Television Network : [adult swim]
Running Time : 20-22 Minutes
Broadcast Run : February 16th, 2003 to Present (55 Episodes[8 to air])
The Sopranos of late night animation, tonight marks the return of the Venture Bros., the series about personal failure and unrequited love. Remember watching the Jetsons and Johnny Quest and wondering what technological marvels awaited the human race? Hoverboards, flying cars, jetpacks, our world never got these and neither did the Ventures'. The only thing the Venture world got was an emotional robot that everyone likes to ignore and jetpacks that never worked quite the way we always hoped they would.
Which is exactly the premise of the series, an idealized world riddled with failed dreams, half hearted attempts at success filled with tons of self loathing and isolation. See, Dr. Thaddeus Venture was a boy adventurer, the damsel in distress during countless conflicts between his father's Avengers like team and numerous villains. This heavily scarred him, and rather than hold himself accountable for his actions, he points back to his father's treatment of him as his only excuse. He is protected by highly specialized field agent Brock Samson, his specialty? Dismemberment of living bodies, whether mythical, henchman, or scooby doo like monsters. He has two sons, twins Hank and Dean. Hank is the more adventurous, jock like of the two, while Dean is shy, lovestruck, and always on the verge of a nervous breakdown. They rent out a portion of their "compound" to Dr. Orpheus, a necromancer with a stubborn adolescent daughter whom is the eye of Dean's affections. They are routinely attacked by their arch nemesis, The Monarch, a man with countless faceless (most likely disillusioned teenage) henchmen who hates Dr. Venture for an unspecified reason. Although you could pick any, because Dr. Venture is quite the prick.
The reason this animation series excels where others fail is not only in the concept of failure, but of progression. Even while these characters constantly fail, they learn(sometimes) and change. Each season changes the landscape. The first season reveals how Hank and Dean have survived so much peril, they haven't. They're Hank and Dean version 13 or so, cloned off of skin scrappings grown from when they were babies. Season 2 introduced the bureaucratic nature of the Guild of Calamitous Intent, forcing the Monarch to sign paperwork to continue arching Dr. Venture and an attempted takeover of the villainous contingency. Season 3 focused on the addition of assassins and independent third parties outside of the United States government, causing Brock to question his sanity and leave the Ventures. The first half of Season 4 reunites Brock with the boys while setting up a conflict of taking down the secret league of assassins created during season 3. But even with this bizarre and large thematic motifs, the Venture Bros. excels in showing every day life in a setting that is anything but ordinary.
The show begins to air it's "New Season" tonight on [adult swim], or Cartoon Network to those uninformed. Tune in tonight at 11:30 PM EDT and find out what all the fuss from die hardly loyal Venture Bros. fans have known for years. That this is the best cartoon show, possibly of all time. And with all adult swim shows, you can check out the Venture Bros.(and other hits like Children's Hospital, Robot Chicken, & the Boondocks) on Adult Swim's Video Vault. Expect the new episode up sometime tomorrow? Until, click below the tag for the preview video for the new season! While these links below are youtube, the best place to find all things Venture is on Adult Swim's Video Vault.
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