by erin thursby scopes1925@msn.com
As soon as the Venture Bros. first season DVD became available for purchase, they shot up to the number one DVD on Amazon as fans snatched up the season in May of this year. An over the top parody cartoon of Johnny Quest, even the opening sequence of The Venture Bros. has that sort of drum-laden dramatic jazz that the Quest series was known for. Sprinkled throughout the cartoon are other references to pop-culture. The main characters are Dr. Venture, his barely pubescent sons Hank and Dean, and their bodyguard, Brock Sampson. Also in the mix, Dr. Venture’s nemesis: The Monarch.
Dr. Thaddeus “Rusty” Venture is supposed to be somewhat modeled after Dr. Quest, however, in flashbacks we see that Dr. Venture’s father was more like the archetypical adventurer/scientist and the present day Dr. Venture was a sort of Johnny Quest figure. As others in the series note “he peaked at fifteen.” As a scientist, Rusty Venture coasts on the achievements of his father, occasionally inventing something that never quite works as he’d hoped. In the pilot episode he’s embarrassed by one of his inventions at a U.N. conference.
I recommend watching the pilot last. It’s interesting to see how they’ve fleshed out the characters. The boys, Hank and Dean, are far more annoying in the pilot than they are for the rest of the series. Animation for The Monarch and Dr. Girlfriend definitely changes after the pilot. Although Dr. Venture does pop pills in later episodes, he pops them far more frequently in the pilot and seems to be more effected by them. Hank and Dean are modeled on Johnny Quest and his pal Hadji, but are of course parodies of those characters and of most youthful adventure-sleuths.
Brock Sampson, bodyguard to Dr. Venture and his boys, refuses to use a gun, but his fights are far more grisly than if he had used one. I think that that’s a sort of commentary on the editing done to the old Johnny Quest series when they were made less violent (guns were edited out and replaced by tasers). Also, in the new Johnny Quest series, Johnny is opposed to using guns. The writers poke fun at this by a) making Brock’s gunless killings as bloody and violent as possible and b) by putting a picture of both Hank and Dean wielding large firearms on the inside cover-art.
At one point, Brock Sampson even uses his butt as a deadly weapon. He has a license to kill (in one episode he finds that the license has expired and has to re-take to test). He often emerges, blood covered and wild-eyed after dispatching villains in a gruesome bone-crunching, knife wielding fashion.
Don’t miss the Christmas episode, which manages to parody nearly every Christmas special ever shown in cartoon form within the first five minutes. Many funny moments in the Christmas episode make it one of my favorite episodes. Hank, after rifling through Brock’s closet to find his Christmas gift, finds “Christmas Videos” titled Miracle on 69th Street and Frothy the Blowman. Brock puts them away and Hank asks “What were those elves doing to that lady?” Brock’s typically laconic reply: “They were dwarves, Hank.”
Hank and Dean, in true cartoon fashion, nearly always wear the same outfits. As Doc Hammer and Jackson Publick say on the commentary, they’ve always hated it when cartoon characters never change clothes. Since Hank and Dean are the most cartooonish of the bunch, they’re shown most often in the same outfits. Dean wears a kind of 1950’s Hardy boys inspired outfit: a sweater vest, button down short sleeve shirt and jeans with 3-inch upturned cuffs. Hank wears a clear rip-off of Fred’s outfit from Scooby-Doo, complete with blue ascot. The only time they seem to wear different clothing is when they’re wearing their P.J.’s (Hank wears Aquaman UnderRoos and Dean wears Spider-man P.J.’s). In the Are you there God, It’s Me Dean? episode, The Monarch calls Hank on wearing the same clothes. Hank’s reply: “Just because I wear the same thing doesn’t mean I don’t wash it.”
The Monarch is the oft thwarted nemesis of Dr. Venture and, as such, tends toward grandiose speeches about his latest scheme and the demise of Dr. Venture. His membership in a super-villain league, The Guild of Calamitous Intent, causes him problems in a few episodes. In the yard sale episode, Tag Sale—You’re it!, you’ll get a look at all the super-villains and fellow super scientists you’re apt to see in any of the episodes. Along with The Monarch, you’ll also meet Dr. Girlfriend (voiced by Doc Hammer), the deep voiced, sex-kitten girlfriend and second in command to The Monarch.
You’ll also meet Doctor Orpheus, the necromancer who lives in the basement of the Venture compound. He helps out at the yard sale by levitating sold objects into brown bags and spends time antagonizing super-villains in the hopes of gaining an arch-enemy. Orpheus sets fire to The Monarch’s shoes and then gives him a card in case he should want to “exact retribution.” Sometimes he baby-sits the boys in other episodes or advises them on a haunting. Hank has a crush on Doctor Orpheus’ Goth daughter Trina, something that is occasionally used as a plot device.
Extra features on this set include creator commentary, deleted scenes, a fake behind the scenes of the Live Action Venture Bros. Movie and a fake making of documentary. This series opened on Adult Swim, so if you’re easily shocked by sexual reference or bodily functions (one episode features testicular torsion) don’t buy season one. If like your Gen-X parodies served up raw and silly, this is the series to buy.
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