Official Synopsis:
Thrill to the delight of the uproarious and much-lauded second season of The Venture Bros., as fate makes pawns of the Venture family and its enemies - slowly drawing them toward an inevitable and explosive final conflict like flies to the spider's chessboard. A dazzling work of cartoon legerdemain celebrating life, love, robots, murder, tiny men & giants, ghosts, pirates, time machines, Egyptian guys with time machines, shrink rays, walking eyes, flying cocoons, maybe-or-maybe-not deceased teenagers... and the brave men and women who boldly love them. Say goodbye to your precious indifference, for a world of uncommon enchantment lives inside the box you now hold in your sweaty little hands! Welcome to your better life!
Our Take:
When the Cartoon Network first hit the air, I watched it pretty religiously. I loved the chance to see some of my favorite old cartoons on the air again, and I became a pretty big fan of most of their original properties, too. Since the network's been on the air, I've seen dozens (maybe hundreds) of cartoon series come and go. So many, in fact, that I've lost track of them all and, frankly, stopped following most of them. While I loved so many of the early Cartoon Network original shows (Johnny Bravo, Dexter's Laboratory, Cartoon Planet), their output has become so scattered and tries to appeal to so many audiences that I've lost my taste for most of it.
So I came into The Venture Bros. knowing exactly nothing about the show. And I do mean nothing; all I knew for sure was that the DVD set's cover art looked pretty cool. Upon further investigation, I found out that it's some kind of superhero/Jonny Quest hybrid show, so I thought that sounded pretty neat. Now that I've watched the show, I still know nothing about it. I mean, I know something about it, but I really don't know what to make of it. On the one hand, I think it's pretty stupid. On the other hand, it made me laugh at times. The fact that there’s a running narrative through episodes is neat, but some of the characters are kind of annoying. Maybe it's an acquired taste that I just haven't acquired yet; all I can say is that I didn't really like the show, but I didn't really dislike it either. (Helpful, I know.)
The DVD set for The Venture Bros.: Season Two includes a pretty good smattering of extra features for those of you who do know whether you like the show or not.
* Commentaries - On every episode, with creators Jackson Publick and Doc Hammer. These are pretty fun, informative tracks.
* Deleted Scenes (21 minutes) - A huge collection of 30 deleted scenes, in rough animation form.
* Tour of Astrobase Go (16 minutes) - A full-on guided tour of the moon base.
Maybe time will change my opinion of the show, but for right now, The Venture Bros. falls into the same category as so many other current Cartoon Network’s shows for me: not good or bad, but rather, largely ignored.
Overall Picture:
Show: C
DVD: B
- Mike Spring
Editor
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