"The Venture Bros." (2003) TV series 2003-

Creator:

Christopher McCulloch
(more)

Seasons:

1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5

Release Date:

7 August 2004 (USA)

Genre:

Animation | Action | Adventure | Comedy | Sci-Fi

Tagline:

Jonny Quest is Jonesin'!

Plot:

The bizarre animated escapades of pseudo-heroic scientist Dr. Rusty Venture, his competent, high strung bodyguard, and his two over-enthusiastic sons.

Plot Keywords:

Venture | Scientist | Bodyguard | Super Villain | Villain

Cast

Christopher McCulloch	...	Hank Venture / ... (62 episodes, 2003-2013)
James Urbaniak	...	Dr. Venture / ... (57 episodes, 2003-2013)
Michael Sinterniklaas	...	Dean Venture / ... (57 episodes, 2003-2013)
Patrick Warburton	...	Brock Samson / ... (52 episodes, 2003-2013)
Doc Hammer	...	Henchman 21 / ... (51 episodes, 2004-2013)
Steven Rattazzi	...	Dr. Orpheus / ... (27 episodes, 2004-2012)
Soul-Bot	...	H.E.L.P.eR. (25 episodes, 2003-2008)

Series Directed by
Christopher McCulloch		(61 episodes, 2003-2013)
Jon Schnepp		(16 episodes, 2009-2010)
Ki-Yong Bai		(14 episodes, 2004)

Series Writing credits
Christopher McCulloch		(60 episodes, 2003-2013)
Doc Hammer		(32 episodes, 2004-2013)
Ben Edlund		(3 episodes, 2004-2006)

Series Produced by
Christopher McCulloch	....	executive producer (61 episodes, 2003-2013)
Steven S.H. Yoon	....	executive producer / executive producer: Digital eMation (58 episodes, 2004-2012)
Rachel Simon	....	producer / associate producer / ... (56 episodes, 2004-2010)
Charlie Miller	....	supervising producer / executive producer (29 episodes, 2008-2010)
Nathan Graf	....	associate producer (28 episodes, 2003-2006)
David Lipson	....	producer (15 episodes, 2003-2004)
Keith Crofford	....	executive producer: Williams Street / executive producer (15 episodes, 2008-2012)
Michael Lazzo	....	executive producer: Williams Street / executive producer (15 episodes, 2008-2012)
Jeremy Rosenberg	....	supervising producer / associate producer (14 episodes, 2004-2006)
Jeffrey Nodelman	....	supervising producer (12 episodes, 2003-2004)
Doc Hammer	....	executive producer (3 episodes, 2012-2013)
David McGrath	....	producer (3 episodes, 2012-2013)
Chris Prynoski	....	supervising producer (2 episodes, 2011-2012)
Shannon Prynoski	....	supervising producer (2 episodes, 2011-2012)
PeeDee Shindell	....	associate producer (2 episodes, 2011-2012)

Series Original Music by
J.G. Thirlwell		(60 episodes, 2003-2013)

Series Film Editing by
Doc Hammer		(57 episodes, 2003-2010)
Elizabeth Winter		(4 episodes, 2011-2013)

Series Art Direction by
Stephen DeStefano		(13 episodes, 2008)
Kimson Albert		(3 episodes, 2008)
Jennifer Batinich		(3 episodes, 2008)
Nick DeMayo		(3 episodes, 2008)
Ian Jones-Quartey		(3 episodes, 2008)
Stephan DeStephano		(2 episodes, 2008)

Series Production Management
Keith Crofford	....	executive in charge of production / executive in charge of production: Cartoon Network (56 episodes, 2004-2010)
Michael Lazzo	....	executive in charge of production / executive in charge of production: Cartoon Network (56 episodes, 2004-2010)
PeeDee Shindell	....	production manager (29 episodes, 2008-2010)
Nisa Contreras	....	production manager (13 episodes, 2006)
Cathy Kwan	....	production manager (2 episodes, 2008)

Series Art Department
Doc Hammer	....	additional graphics / title sequence (59 episodes, 2003-2012)
Liz Artinian	....	color supervisor / background painter (44 episodes, 2006-2012)
Mike Borkowski	....	storyboard artist (42 episodes, 2006-2010)
Carly Monardo	....	color key (42 episodes, 2006-2010)
Siobhan Mullen	....	storyboard supervisor (42 episodes, 2006-2010)
Rick Lacy	....	storyboard artist / storyboard revisionist (40 episodes, 2004-2008)
Jonathan Roscetti	....	storyboard artist / storyboard revisionist (40 episodes, 2004-2008)
Tom Connor	....	storyboard artist / storyboard revisionist (31 episodes, 2008-2012)
Chris Fisher	....	background painter (31 episodes, 2008-2012)
Deodato Pangandoyon	....	background painter (29 episodes, 2008-2010)
Marina Dominis-Dunnigan	....	color supervisor / color director (27 episodes, 2003-2006)
Peter Brown	....	background painter (27 episodes, 2004-2006)
Douglas Lovelace	....	storyboard artist / storyboard revision supervisor (27 episodes, 2004-2006)
Stephen DeStefano	....	storyboard artist (23 episodes, 2004-2006)
Alexandra Andrew	....	production coordinator (22 episodes, 2008-2010)
Bill Presing	....	storyboard supervisor / additional color artist / ... (15 episodes, 2003-2006)
Christopher McCulloch	....	title sequence / storyboard artist / ... (15 episodes, 2003-2004)
Chris George	....	storyboard revisionist (14 episodes, 2004)
Ian Jones-Quartey	....	inking (13 episodes, 2006)
Dan Root	....	storyboard artist (13 episodes, 2006)
Rafael Rosado	....	storyboard artist (13 episodes, 2006)
Alexander Woo	....	storyboard artist (13 episodes, 2006)
Danny Hynes	....	storyboard artist (13 episodes, 2008)
Lauren Monardo	....	storyboard artist (13 episodes, 2008)
Michael Oviedo	....	storyboard revisionist (11 episodes, 2004)
Katie Nix	....	background painter (10 episodes, 2004)
Danny Kimanyen	....	storyboard revisionist (9 episodes, 2004)
Tom Conner	....	storyboard artist (8 episodes, 2004-2006)
Michael Manley	....	storyboard artist (7 episodes, 2004-2006)
Esao Andrews	....	background painter (5 episodes, 2004)
Christophe Pouchot	....	storyboard artist (5 episodes, 2004)
Toni Tysen	....	storyboard revisionist (5 episodes, 2004)
Michael Kornstein	....	storyboard revisionist / additional color artist (4 episodes, 2003-2004)
Irene Wu	....	storyboard revisionist (4 episodes, 2004)
Kim Arndt	....	storyboard artist (3 episodes, 2010)
Bob Cavin III	....	storyboard artist (2 episodes, 2004)
James Webb	....	storyboard artist (2 episodes, 2004)
Garrett O'Donoghue	....	storyboard artist (2 episodes, 2008)
Dan Shefelman	....	storyboard artist (2 episodes, 2010)

Series Sound Department
Dave Paterson	....	sound re-recording mixer / supervising sound editor (58 episodes, 2004-2012)
Rachel Chancey	....	foley supervisor (44 episodes, 2006-2012)
Glenfield Payne	....	sound effects editor / sfx editor (38 episodes, 2006-2010)
Damian Volpe	....	sound effects editor / sfx editor (22 episodes, 2006-2012)
Jay Culliton	....	dialogue editor / dialogue recordist (18 episodes, 2009-2012)
Ian Stynes	....	dialogue recordist / dialogue editor / ... (18 episodes, 2009-2012)
Jake Aron	....	dialogue editor (16 episodes, 2009-2010)
Britt Myers	....	dialogue editor (16 episodes, 2009-2010)
Shaun Brennan	....	foley artist (14 episodes, 2003-2004)
Will Volkmann	....	dialogue recordist (13 episodes, 2008)
Andy Welker	....	dialogue recordist / sound recordist (8 episodes, 2009-2010)
Shaun Cromwell	....	dialogue recordist (2 episodes, 2011-2012)
R. Chett Hoffman	....	recording coordinator (2 episodes, 2011-2012)
Eden Lustig	....	dialogue editor (2 episodes, 2011-2012)
Geoff Vincent	....	dialogue editor (2 episodes, 2011-2012)
Anthony Tortorici	....	adr engineer (unknown episodes)

Series Visual Effects by
Doc Hammer	....	special visual effects / title sequence / ... (59 episodes, 2003-2012)
Tom Bayne	....	compositor (29 episodes, 2008-2010)
Luciano DiGeronimo	....	compositor (28 episodes, 2003-2006)
Christopher McCulloch	....	visual effects: title sequence (27 episodes, 2004-2006)
Miguel Martinez-Joffre	....	additional animation (3 episodes, 2008)
Elizabeth Winter	....	compositor (2 episodes, 2011-2012)

Series Animation Department
Kimson Albert	....	animation director / computer animator (59 episodes, 2003-2012)
Jennifer Batinich	....	animation director (58 episodes, 2004-2012)
Nick DeMayo	....	animation direction supervisor / animation director / ... (57 episodes, 2003-2010)
Roger Mejia	....	animation checker / lip sync / ... (57 episodes, 2003-2010)
Tom Bayne	....	animation director (56 episodes, 2004-2010)
Miguel Martinez-Joffre	....	animation direction supervisor / additional animator / ... (44 episodes, 2003-2013)
Ray Feldman	....	background designer / background design supervisor / ... (44 episodes, 2006-2012)
Doc Hammer	....	additional animator (44 episodes, 2006-2012)
Agatha Sarim Kim	....	animation coordinator / animation coordinator: Digital eMation (44 episodes, 2006-2012)
Martin Wittig	....	character designer (44 episodes, 2006-2012)
Chris George	....	character designer / character design supervisor (42 episodes, 2004-2012)
Matthew I. Jenkins	....	character designer (42 episodes, 2006-2010)
Ian Jones-Quartey	....	animation director / ink artist (33 episodes, 2006-2010)
George Fort	....	background design supervisor / background designer (31 episodes, 2008-2012)
Danny Hynes	....	character designer / storyboard artist (29 episodes, 2008-2012)
Denny Fincke	....	background designer / background artist (29 episodes, 2008-2010)
Christopher Palesty	....	background designer / background artist (29 episodes, 2008-2010)
Mike Foran	....	character and prop design supervisor / computer animation director (28 episodes, 2003-2006)
Jamison K. Kwon	....	background designer / background artist (27 episodes, 2003-2006)
Vinh Truong	....	background designer / background artist (27 episodes, 2003-2006)
Freya Tanz	....	background design supervisor (27 episodes, 2004-2006)
Carly Monardo	....	character and prop color key / character color key / ... (25 episodes, 2006-2008)
Rick Lacy	....	character designer / storyboard artist / ... (21 episodes, 2003-2008)
Stephen DeStefano	....	character designer (16 episodes, 2009-2010)
Steffen Vala	....	animatic director (14 episodes, 2004)
Heather Austin	....	character and prop color key (13 episodes, 2004)
Amanda Baehr	....	character designer (13 episodes, 2004)
Dong M. Lee	....	background designer (13 episodes, 2004)
Phil Rynda	....	character designer (13 episodes, 2004)
Sadie Y.E. Lee	....	animation coordinator: Digital eMation (13 episodes, 2006)
Siobhan Mullen	....	storyboard supervisor (12 episodes, 2008)
Deodato Pangandoyon	....	background artist / background painter (12 episodes, 2008)
Jonathan Roscetti	....	storyboard artist / background designer (10 episodes, 2004-2008)
Liz Artinian	....	color supervisor / storyboard artist (10 episodes, 2008)
Danny Kimanyen	....	character designer / additional layout artist / ... (9 episodes, 2003-2008)
Christopher Fisher	....	background artist / background painter (9 episodes, 2008)
Douglas Lovelace	....	character designer / storyboard artist / ... (8 episodes, 2003-2008)
Erik Craddock	....	background clean-up artist (8 episodes, 2004)
Lynda Nettleship	....	background designer (8 episodes, 2006)
Lauren Monardo	....	storyboard artist (7 episodes, 2008)
Mike Borkowski	....	storyboard artist (6 episodes, 2008)
Matthew Peters	....	storyboard artist (4 episodes, 2008)
Rafael Rosado	....	storyboard artist (4 episodes, 2008)
Tom Conner	....	storyboard artist (3 episodes, 2008)
Chris Fisher	....	background painter / background artist (3 episodes, 2008)
Matthew Peters	....	storyboard artist (2 episodes, 2008)
Guy Moore	....	animation director (2 episodes, 2011-2012)
Roberto Yun Rodriguez	....	cg animator (2 episodes, 2013)

Series Editorial Department
Doc Hammer	....	film editor (43 episodes, 2004-2010)
Efraim Klein	....	assistant editor / post-production assistant (14 episodes, 2010-2013)

Series Music Department
J.G. Thirlwell	....	composer: theme music (59 episodes, 2003-2012)

Series Other crew
Alexandra Andrew	....	production coordinator (29 episodes, 2007-2010)
Sal Malimo	....	track reader (27 episodes, 2004-2006)
Luciano DiGeronimo	....	animo editor / animo re-compositor / ... (21 episodes, 2004-2006)
Rebekah Browning	....	production assistant (15 episodes, 2003-2004)
Patrick Costa	....	production assistant (15 episodes, 2003-2004)
Sandra Gaddis	....	production assistant (15 episodes, 2003-2004)
Janet Green	....	production assistant (15 episodes, 2003-2004)
Alyssa Heller	....	production assistant (15 episodes, 2003-2004)
Andres Kwon	....	production assistant (15 episodes, 2003-2004)
Aaron Leopold	....	production assistant (15 episodes, 2003-2004)
Aura Moser	....	production assistant (15 episodes, 2003-2004)
Kimberly Solano	....	production assistant (15 episodes, 2003-2004)
Chris Stearns	....	production assistant (15 episodes, 2003-2004)
Ki-Yong Bai	....	supervising director: Digital eMation (14 episodes, 2004)
Brad Nord	....	production coordinator (13 episodes, 2004)
Zoya Baker	....	production assistant (2 episodes, 2004)
Gary Gretsky	....	production assistant (2 episodes, 2004)
Jim Mortensen	....	production assistant (2 episodes, 2004)
Yevgenia Nechayevsky	....	production assistant (2 episodes, 2004)
Vanessa Wood	....	production assistant (2 episodes, 2004)
PeeDee Shindell	....	production coordinator (2 episodes, 2008)

Series Thanks
Jennifer Stephens	....	special thanks (44 episodes, 2006-2012)
Vishal Roney	....	special thanks (42 episodes, 2006-2010)
Kim Manning	....	special thanks (14 episodes, 2004)
Hajime Sorayama	....	thanks / additional thanks (3 episodes, 2004)

Production Companies

• Noodlesoup Productions (2003-2004)
• World Leaders Entertainment (2006-)
• Astro Base Go!
• Cartoon Network
• Williams Street

Distributors

• Adult Swim (2003) (USA) (TV)
• Cartoon Network (2003) (USA) (TV)
• Teletoon (2005) (Canada) (TV)
• Warner Home Video (2006) (USA) (DVD)
• Bravo (2006) (UK) (TV)
• Alive Vertrieb und Marketing (2012-) (Germany) (DVD)

Other Companies

• Goldcrest Post Production London  post-production audio services (2004)
• NYAV Post  recorded at (2006-)
• Digital eMation  production services (2004-)

Also Known As:

Runtime:

22 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Color

Certification:

USA:TV-MA | Australia:MA | New Zealand:M | USA:TV-14 | UK:15 | New Zealand:R13 (Season 3) | Australia:R (DVD rating)

Company:

Noodlesoup Productions

Trivia:

H.E.L.P.eR. stands for "Humanoid Electric Lab Partner Robot." It's discussed during the audio commentary on the episode "Tag Sale, You're It" that Jackson Publick originally voiced the sounds for H.E.L.P.eR. Then Doc Hammer ran this through Soul-bot, a robot that they have at Astrobase Go! to give us H.E.L.P.eR. sounds. You can see Soul-bot at the end of every episode in the Astrobase Go! i.d. It was also discussed that they gave up making new sounds after a while and just use the same ones over and over.

Quotes:

Dr. Venture:Oh, you don't know when to stop with all this, do you? You just keep pushing my buttons!
The Monarch:You're my arch-enemy! That's what I do! That's my thing!

Movie Connections:

Referenced in CHIKARA King of Trios 2009 Night III (2009) (V)

Soundtrack:

No Vacancy

Pseudo-Retro High Adventure Parody

In the 1950s and '60s, the heady space age was fully upon us. Sweeping, magnificent Art Deco buildings and designs were all the rage. New manufacturing techniques meant that the rectangle was out; circles and curves were in. We looked forward to flying cars, commercial passenger flights to the moon, moving sidewalks, and push-button automation everywhere. The future never looked brighter (not to mention cleaner) and much of the media of the time wasted no opportunity to remind us of this. Common examples of the period include just about any James Bond film, the Flint movies, and animated series such as The Jetsons and Jonny Quest.

Forty years and two very cynical, jaundiced eyes later, we now have The Venture Bros., which liberally and hilariously skewers the, shall we say, irrational exuberance of the times. The most obvious target is Jonny Quest, but little from the period escapes the series writers' acerbic wit.

Son of Jonas Venture, Dr. Venture is sort of how you might expect Jonny Quest to have grown up -- forever living in the shadow of his father's greatness, leaving him insecure, sarcastic, and in a semi-permanent state of midlife crisis. Alas, Dr. Venture's own brilliance was not passed on to his boys, Hank and Dean Venture, who are in all major respects self-absorbed, easily distracted, and not too swift. In other words, normal adolescent boys. They are watched over by their hired bodyguard, Brock Samson, a chain-smoking seen-it-all paramilitary type from the Office of Secret Intelligence, whose extraordinary competence and calm under pressure is exceeded only by his -- as another poster put it -- relentless brutality.

The Venture Bros. is full of the obvious jokes (dim-witted villains surrounded by even dimmer-witted henchmen), but it also makes funny observations about the incongruity of its inspirational sources.

Example: Like Dr. Benton Quest, Dr. Venture is a super-scientist, making advanced gadgetry as easily as we might make a TV dinner. But what do you do when your lab becomes crammed with unwanted or no-longer-interesting inventions? Yup. Hold a yard sale. Try not to be surprised when all your arch-nemeses show up.

Another example: In episode three, we are asked to cast our minds back to the 1970's series The Six Million Dollar Man and wonder: What were Steve Austin and Sasquatch *really* doing chasing each other through the woods?

The music in Venture Bros. is also magnificent -- not just the signature tune, which takes its roots from the brassy modern jazz of the period, but also the background music throughout the episode. The music's sheer bombast is a perfect complement for the overblown, exaggerated characters, especially the villains.

Though a bit uneven in its execution -- it might actually benefit from being shorter -- there's plenty of funny stuff here to keep modern cynics laughing out loud.