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Once a famous boy adventurer, Dr. Rusty Venture (voiced by James Urbaniak) is now a less-than-brilliant scientist and inventor who’s passed his adventurous spirit down to his dim-witted teenage sons—Hank (Jackson Publick), who looks like a young Fred from Scooby-Doo, and Dean (Michael Sinterniklaas), who never leaves home without a sweater vest. Since Dean and Hank tend to be a bit accident-prone, the Ventures are constantly under the supervision of their military-trained, muscle-bound bodyguard, Brock Samson (Patrick Warburton).
Through the years, Dr. Venture has made a few friends—like his tenant, Dr. Orpheus (Steven Rattazzi), the necromancer. But he’s made even more enemies. In fact, he seems to make new enemies just about every day. The most determined, however, is Dr. Venture’s archenemy, The Monarch (Publick)—who, along with his butterfly-costumed henchmen, will stop at nothing to destroy the Venture Family once and for all. But The Monarch has more than just the Ventures to worry about. He’s also trying to win back his girlfriend, Dr. Girlfriend (Doc Hammer), who left him for fellow bad guy The Phantom Limb (Urbaniak).
Always a sucker for a good cartoon, I was eager to pop in the new DVD of The Venture Bros.: Season Two. I’d never actually seen the Adult Swim series on the Cartoon Network, though, so I was a little behind on the story—and, needless to say, I was a little confused for an episode or two. Once I figured out what the heck was going on, though, I was hooked.
Though some episodes are definitely better than others, this grown-up cartoon series usually ranges from utterly bizarre to brilliantly hilarious—sometimes managing to be both bizarre and hilarious at the same time. The quirky cast travels through time and space, encountering all kinds of characters (even Edgar Allan Poe and David Bowie) and facing everything from bloodthirsty mummies to Japanese demons to (possibly the most terrifying) teenage girls. The season does have a story that pops up from time to time (involving The Monarch, Dr. Girlfriend, and The Phantom Limb), but most of the episodes work just fine on their own—so you can feel free to pop in a disc and play episodes at random.
The Season Two two-disc set includes 13 episodes, each of which can be played with or without commentary. Other special features include deleted scenes—both sketches and fully animated scenes—and a rather long (and bizarre) tour of Astro-Base Go, where the show is created.
Those with a warped sense of humor (who enjoy animated series like The Tick, for instance) won’t want to miss this edgy, twisted—and did I mention bizarre?—cartoon series. Pick up the DVD now—so you’ll be ready to check out the Ventures’ next misadventures as soon as Season Three premieres.
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