 | | The Venture Bros. Season One - DVD |
We are living in a Golden Age for geeks. Movies based on comic books are all the rage, the internet has created a community that not just tolerates, but promotes fan-boy opinions, and even cartoons have caught up with geekdom's aging sensibilities for pop culture and some occasional t & a. Cartoon Network's Adult Swim block of programming has done a lot for geeks and regular folks as well. Adult Swim has provided its viewers with exceptionally clever cartoons like Home Movies, Harvey Birdman, and Sealab 2021. It has played critical roles in reviving both Family Guy and Futurama, and is not afraid to take a risk with completely absurdist animation (Robot Chicken, Tom Goes to The Mayor, etc.). Falling somewhere in between clever and absurdist can be found Adult Swim's latest DVD release, The Venture Bros.
Written like a twisted take on Johnny Quest, The Venture Bros. chronicles the tales of Dr. Thaddeus Venture, his two sons Hank and Dean, and their ultra-violent bodyguard Brock Samson (voiced brilliantly by Patrick Warburton). Dr. Venture is a failed super scientist who is living off the inventions of his father and barely keeping the super secret science lab in test tubes. Hank and Dean are two naïve, accident prone teens, who seem to be constantly amazed at each new adventure. Brock Samson, in contrast to the boys wide-eyed nature, rarely lets a scene go by without brutally killing a henchman, graphically seducing a female spy. Humorously enough he is also the only positive father figure that the Venture brothers have. Beyond the main characters, there are a whole slew of super villains, like The Monarch (who takes on the very un-super villain like character of a Monarch butterfly), The Phantom Limb (who, of course, has no limbs), and King Gorilla (who is basically a homosexual gorilla who can talk), again, something for everybody.
The animation is solid throughout. It is both vibrant and detailed. The writing tends to get progressively better as the season continues, as well. By the season finally, the dialogue is fast paced and devilishly laden with pop culture references that would put The Family Guy to shame. In the episode entitled "Tag Sale – You're It!", The Venture family holds a yard sale to get rid of all the mega death rays and sonic distorters that are laying about the compound. It is also a chance for Dr. Venture to get rid of that "Seven Ragged and The Tiger" t-shirt that he has been hanging onto since the 80's. By far, one of the best, secondary characters that develop during the course of the season is that of Dr. Orpheus, Dr. Venture's Necromancer tenant who lives on the Venture compound. He goes from what appears to be a one-off episode character to playing a critical role in the supposed fate of Hank and Dean Venture.
This double disc sets boast 13 episodes, a pilot episode, and a special Christmas episode. Like most shows, its pilot is kind of shaky, but other than that there is really not a dull episode in the bunch. As usual, several episodes have commentary which is moderately interesting. There is also a special feature about the making of a live-action version of The Venture Bros. All that needs to be said about that is that there will be no live action version of the Venture Bros. anytime soon. If you were a fan of cartoons like The Tick (which is essentially made by the same folks) you will love these shows. Occasionally the Adult Swim shows will go for laughs over plots and stories, but these episodes are well written and have funny and complicated characters. The second season of The Venture Bros. is airing now on Cartoon Network. It is a good time to pick up this set and then tune in for the new episodes.
- Travis Hutzell | 2006-07-06
