Molly Danger is an “audio comic” (Back in my day, we called them radio dramas.) based on the popular Action Lab comic book of the same name. It features Molly, a super-powered alien who’s perpetually ten years old. She spends her time fighting cyborgs (called “Super-Mechs”) who hang around her hometown of Coopersville. To help her with this, she has the Danger Action Response Team (D.A.R.T.), which flies her into the midst of the cyborg chaos and backs her up as she tries to contain it.
Except backing her up isn’t quite what they seem to end up doing. Her superiors are very big on protocol, and once she actually gets to the scene, they seem to spend all their time telling her not to do anything. It’s too dangerous, she needs to stick to procedure and stay away from what’s going on . . .
Of course, Molly ignores them, goes off on her own, and thwarts whatever villain is wreaking havoc this week. Then, once she gets back, her superiors yell at her and send her to her room for . . . well, for defeating the Super-Mechs and saving the day, really. It seems like the people at D.A.R.T. would rather see Coopersville destroyed by cyborgs than let Molly actually do the job that they apparently recruited her for in the first place.
Fortunately, Molly meets Austin Briggs, a member of the Coopersville Police Department, who ALSO has an issue with following protocol. This trait does seem slightly more concerning for a police officer than it does for a 10-year-old cyborg-fighter, but he helps her out when everyone else says not to, and she recommends that they recruit him for D.A.R.T.
D.A.R.T., meanwhile, seems to be hiding some things from Molly. They talk in conspiratorial tones behind her back and warn all of the new recruits, repeatedly, that she’s not human, she’s dangerous, and they shouldn’t interact with her under any circumstances unless it directly pertains to the mission at hand.
Molly isn’t allowed to interact with anyone, in fact. She’s a super celebrity in Coopersville, with legions of fans, specially licensed merchandise, the whole nine yards . . . but she’s never been allowed to meet or interact with a single one of them. She may be an alien superhero, but she’s also a lonely 10-year-old girl who wants a family and friends.
The program goes on a little long. It’s just over an hour but could easily have been split into two parts. Another minor issue is that sometimes it’s difficult to tell what’s going on in the action. Since there are no visuals, the audio, and particularly the dialogue, have to be fairly explicit in telling us what’s going on, but there are times when the dialogue is a bit ambiguous, or we’ll just get long stretches of sound effects that don’t convey the scene as well as the producers might think.
Kids should appreciate Molly Danger for the most part. Adults may find the characters a little simplistic and the plot a little contrived. Still, it’s generally an entertaining program.
