The brainchild of Jackson Publick (the professional name of Christopher McCulloch), The Venture Bros. landed in the Adult Swim programming block in 2003. While the allusions to the animated adventures of Jonny Quest and its associated futurism were obvious, The Venture Bros. showed the less-glamorous side of mid-century mod by depicting a dysfunctional family unit of castoffs who somehow never let their ineptitude get in the way of having some pretty nifty adventures. The show is available for streaming on Hulu.
1. The Quest for Nostalgia
One of the central appeals of the show in the early seasons was the strong reference to the Hanna Barbera-produced Jonny Quest and the production design that evoked but didn’t directly mimic that short-lived series from the mid ’60s. The Venture jet even bears a striking resemblance to the needle-nosed jet from Jonny Quest. Publick clearly has an affinity for the series that originally aired in prime time but became a Saturday morning staple in syndication in later years, but the callback has a deeper thematic resonance for The Venture Bros. absurdist proceedings. Jonny Quest was emblematic of a time when science and adventure went hand and hand, a seemingly simpler time that was not without peril for those willing to risk the safety of their homes. In The Venture Bros., the Venture family seem to have little fear for the consequences of any real danger, and they therefore seem to bring it upon themselves in the most benign and unexpected ways whether it be visiting a New York City prostitute or a Tijuana doctor. Having said that…
2. Expectations
… much of the humor in these early episodes is in toying with viewer expectations for a straightforward adventure story. In the series pilot, a trip to New York City is presented to the Venture boys as a thing as exotic as a trip into the heart of darkness, perhaps toying with the globetrotting setting of the show’s forebears. In particular, the show creators seem to take great glee in making the monumental trivial and the trivial monumental. The ninja villain who sticks to the ceiling, spying on Dr. Venture and just waiting to carry out a nefarious deed, is easily spotted, identified, and treated with the utmost courtesy by a UN Diplomat. When the nature of the ninja’s real interest in Dr. Venture’s latest invention is revealed, it’s a very trivial affair and certainly not the, um, climax that viewers were expecting.
3. Hank and Dean
I’m pretty sure Dr. Venture refers to his sons as Dave and Hank in episode two, a throwaway joke that solidifies Dr. Thaddeus Venture’s indifference towards fatherhood and his spawn. Skinning the family dog in the pilot episode was the first indication that he doesn’t have his sons’ best interests at heart, but the boys are so good natured that they take their father’s obvious lack of affection for a commitment to science. News flash: He’s bad at that too. By the end of the second episode the boys are gleefully playing Rock, Paper, Scissors for the honor of donating a kidney to their father who carelessly misplaced both of his during a bid to score a large stash of pharmaceutical drugs in Mexico. On a few occasions in the pilot episode, Dean is referred to the smart one of the two, but if he is, let’s just say that it’s by the slimmest of margins. After the minions of Dr. Venture’s arch nemesis, The Monarch (we’ll talk more about him and his henchlady next time), kidnap the boys in the second episode, the Monarch begins to feel compassion for the two. It turns out that Dr. Venture is taking more time than expected to rescue his sons, and it’s the first moment in the show that you get a real sense of tragedy for these boys—that they might better be cared for by a supervillain than their own father.
4. Samson and da ladies
The mulleted super soldier who protects the Venture clan, voiced by the incomparable Patrick Warburton, yields these early episodes most consistent visual laughs, even if they are often the result of his recklessly violent sadism. Brock Samson doesn’t seem like the man who would need to pay for sex, but in these early episodes, it seems like that’s his proclivity. If Brock has a positive character trait it’s in his absolute devotion to the Venture boys, showing more paternal instinct for them than their father. This isn’t a high bar to hurdle, but he does only seem to suffer Dr. Venture’s venality for their sake. Brock arrives on the scene as the most fleshed-out and interesting character in these early episodes partly because of his physical prowess and eye-twitching penchant for ultra violence but also because he stands at such a polar opposite to the members of the Venture family who feel like characters who are out of time in addition to being largely clueless of the danger they put themselves by either inattentiveness or downright stupidity.
5. Potential
Watching this first season is a similar experience to watching episodes from the first season of The Simpsons. The animation is cruder, and the jokes are fewer and farther between than they would be in later seasons. However the recipe for success for the show was there. It only really fell short in its production execution. After recently watching the trailer for the upcoming season seven, the show’s production value has grown by leaps and bounds while it has also drifted away from its mid-century touchstones to evolve into something different than these early episodes offer.
As the August 5 premiere of season seven quickly approaches, join us next week as we continue to review these early episodes in the cult series.
