The Venture Bros.: Season One
by Christopher McCulloch
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DVD Cover Information
Actor: Christopher McCulloch, James Urbaniak, Michael Sinterniklaas, Patrick Warburton, Steven RattazziDirector: Christopher McCulloch
Brand: Venture
Producer: Christopher McCulloch
Writer: Christopher McCulloch
Producer: David Lipson
Producer: Jeffrey Nodelman
Producer: Jeremy Rosenberg
Writer: Ben Edlund
Writer: Doc Hammer
DVD: Region Code 1
Audio: English (Unknown), Dolby Digital 2.0 Stereo; English (Subtitled); Spanish (Subtitled); French (Subtitled); English (Original Language), Dolby Digital 2.0 Stereo
Format: Animated, Closed-captioned, Color, DVD, Full Screen, NTSC, Subtitled
Picture Format: Academy Ratio, 1.33:1
Running Time: 338 minutes
DVD Release Date: 2006-05-30
Audience Rating: NR (Not Rated)
Model: T7526
Studio: Cartoon Network
Product features:
- Once a child prodigy, Dr. Venture now fails as both a scientist and father. Luckily, his twins, Hank and Dean are too stupid to care. And they've got their vicious, macho bodyguard, Brock, looking out for them. Together they'll get in all sorts of situations involving wild alligators, street ruffians, and booby traps. Brock really likes the booby traps.Running Time: 338 min. Format: DVD MOVIE
Movie Reviews of The Venture Bros.: Season One
Movie Review: You've got Foetus on Your Mors Syphilitica!
Summary: 5 Stars
It's summer, and like Anton La Vey once said, "the living is sleazy". And since I am pale skinned, originally from the North and live in San Diego, that means a lot of time inside in my studio, feverish working on painting and maybe world domination because if I go outside for more than 10 minutes at a time, I will burst into flame. Being in a midday prison, I tend to listen to music or watch DVDs while I create.
I never left a review of this show when I first bought it, so I am doing it now, late in the game. I first heard of this show via Foetus' website. I was excited and cautious that J. G. Thirlwell had signed on for a cartoon and thought it would probably be a dark film noir type thing, because I enjoy songs like Bedrock and the record Nail, overly violent and dark. I was a little scared to see him jump into what I would call a mainstream project, because that tends to ruin a good thing a lot of the time. The last thing the world needs is a watered down Foetus!
I tried to watch it on Adult Swim when the first season came out. I am not sure if it was my TV, cable or the way it was mixed, but on my TV, the music was loud and dominated everything. Not that I minded, since I am a Foetus fan from way back. It could be silent only for the music. Being a freelance writer, I tend to want to hear words now and then so I withdrew after 2-3 episodes, hoping to catch up once the DVDs came out. Then I got involved in work and suddenly Season Two was in a bundle with it. I picked them both up, hoping to catch up before the 3rd season.
One of the first things I noticed other than the music, was the graphics, esp the titles. It took me a while to realize these were done by Doc Hammer, well Eric Hammer, a man I admire for his oil paintings first and his gothic music, like the band Mors Syphilitica second. I didn't really put two and two together, thinking that those Hammer kids tended to shun any and all publicity and wanted the work to stand out on its own. But indeed, Lisa Hammer was there too. It was like eating a great meal and just when you think it is over, out pops the perfect dessert. It is the icing on the cake. it's a nice metaphor of life in the womb to a horrible sexy death.
So with this in mind, this should be my favorite TV show of all time. It seems written, scored and contains product as if I put my likes into a machine and it spit out this.
The DVD of the First Season was a bit disappointing to me, but it I was hoping it would be uncensored. The nudity and swearing is boxed and/or bleeped out. The animation is better than anything I've seen on Adult Swim. I hope the production assistants as well as the creators get credit for that. I do have to point out though a couple of the episode drawings seen really thick lined compared to the rest and that is distracting when you are watching them all in a row. The music is fantastic, since most of what Jim Foetus touches is gold. The writing goes from great a lot of the time, to fair, like sometimes the writer needed filler yet compared to the myriad of reality shows out there, the intelligence of the writing is a stand out. Even in comparing it with Adult Swim in general, it's the best show I've seen on there. I like the obscure references, never sure if it was made for college kids or people in their 30's like me. I tend to think you'd have to be in your late 30's to get some of the jokes, but maybe there are kids out there that have more brain power than I give them credit for. I like the references to "the Bauhaus" and the guy who first played them on the radio (I read a similar story about a DJ here who played Depeche Mode for the first time in the US, supposedly). Any show that also offers a Lydia Lunch reference, ok, Foetus is doing the music, but still, she's there. As is the more expected pop culture ones like Rocky Horror and Fame, as well as a ton of Super Hero cartoon references from the obvious Johnny Quest (used to be one of my favorites as a kid) to Scooby Doo to the Incredibles to the Thunderbirds.
I like most of the characters. Patrick Warburton is my favorite voice actor on the show and I also enjoy his work in Family Guy. His character, Brock, reminds me of what Foetus type cartoon guy would be like. That and Molotov. Complete anger spurts and big action. I tend to be drawn a bit more to the evil characters. The Monarch is a fabulous nemesis, even though the Venture's aren't sure why he is their nemesis. I enjoyed the whole arthouse eating your twin dream in this season too. I like that mystery added into the mix. And it did end with a decent cliffhanger.
I like the fact Dr. Girlfriend has a male voice. It's interesting to note most of the female characters seem to be strippers, hookers or love interests. I've had this pointed out by female friends of mine. But, I am a women who tends to have a lot more guy friends than girl friends and get knee deep in topics men seem to like a lot more than women, like horror movies and subcultural music, so I don't see the lack of female characters such a bad thing.
My least favorite characters are the Venture Brothers themselves, ironic as that might be. Yet they are growing on me. I like the way they are always ushered off some place to not be in harm's way. And I like that their dad has this shadow of his more famous father looming over him. The cartoon has a lot of nice psychological humor, along with the references to 70's and 80's comics. It isn't as quotable like Family Guy, but it does brings a smirk to me now and then. I just wonder sometimes if the only cartoons I like are the ones the satirize other ones.
I'd be almost half pressed to go to Comic Con to ask a somewhat private question about Dr. Orpheus, since the whole shebang is in my backyard two weeks from now. Alas, maybe next year. I don't get all the bells and whistles of its super-commercialism, but friends tell me the panels are good. It's just a lot of pay to see one panel. Too bad Weep isn't playing somewhere in SD that weekend. I'd rather pay to see that. I guess it's Made in Mexico instead for yours truly.
I haven't gotten to the extras yet, so maybe I'll come back in a few years and finish this review. Oh and one more thing, why does the Season One (as well as Season Three) have no credits whatsoever for the writers, actors and other people involved in this? The DVD sets have such good artwork, I'd like to know who designed it, if not the name of the person, at least the company they work for. Of course, I think the violent heavy artwork could give people who don't know of the show the wrong idea. Which I like. Nothing like misdirection.
Summary of The Venture Bros.: Season One
The misadventures of washed up middle-aged mad scientist Dr. Rusty Venture, his strange twin sons, and their brutish family bodyguard Brock Samson.Item Type: DVD Movie
Item Rating: NR
Street Date: 05/30/06
Wide Screen: no
Director Cut: no
Special Edition: no
Language: ENGLISH
Foreign Film: noSubtitles: no
Dubbed: no
Full Frame: yes
Re-Release: no
Packaging: Sleeve
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