Web Video / Decker

Decker is a comedy-action web series and TV show which began in 2014 as a spinoff/tie-in to the web series On Cinema with many of the stars and recurring guests of that show having roles in Decker. The series follows CIA agent Jack Decker, played by Tim Heidecker, who fights agaisnt terrorism and fights for the American way, generally because US President Davidson, played by Joe Estevez, usually lacks the courage to do so. Tim's On Cinema co-star Gregg Turkington also appears in the series as Special Agent Jonathan Kington who aids Decker by cracking codes. Kington is also an avid movie buff, just like Gregg's persona in On Cinema. It is a spoof of action films and has deliberately bad acting, writing and special effects.

Its first three seasons, Classified, Port of Call: Hawaii and Decker vs. Dracula were released on the [adult swim] website and YouTube while season four, Decker: Unclassified aired on the Adult Swim TV network as well as season 5, Decker: Unsealed and season 6, Decker: Mindwipe. The series is frequently mentioned in On Cinema, where Tim and Gregg serve as regulars, and is often a source of tension on that show.

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This show provides examples of:

• Accidental Misnaming: Decker usually calls Kington either "Klington" or "Kingston".
• The Ace: Decker is incredibly skilled in whatever his job may require him to do and often takes out terrorists, or any of America's other enemies, in a mano a mano fashion.
• Action Film, Quiet Drama Scene: In season 2, Decker takes Kington to the USS Arizona Memorial Visitor Center to give him an understanding of why they are fighting terrorists. Decker later dives in the ocean to retrieve his grandfather's dog tags who had, appropriately enough, died during the Pearl Harbor attack.
• Anti-Villain: Lanoi Arnold. In general, he's only motivation in working with terrorists to take over Hawaii was to get money to renovate his bar. The Decker Unsealed retcon of Port of Call: Hawaii adds they he tried to get a bank loan first but was unable to secure one and thus had to turn to the terrorists in order to save his bar.
• Artistic License – Geography: At one point in Decker: Unclassified, Decker goes to "Pearl Harbor, Japan". Yeah... really. Is there an awkwardly cold draft in here or what?
• Art Shift: Scenes directed by Gregg are much better than those directed by Tim, although that isn't saying much.
• As Himself: Screenwriter Carl Gottileb (best known for co-writing Jaws) makes an appearance as himself as a speaker at an event on a film themed cruise ship which Kington is also speaking at.
• As Long as It Sounds Foreign: "Ara-book" consists of clearly improvised nonsense sounds with a few "Amerikas" or "Allahu Akbars" thrown in.
• Atomic F-Bomb: In the documentary Decker vs. Dracula: Behind the Truth, Tim gives one to Gregg while walking off the set due to the part where Decker is suppose to agree to a deal with Abdul.
• Author Appeal: Kington and Decker are basically heavily idealized copies of their actors' characters on On Cinema.
  • Kington is an avid movie buff who snacks on popcorn (even ordering it successfully at Lanoi's bar), has the largest film collection in the United States, and during Season 2 is shown dubbing tapes and trying to get a Guinness World Record for watching 500 movies in 500 days.
  • Decker has strong conservative principles and hates weak politicians. He is also the frontman of a very successful rock band. The character also drove a harley motorcycle in the first season which was back when Tim was interested in them.
• Author Tract: Decker frequently starts rambling about his views on climate change or weak liberal politicians and in general spouts the political views of Tim's On Cinema character.
  Decker: "Yes, it is a beautiful day, even though left-wing environmentalists would believe you - have you believe that the climate - that there's climate change, even though there is not climate change, it's total bullshit. You look in the sky, it's beautiful blue sky."
• Back from the Dead: Kington is killed by the First Lady in the end of Decker Unclassified. He is however brought back to life in the first episode of Decker Unsealed thanks to an untested treatment which also makes him look younger.
• Bat Out of Hell: Dracula is able to turn into a bat which looks like a smaller version of his head with wings.
• Best Friend: Lanoi Arnold is this to Decker. Both have been friends since at least their days training for the green berets and have often spent their vacations with each other. This does not stop Lanoi from betraying Decker to terrorists in order to secure funds to renovate his bar. Following the retcon in Decker Unsealed, it seems Decker has forgiven him to the point that they remain friends.
• Blatant Lies: Inside Decker: Unclassified features a clip from Tim Heidecker, played over the top of highlights of bad chroma keying and Birdemic-esque stock animations of explosions seen in Decker: Port of Call: Hawaii.
  "Of course the special effects in Hawaii takes it to the next level. We're working with some of the Premiere technology experts out there to create effects that you haven't seen before - it makes you feel like you're really there, and the technology really makes us able to tell stories that we were never able to tell before because, uh, it's so advanced."
• Bond Gun Barrel: Gregg's Decker Versus Dracula: The Lost Works features Kington in a very Bond-like gun barrel sequence, though he is holding a crucifix instead of a gun.
• Canon Discontinuity: Tim considers Decker vs. Dracula to be outside of the Decker Canon to the annoyance of Gregg. Dracula is brought back in Unclassified though.
• Captain Obvious: "Michael Victor. That's M as in Michael."
• Cartwright Curse: While Decker is good at seducing women, he never stays with them for too long.
  • He has a wife but leaves her and their son in order to keep them safe from terrorists.
  • Has a brief relationship with singer Pop but is forced to kill her just before she can assassinate the president.
  • Every other women he is romancing is never seen or heard from again.
• The Charmer: Decker never seems to have trouble seducing women. Lanoi even notes this when greeting Decker on his Hawaiian vacation.
• Christmas Episode: Episode 3 of Decker Unsealed shows Decker on a mission during Christmas Day.
• Colon Cancer: Decker: Port of Call: Hawaii.
• Continuity Nod: The series makes a number of nods to its parent series, On Cinema.
  • In the last episode of Decker: Mindwipe, Kington tries to play a tape of "Star Trek 2: Return to San Francisco" a reference to how Gregg Turkington kept claiming on On Cinema that the Star Trek film which took place in San Francisco was the second one (it's actually the fourth one).
• Corrupt Politician: It is heavily implied that President Davidson has accepted a number of bribes from special interest groups in exchange for special treatment. With the assistance of his wife, Davidson had tricked Decker into rigging an election against a opponent who would have easily beaten him.
• Cut Short: The third season, Decker vs. Dracula, was abruptly cut after three episodes because Tim (at least, his On Cinema character) didn't like this season. Episode 4 is just a message saying it is cancelled while the Dekkar's song Empty Bottle plays for most of the episode. Two additional videos have been made, though. The first by Tim to explain why it's cancelled, generally blaming the artistic choices by Gregg for ruining the show, while the other is by Gregg who explains what the ending could have been like.
• Deep South: Episode 2 of Mindwipe takes place in Louisiana with most of the action taking place in a Bayou.
• Deliberately Monochrome: When Decker uses a time machine to go back in time to 1941 Japan to stop the Pearl Harbor attack, everything is in black and white while present day and future scenes are in color.
• Determinator: Jack Decker is always willing to fight for America's freedom.
• Disappeared Dad: Decker did this to his son, Decker Jr., in hopes of keeping him safe from terrorists.
• Don't Explain the Joke:
  Decker: "Talk to my agent. Irony is, I am a CIA - I am an agent of the CIA."
• Early-Installment Weirdness: Decker's acting was relatively natural throughout Season 1.
  • The web video seasons of Decker tended to be a bit more serialized than the television seasons. The former followed Decker and Kington on single assignment or mission throughout the season. While the tv seasons has some plot that overreaches each episode, the general format typically features 1 new mission per episode.
• Enemy Mine: In Decker vs. Dracula, Decker teams up with the Middle Eastern Terrorists against the Lord of Vampires, Tim in-universe thinks that Decker would never do this and cancels Decker vs. Dracula because of it.
• Faceless Goons: Most of the mooks wear a bandit mask to hide their faces.
• Fake Shemp: In Season 1, Gregg stars as Kington without his permission or knowledge, using some footage that Tim recorded under false pretenses as an "interview" combined with some edited clips from On Cinema.^note Of course, this only takes place In-Universe as part of a joke on On Cinema. However, starting with Season 2, Gregg appears in person.
• False Friend: Lanoi Arnold. He was Decker's oldest friend and welcomed Decker warmly when he came to Hawaii for vacation. However, Arnold had already betrayed him to the Taliban in exchange for money to renovate his bar.
• Fan Disservice: In the beginning of Port of Call: Hawaii, Tim is shown at the beach with only his swim shorts. He doesn't exactly have the muscular body that most action stars have.
• Fatal Flaw: Gregg's obsession with movies causes him to accept a bugged VHS tape which allows terrorists to learn Decker's plan.
• The Future: Decker: Unclassified and Decker: Unsealed takes place in 2076.
• Genre Shift:
  • Decker vs. Dracula incorporates monster based horror into the otherwise political thriller based series since Gregg had creative control during that season. This is cut after the season is abruptly cancelled and returns as a political action thriller in Decker Unclassified until the last episode of the season where it's revealed that Dracula was working with the first lady.
  • Happens again in the finale of Decker Mindwipe which incorporates elements from Science Fiction into the series.
• Good All Along: Presidential candidate Sanchez. Decker is told by Davidson that Sanchez, who was set to beat Davidson in an election by a landslide, is secretly planning on merging the USA and Mexico to form the United Mexican States, thus convincing Decker to rig the election. Davidson later confesses Sanchez was innocent and had used Decker to help him win reelection.
• Guy Liner: Decker is seen wearing it during the Trigger Everything performance.
• Haunted Castle: Dracula lives in one and it is the base of operations for his League of Monsters.
• The Hero: Jack Decker.
• Ideal Hero: Jack Decker is portrayed as this; fighting for the America and its Freedom and is generally always portrayed as being morally in the right.
  "A man. My name name Jack Decker. A hero for America. A man. An ideal. An American legend."
• I Lied: In the first episode of Decker: Mindwipe, President Davidson confesses he lied to Decker about a oppositional presidential candidate, claiming the rival was going to turn the USA instead the United Mexican States, in order to convince Decker to rig the election in Davidson's favor.
• Insane Troll Logic: Decker is in Hawaii when the island is taken over by terrorists. He tries to contact Kington only to find out that he is also in Hawaii:
  Decker: "You mean to tell me Agent Klingstlon is in Hawaii? That's where the terrorists are. Kingston's working with terrorism."
• Lampshade Hanging: Used to bizarre effect in The Butterfly Effect.
  Decker: "Pops, I can't believe it's you. You're alive. This is ironic, what a twist."
• The Lancer: What Kington is to Decker. While Decker handles most of the fighting and field work, Kington provides tech based support for the missions, most notably with his ability to crack codes.
• Jaw Drop: Decker's signature expression is this vacant, squinty-eyed stare with his mouth hanging open when major plot twists hit, like a surprised goldfish. It is hilariously goofy.
• Laser-Guided Amnesia: Serves as the premise to "Decker: Mindwipe". Decker's memories are taken from him by terrorists. He must be told stories of his past missions in hopes it would help him recover his lost memories.
• Last-Name Basis: Decker and Kington are usually referred to by their last names.
• Legion of Doom: Various monsters like Dracula, Frankenstein, the Wolfman and the Mummy team up to take over the world during Decker vs. Dracula.
• Love at First Sight: Decker and a female C.I.A agent fall in love when they first meet during a mission The relationship is very brief though as Decker since C.I.A agents aren't allowed to be in relationships with each other and Decker ensists she maintain an non-combat role with the C.I.A.
• Meaningful Name: Decker and Kington are named for their actors, Tim Heidecker and Gregg Turkington.
• Mentor Archetype: An elderly Kington serves this role for Decker Jr., overseeing his training to become a skilled spy like his father.
• Mentor Occupational Hazard: Not long after Kington completes Decker Jr.'s training, he is killed by the first lady. He is brought back to life not long after this though.
• Middle Eastern Terrorists: The group behind the terrorist attacks in the series is often referred to as Al-Qaeda or ISIS, interchangeably.
• Mockumentary: Decker Vs. Dracula: Behind The Truth is Tim Heidecker's attempt to explain the cancellation of Decker vs. Dracula using behind-the-scenes footage. It features an intro and outro clearly made in iMovie and interludes with scrolling, typo-ridden passages which are displayed in Papyrus and also read aloud by Tim.

  Lunch being late may seem like a small isue to those not in the film business but it is a mark of PROFFESSIONALISM and which was very lacking on Gregg's production.

• My Country, Right or Wrong: Decker is always willing to save America from danger even though he hates President Davidson's policies.
• Novelisation: Jamie Griefe painstakingly transcribed the first two seasons. His work was released on Amazon by Heidecker Publishing.
• Our Lawyers Advised This Trope: In-Universe in the context of On Cinema. There is one at the end of episode 3 of Decker Mindwipe In On Cinema, Dr. San helped caused the deaths of several due to his vapor devices and Tim was on the hook for the manslaughter charges after San committed suicide. The episode portrayed San and his alternative medicine treatments in a postivie manner and thus a disclaimer was added claiming Tim did not endorse San's treatments and the episode cannot be used as evidence in court. The disclaimer itself covers a previous message where Tim did endorse San.
• Overly Long Gag:
  • Decker: Classified episode 4 features a motorbike scene lasting over a minute. An overlay for the first 20 seconds plots his journey on a map and then disappears and the rock music playing in the background eventually comes to a stop only to start playing a few seconds later. Then the whole thing repeats.
  • Decker: Unclassified shows Decker aboard a plane, trying to tell the pilot's name, "Michael Victor", to Kington over a radio link. After saying the name, he begins to spell it out loud using the phonetic alphabet, and Kington tries to interrupt him with "Got it. Michael Victor." halfway through. He doesn't stop.
• Patriotic Fervor: Decker deeply cares for America and is willing to do whatever is necessary to protect America and freedom.
• Plot Hole: In Decker: Unclassified, it is shown that Decker found out that Abdul was a terrorist even before Decker completed his green beret training. Yet back in the first season of Decker, which chronologically takes place after his training is complete, he did not suspect Abdul as a terrorist when he provided Decker intel about the terrorists.
• Previously on…:
  • Each episode of 'Decker: Classified' (apart from the first one) starts with a recap of the last one starting with "Previously on Decker".
  • Decker: Port of Call: Hawaii uses "Previously on Decker season 2".
  • Decker vs. Dracula only does this once, in episode 3, and presents the recap as a Silent Film.
• Product Placement: In-universe and likely parodied. Since Decker: Unsealed, there have been episodes with parts to promote a brand of chicken wings called "Lanoi Arnold's Hawaiian Styled Buffalo Flavored Chicken Wings" noting its quality taste and availability.
• Protagonist Title: The series is named after the lead character "Jack Decker".
• ReferenceOverdosed: Keeping with Gregg Turkington's On Cinema persona, his character Kington gives frequent shout outs to movies and Decker vs. Dracula is one huge homage to Universal Horror. This can annoy Decker based on which movies he name drops.
• Renaissance Man: Decker is not only a skilled CIA agent but is shown to be a successful musician and businessman and can pretty much do anything the plot may require of him, except cracking codes.
• Retcon: The second episode of Decker Unsealed retcons some of the plot details in Port of Call: Hawaii. Decker's wife and son are present during his Hawaiian vacation even though neither were present or mentioned before. Kington has a reduced role and generally just takes Decker's family to their hotel room rather than aiding Decker in stopping the terrorists like before. The only code he breaks is the password to the hotel room since Decker had the hotel key. Lanoi Arnold is shot by Decker for his betrayal but is kept alive after revealing the terrorists were planning a hit on his son.
• The Rock Star: Decker is the frontman of a hugely successful rock band called Dekkar and his son is able to live comfortably from just the royalties the group earned.
• Running Gag:
  • The first time any new location is shown, a military timestamp is given... but it never changes during a season, i.e. no time is shown to have passed between scenes. It is also usually clearly wrong - midday at Central Park is described as "0400 Hours".
  • Several major and minor characters repeat the phrase "like something out of a movie" throughout Season 6, in reference to Tim and Gregg's joking insistence that each season is a movie that was serialised for the Web or TV.
• Sadistic Choice: When President Davidson looked like he was going to lose reelection, he gave Decker a choice. Rig the election to allow him to win, thus violating the constitution which Decker holds dearly, or let the other candidate win despite leaked information noting they want to merge the USA and Mexico into the United Mexican States, which is immoral according to Decker. Decker ultimately goes with rigging the election. Turns out Davidson lied about his opponent and just used Decker in order to remain president.
• Screw This, I'm Outta Here:
  • In Decker vs. Dracula: Behind the Truth, Tim walks off the set due to artistic choices made by Gregg.
  • In a Breaking the Fourth Wall moment, Kington walks off the set in episode 5 of Decker: Unclassified after it's revealed that Dekkar is to appear in the episode. He does come back later in the episode, though.
• Sexy Surfacing Shot / Workout Fanservice: The opening scene of the very first episode of Decker: Port of Call: Hawaii features Jack Decker jogging along the beach, being splashed by waves, reclining on his towel to smoke a cigarette, and sitting in shorts so wet they slide down and expose his crack. Rather than being a sexy eye-candy moment like the story treats it, the end result is deeply unflattering.
• Shameless Self-Promoter: A significant portion of Episode 5 of Decker Unclassified is used to promote Tim's On Cinema band Dekkar. The episode even contains part of their Trigger Everything music video. He also shows the url to dekkar's website during an episode of Decker Unsealed after mentioning the band's new release.
• Show Within a Show: In the context of On Cinema, Decker is the vanity project of Tim Heidecker.
• Space Station: A space station (Space Station IX) is used as a neutral zone between Earth and Aliens from other planets.
• Spiritual Successor: To Team America: World Police.
• The Smart Guy: Special Agent Jonathan Kington lives up to his title as master of codes. Like Gregg's On Cinema persona, Kington also appears to have expert knowledge of films as well.
• South Asian Terrorists: The Taliban ("Talibund") are recurring antagonists.
• Stylistic Suck: Most of the jokes on the show boil down to this.
  • The White House was replicated by chroma-keying the actors and a few props onto a photo of the real White House. Constant pans and zooms make this painfully obvious, as the foreground slides around on the background image. In Season 2, the real President Obama is frequently clearly visible behind Davidson.
  • Most of the actors, especially Tim Heidecker, flub their lines frequently. Tim is even shown repeating his lines when he messes up in several scenes.
• Sudden Sequel Death Syndrome: Decker himself dies at the beginning ofDecker: Unclassified due to old age. Dracula also dies in the first episode of Decker: Unsealed due to gunshot wounds sustained by Decker Jr.
• Tagline: Decker: Classified has "The law has limits, he does not". This is the same tagline as Jack Reacher, which Tim cited in On Cinema as his favorite film.
• This Is a Work of Fiction: Decker: Unclassified begins with a black screen stating that "The following events are fititious but well within the realm of possibility.
• Threatening Shark: Decker is attacked by a shark in the first episode of Decker Mindwipe when making his way in and out of the election commission headquarters.
• To Be Lawful or Good: Upon being informed that presidential candidate Sanchez, who is running against Davidson and seems to have a significant lead in the polls, is planning on annexing the United States with Mexico as the United Mexican States, Decker is forced to face a tough choice: Either rigged the election in Davidson's favor (a clear violation of the American Constitution which Decker holds dearly) or allow Sanchez to be democratically elected at the cost of America itself. Decker ultimately chooses to rig the election. It turns out though Sanchez was never actually a bad person and had no intent of creating the United Mexican States. Davidson just provided Kington with false intel to show Decker to rig the election as it was clear Davidson had no chance of beating Sanchez fair and square.
• Took the Bad Film Seriously: In-universe, Joe Estevez is clearly trying to put at least a little effort into his role as President Davidson, which makes the terrible performances of Tim, Gregg, Mark, and everyone else stand out all the more by comparison.
• Trademark Favorite Food: Kington is often seen snacking on popcorn.
• Training Montage: There is one when Kingston is overseeing the training of Decker's son and the progress he makes.
• Travel Montage: Frequently used when Decker has to race from one location to another. They tend to be unusually long thanks to excessive or looped footage to really hammer in how cool Decker looks driving a motorcycle or car.
• Trojan Horse:
  • One of Decker's missions involve him using the band Dekkar as a cover to get into a party where a terrorist group is attending.
  • Mentioned in the first episode of Decker: Mindwipe. Intel given to Decker by Kington suggested that a 2026 presidential candidate named Sanchez, who was much more popular than Davidson, was planning to use the position to get the USA and Mexico to merge as the United Mexican States. Turns out it was just a ruse Davidson used to win reelection and the intel Kington found was actually false documents created by Davidson's wife Janice.
• Twist Ending: The ending of Decker Mindwipe reveals that Kington is a double agent working for hostile Aliens.
• Waving Signs Around: In episode 2, while walking to the White House, Decker encounters a group of sign waving protesters, with signs like "Keep USA Free" and "Treat Arabs Fairly", whom he doesn't particularly like.
• Vacation Episode:
  • The entire Port of Call: Hawaii season since Decker and Kington are trying to have a nice vacation in Hawaii, only for the island to be attacked by terrorists.
  • In the 5th episode of Decker Mindwipe, Decker takes time off from work to go on a road trip across America. Kington is on vacation as well, going on a film related cruise ship in Alaska. The vacation is somewhat short lived once Abdul tries to capture the ship and crash it into an oil rig.
• Verbal Backspace: Decker frequently trips over his own lines and has to backtrack to say them again right.
• Video Full of Film Clips: Dekkar's "You Asked for a Hero" music video consists primarily of clips from Decker: Unsealed with a few shots of Axiom singing in a studio.
• You Have No Idea Who You're Dealing With: President Davidson says "Do you know who I am?" after getting captured by terrorists.

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