic bondage! We're sick of being picked up and put down!
    Vacuum Cleaner: Or being pushed around!
    Iron: Or being hard pressed!
    Television: And stared at!
    Mixer: From now on, we shall stir things up! (spins his beaters)
    Kettle: Let off steam! (does so)
    Telephone: And speak for ourselves! From now on, we are the rulers!
    12-Inch Ruler: Especially me!^note
  - Later, during the appliances' rally in Trafalgar Square:
    Telephone: Now, let me give you the lead! We must show these humans watt's watt!
    Danger Mouse: Penfold, there's only one way to stop that thing plugging his points.
    Penfold: What's that, Chief?
    Danger Mouse: Sock-et. (...)
    Penfold: I wish I hadn't asked. I'd rather be going ohm!
    Telephone: Look out! 'Amp-ere them all you can!
    Vacuum Cleaners: Okay! Charge! (they race after Penfold; Danger Mouse grabs the telephone, which makes strangled gasps)
    Danger Mouse: Aha! So sorry, you've been cut off!
    Vacuum Cleaners: (having cornered Penfold) Ha! This one's in the bag!
    Penfold: Ahhh! Oooh! Oooh crikey!
    Danger Mouse: Don't get taken in, Penfold!
    Penfold: (to camera) Any more jokes like that and it'd be almost worth it!
- Really bad puns are duly lampshaded, like this one from "Tut Tut, It's Not Pharaoh":
  DM: (to mummy parking lot attendant) We're looking for the amulet of Eggonophus.
  Mummy: Have you tried the Pyramids of Cheops?
  DM: No.
  Mummy: Better step on it, then.
  DM: Why's that?
  Mummy: The Cheops shut at half past five. Ha, ha...ha ha ha ha.
  DM: (long suffering) Good grief. That joke's worse than one of yours, Penfold.
- This from "One of Our Stately Homes Is Missing" when DM, Penfold and Major Melvin discuss how to get the Duke of Bedbug mansion back to its original locale (DM is going to fly it):
  DM: But how are you going to get it off the ground, Melvin?
  Melvin: That's easy. BLEEPs ^note brought two engines. Dig tunnel under building, belt them on.
  Penfold: How will you know where to fit them?
  Melvin: That's easy. Thing's going to fly, so east and west wings.
  Penfold: (to us) I knew I shouldn't have asked..
Hypnotic Eyes: Count Duckula. It doesn't work on Penfold but he manages to put himself into a trace.
Hypocritical Humour:
- The Penfold robot in "Penfold Transformed", after DM wonders aloud if he's all right because he's smart, helpful and not cracking stupid jokes:
  Penfold robot: (Turns to the camera) He's talking to a crowd of invisible people and he's asking if I'm alright?
- In "The Spy Who Stayed In With a Cold", Danger Mouse claims he's the most modest secret agent.
- From "Where There's a Well, There's a Way":
  DM: Come on, Penfold. You'll have people laughing at you.
  Penfold: (to us) So what does he think this is? King Lear?
- DM has wrecked, crashed out and had trashed his Mark III car, yet in "The Spy Who Stayed In With a Cold" after Agent 57 turns into a hippo causing DM to plummet to the ground then sneezes again thus reducing him, DM says "If you had done that three-foot sooner I wouldn't have lost my no-claims bonus."
- In "The Return of Count Duckula," the Count is discussing his plans for fame with the Phantom of the Panto who just stands there silently listening to him. As Duckula departs, he quips "Nice chap, that Phantom. I wish he wouldn't talk so much!"
I Know You Know I Know:
- Taken to extreme lengths in "The Statue of Liberty Caper" where almost half the episode consists of DM and Greenback trying to outguess each other.
  DM: You see, I guessed that you would guess I would guess what you had guessed and guessed that your guess would be the guess I guessed you guessed.
  Greenback: What?
  DM: I'm not saying it again. I can't!
- From "Cat-Astrophe" when Greenback's robot cat PAWS confronts DM wanting the keys to the Bank of England:
  PAWS: You got them keys?
  DM: (defiantly) I don't know what you're talking about.
  Penfold: Um, he's talking about the keys to the Bank of England.
  DM: I know he's talking about the keys to the Bank of England!
  Penfold: (to PAWS) He knows you're talking about the keys to the Bank of England.
  PAWS: I know he knows I'm talking about the keys to the Bank of England!
  Penfold: Oh. He hasn't got them.
Immune to Mind Control:
- When Danger Mouse and Penfold go up against the sinister Count Duckula, there's a running joke about Penfold being immune to the Count's mind control powers.
  Duckula: You are getting very sleepy...
  Penfold: No, I'm not.
- Inverted in "Hear Hear" as Penfold is not affected by Greenback's vocal control because he has cotton in his ears.
Impact Silhouette: "Trouble with Ghosts" has Baron Greenback and his henchman Stiletto making neat holes in a wooden door as they flee from DM and Penfold wearing ghost sheets.
Inexplicably Identical Individuals:
- Danger Mouse meets his evil self in "The Good, the Bad and the Motionless".
  DM: I'm not going to be pushed around by two percent of me!
- In "The Spy Who Stayed In With A Cold", Agent 57 turns himself into DM as DM himself is held hostage by the Motorized Mongols.
- The thousand clones of Penfold in "Tiptoe Through the Penfolds". Also the thousand clones of DM in "The Dream Machine", created as Penfold said "Danger Mouse" a thousand times.
Inexplicably Tailless:
- Danger Mouse is always depicted without a tail, despite being a mouse.
- Most characters don't have tails either in the 2015 series, except when they get turned into elephants in "The Spy Who Came In with a Cold". Villains Birch Badboy and Isambard King Kong Brunel, a squirrel and a monkey respectively, are two exceptions.
Interactive Narrator: The narrator sometimes holds conversations with the characters, often to prompt them to stick to the script, occasionally gets attacked by the threat of the week, and sometimes cause reality to visibly change by narrating it differently.
Is This Thing Still On?: In "The Invasion of Colonel K", one of Greenback's first acts inside Colonel K's body is to take over his voice box and manipulate him into telling Danger Mouse and Penfold that they're fired because of government cutbacks. After telling them they'll also have to leave the flat they've been provided, Greenback takes a moment to gloat:
Greenback: Hee hee hee hee! Victory at last!
Colonel K: Hee hee hee hee, victory at last.
Greenback: Ah. (presses button) Forgot to switch off.
I've Heard of That — What Is It?: Early in '"Danger Mouse On the Orient Express'", DM confronts Baron Greenback in his Venice hideout after discovering he is behind the construction of roadways on Venice's canals.
DM: I know your crooked game! (beat, then more subdued) What's your crooked game?

J to L

Joker Immunity: Can apply to Greenback, whose fate after some episodes where his ship or one of his devices explodes before him are unclear yet he returns in ensuing episodes. This is most notable in "Statues" where the statue of chef Monsieur Smaquing Lippes comes to life with the intent of turning Greenback into a dish of frog's legs. The ungodly groan offscreen indicates Smaquing Lippes succeeded.
Kneel Before Zod:
- Baron Greenback's purpose in "Viva Danger Mouse" is to plant cactus needles in the seat cushions of the world's dignitaries so "I can bring them to their feet before bringing them to their knees!"
- In "Danger Mouse on the Orient Express", DM exclaims that Greenback's plans to eliminate all of Europe's tourist sites and force tourists to visit his museum of Barry Manilow record sleeves will "bring the world to its knees!"
Last-Name Basis:
- DM's assistant's full name is Ernest Penfold, but with the exception of at least the debut episode "Rogue Robots," series 9's "The Statue of Liberty Caper" and series 10's "Ants, Trees and Whoops-A-Daisy", he's otherwise only ever addressed by his last name.
- Stiletto is dressed in a Penfold costume in "Penfold Transformed" and identifies himself as "Ernesto Penfold" ("Ernest O. Penfold" in the American redub in 1991).
Lazy Artist:
- Lampshaded in "Quark! Quark!" When Penfold asks why he and DM are disguised as a camel, DM explains it's because the animators couldn't draw horses.
- In "The Good, the Bad and the Motionless", DM's evil alter ego has Penfold in suspended animation, which DM chalks up to the animators being on their tea break.
- All the animation in "Danger Mouse Saves The World...Again", except for that of Greenback's congress of evil doers and DM waking up from the episode-long dream, is either repeat animation from previous episodes or stock animation.
- Apparently an unusual number of episodes were set in the Arctic or other snowbound scenes because they required less colouring in.
- Fight scenes in rooms where all the lights are off are also frequent in the original series, the only animation being the moving eyes of the characters on the pitch-black background.
- Animation was done on paper and cels larger than that traditional 10-field size for TV and short subject animation. Many scenes had the characters animated very small to save on ink and paint with the camera zoomed in on them. This would also cut down on the risk of the cels' edges showing in case of a pan left or right.
- Lazy writer: some of the dialogue from the middle of "All Fall Down" is reused tracks from series 1 episodes, most notably from "The Strange Case of the Ghost Bus". Likewise, the golf scene in "Afternoon Off With The Fangboner" is reanimated for "Pillow Fright" but it uses the same dialogue tracks.
Left the Background Music On:
- The first episode of "The Bad Luck Eye of the Little Yellow God" features Colonel K trying to bring DM up to speed on Greenback's theft of the title object:
  Colonel K: We've had a report about your adversary, Baron Silas Greenback! (dramatic piano sting)
  Penfold: Not Greenback, sir? (dramatic piano sting)
  Colonel K: Yes, Penfold - Greenback! (dramatic piano sting) Our people in Brazil say he's stolen an ancient charm from a remote mountain tribe!
  Penfold: Crumbs!
  Colonel K: It's a strange emerald called the Bad Luck Eye of the Little Yellow God! (dramatic piano sting; Colonel K angrily turns to his intercom) Look, Miss Prendergast, would you mind doing your piano practice somewhere else!?
  Miss Prendergast: (over intercom) Sorry, Colonel!
- "Play It Again, Wufgang" centres on the destruction of the world's music, which cripples our heroes since they're physically incapable of doing anything without accompanying Background Music. They finish the episode via blatantly-lampshaded Diegetic Music provided by a cassette player (which has been kept in safe storage for just such an occasion). Difficulties with cueing the right music que leads to a hilariously climactic series of Soundtrack Dissonance, which actually causes the scene to go wrong until the right music is played.
Leitmotif:
- "Close Encounters of the Absurd Kind" poaches themes from two famous sci-fi films for its score, with Dr. Zokk and his ship generally accompanied by one or both of a lawyer-friendly version of the five-note melody played by the aliens in Close Encounters of the Third Kind and the "Sunrise" section of Richard Strauss' Also sprach Zarathustra (which features prominently in 2001: A Space Odyssey).
- "Journey to the Earth's 'Cor!" has a mole who speaks with a "Yorkshire miner" stereotype accent; whenever he's on screen, Dvorak's "New World Symphony" (inextricably associated with Yorkshire poverty through Hovis adverts) plays in the background.
Lemony Narrator: Eventually named as Isambard Sinclair, the narrator (voiced by David Jason) is constantly grumbling about how ridiculous the stories are, and how narrating for the series is destroying his chances of ever being taken seriously as an announcer.
Narrator: And with that, we say farewell to our chances of ever being on Radio 3.^note (Sigh.) By the way, the management point out that you should park in front of a Danger Mouse transmission at your own risk. Claims for carpet elbow and mass hysteria cannot be entertained. (Well, why should they? You weren't. Hmph!) And all that leaves me to say is, "Look out for our next Danger Mouse adventure!" And I do mean that.
Literal-Minded: Several examples.
- In "All Fall Down", Dudley Poyson says "I'll call myself a cab right away. I'm a cab! I'm a cab!"
- Earlier as DM and Penfold meet Colonel K at Puttinghamdown Research Centre, the Colonel says "Step this way." Penfold proceeds to walk in the same waddle as the Colonel.
  DM: (admonishingly) Penfold...
  Penfold: Oh, chief...you are a spoil sport!
- Just averted in "Duckula Meets Frankenstoat". When DM asks for Penfold to call him a cab, he immediately snaps "Don't you dare!" before Penfold could take a breath.
  Penfold: (sullenly) Spoil sport!
- In another episode, DM tells Penfold that "we must act quickly." Penfold immediately goes at rapid fire "Tobeornottobethatisthequestionwhethertisnoblertosuffertheslingsandarrowsofoutrageousfortune" while gesticulating with reckless abandon.
- Similarly in "Duckula Meets Frankenstoat," Duckula threatens Penfold with a paraphrased quote from Henry V:
  Duckula: For he today who sheds his blood with me shall be my supper!!
  DM: Not so fast!
  Duckula: Oh, you think I should take it a little slower. That's a good point there, son. Ahem...Foooooor...heeeeeee...toooooo...daaaaay...whooooo...shedssssss...hisssssss...blooood....
Literal North Pole: “Ice Station Camel” depicts the North and South Poles as the ends of a physical stick (candy-striped, natch) that runs through the center of the Earth, allowing it to spin and create its gravitational pull. Baron Greenback plots to Take Over the World by attaching a machine to the Northern end to stop the world from turning. Danger Mouse thwarts this scheme by traveling to the South Pole and fashioning a device out of his wristwatch to speed up the world's rotation and cause the machine to break down.
The Load: Penfold is this at times, being a Bumbling Sidekick who almost never does anything useful.
Logic Bomb:
- In "Planet of the Cats", DM is confronted by a giant robot dog, and asks it, "What's big, grey, and has sixteen wheels?" The robot dog is so confused by the question that it begins repeating "Inaccurate! Inaccurate!" over and over while DM makes his escape. Eventually, however, the dog "defuses" the logic bomb and confronts Danger Mouse as he prepares to return to the present, demanding to know the answer... only to end up in another situation it cannot process.
  Robot Dog: Go on then. What is big, grey, and has sixteen wheels?
  DM: Oh! (chuckles) What's big and grey and has sixtee- it's an elephant on roller skates!
  Robot Dog: Grey: correct. (sound of something large approaching) Wheels: logic rejection! No such- (CRASH) AHHHOWWWOOOOH!!
  (the large approaching object is revealed as an elephant on roller skates which has crashed into the dog)
  Elephant: What the 'eck are you doing parked on a freeway!?
  Robot Dog: Impossible. You not exist.
  Elephant: Are you callin' me a figment of your imagination?! Stupid clockwork...
  Robot Dog: Microchip. Random access. Random access. (begins babbling)
  Elephant: Oh, shut up!
- At the climax of "Mechanised Mayhem", DM and Penfold track down the supercomputer behind the appliance rebellion. When it asks where Penfold's subroutines are and declares his answer that they're in a drawer next to his woolly vests to be "illogical", DM offers the computer a routine. He and Penfold proceed to recite the classic "My dog has no nose" joke, and the resulting logic bomb literally explodes, blowing the computer sky high.
- In "Gremlin Alert", DM defeats the Gremlin ("the living embodiment of anti-logic") with a classic "how can you be agreeing with me when gremlins always contradict people?" bomb.

M to O

Malaproper:
- In Count Duckula's second episode ("The Return of Count Duckula"), he calls the hero "Fender Mouse."
- In "Public Enemy No. 1," Greenback demands to know who beat him to crimes he was going to commit (it was DM, under amnesia).
  Stiletto: The white mouse. Danger Shadow. You know, your life-long anniversary.
The Man Behind the Curtain: The title world in "The Planet of the Cats" is ruled by Greenback's great-great-etc.-nephew (who happens to look and sound identical to his great-great-etc.-uncle, complete with a caterpillar called Nero), posing as feline leader Big Leo. DM discovers the true identity of "Big Leo" and uses this information to get out of being cornered by the cats so that he can rescue Penfold. The cats are not happy to find out they have been taking orders from a toad:
(the door to future Greenback's inner sanctum almost caves in)
Future Greenback: Now what!?
Cat Soldier: 'Ey! C'mon, come outta there! Come outta there, yer double crosser!
(on the other side of the door, we see a brigade of cat soldiers hitting the door with a battering ram)
Cat Soldier: I'll give you "Big Leo", you tuppenny-ha'penny toad!
Master of Disguise: Agent 57, who appears as a worm in his first appearance and a polar bear in his second. According to DM, he's disguised himself as so many things over the years that he's forgotten what his original species was.
Meaningful Name:
- With a side order of Genius Bonus as well. Early pillarboxes were known as "Penfolds" after their designer.
- It's been said that master of disguise Agent 57 was so named as a reference to the Heinz company and its "57 varieties."
Medium Awareness:
- Mostly DM.
  DM: Sometimes, Penfold, I wish I were just drawing the cartoons, not starring in them.
- "Play it Again, Wufgang" revolves around mediocre composer Wufgang von Bark stealing all the world's music, so DM and Penfold have to provide the episode's score with a cassette player that has escaped Wufgang's clutches.
- In "Gremlin Alert", Danger Mouse says he has to save the world from endless darkness, and he can't do it without Penfold. "Why not, Chief?" asks Penfold. DM says that it's in the script - and proves it by producing a copy.
  Danger Mouse: [off-screen, taps a sheaf of paper] There, look. [flicks through the pages, then shows them to Penfold] Page 4, halfway down. [taps the page] See?
- In "The Odd Ball Runaround" and "Ee-Tea!", DM handwaves the adventure he and Penfold endured by saying "It's only a cartoon."
Misplaced Wildlife: The title object in "The Bad Luck Eye of the Little Yellow God" belongs to a tribe deep in the Amazon jungle in Brazil. However, the local wildlife includes gorillas (only found in central Africa), elephants (only found in Africa and India), and a leopard (only found in Africa and Asia). Rule of Funny is in full effect here, as a leopard swinging past on a vine reminds us:
Leopard: [laughs, then turns to the fourth wall] Silly, isn't it?
Mood Whiplash: Played for laughs in "Play It Again, Wufgang." DM and Penfold have to rely on a cassette tape of background music (as villainous composer Wufgang Bark has stolen all music in the world). While in flight, Penfold cues up Dick Barton's "The Devil's Gallop". The Mk. III suddenly stops when the cut ends then plummets to Earth as the next cut was Chopin's "Funeral March." Then later, Wufgang and DM have a soundtrack battle with Wufgang playing Spike Jones' "Cocktails For Two" which DM counters with Beethoven's "Piano Sonata no. 8" (more known as "Pathétique"). ^noteAlthough here it's played with violin
Motor Mouth: Penfold spends most of every cartoon talking his mouth off.
Mysterious Middle Initial: Egregious M. Murphy. When asked "What's the "M" for?", he says "The M-4 is a motorway that runs from London to South Wales, ask me another Magnus!"
Narrator: Isombard Sinclair, played by David Jason in the original series, and Dave Lamb (of Come Dine With Me fame) in the 2015 series.
Nice Job Breaking It, Hero!:
- In "Day of the Suds", after DM successfully corrals and destroys Greenback's army of sentient washing machines, a reporter hounds him for not only having the city with dirty laundry permanently but for the by-product of the damaged machines' fuel and sparking cables irradiating in the soap compartments: a giant detergent monster.
- From "Bandits, Beans and Ballyhoo," El Loco the Mexican bandit smuggles his way into London by hiding in DM's luggage, as he and Penfold return from a holiday in Mexico. Colonel K holds DM culpable for El Loco and goes so far as to tell him to "shush."
No Celebrities Were Harmed:
- Tennis star John McEnroe is caricatured as a robot in "Duckula Meets Frankenstoat".
- Towards the end of "The Return of Count Duckula," Agent 57 appears as an American talent agent using a John Wayne voice.
No Ending: A few too many episodes. Seasons 2 through 4 were serialized as weekly story arcs. There were six arcs per season, each consisting of five 5-minute installments. These 5-minute installments were sometimes spliced together to make full-length episodes on home video releases. Some fans actually lament this, as these versions are consequently missing the really terrible puns that would invariably smother the ending narration, and sometimes cast dialogue addressing the cliffhanger as well. Nickelodeon aired these stories as same-day two-parters.
No Fourth Wall: Every episode has at least one instance, and there are a lot where it's the basis of the whole plot.
- "Where There's a Well, There's a Way" punches a giant hole through the fourth wall in the opening scene and spends most of the episode looking out of it.
  (as confusion between the word "dowser" and the phrase "now, sir" causes problems between DM and Colonel K)
  Penfold: (to audience) Erm, I'm sorry about this, I think it's what we call "a breakdown in communication". Just chat amongst yourselves for a couple of minutes while they get it sorted out!
  Colonel K: OH! You mean the dowser! Am I sending it now, sir, er, erm, DM! Er, yes! Exactly!
  Penfold: (beams) Ah! There you are!
  Danger Mouse: Penfold, who are you talking to?
  Penfold: Er - no one, chief. Well, I hope it's not no one, chief, but, um, no one, er, chief.
- In "Tower of Terror", DM even falls off the edge of the film.
Non-Indicative Name: Professor Squawkencluck in the original series is actually a mole.
Not Me This Time: DM thinks that Greenback is behind the revolt of London's appliances in "Mechanised Mayhem", but Greenback is actually being victimized... by his own Frog's Head Flyer!
Not Now, Kiddo: "Shush!"
Not So Above It All: DM might be the 'Greatest Secret Agent in the World', but with a show like Danger Mouse he's not immune from the craziness. This is generally restricted to bad puns at inappropriate moments and walking into traps because he's not paying attention to the obvious.
Off on a Technicality: In the episode "There's a Penfold In My Suit," Greenback seeks to steal the Swapping Stone of Bratislovakia, which causes a switch of bodies. He and henchman Stiletto fall victim to it as do DM and Penfold. After further confusion from additional body swapping, everyone (except Penfold, whose body would get swapped with the country's princess) gets their right bodies back. Greenback and Stiletto are set free as they had committed no crime.
Oh, Crap!:
- Combines with Expressive Ears in "Trouble With Ghosts"; DM opens a door and a skeletal hand points a gun at him. As DM turns to give the camera a worried look, his ears droop.
- In "The Four Tasks of Danger Mouse", DM tries to knock out the yeti while he sleeps by pushing a large boulder onto him from a clifftop. However, the yeti's breath is so powerful that he simply blows the boulder back to the clifftop. Danger Mouse groans "Oh, no..." and gives the camera a look that would do Wile E. Coyote proud as the boulder falls toward him.
- Combines with Expressive Ears again in "The Wild, Wild Goose Chase" in the second use of the Running Gag of DM getting stuck in a hole... straight through the "ceiling" of an underground-dwelling night shift worker who gets rid of DM by biting his legs and sending him jumping into the air in pain. The second time this happens, we hear, "'Ey, Gladys, look what's dropped in! I think this character's following us around!" DM groans, "Oh no, not again..." as his ears droop to cover his face seconds before he leaps into the air in agony.
Omniglot: DM can speak every language ever invented.
DM: ...but gibberish isn't one of them. (''From "Close Encounters of the Absurd Kind")
On Second Thought: ..."here's the weather forecast." (The narrator at the end of "100 Million Years Lost" when Henry V goes too far into his "Once more unto the breach" speech at the Battle of Agincourt.)
Or My Name Isn't...: From "Chicken Run" after a growth formula is stolen:
DM: (to Colonel K) Don't worry, sir. We'll get it back or my name isn't Danger Mouse.
Penfold: Um...isn't it?
DM: (whispers testily) Of course it is!
Over-the-Top Roller Coaster: In "The Duel", Baron Greenback tricks DM and Penfold onto an insane roller coaster that launches their car into outer space at its apex.
Overly Long Gag: Every time Grovel^note'I'm sorry, I'm sorry, master!' hears his name mentioned.
Overly Long Scream: Penfold is a master.
Overt Operative: DM is known in both versions as "The World's Greatest Secret Agent". Can be a little subverted.

P to S

Painful Rhyme: From "Where There's a Will, There's a Way," DM is reading instructions from a scroll on how to manipulate the mystic inkwell of Merlin.
DM (reading) "Cast ye into the well a copper coin,
And whatever ye may wish is thoin."
Penfold: (incredulously) "Thoin"??!
DM: "Thoin," Penfold. That's what it says.
Penfold: What a terrible rhyme! "Thoin"! Hee hee!
Painting the Medium: In "The Clock Strikes Back", the narrator's opening spiel is full of typos, as they have a new script typist, and this soon spreads to the dialogue as well (though the in-universe explanation is that Miss Boathook, Colonel K's secretary, is on holiday and her replacement is none too competent, even DM and Penfold speak in typos):
Narrator: Lodnod. Commrecial cnetre of- oh, dear, I'm awfully sorry, it's the new typist again. (clears throat) London, commercial centre of the nation. Home too of the pillarbix, one of which, standing snetinel on Beker Stroot, is home of the world's greatest secret agnet, Dnager Muose. (Good grief...)
DM: (holding a piece of paper) Good grief, Penfold! I can't make any sense of this letter! Who on Earth typed the blessed thing?
(later, after they have received their mission details from Colonel K)
DM: Right, Colonel, we're on our woe! Er, on our wag! Er... oh, come on, Penfold.
Penfold: Oh, crimbs...
(later still, at the end of the episode, after they have completed their mission)
Colonel K: Mind you, the police is in a bite of a mouse.
DM: I'm sorry, Colonel?
Colonel K: I mean, the palace is in a boot of a moose.
DM: I beg your pardon, sir?
Penfold: I think he means that the place is in a bit of a mess.
Colonel K: Yes, drat it, it's that wretched tie pin again!
DM: You mean typist, sir?
Colonel K: Yes, well, isn't that what I said?
DM, Penfold: Oh, good gruef!
Narrator: And so we come to the ned of another thrulling advetnure as our erhoes, the Whote Winder and Pefnold, cockle the farces of evli. Don't miss the neck extracting institlement of Dnager Muose!
Colonel K: Come home, Miss Boathook, all is frogriven!
Paper-Thin Disguise:
- In "Viva Danger Mouse," DM and Penfold try to infiltrate Greenback's cactus harvesting operations by dressing up in nothing but ponchos and sombreros. Greenback was more than wise to them as he makes them do a Mexican hat dance.
- In "All Fall Down", Penfold nervously attempts to distract Mac the Fork disguised as a traffic warden. His disguise is merely a warden's hat and a mustache, but it had Mac the Fork fooled up until the mustache came off.
Parental Bonus: Of the non-squicky kind. There are a lot of jokes and Shout Outs that adults will enjoy rather more than the kids.
- This exchange from "The Hickory Dickory Dock Dilemma" references a certain popular time travel series:
  Danger Mouse: Penfold, I don't think this is a clock at all! I think it's a time machine!
  Penfold: Um... DM? I thought clocks were time machines.
  Danger Mouse: No, not that sort of time machine. The sort that takes you through time.
  Penfold: Oh! Like that Doctor!
  Danger Mouse: Who?
  Penfold: Can't remember.
  Danger Mouse: Oh.
- "Custard" has DM, Penfold, and the Custard Mite of Glutt stranded in a pink hole, and they emerge on Earth through a time traveler's potting shed.
- Also in evidence a lot in the licensed game "Danger Mouse in the Black Forest Chateau", starting with the title. One scene has our hero falling into a moat, and attracting the attention of a shark — "unfortunately he's a lone shark, and takes a great deal of interest".
Perplexing Plurals:
- In "The Dream Machine", the title machine is activated by Penfold's voice, creating objects whenever he mentions them. DM weaponises this against Greenback by having Penfold say "Danger Mouse" a thousand times. However, neither Greenback nor DM have any idea how to refer to the collective group:
  Greenback: [faced with a whole army of Danger Mouse clones] Curse you, Danger Mice!... er, Mouses... er, M-Mice... oh, no...
  [later, as DM is reporting back to Colonel K]
  Danger Mouse: So, faced with a thousand Danger Mouses... erm, Meeces... M-m-mi... erm... well, he just gave in.
  Colonel K: And where's the blighter now?
  Danger Mouse: Well, after dropping you off and then flying here, we just turned it loose.
  Colonel K: What!? You mean he's still floating about in that infernal machine?!
  Danger Mouse: Yes, sir, but we're keeping an eye on him.
  Colonel K: "We"?
  Danger Mouse: Yes, the other thousand Danger... well, the other thousand mes, sir.
Pie in the Face: When DM and Penfold stop to ask The Prankster Funny Bone for directions in "The Invasion of Colonel K", they are initially greeted by a barrage of custard pies to the face.
Plot-Driven Breakdown: The Mark III's in the shop in "Danger Mouse on the Orient Express" to force him to ride the train so the episode can happen.
Polar Bears and Penguins: Agent 57 is a polar bear in "Ice Station Camel" and a penguin in "The Spy Who Stayed In With a Cold". At the end of "The Return of Count Duckula" the audience watching Duckula's stage show turns out to be a massive flock of penguins as he was booked at the South Pole.
Portmanteau: Penfold creates one for a laugh in "The Clock Strikes Back". When DM says that Master Snozzle (who claims to be King Arthur's original magician) looked like a cross between a druid and a monk, Penfold chimes in "You mean, a 'drunk'?"
Precision F-Strike:
- An extremely mild case, from "The Wild Wild Goose Chase" with DM and Penfold traversing a desert.
  Narrator: On they trod through the hot sands of a noonday sun and the merciless hell of a waterless desert.
  DM: You know, Penfold, after trodding through the hot sands of a noonday sun and the merciless hell of a waterless desert, I don't feel quite so lucky anymore.
- Similarly in "The Strange Case of the Ghost Bus", the narrator describes the Himalayas (up where DM and Penfold are hiking) as a "white hell."
The Prankster: While inside Colonel K in "The Invasion of Colonel K", DM and Penfold encounter Funny Bone who subjects them to a humiliating barrage of practical jokes.
The Professor: Professor Heinrich von Squawkencluck in the original series.
Puff of Logic: In "Once Upon a Timeslip", DM's flying car is accidentally transported to the Middle Ages...
Penfold: Um, chief, they didn't have... cars in the Middle Ages, did they?
Danger Mouse: Oh, Penfold... I was hoping you wouldn't say that until we'd landed.
Penfold: Why's that, chief?
(Car abruptly vanishes in a Puff of Logic—they sit in midair for a second like Wile E. Coyote, then fall with a yelp)
Punny Name: The Great Bone Idol (from the episode of the same name) is a pun on the British term "bone-idle", meaning "lazy."
Put on a Bus: Penfold and Stiletto do not appear in the Victor & Hugo crossover episode "French Exchange". They are called for by DM and Greenback respectively, who forgot that the two sidekicks/minions are visiting relatives in America.
Red Eyes, Take Warning: Count Duckula has these, and despite his flamboyancy, has proven to be a worthy enemy.
Rhymes on a Dime:
- Penfold in "Penfold BF" after he takes an untested super vitamin pill and turns into superhero The Blue Flash:
  Penfold: A superhero's how I'm feeling,
  Hope the chief's not cross about his ceiling!
  But now, the real me has been unfurled,
  And I'm the greatest in the world!
- In "I Spy With My Little Eye", Penfold wishes upon a star:
  Penfold: Oh, little star that shines so bright,
  I'd like a wish if that's all right.
  Oh, little star in the ink-black heaven...
  D.M.: Forget it, Penfold. It's a 747!
- The narrator in "Once Upon a Timeslip" delivers the narration for the Robin Hood parody in verse.
- Count Duckula, from "The Great Bone Idol":
The Idol is mine,
I've rent his plans asunder!
Now off to claim my prize
As emperor of Down Under!
Ridiculously Cute Critter: Nero.
Right-Hand Cat: Nero's a... furry caterpillar-thing, but it's obvious what trope he's invoking.
Road-Sign Reversal: In "The Invasion of Colonel K", Baron Greenback switches the signs inside Colonel K's body (It Makes Just As Much Sense In Context) so that DM and Penfold end up travelling to the lungs rather than the brain.
Running Gag:
- In the final series, Greenback activates a "Hit Box", which conks Stiletto on the head three times whenever he says or does something stupid.
  Stiletto: (each time he gets hit) Ow...ow....and OW!!
- "Turn of the Tide" has the running gag of Penfold squawking about his missing toy clockwork paddleboat.
- "Duckula Meets Frankenstoat" cracks a spoonerism of "a block of flats" instead of "a flock of bats" (which Dr. Frankenstoat's machine is to create). The cast repeats and lampshades it twice.
- "One of Our Stately Homes Is Missing": Penfold's "I knew I shouldn't have asked!"
- "Danger Mouse on the Orient Express" has one where some character will do something bizarre, and another one will say "I wonder if he's alright."
Schmuck Bait: "The Dream Machine" features a carefully-laid schmuck bait trap set by Greenback:
Greenback: Oh, and one last thing, Penfold. Don't, whatever you do, say "rock". (disappears)
Penfold: "Rock"?
(a rock falls out of thin air and hits DM on the head; it sprouts legs and a mouth and runs off, laughing silently as DM turns to glare at Penfold)
Penfold: I don't get it, Danger Mouse, I only said "rock".
(a second rock falls out of thin air; DM tries to dodge it, only for it to stop in midair, sprout arms, and hit DM repeatedly over the head with a large sausage. Greenback can be heard laughing as Penfold gives the camera a surprised look)
DM: Look, Penfold, just don't say... R-O-C-K.
Penfold: R-O-C-K?
(steel-plated letters spelling ROCK appear one at a time, then a train whistle sounds as they trundle off screen... and then across the background... and then we hear four offscreen crashes as DM yelps in pain)
DM: (from under the pile of steel-plated letters) Penfold...
Penfold: Yes, sir?
DM: Have you got anything for a headache, Penfold?...
Scooby-Dooby Doors:
- When DM and Penfold are first abducted by the title object in "The Dream Machine", Greenback explains his fiendish plans for them as they stand at the end of two long rows of doors, while various bizarre creatures run out of one door and into another (in at least one case, the same creatures then rush out of a different door and into yet another one).
- "Close Encounters of the Absurd Kind" features several chase sequences involving DM and Penfold trying to escape the guards on Dr. Zokk's spaceship using a hoverpod; in some shots, we see several parallel walkways as the various chasers appear on first one, then another, and then another (complete with variations in the "order of procession"), while in other shots, we see a top-down view of a room with four doors as the chasers repeatedly emerge from different doors than the ones they entered.
Screw This, I'm Outta Here!: At the climax of "DM on the Orient Express", DM and Penfold make their way to the engine, only to find a note saying the driver and fireman got out at the last station because they felt that appearing in "this farcical, low-class production" was beneath them.
Penfold: [offended] Well!
Danger Mouse: Yes, well, indeed! [crumples up note and throws it away] Wished I'd thought of it.
Sdrawkcab Alias: Dlofnep the Magnificent in "The Hickory Dickory Dock Dilemma" is a future Penfold ("Dlofnep" backwards for) who rules London!!
Shaking the Rump:
- Danger Mouse does this twice when instructed to “shimmy” during his and Penfold’s Strictly Come Dancing routine.
Shaped Like Itself:
- In "150,000,000 Years Lost," Professor Squawkencluck had a device that finds things called a Location Locating Locator.
- In "Where There's a Well, There's a Way," a witch tries to sell a broom to DM.
  Witch: It's bristling with extras.
  DM: Really? Extra what?
  Witch: Extra bristles!
- In "The Return of Count Duckula," the Count puts on a ham-fisted plea for clemency. Agent 57, disguised as an American talent agent, sees this.
  Agent 57: (in John Wayne voice) Hey there, my fine feathered friend. Do that again.
  Duckula: Wh-wh-what???! Do these thespian ears deceive me? Did you request an en-en-encore??
  Agent 57: No, I did not. I just want you to do that again.
- From "All Fall Down" where Dudley Poyson asks Mac the Fork if anyone knows of their plan to build and use an earth-shattering device:
Mac the Fork: Ay well, I got half a phone call from mah brother. I'm not sure but it might have been about that meddling rodent Danger Mouse. If so, we needn't worry 'cause I've left enough devices in Glen Ghastly Castle to last all eternity!
Dudley: Do you mean forever?
Mac the Fork: Well...nearly that long, aye.
Shiny New Australia: In "The Great Bone Idol," Baron Greenback offers to give Australia to Count Duckula in exchange for finding said idol, with which Greenback could control all the dogs in the world. Count Duckula accpets the deal.
Shout-Out:
- The series title is a shout out to Danger Man.
- Danger Mouse's pillar box is located on Baker Street, noted in one episode to be a stone's throw from the residence of Sherlock Holmes himself (Not Hyperbole, as Watson is noted as throwing stones at the pillar box).
  Penfold: 'Cor, I wish Dr. Watson would stop throwing stones at our pillar box.
  DM: He's just jealous, Penfold. He's only Sherlock Holmes' assistant!
- "Custard" has a scene that calls out to the final Death Star battle scene in Star Wars, as well as a sequence in which DM plays a life-size game of Space Invaders. He's also playing Space Invaders on his video phone screen in "Tiptoe Through the Penfolds."
- "The Good, the Bad and the Motionless" is a shout-out parody of The Good, the Bad and the Ugly.
- "The Intergalactic 147" is most likely taken from the ending of The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy (primary phase), where Ford Prefect relates a tale of a planet in the seventh dimension getting potted into a black hole in a game of intergalactic billiards (only worth 30 points). The Danger Mouse episode has Earth in line to be potted into the black hole Alpha Omega in a game of intergalactic snooker, which would give the player (whatever it is) the maximum score of 147.
- "Project Moon" has a scene which is likely another H2G2 shout-out. A tourist bus lands on the moon and its route number is 42.
- The scene from "Pillow Fright" of DM giving the pillow army their marching orders not only apes The Sorcerer's Apprentice (from Fantasia) but also uses the music from it.
- "Cor! What A Picture:" Penfold has been turned into a kung fu assassin by Greenback (through a machine which has manipulated a photo of Penfold). As he tries to attack DM, our hero quips, "Penfold...you've been watching The Pink Panther again, haven't you?"
- "Custard" has them get lost in a pink hole and find "a time-traveler's potting shed." The same episode also spoofs Alien—a Facehugger attaches itself to Penfold, but only to give him a big, sloppy kiss.
- "Custard" also has Danger Mouse being given a fine with the instructions "Go directly to jail, do not pass go, and do not collect £200!".
- At the end of "Project Moon," as Greenback's moon headquarters is blowing up around him, he says "Mother of frogs...is this the end of little Greenback?" This refers to Edward G. Robinson's line in the 1931 movie Little Caesar ("Mother of mercy...is this the end of Rico?")
- "Demons Aren't Dull" features DM being cornered for a rather cruel edition of This is Your Life (engineered by Greenback, who is otherwise not involved in the story) in which some of his previous achievements are twisted to look like failures through Manipulative Editing. The presenter's voice uses both the Dublin accent and the vocal mannerisms of then-TIYL presenter Eamonn Andrews.
- "Close Encounters of the Absurd Kind" is, naturally, a spoof of Close Encounters of the Third Kind, and one of its recurring music cues is a Suspiciously Similar Song to the five-note theme from the film.^note Dr. Zokk's spaceship is also accompanied by "Sunrise" from Also sprach Zarathustra whenever it appears, in homage to its use in 2001: A Space Odyssey.
- From "Beware of Mexicans Delivering Milk":
  Penfold: I got extra milk from that milkman who looks like El Loco.
  DM: El Loco? But our milkman looks like Elton John!
- Robert Redford, Clint Eastwood, Björn Borg, Jimmy Connors, The Rolling Stones, Fred Astaire and Barry Manilow have also had their names dropped on the show.
- In "Rhyme And Punishment", Penfold writes (or attempts to write) his life story, using an Alistair MacLean book as a blueprint.
  DM: (reading what Penfold has written) "Once upin a tome, there was a homster, who lived his pfriend, a white moose." (quietly, to us) Alistair MacLean, eat your heart out!
- There are several episodes where the narrator grumbles about his job preventing him from being taken seriously, and ensuring that he will never be surprised by Eamonn Andrews with the big red book for This is Your Life.
- In "Ants, Trees And...Whoops-A-Daisy", DM is hesitant to rescue Penfold from the ant tribe holding him captive so they may sacrifice his eyebrows, because there are lots of them and only one DM. He tells Penfold that what he really needs is the Magnificent Seven.
- In "The Four Tasks of Danger Mouse", when Colonel K wants DM to abort his mission to rescue Penfold from Greenback because the prime minister wants a cut-priced fridge:
  DM: No go, Colonel. Tell Mrs PM to ask Superman. Wednesday's his half-day.
- Implied shout-out in "Public Enemy No. 1" when Danger Mouse gets amnesia:
  Greenback: You are...the White Shadow, daring criminal who robs from the rich to feed the poor.
  DM: Oh, just like, um...Thingamybob!
- Mack the Spoon and Mack the Fork are a reference to Mack the Knife.
- In "The Dream Machine," Greenback's disembodied head is taunting DM and Penfold while behind is a corridor of doors where strange things enter and exit. This is likely a shout-out to Yellow Submarine, specifically the corridor in the Beatles' massive house.
- DM's explanation in "Quark! Quark!" that he and Penfold are dressed as a camel because the animators couldn't draw horses is likely taken from Monty Python and the Holy Grail, where they used lackeys clacking coconut shells because they couldn't afford horses.
Skewed Priorities: "Gremlin Alert" involves the world being shrouded in darkness, and Colonel K says DM needs to find the cause urgently, or it'll mean disaster. The end of the world, DM asks? Worse, says the Colonel K - they'll have to cancel the third Test.
Spiders Are Scary:
- 1984's "Aiaaagg! Spiders!" has DM and Penfold hiding after a spider invades their pillar box.
- Penfold's aversion to spiders is also noted in "The Good, the Bad and the Motionless" and "Play It Again, Wufgang."
Spin-Off: Count Duckula first appeared in Danger Mouse as a villain.^note
Stereo Fibbing: In the original pilot episode, "The Mystery of the Lost Chord", Danger Mouse and Penfold are sent to Scotland to investigate the mass bagpipe rustling going on, but are given a cover story as journalists investigating the Loch Ness Monster. When they arrive at their hotel, the innkeeper asks what story they're researching.
DM: The Loch Ness Monster! (shows picture of same)
Penfold: (overlapping) The missing bagpipes! (shows picture of bagpipes)
(DM and Penfold look embarrassed)
DM: The missing bagpipes! (shows picture of bagpipes)
Penfold: (overlapping) The Loch Ness Monster! (shows picture of same)
(they look even more embarrassed and quickly throw the pictures aside)
Stiff Upper Lip: The British tendency to be calm and unemotional in any situation is referenced at the climax of "The Four Tasks of Danger Mouse". After Danger Mouse teams up with the monster Greenback wanted to create to rescue the kidnapped Penfold, the latter is so delighted that he glomps onto DM and kisses him repeatedly. An uncomfortable Danger Mouse finally gets Penfold to stop by saying, "Steady, steady on, Penfold! We are British."
- Inverted in "Beware of Mexicans Delivering Milk." DM is rendered weak from milk drugged by El Loco. As he faces Colonel K:
  Colonel K: Good heavens, DM, whatever's the matter? Where's that stiff upper lip?
  DM: It's gone off floppy, Colonel...and so have I!

T to V

The Tape Knew You Would Say That:
- The episode "Duckula Meets Frankenstoat" features a taped transmission from Colonel K:
  Colonel K: Ah, there you are DM. I'm sending this recorded message...
  DM: Recorded message?
  Colonel K: Don't interrupt, DM. I had to send this recorded message as normal communications aren't available.
- In "Where There's a Well, There's a Way", the scroll telling where to find Merlin's inkwell and make a wish upon it seemed to know what Penfold was going to say next.
Team Rocket Wins: Greenback actually gets the best of DM at the conclusion of "The Wild, Wild Goose Chase", when DM realises that Greenback has just sent him on a... well, you know.
Penfold: Go ahead, Chief...have a good shout.
DM: (flushing several shades of red with rage) I...HATE...THAT...TOAD!!!
10-Minute Retirement: DM wants to resign after he thinks he's been humiliated on a "This Is Your Life" styled TV show (actually staged by Greenback), until Colonel K tells him the show was never transmitted.
Terror-dactyl: A pterodactyl menaces DM in his flying car in "150 Million Years Lost". It resembles a toothy Pteranodon and is able to grab the car with its feet.
There Is No Rule Six: In "Demons Aren't Dull", DM saved him and Penfold from the Demon of the Fourth Dimension by invoking a clause in the by-laws of the Union of Devious, Diabolical and Dimensional Demons ^note that states any victim not destroyed by the end of episode four has to be returned to their own dimension or have his powers revoked by the Boss Demon. Once returned, DM lets on that there isn't any such clause. He made it up. (Just as well...the Demon planted DM and Penfold thousands of feet in the air, causing them to plummet earthwards.)
Thriller on the Express: "Danger Mouse on the Orient Express".
Toilet Humor:
- Implied and averted in "Where There's a Well, There's a Way" when DM and Penfold lose a water-detecting device en route to finding Merlin's mystic inkwell:
  Penfold: It's not my fault, DM. You left the bathroom door open. It went straight down the—
  DM: I know where it went Penfold...
- The closed caption for "The Good, the Bad and the Motionless" shows the evil DM in the scene where he drops a giant egg on the hero DM saying "Round two...eat poo!" (This may not be accurate as the closed captions are dotted with grammatical errors.)
- The 2015 reboot goes to town with this with the antagonist Loo-cifer.
Too Dumb to Live: In "The Day of the Suds", Baron Greenback orders Stiletto to destroy all washing machines in town. Stiletto asks if the order applies to the machine they're in and the Baron, not stopping to think about the questions, says "yes". Baron Greenback figures it out but not on time to stop Stiletto.
To the Batpole!: The couch express lift down to the garage. Averted twice, in "Mechanised Mayhem" (when the lift is one of the rebelling machines) and "Viva Danger Mouse" (when the lift is out of commission); both times, they have to take the stairs, to Penfold's relief.
Tropaholics Anonymous: Penfold is a member of the support group Cowards Anonymous. In "Tiptoe Through the Penfolds", he's away at the meeting reading his dissertation "Cowardice Without Guilt."
- In "Public Enemy No. 1," DM (who is suffering from amnesia) extols the virtues of Aerobatics Anonymouse while repairing the Mk. III.
Vague Age: We don't know how old Danger Mouse and Penfold are supposed to be
Villain: Exit, Stage Left: Several stories end with Greenback, having seen his evil plans come to nothing, deciding to cut his losses and just leave.
- In "Trouble With Ghosts", Greenback decides to pack it in after watching DM unmask the various monsters in the castle as robots, which he then disables.
- When a giant gorilla shows up halfway through "The Tower of Terror", Greenback decides to abandon his plans to use the tower's traps to get the better of DM and flies off in the Frog's Head Flyer.
- After his brainwashing device is switched off in "Hear! Hear!" and DM prepares to confront him, Greenback flips a switch and the tower of his home in which he is hiding takes off like a rocket.
Visual Pun: "The Dream Machine" features several.
- After Penfold falls for Greenback's Schmuck Bait regarding saying "rock", DM impresses on him that saying the word causes rocks to appear, so he tells him to be careful. "Okay, Danger Mouse, I'll watch it!" says Penfold... causing a giant pocket watch to fall on DM's head and knock him silly.
  Greenback: [through laughter] "Watch it!" Oh, Nero, I shall die laughing!
- Penfold falls through a trap door after mentioning the word "trap". Danger Mouse asks him what he does when he's frightened. Penfold shouts back, "I scream!" He promptly lands in a giant goblet of... ice cream.
  Penfold: Oh, rats!
  Rat: [appearing in the goblet next to him, sporting a sombrero and Mexican accent] You wan' somet'ing?

W to Z

Waking Non Sequitur: An example from "The Dream Machine":
(DM and Penfold are fast asleep when the alarm sounds, heralding an incoming message from Colonel K)
DM: (sits bolt upright) Penfold! Penfold, wake up, man!
Penfold: (sits up) Er - ooh! The egg's done! No! Er, the milkman wants his money! Er, no! It's, er-
DM: Penfold, shush! It's Colonel K!
Weather-Control Machine: One of Greenback's many plots for world domination ("The Next Ice Age Begins At Midnight").
Greenback: At the press of a button, I could smother the Earth with snow, drown it in rain, wreck it with gales, and cloak it with fog.
Stiletto: Why not just wait for summer?
Who Would Want to Watch Us?: From "All Fall Down", when DM and Penfold confront Mac the Fork's brother Mac the Spoon:
DM: We're here to find out about your brother.
Mac The Spoon: An' why shood I tell ye about 'im?
DM: Because if you don't, this story's going to come to a grinding end and our viewers will never forgive us.
Mac The Spoon: Oh, jangs! We canna' have that! Um...who are all these viewers?
Penfold: Well, there's a chap in Chorlton-Cum-Hardy, two blokes from Wentworth, and a bod from Winkley Woods.^note
Why Did It Have to Be Snakes?: In "AAAIAAGG! Spiders!", it turns out spiders are DM's one fear.
Wild Take: Penfold is often rather animated (in every sense of the word) when he is scared (which is often).
- A particularly good example happens when he and DM are confronted by three vampires in "Trouble With Ghosts":
  Penfold: (face right in the camera) Ahh! Vampires! Help, help! (runs back towards the dead end of the corridor and collides with the wall) Mum! Mummy! Mum! Dad! (jumps halfway up the wall, then onto the ceiling) Ooh! Ahh! Ooh! (jumps over to a grating and tries to pull it open) Vampires, help! (jumps over to another wall and tries to scramble up it with his bare hands) Save me! Oohohh! Oh, please! (begins running back and forth up the corridor) Somebody do something, oooh!
  DM: (who has been watching Penfold's meltdown while leaning casually against the wall) Well done, Penfold, don't let them see you're frightened.
With Friends Like These...: In "The Odd Ball Runaround," DM gets jettisoned to a mountain peak and radios HQ for an emergency survival kit. It gets unceremoniously dropped on top of him.
DM: Well! The lads in dispatch won't get a card from me this Christmas!
You and What Army?: When Danger Mouse and Penfold finally track down Greenback inside the title device in "The Dream Machine", DM declares that he's going to bring Greenback to justice. A chuckling Greenback answers, "Indeed? You, and, to use a childish phrase, whose army?" "Funny you should say that" says DM, opening the door to Greenback's control room to reveal a thousand Danger Mouse clones.
Danger Mouse clones: [in approximate unison] The game's up, Greenback!
- From "The Good, the Bad and the Motionless," after DM dispatches of his evil self's minions:
  Evil DM: Very clever. But you won't beat me that easy.
  DM: Won't I. Who's to stop me?
  Evil DM: I am.
  DM: Ha! You and whose army?
  Evil DM: Me and the army behind you! (Three demons appear behind DM)
You Have Failed Me: Greenback to a unit of his washing machine brigade in "Day of the Suds":
Machine: Enemy escaped. Mission failed. Disengaged.
Greenback: Escaped?! Failed?! Useless tin cans! (to Stiletto) Stiletto...pay them the wages of failure.
Stiletto: Si, Barone. (presses button on a device; the machine unit explodes)
Your Costume Needs Work: Penfold was once introduced as "Penfold, bronze medal winner in the Penfold Lookalike Competition".
Your Size May Vary:
- Sometimes the animators were inconsistent with the size of DM and Penfold, even though the beginning of every episode shows them living in a pillar box. A lot of the time they were their normal rodent size, but sometimes they were the size of short humans.
- It wasn't just DM and Penfold. The episode "Bandits, Beans and Ballyhoo" even had Mexican bandito El Loco smuggling himself into the country by hiding in their luggage, and he doesn't exactly have any trouble fitting inside the pillar box.

Danger Mouse

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Western Animation / Danger Mouse 10 Following

WHERE TO WATCH

Wherever there is danger, there'll be tropes!

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"Including THIS one?"

Danger Mouse

10 Following