Venture Brothers - TV Fanatic

Venture Brothers Season Finale Review: "Operation: P.R.O.M."

jim@tvfanatic.com (Jim G.) — Mon, 22 Nov 2010 09:03:35 EST

With Dean and Hank having graduated earlier this year, it only made sense to end the season with a prom. However, just like all things Venture Brothers, "Operation P.R.O.M." had more going for it than you'd expect.

Indeed, this week’s one-hour season finale had so many game changers, it's best to break it down by item:

Henchman 21: Henchman 21 (Gary) quit the Monarch after working with SPHINX and realizing he has more to offer than just being part of a bumbling organization. He also has rid himself of 24’s ghost. It will be interesting to see if he comes back as a member of SPHINX, OSI or on his own.

Sgt. Hatred: Hatred had becomes the boy’s bodyguard and, as of this episode, he no longer has the giant red “H” on his face. Now he has a blue “V” for Venture. He also learned that his girlfriend princess tiny-feet is much more into S/M that he thought.

Dean and Triana: Poor Dean learned that Triana has a new boyfriend who is able to play the cool card and the sympathy card at the same time. Sorry, Dean, you never stood a chance.

Molotov Cocktease: Molotov and Brock finally had their last fight, as Molotov first said she was giving up the “bad life” and was in love with Monstroso. Second, she said she would rather die than let Brock arrest her and last we saw of her, the limo with her and Monstroso exploded after it went backwards off a cliff.

OSI/SPHINX: We knew that OSI had orders to arrest any SPHINX member and that the two agencies have not gotten along (especially since most SPHINX are ex-OSI). But this episode was a big game-changer as Col Hunter Gathers was left in charge of OSI and the General shot himself into space to find a cure for his cancer.

Overall, a really good episode, as the credits ended with the notice “Venture Brothers will be back.” So it looks like we will get a fifth season of Team Venture. What did you think of this week’s season finale? Read through the best quotes from the season NOW!

Venture Brothers Preview: Season Four Finale

eric@tvfanatic.com (Eric Hochberger) — Tue, 16 Nov 2010 16:03:23 EST

After taking nearly a month off, The Venture Bros. returns this weekend with its hour-long season four finale! When we last left the Venture family and friends, Billy the Quizboy was performing surgery on Monstroso.

However, now that we return with the finale, it looks like things will focus on Hank and Dean while they prepare to throw the best home school prom $500 can buy. Hence the clever "Operation: P.R.O.M." title.

Meanwhile, it looks like there's also an important mission involving S.P.H.I.N.X. and plenty of other fun adventures to be had during the hour. Just check out the season 4.2 finale promo after the jump.

Venture Brothers Season Four Finale Preview

Be sure and check back at TV Fanatic after the episode airs for a detailed recap, review and quotes!

Venture Brothers Review: "The Silent Partners"

jim@tvfanatic.com (Jim G.) — Mon, 25 Oct 2010 07:12:14 EST

We witnessed the death of King Gorilla and the elevation of Billy Quizboy to full fledge Doctor on this installment of Venture Brothers.

I'm a little sad that "The Silent Partners" featured the former. To be fair, King Gorilla has been dying from lung cancer for awhile. But I do have to say that having The Investors reach in and take his still beating heart was a bit more of a surprise than I was expecting.

R.I.P. King, may you find happiness in your memories of Vince Neil.

On the flipside, Billy Quizboy is now Billy Quizboy PhD. as Monstroso helped him become a legal doctor so he could do his heart transplant.

Speaking of hearts, now that Monstroso has King Gorilla’s heart, I wonder if the writers will have Monstroso pickup any of King’s behaviors, quirks, etc.? It could be a cool way to have King live on a little.

I was surprised that the only sign we saw of the Venture Brothers was them peeking in on Hatred as he was watching Pete White. The sad part is that I didn’t even realize that Hank, Dean, and Rusty were not in the episode until I started this review. To be fair, the show has such a large cast of great characters it’s pretty easy for it to have a solid episode without the guys.

This week’s episode also marked the beginning of a small hiatus before the one hour season finale airs in November. It feels like the second half of this season just got started and we're already near the end. Why do good things always go so quickly?

Venture Brothers Review: "Assisted Suicide"

jim@tvfanatic.com (Jim G.) — Mon, 18 Oct 2010 08:05:44 EST

Viewers were treated to a rare look into inner workings of Doctor Ventures, as we paid a visit to his mind on "Assisted Suicide."

We also got to see the softer side to many of our normal characters this week. For example, Henchman 21 and Doctor Girlfriend found out they both like classic Star Trek and the same wine. It was nice to see Henchman 21 expressing his loss for Henchman 24, as I was happy when they shared a stolen kiss.

Maybe if things don’t work out with the Monarch, Dr. Girlfriend will turn her attention to 21 and allow him to use his real name: Gary.

I enjoyed the details this episode included, most notably what went on inside Dr. Venture’s mind. Having Thanatos (death) and Eros (love) be the driving force behind Dr. Orpheus' quest to get the master control room was a nice touch.

When it comes to the visualization of Ego, ID, and Super Ego, I understood ID having a harem of women that he felt Dr. Venture could have at any point if he tried. I also understood Super Ego being locked away in a cell. However, I am not sold on the imagery of Ego being Geppeto and working on a wooden boy. I am guessing it is a reference to Hank and Dean being clones of Dr. Venture and that he is constantly trying to get it right, but, that is only a guess.

Overall, this week’s episode was a decent offering. Browse through quotes from it and other installments now.

Venture Brothers Review: "Bright Lights, Dean City"

jim@tvfanatic.com (Jim G.) — Mon, 11 Oct 2010 06:42:06 EST

In contrast to the film noir styling of last week’s episode, "Bright Lights, Dean City" went back to being a standard offering of color and style and showed us how Dean Venture spent his summer working.

With the recent release of Phantom Limb, along with him working with Professor Impossible, it really should not come as a surprise to anyone that the two of them (along with Baron Underbheit) are forming a new villain team, The Revenge Society. But they ran into a few hiccups along the way. The biggest obstacle? Recruiting new members. Though the appearance of man in a bear suit, with blood on it, holding a knife and not saying a word did rattle the team a bit (as it should).

We also learned that Dean’s real dream is to be a boy reporter. Last week, we discovered that Hank wanted to be a detective.

It is interesting that neither of them wants to follow his dad into the science and adventure realm. Then again, Rusty Venture really wants to have a hit broadway musical, so maybe it’s not really the family dream after all.

In conclusion, what did we learn in this week’s episode?

First, if you want to have a successful super group you need to remember S.P.A.W.M. (Speed, Power, Air, Water, and Magic). Second, if you are ever sucked into an alternate dimension and the other “you” is more successful, it is not okay to just hit them on the head with a rock and take their life.

Venture Brothers Review: "Everybody Comes to Hank's"

jim@tvfanatic.com (Jim G.) — Mon, 04 Oct 2010 06:44:00 EST

I thought after four seasons that I was done being surprised. But this week’s episode of Venture Brothers proved me wrong.

The film noir style of "Everybody Comes to Hank's" came off very well. Hank and “Al” running around as gumshoes working on a case was a lot of fun. Between the dialogue Hank was using and the effect of everything going black and white when he put on his detective hat, it all came together in an interesting fashion.

Who else enjoyed that we finally got to see Nikki Fictel (previously known as Nikki Nighttown)? She came in as “the dame who the private eye falls for.”

Of course, it had to have a VB twist where he could only speak to her if he was wearing the detective’s hat. The show worked in a ton of plot devices for her. She is really Dermott’s mother and she has slept with two of the three Venture family members. I do hope they take advantage of those well designed plot hooks.

Adult Swim started the episode with a note that this was a two-parter. I can only gather that the super suave Rusty Venture that stepped out of the portal at the end has something to do with how we get to part two. I guess we will all find out next week.

With only four episodes left, it feels like we are fast approaching the end of season four. If the rest of the episodes are as well put together as this one, I think we will have ended on a good note.

Venture Brothers Review: "Every Which Way But Zeus"

eric@tvfanatic.com (Eric Hochberger) — Mon, 27 Sep 2010 11:05:12 EST

One of our favorite aspects of The Venture Bros. is how the show is constantly blurring the lines between good and evil. This week's episode, "Every Which Way But Zeus," was especially fun as we saw the two sides teaming up against an unknown force posing as Zeus.

The episode also explored the show's interesting take on the relationships between henchmen slash sidekicks ans their bosses, as the Zeus character only captured the underlings. This was, of course, because Zeus was revealed to be an apparition and the real villain was Zero, the original henchmen #1, long thought dead.

It was just entertaining to see two of our favorite supporting characters, Henchman #21, sorry the new #1, and Shore Leave team up to take down the villain, while the supposed real heroes and villains were too busy arguing theoreticals during a secret underground meeting.

Maybe The Venture Bros. was just that much better than last week's, or maybe it was combined with the fact we just had to review two far inferior cartoons, Family Guy and The Simpsons last night, but this episode just felt perfect to us. It had the humor, action, and ridiculous back references and continuity we crave each Sunday night at 11:30.

Plus there was something kind of touching about Rusty revealing his feelings for his supposed least favorite kid, Hank, and then watching him pour his soul out to Teddy Ruxpin. Our favorite Venture Brothers quotes are after the jump.

Hunters Gathers: Her tits were like "coming home from school and finding out your old man ran over your cat" sad.
Brock Samson: Mournful tits. She has mournful tits. They're like two suicide notes stuffed into a glitter bra. | permalink

General Treister: All of you have been assigned nicknames, while I have not, because I am special! All of you are in peculiar underpants, while I am not, because I am special! | permalink

Dr. Venture: You can't collect scientists and not have a Rusty Venture on your mantel. | permalink

Hunters Gathers: Cavity search my ass. You know what I mean. | permalink

P.S. Did anyone else smile when they saw the hover tank return?

Venture Brothers Review: "Pomp & Circuitry"

jim@tvfanatic.com (Jim G.) — Mon, 20 Sep 2010 09:25:53 EST

While I am excited that we are finally getting to see the rest of the season four episodes, I have to admit that this week’s episode, ""Pomp & Circuitry," while enjoyable as a whole, felt a bit disjointed.

First off, who knew Hank would make such an awesome S.P.H.I.N.X. spy? It was nice to see he actually has gotten some skills from Brock with all the traveling they did together. However, I am glad that Hank is not running off to S.P.H.I.N.X. just yet. I think Dean would be a bit lost without him.

I will now always worry if I put a toaster, a shoe, and files in the same drawer. Seeing what Phantom Limb was able to do with those was either pure genius or pure madness (maybe a bit of both.). I am constantly reminded how incredible the writing staff is at taking pop-culture icons and applying a real life to them. Seeing Prof. Impossible as a recluse and broken down because of personal issues was both sad and funny at the same time.

As to feeling disjointed, I felt almost like we were nearly watching three different episodes that were cut together. While I will admit the Hank/SPHINX plot started off connected to Dr. Venture and Dean plot, the Phantom Limb plot had no attachment to the rest of the episode. In fact, the only connection I could make was the last line of the episode after the science center was blown up by Phantom Limb and Dr. Venture said, “It wasn’t me this time.”

And what was with the council of 13? We saw them discussing replacing #8 since he merged with #3 and then not another peep except for a “movement” joke. I will be honest and say that if there was a reason/joke for the brief visit to them, I did not see it at all.

What did you think of the episode? Where you glad to see Hank back in his old haircut?

Venture Brothers Review: "The Diving Bell Vs. The Butter-Glider"

eric@tvfanatic.com (Eric Hochberger) — Mon, 13 Sep 2010 16:06:30 EST

The Venture Bros. returned last night with the second half of its sixteeen episode season four last night with "The Diving Bell Vs. The Butter-Glider." Even though the show was on hiatus for nine months, the episode just jumped right into the action and picked things up where they left off last December.

It's really best not to look the episode as a season premiere, because the seasons were never intended to be split so far apart. And as far as an episode goes, it was fantastic.

"The Butter-Glider" opened up with a great action sequence with some crazy driving by Sgt. Hatred and some excellent shooting by Hank until he ran out of gun food. Without any pedophile jokes, Hatred was actually very entertaining this week, which was important, as he played a key part with Brock trapped inside the incapacitated Dr. Venture.

Speaking of which, it was pretty impressive that the show's main protagonist didn't speak a single line and the show completely felt natural. It's just proof of how developed and likable every character is on this cartoon.

You can literally swap between good and evil, as they did often in this episode, and find yourself rooting for both side. Heck, sometimes I prefer watching 21 and The Monarch to the Venture Bros. There's a reason that this cartoon has become our favorite show on television, animated or not.

As usual, the episode was loaded with hilarious (un)pop eighties references, like the entire premise being based on Fantastic Voyage or Innerspace to a lesser extent. Plus there were plenty of earlier VB references for fans like Rusty's arm re-attachment surgery, calling out the missing number seven clones, and the amazing college episode.

While it's really tough to complain about anything, my only issue is the episode is mostly due to Cartoon Network and scheduling outside the writers' control. We just felt a little lost as we got thrown right back into the action. For a show that has such impressive continuity, what happened to 21 and Brock teaming up at the end "Pinstripes & Poltergeists?"

Owell. At least five minutes into the episode, it felt like we had our old show back and it never left us for those nine months without releasing its episodes on DVD in its absence. Promise you'll never do that to us again.

Oh and also tell us Monarch is still alive after that submarine falling on him. We couldn't watch the show without the guy. It's been tough enough each week with only getting 24 in ghost form. Speaking of which, thanks for that moment.

Venture Brothers Season Five(ish) Preview!

eric@tvfanatic.com (Eric Hochberger) — Thu, 19 Aug 2010 16:01:07 EST

Sure it was supposed to air last winter as the second volume of season four, but we're finally getting a new season of The Venture Bros. come September 12th. We'll let the big wigs at Cartoon Network decide if they're calling it season 4.2, 5, 4 volume II.

All we know is Adult Swim has released the trailer for whatever the new season is called and it looks like Brock Samson and the Venture family are back and ready to kick some Guild ass. So what are you waiting for, go watch the trailer below and sound off on just how awesome this show is below.

Venture Bros. Season 4.2 Trailer