I can NOT say enough positive things about The Venture Brothers. Its the only show on my DVR that is set to record new episodes AND repeats, its that good…
So what is “The Venture Brothers”? You ask? It is an homage to all that was campy in the 60’s and 70’s, and specifically, the animated series “Jonny Quest”. The series follows Dr. Thaddeus S. Venture (known as “Rusty” or as he called himself in college “TS Venture”) his two sons Dean and Hank, and their hyper-macho body guard Brock Samson (“The Swedish Murder Machine”.) The basic story is that Dr. Venture’s father was none other than the heroic, heart throb Dr. Jonas Venture, he can’t live up to his fathers legacy, but he tries his best. Dr. Venture is an emaciated rat faced little whiner with delusions of grandeur and a trust fund that just wont quit.
The show is loosely based on “Johnny Quest” as illustrated by these two images.
The Venture Brothers is what happens when you let smart, creative people get too far off leash, and its awesome. In the series Dr. Venture’s nemesis is “The Monarch” (as in butterfly). The Monarch has been authorized by the “Guild Of Calamitous Intent” to arch Dr. Venture, and of course The Monarch has henchmen to help him out with his arching tasks, so The Monarch’s henchmen are members of the henchmen’s guild. Brock Samson, the bodyguard, has been assigned to Dr. Venture by “The OSI” and has a license to kill, literally; he has a laminated license with his photo, in one episode Brocks license expires and he is required to get it renewed again before he can kill anyone.
All in all, its a very funny show, full of subtle (and sometimes not so subtle) cultural references. The theme song and soundtrack for the series are excellent. The music is available on iTunes and is also included on a companion CD in the Blue-Ray product. Note that The Venture Brothers airs on Adult Swim, and as such, its a bit much for anyone under the age of 18.
And of course they have Venture Brothers ACTION FIGURES!!!!!
I gotta watch that now that I have cable. Still gotta rig up the old DVR to record south park, so I'll grab this too while I'm in there.
ReplyDeleteYeah... It's good, but not as good as you make it out to be. Don,t misunderstand. I watch at least one episode everyday. It's a great show. But if it's a choice between Venture Bros. and American Dad, I'm watching American Dad.
ReplyDeleteWell, I do love American Dad, but...
ReplyDeleteAmerican Dad is American Dad.
Venture Brothers is on homage to something both funny and a little bit sad. When we were kids we never said, "Hey, lets play 'Johnny Quest' ", but really, its what we were doing. And we were imitating what? A scientist, his son, his son's 'friend' (Hadji was more of a pet) and his body guard doing things while bad guys tried to stop them.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jonny_Quest
It was patently absurd, and we gobbled it up, like pigs at the trough, not able to get enough.
The Venture Brothers takes that absurdity to a
whole
nuvva
level
And has fun with it. They have cameo's of Jonny, Race, and even Hadji. And in fact, the main characters are all based on the Jonny Quest characters.
And American Dad? It pokes fun at right wing, over the top zealots. Sure, thats funny, but a bit overdone.
something both funny and a little bit sad
ReplyDeleteJQ was neither funny or sad. Multiculturalism? United Nations? Ray Guns? Traveling around the world in a jet with your dog? Making the bad guy your Bee?
It was cutting edge. What we wanted to be. Thats why we "played it" JQ was 1964. You saw it in reruns. It was the future. Pre 6 Million Dollar Man. Pre Star Trek.
Hadji a pet? Again, I say it was 1964.
Pat, it WAS funny and sad.
ReplyDeleteI am not saying that the creators of JQ should be flogged; you are correct, they were merely giving the viewing public what they wanted. But that only makes it SADDER. JQ was representative of 1964 America, and thats what we expect our shows to be.
In 1964 people WANTED to see the white guy with a pet kid from India? Apparently. Well, thats sad to me.
And it was HUGELY absurd, which makes it funny in my book.