Reviews: "The Venture Brothers" - The Terrible Secret of Turtle Bay [2/16]

[livingfruitvirus]

Tonight Adult Swim premieres Chris McCulloch's "Venture Brothers' pilot. Combining traditional animation with Flash animation, the half hour pilot parodies some of the famous 60s hanna barbera cartoons.

For more, read this interview: http://animationinsider.net/forums/index.php?act=ST&f=7&t=387

But for now, keep discussion in this thread.

[Rabi~en~Rose]

So far it seems like a Johnny Quest knock-off adult swim style. Not bad...except for Scamp. ew. http://members.aol.com/kimminakochan/chicken.gif

[Naraku]

"Go Ahead, TAKE it from me!"

Oh my god, that was hilarious!

[DoubleNeg]

1 Part Johnny Quest, 3 parts Crack Cocaine. The random fights seem a like a lack luster running joke. But the Butterfly men are good stuff.

"He's Dissapeared!" "No he's right there" *Points to small tree*

[Naraku]

OH MY GOD!!!

Monarch's eyes!! DAMN that was graphic!

[Zach Logan]

Kinda funny, graphic, pretty good

[Spastic Minnow]

LMAO

All I can say is MORE!

[Rabi~en~Rose]

What a pretty good pilot episode. It was interesting and even somewhat unpredictable. May I have another? http://members.aol.com/kimminakochan/chicken.gif

[Behonkiss]

Oh, geez. I found this HILARIOUS. It was so random and sick I couldn't help but love it to death.

"I was in the mommy place."

[The_Dominion]

That was really funny, it had some really different stuff in it.

[Alaskanbullworm]

It took a couple minutes to get used to it, but I really liked it afterwards.It had very good one-liners and great scenes. This can turn into something very good, let's hope for more episodes.

[PluribusFinn]

just heard the same joke on two different shows in a row: frank lloyd wrong?

[JTurner954]

It seems like the other specials. This felt like a mix between Lewis Lectures and Harvey Birdman. A couple of laughs but it wasn't enough for me to like it.

Not awful and not good. Just there. The best specials so far were Night of the Living Doo and Welcome To Eltingville.


Overall grade: D

[Killtacular]

Second best pilot there.

If you're expecting a show that uses jokes AS the story, you lose. Bzzzt. Wrong. Try again.

Venture Bros harkens back to the mid 90s, where jokes were ON TOP of the plot, and not the other way around (like The Simpsons has sadly become). It's a show that's both funny AND engaging.

I feel this puts it on a tier higher than Williams Street's shows. Especially god awful Sealab. It's not pretentious, it's not forcefully weird, it's perfect. For a pilot, that is. I mean there are things to refine, but it's already really good as it is.

Noodlesoup did an excellent job on the show, although I don't understand why the final transfer was reduced to 12 FPS when they had it done originally in 24 FPS. Must be a side effect of outputting to film.

I also enjoyed the presentation, which felt like Cowboy Bebop meets Clipart. The music itself was pretty good too. Much better than Joe Boyd Vigil crap. It's GOOD electronic music.

All in all, good good good good.

I should mention that this show had more content to it in the original concept stages (it was a lot more bloody and the ninja masturbation scene was a little less obscure). Some content was also cut, but I'm sure it was for time (the show ended up being 26 minutes total, I believe).

Grade: A

[moreysurf8]

I found "The Venture Brothers" hysterical! The humor was just so offbeat and random and an actual plot to boot. All I can say is...make it a series!

Grade: A

[Dogasu]

I really enjoyed this show, but it's one of those shows that I would really wonder if it would work as a series (like the Ellingtonville special). As a one-shot it was great, but there are parts that kinda made me doubt that it would work as a full series. I really can't put my finger on it, though, but if it's ever made into a series, I hope the creators would be able to keep the humor at the same level/better than what we saw tonight.

Though I liked the Johnny Quest spoof on Freakazoid! better, I liked the fact that this special didn't just rely on parodies to get a laugh. I thought the ninja was hilarious, and I laughed when I saw the dog without skin.

I should mention that this show had more content to it in the original concept stages (it was a lot more bloody and the ninja masturbation scene was a little less obscure). Some content was also cut, but I'm sure it was for time (the show ended up being 26 minutes total, I believe).

So this has been seen before it aired on Adult Swim? Do these guys have a website or something we could look at??

[Killtacular]

No, this was the only airing. As I said, the edits and changes were made during the production of the show.

[CheeseItGuys]

I missed a lot of this, I lost track of the time because I was doing some other stuff, but I caught like the end half. was that Patrick Wharburton voicing the bodguard? I'm almost sure that it was

[gristl24]

Thats so weird, everyone seemed to like the show! Personally, I fought not to turn it off, neither my roommate or I liked it and I can only remember laughing once. *shrug* I guess its just me.

[HomeMoviesFan]

Have we traveled back two years? Because I swear I felt like I was watching "Welcome to Eltingville" again, laughing, laughing, laughing and laughing even MORE! Second best pilot!...

[DianaGohan]

Intresting outing, to say the least. Odd on how it meshed together diffrent animaitions styles, not to mention the truck load of violence (Mainly caused by Dr Venture's assistant guy, whose named I've seen to have forgoten now). Not to mention the various parodies (Johnny Quest being the most obvious, but there were others. The opening theme song had elements found in the "Cowboy Bebop" opener (With the ship flying around and the various outlines and shadows of the Ventures moving around, but you can also see a lot of Johnny Quest goofs as well). The best jokes were probably Hank and younger brother Venture (forgot his name too) sideplot, with the quest for their dog at the beginning, the Judo line, meeting the hooker, playing around with Doctor Venture's adventure, as well as their general cluelessness to the adult situations around them. The vulture villian and his henchmen were also fairly funny, and Doctor Venture had a few good lines. All in all, a pretty good special. While a few of these could be made, this really isn't series Material
Grade: B+

[Arxane]

Different. That about sums this up perfectly. Just like "Reign" is different from typical AS action fair, "The Venture Brothers" is different from AS comedy fair. And you know what? They both benefit heavily because of it.

Unlike other AS comedies like "Aqua Teen Hunger Force" and especially "Sealab 2021", "The Venture Brothers" didn't use one insane joke after the other as its foundation. Instead, the plot carried the jokes, which makes it intelligent as well as funny. What am I talking about?

As an analysis, compare the two Leslie Nielson films "The Naked Gun: Files From Police Squad" and "Wrongfully Accused". The former is considered a classic because it has an interesting plot that supports pretty hilarious jokes throughout; the latter is a godawful mess and overflow of horrible jokes that overshadowed any plot the movie tried to give (not that it actually had one to begin with).

That's what makes "The Venture Brothers" differ from other AS comedy shows. Now, I'm not saying that ohter AS comedies are bad; I'm just saying "TVB" takes a different direction to get its point across. And I'm sure many animation fans are finally glad that there's finally an intelligent comedy (well, semi-intelligent, at least) amidst the sea of wackiness and randomness that Williams Street tends to create.

As for highlights, Mr. Samson was freaking hilarious. "Go ahead...take it from me" was his shining moment. And the ending with the masturbating ninja was just pure genius. I never saw it coming.

Now, about this becoming a possible series...I can see it coming, but the producers will have to work hard to make it work. If they're willing to do it, I wish them the best of luck. They just might have a potential hit on their hands here.

A.

[CheeseItGuys]

Originally posted by HomeMoviesFan
Have we traveled back two years? Because I swear I felt like I was watching "Welcome to Eltingville" again, laughing, laughing, laughing and laughing even MORE! Second best pilot!...

I liked Saddle Rash more than eltingvile. it was great how anti-climatic it was, and jon benjamin did a beutiful job as tommy morgan. this was pretty funny from what I saw, i just hope its on again sometime.

[nothing]

i think there's a lot of potential for a series with this show... crazy villains, weird new inventions, hank & dean-o's wild adventures, and brock kicking lots of ass. there's lots of goodies to develop for at least 12 episodes. here's hoping the network likes what they see in this special.

[Arxane]

Originally posted by nothing
[insert lewd joke here.]

Why bother? I just unintentionally created one!

(:moon2: would be proud!)

[livingfruitvirus]

maybe we should put up the snail mail and email addresses again to send CN our feedback.

[Nik Jam]

btw, did anyone notice a REIGN (ASA) promo aired afterwards?

Anyway, nice show, though I didnt really get into it. Some of scenes were just precious. I might watch it again with my tape. But I do hope it turns into a series. Cause I know it'll get better.

B

[VinceA]

A villian whose first name is Otaku (with worst r/l swapping Japanese accent)... classic

Loved the whole Johnny Quest parody angle of it. Brock was the perfect "Race gone too far" character. Quite a change from the gay Quest parody on Harvey Birdman.

[Amano Ginji]

I think it was a great show.
I hope it turns into a series.
Brock is great, his "go ahead.....take it from me" line was genius.

[IWDP Lim]

Did anyone else think Brock was a dead on animated version of Sid Viscious? The wrestler I mean, not the guy from the Sex Pistols.

[CheeseItGuys]

Originally posted by IWDP Lim
Did anyone else think Brock was a dead on animated version of Sid Viscious? The wrestler I mean, not the guy from the Sex Pistols.

Right down to the blond curly long hair. Again, he was voiced by Patrick Wharburton, right?

[Tim Vee]

Oh man, that was good. The best characters were Brock and Monarch, but the whole thing was just wonderful. And yes, Brock was played by Patrick Warburton.

Favorite bits: The massive violence dished out by Brock, the "meteor", "Go ahead, take it from me.", Monarch's trip through the city, and the line "She touched me where I make sissy!"

A+

[Zedizded]

This was a pleasant surprise. Normally when AS pulls out something new it turns out to be less than my cup of tea. I identified with the Eltingville Club but it was a little too geeky for me, if that's possible. I liked Saddle Rash the best for it's uniqueness and intelligence. I'm also a Jon Benjamin fan and thought it was worth a few "specials" here and there, but not a weekly series. The only "special" I hated was the Grooveinians, and I wish I had a chance to see "Rejected". Of all those "specials" this is the first one that I think is a keeper.

I expected something dull, and was glad that this one was over the top, but knew when to rope it in. The character concepts were great, especially the "Monarch" who doesn't realize that there is nothing dangerous about a monarch butterfly. I just loved that. I also loved Brock Sampson and that some "thing" would always fall out of the plane so he can go medieval on it.

If my counsel was worth listening to I'd advise CN to get more episodes of this, rid us of the Ripping Friends and replace them with the Venture Bros.

Grade: A-

Just an opinion bruthas.

[hobbyfan]

Originally posted by moreysurf8
I found "The Venture Brothers" hysterical! The humor was just so offbeat and random and an actual plot to boot. All I can say is...make it a series!

Grade: A

Missed the start, but caught the rest. The bros are a little dense at times, so I'd say while they were looking to parody Jonny Quest, among others, I think the boys got a dose of Beavis & Butt-Head transplanted into them, too. The scene in the brothel reminds me of a B & B season 1 show, except that the woman B & B met was slightly older. It's better than some of the crap coming out of Williams St. by plenty.

Speaking of said crap, Sealab 2021 followed Venture Brothers, and has gotten worse. They've clearly run out of material from the original series, so this looks more and more like a cut-and-paste animated colorforms crapfest. Sealab definitely has to go.

[PluribusFinn]

last night i only caught a few minutes of it during the commercial breaks on "12 Monkeys", but now that i have seen all of it i must say it is definitely the second best special. adult swim would highly benefit to make that into a series. the only special that surpassed the "venture bros." would have to be saddle rash. the only thing i really have to complain about is the whole "crazy villains" concept has been done so many times before in the tick, freakazoid, and even the ripping friends that it may get stale too quickly. although, the monarch butterfly was a stroke of genius.
grade: B

[Spastic Minnow]

Originally posted by PluribusFinn
The only thing i really have to complain about is the whole "crazy villains" concept has been done so many times before in the tick, freakazoid, and even the ripping friends that it may get stale too quickly. although, the monarch butterfly was a stroke of genius.
grade: B

The Tick influence was obvious and expected considering that the creator was a writer for both the cartoon and the sitcom.

But the thing about all of those shows is that none of them really got a chance. Finally we have a network and format to finally give such a show a chance to really shine.

[Sketch]

That was some funny stuff!

I the ninja thing ruined it for me though... genious but it plain disturbed me beyond words. The hooker thing at the end got me too... ugh. Overall it was a very clever spoof of the old HB cartoons.

Any body else crack up when the fake meteor landed and the Monarch's henchmen couldn't get it open and they starting going nuts? Man that was great...

[Duelist]

didn't that big guy have the same VA as Kronk from The Emperor's New Groove?

[SpaceCowboy]

I found it a bit funny, but was a bit turned off by the movement of the animation. I guess they didn't have as much of a budget as Harvey Birdman:AAL did.

[CheeseItGuys]

Originally posted by Duelist Goku
didn't that big guy have the same VA as Kronk from The Emperor's New Groove?

Yes, he also voices Buzz Lightyear in that Buzz Lightyear show on UPN, played the Tick in the live action show, was in MIB 2, Joe Somebody, and Big Trouble. theres probably some other stuff too

But of course most importantly, he was Puddy on Seinfeld

[Vekou]

I missed it, of course... bah.

[Midou Ban]

I missed it too. My crazy dad made me shovel his car out of the snow untill 1 am in the morning.