As we near the premiere of The Venture Brothers Season 4 on Cartoon Network’s Adult Swim, I thought I would do a recap and review of each of the previous seasons to whet the appetites of the fans, and perhaps drum up some new ones in the process.
The Venture Brothers is a Cartoon Network Adult Swim animation that is part comedy, part action, part homage, and part parody. The brainchild of Jackson Publick (Christopher McCulloch) who shares writing, editing, and some voicing duties with co-conspirator Doc Hammer, The Venture Brothers pays homage to many great 80’s cartoons, drawing most heavily on the old Jonny Quest cartoon, some Scooby Doo and a handful of great superhero and super villain characters from comics.
In a nutshell the show is about Dr. Thaddeus “Rusty” Venture a former ‘boy adventurer’ and current “genius scientist” type living in the shadow of his brilliant deceased adventurer father. Dr. Venture has two teenage sons (thus the title – The Venture Brothers) Hank and Dean Venture who are a little dense and naïve and infinitely useful for limitless hilarious plotlines. Hank and Dean are largely based on Jonny Quest characters combined expertly with The Hardy Boys (though Hank’s outfit is SO Ken from Scooby Doo). The Venture clan lives with the family bodyguard and secret agent, badass Brock Samson (voiced brilliantly by Patrick Warburton) who holds the family together, both literally and figuratively.
Dr. Venture’s arch enemy, hands down one of the greatest villains ever created, is The Monarch, who takes his name from the totally not scary Monarch Butterfly. His girlfriend, aptly named Dr. Girlfriend is a brainy, sexpot with a man’s voice…and it’s one of those “creative choices” that just works so well you have to wonder what the creators were high on when they thought it was a good idea (and if you can please have some of it while you try to come up with ideas half as inspired).
The show is littered with an awesome array of other hero and villain characters including The Monarch’s Henchmen #21 and #24, Billy “The Boy Genius”, Pete White, Dr. Orpheus, Baron Underbheit, Molotov Cocktease, and Phantom Limb. There’s just really no end to the hilarity that ensues from these creations, and every season I just can’t wait to see what they’ll do next.
While a lot of what The Venture Brothers does is parody and homage of existing pop culture ideas and characters – an episode called Ice Station – Impossible! which features versions of all the Fantastic Four characters and The Incredible Mr. Brisby – a parody of Disney are two stand out episodes that do this brilliantly – the show is actually so much more than that. It’s sharp, incredibly smart, and always funny and it takes so many of the things we’ve loved and turns them on their ear, updating them and bringing them back to life in funny and more creative ways.
So far, there is no end in sight for what they can do with this rich layered world that they’ve created. I for one, hope they never stop. And if they find themselves in need a of a woman staff writer, I selflessly volunteer.
Stand Out Episode: They’re all great, but in Season One, I think far and away the best episode is Tag – Sale – You’re It. An episode in which heroes and villains collide for the greatest yard sale of all time.
Best Line: Monarch to Dr. Girlfriend on the way to the yard sale: “We never should have brought the henchmen – we’re gonna be the only ones there with henchmen – I’m gonna have to kill them – pull over if you see a good place to dump their bodies.”
Weakest Episode: Really none of these episodes are weak, but if I have to pick one then I suppose Careers In Science is my least favorite episode from Season One.
Best Episode Rating: 5.0/5.0
Worst Episode Rating: 4.0/5.0
Season Rating Overall: 4.5/5.0
Season 4 of The Venture Brothers will be premiering on Sunday, October 18th @ midnight on Cartoon Network’s Adult Swim.
Seasons One, Two, and Three are all available on DVD (Season Three is also available on Blu-Ray); and if you’ve somehow missed out on this show, you can catch up with dozens of clips and a few full episodes online at Adult Swim.
Check back in this week for recaps of Season Two and Three, before the big premiere on Sunday.
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Kelly is a freelance writer and artist living in New York who is relatively obsessed with comics and feminism, which generally make horrible bedfellows and explains a lot of her recurring headaches. You can read her rantings about such things at: http://1979semifinalist.wordpress.com