Danger Mouse Remake Will Include Gender Swapped Characters

[StewShearerOld]

Danger Mouse Remake Will Include Gender Swapped Characters

The in-the-works remake of the BBC's classic kids series Danger Mouse will feature several main characters that will be more "she" than their "he" originals.

Back in June, the BBC <a href=http://www.bbc.com/news/entertainment-arts-27876300>revealed that its children's network has plans to remake and reboot the classic children's show Danger Mouse. With such remakes cropping up left and right these days, it likely wasn't much a surprise for fans of the original which aired from 1981 to 1992 and was one of the first British TV shows to see syndication in the US via Nickelodeon.

That being the case, <a href=http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/news/danger-mouse-remake-more-female-716877?utm_source=Sailthru&utm_medium=email&utm_term=hollywoodreporter_international&utm_campaign=THR%20International_now_2014-07-07%2012%3A00%3A41_gszalai>recent details have emerged confirming that the new edition of the show won't just be a simple spruce up to make things more palatable to children raised on the gloss of HD television. Rather, viewers may find themselves with a more diverse cast including fresh versions of old characters that are now women instead of men.

This information was confirmed by CBBC's Chery Taylor, who told journalists that "characters that might have been male in the past will now be female characters." Kay Benbow, the controller of fellow BBC kids network CBeebies, meanwhile, expressed her belief that the move goes along with the network's ongoing efforts to feature content more in line with the multi-gender nature of its audience," she said. No information was revealed about which characters were in line to have their gender swapped.

Source: <a href=http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/news/danger-mouse-remake-more-female-716877?utm_source=Sailthru&utm_medium=email&utm_term=hollywoodreporter_international&utm_campaign=THR%20International_now_2014-07-07%2012%3A00%3A41_gszalai>Hollywood Reporter


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[Albino Boo]

Hmm Danger mouse was broadcast by itv not the BBC. Its only recently that the BBC bought the rights.

 

[An Ceannaire]

[*sits back and waits for the ensuing drama*]

 

[Batou667]

I for one welcome this news. If there was one flaw in the original, it was too many male characters.

Also, isn't it a bit problematic how white DM is?

 

[WindKnight]

Chances are we're probably going to see Penfold ladiefied. Though personally I'd hope they went all for it and made DM himself a her.

 

[RA92]

Good. Far too many shows just end up having a cast that's basically a boys' club, with just one girl thrown to act as a romantic subplot half the time.

 

[Kungfusam]

Yeah, just making new characters to fill the gap would be effort, so fuck it, lets just give Penfold a vagina and call it diversity

 

[Makabriel]

I for one welcome this news. If there was one flaw in the original, it was too many male characters.

Also, isn't it a bit problematic how white DM is?

*inset Fry image here

Not sure if being truthful or amusingly sarcastic

 

[ritchards]

Yeah, I also suspect Fem-Penfold... although they could go for sexy evil Baroness Greenback.

 

[Zykon TheLich_v1legacy]

Chances are we're probably going to see Penfold ladiefied. Though personally I'd hope they went all for it and made DM himself a her.

Colonel K, but keep the moustache/sideburn combo.

 

[BlindChance]

IF they made Penfold female and kept Penfold the snivelling, whiny, useless heap that he was in the original, I'd call that a total win. That'd be a very funny character in a way that female characters are not usually allowed to be. But I suspect they won't.

No, I'm with Zykon: The odds are good on Colonel K becoming female. Danger Mouse always had a huge dose of Bond parody in its DNA (obvious statement of the year award to me...) and that'd be nicely in line with Dench's M. It'd be easier to turn Colonel K into a female character than Penfold, although I'd celebrate a well done female Penfold more.

 

[mjharper]

Yeah, I also suspect Fem-Penfold... although they could go for sexy evil Baroness Greenback.

Wouldn't that be "Femfold"?

Personally, if they're messing with gender roles, I hope neither Penfold nor Greenback get switched, as that will just fit into gender the stereotypes of 'dizzy sidekick' and 'evil villainess'. Switching DM him/herself would be fine, as you could end up with kind of Lara Croft take on the character... and Colonel K might work, although run the risk of just being a jumped up female bureaucrat who's out of her depth.

Thinking about it, the only way I could see any of the (principal) supporting cast being female is if DM is gender swapped. As the only vaguely sensible character in the entire show, switching anyone else without switching DM might end up doing more hard than good.

I suppose they could get away with a female Nero, though

 

[BlindChance]

@MJ Harper: Just yes to all of that. I'd also argue a Stiletto Mafiosa shifted into a mafia princess archetype could work well enough.

 

[NotThePANTSU]

It's been a very long time since I watched an episode of DangerMouse and I can't remember there being ANY female characters before, were there?

Kay Benbow, the controller of fellow BBC kids network CBeebies, meanwhile, expressed her belief that the move goes along with the network's ongoing efforts to feature content more in line with the multi-gender nature of its audience," she said.

Hate to be a pedant (well, not really), but why is it that so few understand that Gender =/= Sexual designation?

 

[Rutskarn]

Yeah, just making new characters to fill the gap would be effort, so fuck it, lets just give Penfold a vagina and call it diversity

Think of things from their perspective:

"So the Danger Mouse series had only male characters. This is the 21st century, and we realize we can make an adventure cartoon for girls AND boys, so let's change that up. So we have three options:

1.) Make some old main characters female. Not a big deal, gets the job done.

2.) Add new female main characters, keep the old ones. Now our cast of main characters is significantly bigger than it needs to be.

3.) Add new female main characters, get rid of some of the old ones. That's not really satisfactory either, is it? Better to keep the old, good characters around with one small alteration than jettison them entirely.

Option 1 keeps the show tightly focused and faithful to the spirit of the original, and lets us write for the characters we grew up with (with, again, one small alteration). Let's go with that."

 

[the December King]

Yeah, just making new characters to fill the gap would be effort, so fuck it, lets just give Penfold a vagina and call it diversity

Think of things from their perspective:

"So the Danger Mouse series had only male characters. This is the 21st century, and we realize we can make an adventure cartoon for girls AND boys, so let's change that up. So we have three options:

1.) Make some old main characters female. Not a big deal, gets the job done.

2.) Add new female main characters, keep the old ones. Now our cast of main characters is significantly bigger than it needs to be.

3.) Add new female main characters, get rid of some of the old ones. That's not really satisfactory either, is it? Better to keep the old, good characters around with one small alteration than jettison them entirely.

Option 1 keeps the show tightly focused and faithful to the spirit of the original, and lets us write for the characters we grew up with (with, again, one small alteration). Let's go with that."

Does it, though? I mean, if the characters are unchanged beyond being female equivalents (like a zany, silly, klutzy sidekick), then I guess that's cool... but if the characters are all given some sort of empowering 'Mary Sue-esque' upgrade, I would just hope that the boys get an equal representation, or something.

EDIT: I missed the "From their Perspective" part- of course you are totally right.

 

[Something Amyss]

Yeah, just making new characters to fill the gap would be effort, so fuck it, lets just give Penfold a vagina and call it diversity

Think of things from their perspective:

"So the Danger Mouse series had only male characters. This is the 21st century, and we realize we can make an adventure cartoon for girls AND boys, so let's change that up. So we have three options:

1.) Make some old main characters female. Not a big deal, gets the job done.

2.) Add new female main characters, keep the old ones. Now our cast of main characters is significantly bigger than it needs to be.

3.) Add new female main characters, get rid of some of the old ones. That's not really satisfactory either, is it? Better to keep the old, good characters around with one small alteration than jettison them entirely.

Option 1 keeps the show tightly focused and faithful to the spirit of the original, and lets us write for the characters we grew up with (with, again, one small alteration). Let's go with that."

It really seems like "damned if you do, damned if you do something else." I'm pretty sure roughly the same people would be bothered with each outcome.

 

[Shiftygiant]

I do want to see more Danger Mouse, having loved watching the original as a child, but at the same time it feels more like a quick attempt to say we have diverse shows without having to go to the effort of a new IP and surfing off the knowledge that you already have a fan base; I understand why the fan base is angry about the gender swap, as it suggests that a characters gender is superfluous, but given the nature of the show, as long as they don't mess with the core aspects and keep the show a piss take of James Bond but with a mouse, it shouldn't be too bad.

 

[SweetShark]

They just saw the good reactions the Zelda's fan for the new gender of Link and they decided to copy it for their own show.
I will laugh really hard if the "swap" will be for Ernest Penfold or even for the hero of the show:

Spoiler

I will sh*t myself with laughter!!! HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA

 

[Formica Archonis]

Well, Stiletto's probably the best genderbent option, if only for the heels joke.