****** - Verified Buyer
4.5
Growing up in the late 1970s to mid-1980s, I remember seeing Hanna-Barbera's "Jonny Quest" cartoons on the TV every morning. The suave, omniscient, goateed Dr. Benton Quest jets around the world on a ticket to wild adventure with his son Jonny, Jonny's Indian friend Hadji, and their capable bodyguard and pilot, the tough, two-fisted Race Bannon. And the [adult swim] folks have gone and given that show the mockery it deserves with THIS show, "The Venture Brothers."Dr. Thaddeus S. Venture (a/k/a "Rusty") is a bald, paunchy, irritable, pill-popping, resentful, washed-up, bitter super-scientist stuck with two dimwitted and frequently hyperactive sons: nerdy Dean and rambunctious Hank. The Ventures jet around the world to a lifestyle of frequently anticlimactic adventure, with their obsolete robot H.E.L.P.eR. and their bemulletted, womanising, chain-smoking, hair-trigger psychopath of a bodyguard and pilot, Brock Samson. Along the way, they must frequently lock horns with The Monarch (a butterfly-themed supervillain); his capable second-in-command, the delectable but disturbingly deep-voiced Dr. Girlfriend; and their swarms of winged minions. They run afoul of the steel-jawed Teutonic dictator Baron Ünderbheit, ninjas, the jealous commander of a doomed space station, robots, kiddies' entertainment mogul Roy Brisby, pirates, and hordes of other adversaries and problems. The Ventures are occasionally aided by the ludicrously melodramatic necromancer Doctor Orpheus and his Goth teenage daughter Triana, the scientific think-tank duo of Mr. White (an albino) and Master Billy Quizboy (a hydrocephalic), and even the original Team Venture formed by Rusty's long-dead father, all of whom are now well past normal adventuring age.Initially, "The Venture Brothers" looks like a knee-jerk mockery of "Jonny Quest," but you can also pick up a real vibe of affection for the original. "The Venture Brothers" starts paying homage right from the get-go, with an opening title sequence filled with character collages, skulls, evil frogmen, and even a shot of a four-legged, one-eyed, spherical war machine being fired upon by the U.S. army -- just like the original. Race Bannon, the bodyguard and pilot from "Jonny Quest" even shows up as a guest star in one of the episodes. But that's not all! No, sir (or madam, as the case may be)! Besides the parody and tribute aspects, "The Venture Brothers" also has at least three nifty original story arcs that play out through the season, revolving around Dr. Venture's recurring nightmares, The Monarch's relationship with Dr. Girlfriend, and the machinations of The Guild of Calamitous Intent, the supervillain equivalent of a union mixed with Internal Affairs and MI6. And in addition to ALL THAT, you also get digs at The Fantastic Four, The Six Million Dollar Man, educational short films from the latter half of the 20th Century, "Easy Rider," public service announcements, and scads of other targets. Plus the occasional actual scientific fact or two.The humour in this show is decidedly adult, ranging from the tedious admin details inherent in any type of evil master plan, through Freudian psychology, being a single parent, relationship worries, shady back-alley deals and drug addiction, all the way to Brock Samson's mass-murdering rampages and Olympic-level conjugal visits, with a liberal amount of swearing thrown in everywhere. In fact, if you think "Family Guy" pushes the envelope of what a cartoon can depict, I think it's safe to say that "The Venture Brothers" goes even further, pushing the envelope right off the edge of the desk and into the shredder. But that's STILL not the end of it. In addition to all 13 rip-snorting episodes of Season One, this 2-disc set also contains the original pilot episode (watch that first and check out how very different The Monarch's costume looks compared to later episodes), the mandatory Christmas special (very disturbing), deleted scenes (very cool), a mockumentary comprised of interviews about the live-action Venture Brothers film (very funny), and even some commentary tracks on a few of the episodes and extras (very fanboy-pleasing).So, to sum up, "The Venture Brothers" is a rollicking, laugh-out-loud comedy adventure cartoon, packed absolutely solid with fun, that no fan of absurd adult humour should be without. Even if you don't get all the geeky references, it's still a hoot. I give this show my highest recommendation, and DEMAND that [adult swim] get cracking on Region 2 versions of "The Venture Brothers" Seasons 2 and 3, pronto -- unless they want a hail of milkweed-poison darts in their carotids, that is. Clock is ticking, people . . . .
