What They Say:
Join the Ventures–and pretty much everyone they’ve ever crossed paths with–as they rocket to the Gargantua-2 space station for an epic, hour-long adventure that will change the Ventureverse as we know it forever.
The Review:
Content: (please note that content portions of a review may contain spoilers)
The Venture family make their way to Gargantua-2, as flashy and shiny on the surface as its owner, JJ, who is overjoyed to have his big brother Rusty on board. Dr. Venture, expecting the royal treatment, is dismayed at how tiny his room is and the servant bots calling him, “Mister”, a now sullen older teenager look Dean sulks, and Hank is…Hank. Aside from them, Broch and his colleague/lady-friend Amber are also there on official spy business.
But all is not well in Venture-verse. Mrs. Monarch is called away to a meeting of the Council of 13, where they are betrayed by one of their own, Phantom Limb is being duplicitous as ever with Gargantua-2 the target of a plot, The Monarch is as always (read: totally lost when Mrs. Monarch is away), and the Order of the Triad are on their own mission which results in the Venture compound being set on fire. And that’s not even everything as this special has a lot going on trying to fit most of the main and recurring characters in, and yet the plates manage to mostly stay in the air. There is also the introduction of the Inspectors, who Dr. Henry Killinger is a brother of. They are pinstriped Germanic beings who may or may not be omniscient to some degree.
All these subplots (well not really the Order of the Triad’s) converge, with Mrs. Monarch escaping barely with her life and off to save her husband, who decided to steal Dr. Venture’s spaceship because he feels left out, but did not know Gargantua-2 was being targeted. And so, with a nasty gun-shot wound and in bad condition, Mrs. Monarch proves yet again what magnificent badass she is and saves her husband. And it’s actually kind of sweet how much they get each other and care for each other.
There’s also a frozen general who had peepee cancer who is revived and Hulks out.
And then there’s David Bowie, but it wasn’t really David Bowie.
In Summary:
It’s a credit to the creators of this show that they fit the amount they did in this hour-long special, and yet for the most part it works. Venture Bros. sadly doesn’t get regular seasons like most shows, and with five seasons spanning over the course of ten years, it’s kind of amazing how much character story and plot elements have happened since season 1 and now, considering this show is an insane parody of older cartoons like Johnny Quest, boy adventures like Hardy Boys, and other satires and homages to spy genre, mad science, etc. etc.
Being only on Season 2 (woefully behind!), I’ve missed about three seasons so there’s a sense of definitely missing some things that have happened and that these characters have had some things happen since season 2, but it’s still easy enough to jump in and go with the madness. I would like to know the deal with Dean’s new look, how the Council of 13 came to be, and all that, but eventually Netflix will catch up as I can hope.
The animation for this special was really great, and it felt very much like a special-not quite an episode, not quite a movie, but a great treat for fans of the series, and here’s hoping we see a more of a season 6, because there’s a lot of great stuff left in this series, and it’s clear its creators and cast really have fun with it. It’s hard to believe it’s been ten years since this show started, and even though there’s a dearth of satirical cartoons out there that have popped up since then, something about this series really makes it a stand-out, and it was about time for more.
Now, six seasons and a movie! Let’s do it Cartoon Network!
Grade: A
