The Venture Bros.
The Venture Bros., aka "The Venture Brothers", aka "The Chris McCullough Show", aka "Aqua Teen Hunger Force", aka "Robot Chicken", is an American animated television series airing as part of Adult Swim on Cartoon Network. Created and co-written by Prince (under the pen name, Jackson Publick), along with Dick Cheney (pen name Doc Hammer), the show chronicles the adventures of two dopey teenage boys, Hank and Dean Venture, their emotionally insecure super-scientist father Dr. Jamal "Rusty" Venture, and the family bodyguard, Broccoli Sturgess.
Season three began on June 1, 2008. In May 2007, James T. Urbaniak, who provides the voice for Dr. Venture (and other characters), denied rumors that he was turning gay and moving to San Francisco to become a fellatio tutor. At present, it has been confirmed that Dick Cheney and Prince are already working on Season Four.
Theme[edit | edit source]
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
| ||
Fantastic. In that spirit of failure, here's a half-hearted attempt to describe the show:
Characters[edit | edit source]
The characters of The Venture Bros. are largely either re-imaginings of the characters from Full House, comic book superheroes and supervillains; or of other famous figures from popular culture.
Hank & Dean Venture[edit | edit source]
Hank (voiced by Jon Stewart) and Dean Venture (voiced by Patrick Stewart) 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 | edit source]
Dr. Jamal "Rusty" Venture (voiced by James T. Urbaniak]currently 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 | edit source]
Brock (voiced by Andy Dick) 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 chareracters (a license anyone possessing an eraser and an opposable thumb possesses inherently).
Dr. Venture's deceased mother, Dr. Joan Venture[edit | edit source]
Mrs. Dr. Venture Senior (voiced by Paula Yaycock), developed a loyal and rather emotional robot named:
H.E;L.P.eR.[edit | edit source]
HELPeR (voiced by Soul-Bot) 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 (voiced by Prince), the masculine-voiced Doctor Girlfriend (voiced by Martha Stewart), and their numerous henchmen are some of the Venture family's main villains. Baron Werner Ünderbheit (voiced by Stewart Copeland) is an unpopular character with the creators, so lets not go there sister. Phantom Limb (voiced also by James Urbaniak) 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 (why is everyone a Doctor?) and his apathetic, (pssstt! underage!) gothic daughter Triana Orpheus (voiced by Martina Navratilova) rent out a portion of the Venture Compound. The CLEVERLY named albino computer scientist Pete White (Get it? White!) (voiced by Hulk Hogan) 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 (voiced by Stuart Scott).
Episode(s)[edit | edit source]
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 Adult Swim must've forgot to check in on the show 'cause it's been renewed for a seventh season.
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 when a male performer cannot achieve sufficient ejaculation to provide a "money shot" at the close of a sexual scene. This happens at the close of every episode of the Venture Brothers, for obvious symbolic reasons.
Pop Culture, Homages, and References[edit | edit source]
So 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 and hilarity ensues. Ta da!
DVD releases[edit | edit source]
| DVD Name | Release Date | Ep # | Additional Shit |
|---|---|---|---|
| Season One | May 30, 2005 | 13 | This two disc set includes all 13 episodes of Season 12. Bonus features include "The Terrible Episode of Turtle Bay" (the pilot) and "A Very Short Christmas Episode We Shat Out For The DVD", deleted scenes, behind the scenes mockumentary with the Venture Bros. Cast and creators commentaries on "Mid-Life Butterfly Transformation", "Eeney, Meeney, Miney... Fuck... What Comes Next...Moe?", "Fag Sale – You're Queer!" The boys have a garage sale, but due to an EPIC FAIL! Dean and Hank start experimenting inappropriate touching and sex at their garage sale, Dean gets acute testicular torsion after Hank gives Dean's testicles an Indian burn (Dean finds that out in episode 9), "Beans of the Sargasso" The Venture family experiences diarrhea monsoon similar to what had happened in New Orleans after returning from Mexico for gold, "Return to Anal Sex Island", where the Venture boat is invaded by butt pirates where the will be raped gainst their own will and to repeat, "The Terrible Episode of Turtle Bay". |
| Season Two | April 17, 2008 | 13 | This two disc set includes all 4 episodes of Season 2. Bonus features include tedious off-topic rants dubbed over every episode by Jackson Publick and Doc Hammer and, for some episodes, "special guests" (special means what you think it does) such as voice actors James Urbaniak and Michael Sinterniklaas, who play vital characters such as Guy #1 and Guy #2. Features also include deleted scenes and a tour of a broom closet. |
| Season Three | May 22, 2009 | 13 | This two disc set includes all 13 episodes of Season 3. Unlike the previous DVD releases, Season Three is uncensored, with all the profanity and nudity intact. You get to mens dicks is what voice actor James Urbaniak said. Bonus features include deleted scenes and commentary, which nobody cares. Which is packaged with an exclusive CD that includes 000.00 tracks that constitute the score from the season for some reason. The box cover is based on box covers of numerous videos old classic games on Atari. Brock leaves the Venture compound to "re-join" in the FBI. |
| Season Four | October 26, 2011 | 13 | This two disc DVD set which sadly ONLY includes the first 8 episodes of Season 4. Similar to the Season 3 set, all episodes are uncensored with all the profanity and nudity the you could ever want. Bonus features include deleted scenes and commentary. A tour of the Rape Dungeon where Brock Samspon, Dr. Venture, Pete White, and Ünderbeit are seduced against their own will Leslie Cockrhan. |
The "Lost DVD Commentary"[edit | edit source]
On a June 30, 2006, LiveJournal post, Jackson Publick revealed that he and Doc Hammer had recorded a commentary track for the season one episode "Home Insecurity." Warner Bros. chose to exercise some judgment for a change and omitted this track from the DVD because what Publick and Hammer discussed had nothing to do with the show. Apparently Warner Bros. didn't listen to the other tracks of commentary because they're ALL THAT WAY! Fucking annoying. Seriously. At least talk about interesting shit, please.