The Venture Bros is a animated television show on Cartoon Network as part of their late night adult oriented programming block, Adult Swim. Created Jackson Publick and Doc Hammer and first aired in 2003, it is the current longest running Adult Swim show after Aqua Teen Hunger Force was cancelled in 2015. The show is a favorite of mine, I personally love the parody of early Hanna Barbara style cartoons as well as the long running storyline from season 1 all the way to season 6. Most of the episodes are great but here are my picks for the five worst and five best episodes of The Venture Bros. Spoiler Alert!
5th Weakest: The Terrible Secret of Turtle Bay. Written by Jackson Publick. Original Air Date: February 16th 2003.
It's kind of hard to put the pilot of a TV show in the weakest list, especially one of a cartoon but good god this episode is definitely on a budget. Made with adobe flash, the episode looks rough and you can tell they barely made it together. The villain of this episode (Otaku Senzuri, a ninja with a really creepy fetish for technology) is never seen again and the plot doesn't affect the rest of the story except establishing the 5 main characters and The Monarch. It was a rough start for the show and it was actually the second episode I ever watched (we're gonna get to the first episode later) and almost stopped watching it because of it.
5th Strongest: Viva Los Muertos. Written by Ben Edlund. Original Air Date: October 1 2006.
The only episode to not have any writing involvement by creators Jackson and Doc and my personal favorite of Season 2, Via Los Muertos is a great episode because of one thing: Parody. If you're familiar with early Adult Swim programming you might remember a show called Harvey Birdman: Attorney at Law which parodied the hell out of old Hanna Barbera cartoons and putting adult twists on them the most famous example being an episode where Scooby Doo and Shaggy go on trial for possession of marijuana. In the episode the Mystery Gang are parodied but never explicitly referred to. The twist? Famous criminals influence all the characters: Fred is Ted Bundy, Daphne is Patty Hearst. Shaggy is the Son of Sam Killer etc. The gang runs into the Venture Bros and SPOILERS the boys actually get their first interaction with their clones in this episode. Big plot detail.
4th Weakest: Assisted Suicide. Written By Doc Hammer. Original Air Date: October 17 2010.
The first time I watched this episode, very early I stopped paying attention and focused more on cleaning my room. I just didn't like the plot of this episode. Somehow the Monarch gets control of Doc Ventures mind, and tries to force the scientist to kill himself. We are then treated to a Fantastic Voyage spoof and given a rundown of Frueds Id, Ego Superego teachings. That's fun. There's a couple jokes in there that are funny but for the most part I was just bored by the plot.
4th Strongest: Self-Medication. Written by Jackson Publick. Original Air Date: November 22 2009.
Another parody and again of old Hanna-Barbera episodes, the episode follows Doc Venture as he goes to therapy support for child boy adventures. Also included is a parody of the Hardy Boys, a parody of Astro Boy and Johnny Quest himself. It's funny to see these characters interact with each other. The plot may not be as affected with other episodes but the humor more than makes up for it.
3rd Weakest: Operation P.R.O.M. Written by Jackson Publick and Doc Hammer. Original Air Date: November 21 2010
In retrospect this episode is OK. Not great mind you but OK. This was the first episode I watched, I didn't understand and immediately hated it. Ok that's a bit harsh but this one hour episode was chockfull of in references that I didn't get. Now watching it again it was better than I thought but the episode leading up to a hell of a sad ending really bummed me out. More than one character is affected by the sad ending too and the hour long lead up made the gut punch even sadder.
3rd Strongest: The Trial of the Monarch. Written by Doc Hammer. Original Air Date: October 23 2004.
Every Episode from here on I can watch anytime and not NOT love it. This was one of my favorite episodes for a long time for two reasons: the plot affected the story of the show in a huge way and the courtroom based comedy made me laugh when I first watched it. In addition to these two things we got introduced to so much in universe lore that I was inundated with so much knowledge, I loved it. That and we see people giving testimonies in their own unique way and I always love that.
2nd Weakest: What Color is your Cleansuit? Written by Jackson Publick and Doc Hammer. Original Air Date: June 2 2013
Maybe I just don't like the hour long episodes. Anyway What Color is your Cleansuit is an odd episode. The plot affects the story in a pretty big way, explicitly affecting the hour long special All This and Gargantua 2. That's great and all it's just that the rest of it just annoys me. The jokes aren't funny and the characters are incredibly annoying, especially the one voiced by guest star Aziz Anzari.
2nd Strongest: The Doctor is Sin. Written by Jackson Publick. Original Air Date: June 8 2008
Henry Killenger is one of the greatest characters Jackson Publick ever created and we get a whole episode of him fixing up the run down Venture Compound. I love him and I love this episode where he touches everyone in a specific way. My personal favorite being where he manages to get to Brock Samsons soft side by showing him how to write everything off as a business expense.
Weakest Weakest: The Devils Grip. Written by Doc Hammer. Original Air Date: July 21 2013.
You. Don't. Put. A. Cliffhanger. In. The. Second. to. last. episode. Any suspense or drama that was left in Bot Seeks Bot was dropped off within minutes of this episode starting. We learned SPOILER that Doc Venture isn't dead and the rest of the episode is the boys interacting with two tertiary characters. All of the suspense just killed.
Strongest Strongest: The Family that Slays together, Stays Together Parts 1 and 2. Written by Jackson Publick and Doc Hammer. Original Air Dates: August 17 and August 24 2008.
I'm cheating here but this episode is a two-parter so sue me. The episode DRASTICALLy affects the entire plot and I love watching Brock trying to protect the family from the various assassins that try to hurt the family. We watch this two episode story have a huge story over 44 minutes. I truly love this episode and can watch it any day everyday and is a good case of why I think season 3 is the best season in the show.
