The Venture Brothers: Season 1 (DVD)
Created by: Jackson Publick
Starring (the voices of): James Urbaniak, Patrick Warburton, Jackson Publick, Doc Hammer

Whether or not you love Adult Swim and their collection of kooky cartoons, you have to admit, it’s a definite breeding ground for some of the most creative and experimental animated shows on TV today. Sometimes the “experiments” result in something hilarious and downright brilliant, and other times they fail miserably… whatever the case may be, at least they are taking risks.

To their credit, they do also seem to be branching out a bit with some of their newest shows like The Boondocks, and now The Venture Bros. I had first heard about The Venture Bros a few months back, and it was described to me as a Jonny Quest parody. I had envisioned another goofy Sealab 2021-type show using recycled animation, but little did I know that there is actually more to it than that.

In particular, The Venture Bros has a ton of connections to one of my favourite animated shows of all time, Ben Edlund’s The Tick. Edlund himself wrote the episode “Careers In Science”, but the creator and main driving force behind the show is a guy named Jackson Publick (actually a pseudonym for one Mr. Christopher McCulloch, who was also a main writer on The Tick). If that’s not enough Tick references for you, muscle-bound bodyguard Brock Samson is voiced by Patrick Warburton, who played The Tick in the short-lived live action series.

The difference with The Venture Bros is that it’s more an adventure/mystery serial parody than it is a superhero parody, although it does have a bizarre and colourful cast of characters rivalling anything the funnybooks have to offer. Strangely, the two characters for which the show is named, Hank and Dean Venture, are more minor characters than you might expect. They are lanky, naive and dim-witted adolescents, who occasionally utter the catch phrase “Go Team Venture!” but very rarely actually do anything heroic. The focus of the show is much more on their father, scientist Dr. Thaddeus Venture (voiced by James Urbaniak), and his secret agent bodyguard, the aforementioned Brock Samson. Each episode usually has them travelling to some exotic locale for a scientific expedition or an experiment, where they eventually find themselves waylaid by one of their arch enemies. Recurring villains include The Monarch (an insecure and neurotic butterfly-themed baddy), Baron Werner Ãœnderbheit (a German giant with a mechanical jaw), and Molotov Cocktease (a Russian female assassin, former lover of Brock Samson).

In one episode, The Monarch has captured the Ventures and is about to drop them into the Amazon River when suddenly Dean suffers “acute testicular tortion”. According to strict supervillain bylaws, a temporary truce must be called in order to get Dean medical attention. In another episode, the mundane becomes humourous as Dr. Venture is doing a little spring cleaning and decides to hold a yard sale. This brings all kinds of mad scientists and supervillains out of the woodwork in search of secondhand laser guns and nuclear knick-knacks.

The thing that impressed me most about this show was the artwork and animation style, which is definitely a cut above most other Adult Swim fare. The opening credit sequence is one of the coolest I’ve ever seen, with a nod to both old Hanna Barbera cartoons and Italian spy movies like Danger: Diabolik. It’s one of the few cartoons on TV still animated traditionally for the most part, and I can honestly say that it’s enjoyable to watch strictly for the visuals alone. The music is pretty killer too.

I will say that the show is not as immediately hilarious as some of the other Adult Swim shows out there. It takes time to build up momentum, but as the season progresses, it gets better and better. The quality of the voice acting is really what keeps it going even during the slower moments. Still, you always have a smile on your face, and they never resort to low-brow humour in quite the same way other Adult Swim shows do. It’s also worth noting that it’s one of the few Adult Swim programs where episodes occupy a full 30 minute block, as opposed to the short running time and manic pace of, say, Aqua Teen Hunger Force.

The Season 1 DVD contains 13 episodes, with audio commentary on 5 of them. Bonus material includes an unaired full-length pilot episode (which, despite the slightly choppy animation is actually one of the funniest things on here), a short Christmas episode, some deleted scenes (just voice sessions set to storyboards), and a mock featurette on animating Hank and Dean. Perhaps the strangest thing on here is the segment that features some of the voice actors dressed up to look like their characters, and then being interviewed as if it were a behind the scenes vignette from the set of a live action Venture Bros movie. Amusing at first, it does get boring rather quickly, although the concept itself is pure gold.

If you’re a fan of the Adult Swim line-up, The Venture Bros may not give you the same sense of instant gratification and rapid-fire wackiness you would otherwise expect. However, where other Adult Swim shows can quickly grow tiresome, The Venture Bros is only going to get better with time. The stellar voice work, animation and imaginative storylines basically guarantee it. It’s a wild, colourful and wonderfully nuanced show from some talented people and I can’t wait to see where they go with it next. That cliffhanger season finale was murder (pun intended)! — Sean

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Recommended If You Like: The Tick, Sealab 2021, Harvey Birdman: Attorney At Law, The Ripping Friends, Jonny Quest

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