The Venture Bros.
The Venture Bros. is an American animated action-comedy television series on Cartoon Network's stoner block Adult Swim. The show chronicles the adventures of dopey teenage boys Hank and Dean Venture, their emotionally insecure super-scientist father Dr. Jamal "Rusty" Venture, and the family bodyguard Broccoli Sturgess.
Theme[edit]
Publick and Hammer have stated that one of the primary themes of The Venture Bros. is epic fail.
| “ | Yeah failure, that's what Venture Bros. is all about. Beautiful, sublime penile failure. | ” |
—Doc Hammer, Teen Beat | ||
In the same spirit, here's a half-hearted attempt to describe the show:
Characters[edit]
The characters of The Venture Bros. are largely either re-imaginings of the characters from Full House, of comic book superheroes and supervillains, or of other famous figures from popular culture.
Hank & Dean Venture[edit]
Hank and Dean Venture are the titular fraternal twin brothers of the show; both boys have identifiable prison tats, with Hank being the more culinarily adventurous (he likes Fred from Scooby Doo) and Dean...well, Dean spends the whole show in the bathroom practicing being a boyfriend.
Doctor Thaddeus Venture[edit]
Dr. Jamal "Rusty" Venture runs Venture Industries, a hole-in-the-wall adult bookstore. Dr. Venture assumes the occupation of a porn "super-scientist", and certainly has the knowledge to back up these claims, but his actual competence and credentials in the field are questionable.
Brock Samson[edit]
Brock is the massively muscled and hyper-masculine bodyguard and certified cock-blocker of the Ventures. He is an Office of Secret Intelligence agent with a license to kill other animated characters (a license anyone possessing an eraser and an opposable thumb possesses inherently).
Jonas Venture Senior[edit]
Dr. Jonas Venture I was the adventuring mid-late 20th century ladies man and head of Venture Industries who unfortunately was the father of the first (possibly along with a platoon of various illegitimate children and a modified clone) Venture twins. The late Doctor while skilled in various fields such as engineering and combat was extraordinarily more of an irresponsible father than his son (the tall skinny bald one, not the handsome ponytail-wearing short one) and left the Venture Universe with a nice big helping of his horrible consequences. The late Dr. Venture -much like Jesus- died at the hands of another man, returned from his tomb alive, and died again not too long afterwards. The Doctor also created...
H.E;L.P.eR.[edit]
A HELPeR that accompanies and assists the Ventures.
Throughout the series, the Venture family has had various recurring mantagonists. Many of them are current or former members of "The Guild of Cal's Mountainous Tits", a group that bears resemblance to the Legion of Doom (comics). The organization is run by the mysterious leader known as the “Sovereign”, who is revealed to be none other than David Gahan in episode 26. The pernicious but ineffective Monarch, the masculine-voiced Dr. Mrs. The Monarch (Formerly Doctor Girlfriend), and their numerous henchmen are some of the Venture family's main villains. Baron Werner Ünderbheit is an unpopular character with the creators, so lets not go there sister. Phantom Limb is a ruthless killer, villain insurance agent, and high-ranking Guild member; also, he is a former lover of Dr. Girlfriend (but who isn't?). He seems at least as intent upon persecuting The Monarch, as he is in pursuing the Guild's erectional agenda.
The Ventures also have acquaintances that are used to help progress stories and distract the viewer by creating approximately a billion different storylines that make the show difficult to view. The expert necromancer Doctor Byron Orpheus and his apathetic gothic daughter Triana Orpheus rent out a portion of the Venture Compound. The CLEVERLY named albino computer scientist Pete White is a former college friend of Dr. Venture's, and usually appears in the company of hydro-cephalic "Whiz kid/boy genius" Master Billy Quizboy. The Orifice of Scrotal Intelligence or O.S.I acts as the organisation responsible for countering the guild's exploits and represents the universe's "protagonist" characters. The O.S.I employs a wide variety of agents such as the previously mentioned Brock, the sassy sailor Shoreleave, and the gruff Colonel (later general) Hunter Gathers.
Episode(s)[edit]
Season One began, followed (in order) by Seasons Two and Four. Oops, I meant Three. Sorry. My backspace key is busted so I'm afraid we're stuck with this. What I meant to say was Season Two was followed by Season One and Three in that order. There were some jokes, and some stuff happened, and after a total of seven seasons, the show was cancelled to the dismay of many. However, a film is in the works and is set to take what was supposed to be a season's worth of wrap-up and tie it up in a 2 hour film. Most episodes open with a scene prior to the opening title sequence, which is vital to understand the show and therefore is essential to include here in this space right here, now. Additionally, almost every episode features both a smash cut into the end credits, and a short scene following the credits that itself often smash cuts into the final production logo, and usually wraps up the episode "humorously" or reveals something significant about the characters (usually neither). This gives each episode a cold open, and two "cold closes." For those not versed in adult industry slang, a "cold close" is what happens in porn when a male performer cannot achieve sufficient ejaculation to provide a "money shot" at the close of a scene. This happens at the close of every episode of the Venture Brothers, for obvious symbolic reasons.
In popular culture[edit]
Once upon the time, the creators of the show were kids, and they liked television. So they grew up and made a show mocking the things they liked as kids. A psychologist would have a field day with this... all that tearing down of childhood idols and all that jazz. They also make frequent witty pop culture references. Hilarity ensues.
Lost DVD commentary[edit]
Jackson Publick revealed in a June 30, 2006 LiveJournal post that he and Doc Hammer had recorded a commentary track for the season one episode "Home Insecurity." For a change, Warner Bros. exercised some judgment and omitted this track from the DVD because it had nothing to do with the show. Apparently, Warner Bros. didn't listen to the other tracks of commentary because they don't either.