TV Guilty Pleasures # 15 ‘The Venture Bros.’

By Katrina Hill

“Go Team Venture!”

As a noun, venture can mean doing something that involves risk with the outcome being very uncertain, and as a verb it means to brave a dangerous situation. Risk and danger? Hell yes! Let’s go! “The Venture Bros.” follows the risky, dangerous lives of the Venture family- Dr. Thaddeus Venture, his twin sons Dean and Hank, and the family bodyguard, Brock Sampson.

Jackson Publick had “The Venture Bros.” in the works since the year 2000. After finally finding it a home on Cartoon Network’s Adult Swim, the first season premiered in 2004. Somewhere along the way, he picked up a co-pilot, Doc Hammer, to help with the creation of this marvelous show. Since then “The Venture Bros.” has had five seasons, with a sixth on the way, and received critical acclaim for its humorous take on old adventure shows and nerd culture.

If you noticed, the show came out in 2004. Here it is 2013, and we’ve only had five seasons in nine years? While it’s extremely hard on the fans to have to wait so long in between seasons (about two years), it’s all for the best, says Publick and Hammer. In a CraveOnline interview with the two creators, Hammer explains that the two of them do everything for the show – write, direct, post production, etc. “If we change that, you won’t get ‘The Venture Bros.’ We can’t just tell the writers to write while we produce the show, because we’re the writers.” Publick and Hammer pour their hearts, souls, and tears into the show, and even though it’s on a slow production schedule, “The Venture Bros.” comes out all the more amaze-balls because of it. 

But what makes it amaze-balls? Let’s start with the peculiar and hilarious cast of characters. Dr. Venture’s father was a super scientist, and, based on his lifestyle, you’d think Dr. Venture is, too… until you find out that he’s a college dropout who holds an honorary degree from a community college in Tijuana. Despite his many shortcomings, though, he’s not afraid to face the truth when it stares him in the face. When looking in the mirror in one episode he says, “Crap, who am I kidding? My looks are going down the toilet like an unwanted pregnancy on prom night.” Dr. Venture may feel a little fatherly love towards his sons, but it certainly doesn’t seem like he likes them. He’s always trying to push them off onto his babysitter, err, I mean bodyguard, Brock Samson. Still, he does try every now and then to help his sons by reminding them that he’s a cool father they can talk to: “Dean! Have you been shooting dope into your scrotum? You can tell me! I’m hip!”

Brock, on the other hand, has sworn to protect the Venture family from danger, and in doing so ends up being Hank and Dean’s caretaker a lot of the time. But he’s not all cuddles and kittens. This is a guy often referred to in the show as the “Swedish murder machine,” and with good reason. He relishes in getting his hands dirty, and does so in brutal, and sometimes sadistic, ways. Brock is so freaking muscled up and strong that, even in a tranquilizer induced coma, he chokes a guy to death because no one can break his grip. He’s the pinnacle of masculinity- strong, determined, independent, and unyielding, with an enormous love muscle to match the rest of his body. He’s pretty much the show’s only competent character, too, as he’s always coming to the Venture family’s rescue by killing enemies with his hands, knife, or incredibly muscular buttocks.

“The Venture Bros.” has a freaking huge list of characters, and they’re all great. It’s not often that you get so many unique, interesting characters in one show. Dr. Venture’s arch nemesis is known as The Monarch, a butterfly obsessed guy who dresses as a monarch butterfly. His exact motives are unknown, but he’s been trying to kill Dr. Venture and his family since college. As much as Brock is a killing machine, Monarch is an ineffective, failure of an arch nemesis. Then there’s Hank and Dean Venture, teen boys who are incredibly gullible and naïve. Brock sometimes tries to teach them in the ways of being a man, but it usually devolves into tips on murdering people: “After the twist, you’ll feel a snap and the body goes ragdoll on you.” There’s also Phantom Limb, whose arms and legs are invisible, Jefferson Twilight, a Blacula-hunter who is a parody of Blade and Shaft, and Sergeant Hatred, the (ex)pedophile supervillain who becomes Hank and Dean’s new bodyguard. 

One primary theme runs through the show, and it’s a theme you’d be hard pressed to find elsewhere: failure. Monarch usually fails his plans of killing Dr. Venture, Dr. Venture failed to graduate college and fill his dads shoes. Hammer elaborates on the theme more in the commentary for one episode: “It’s about the beauty of failure. It’s about that failure happens to all of us… Every character is not only flawed, but sucks at what they do, and is beautiful at it and Jackson and I suck at what we do, and we try to be beautiful at it, and failure is how you get by… It shows that failure’s funny, and it’s beautiful and it’s life, and it’s okay, and it’s all we can write because we are big… failures.” Here are characters you can relate to, or feel superior to, because you can find at least one character that is a bigger failure than you – and that’s part of the beauty of “The Venture Bros.”

Season six is tentatively scheduled to premiere in Fall of 2014, but there are five seasons to indulge in right now. “The Venture Bros.” is incredibly funny and painstakingly crafted, so don’t miss out. I’ll leave you with a bit of wisdom in the words of another character, Dr. Byron Orpheus: “Do not be too hasty in entering that room. I had Taco Bell for lunch!”

 

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TV Guilty Pleasures

Katrina Hill
Katrina Hill

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