#venture bros commentary

[whats-9plus10]

Venture Bros.: Radiant is the Blood of the Baboon Heart commentary and extras.

This is what I gathered during my first watch. Hopefully, I'll be able to upload the audio bits like I did for seasons 1-7 eventually! I'll catch all the little details then 💛

Let me get this out of the way. They did not answer the most important question of all.

In the past, Doc and Jackson have said that what they say in the commentary isn't necessarily canon. What is canon is what's in the actual show, not what they explore outside of the show because they're always changing their minds. Sometimes they disagreed while answering questions. Take that as you'd like.

Jonas didn’t abandon The Monarch after the plane crash intentionally. He assumed he died or he ran away before he got there. They hinted that Jonas downed the plane himself.

When asked if Jonas loved Rusty they say he’s a bad person, the villain of the show, and a monster. Jackson thinks he might have been a boy adventurer himself. They compare him to baby boomers forcing their children to live the lives they wanted themselves.

Does Rusty have the other twin killed when only one dies? Jackson says only when they witness the death. He referenced Ice Station Impossible. Brock has done it before.

Ritchie Valens refused to join The Guild and Red Mantle and Dragoon’s (Buddy Holly and The Big Bopper) initiation was to kill him so he wouldn’t tattle.

Doc says the second sons are the ones who succeed in The Guild, not the first sons, because they’re most likely to become evil and that’s why Dean was chosen as The Guild’s successor.

Doc described two episodes he would like to do: 1. "Heads in the water." Which is the heads of characters bobbing in the water after a crash for the entire episode. An all dialog bottle episode. 2. An episode that starts off like a regular Venture Bros episode. Then a henchman dies and everything pivots. 21 calls his wife and says “Real sorry but your husband died in service” (Doc put on his 21 voice here). We then see the wife and daughter (from another marriage) and follow them in their lives.

What is The Monarch's favorite ABBA song? Doc thinks Waterloo and Jackson thinks Take a Chance. They riff as Monarch and Dr. Girlfriend for a few seconds.

Gary's a big Sneaker Pimps fan.

Rusty doesn't have a middle name. If you ask Rusty he'll say the S stands for sexy or science or SUPER science. Rusty’s favorite musical is Starlight Express or RENT (Jackson disagreed). He's never actually watched them but he likes the advertisements.

Brock Frog is the guy that "brings in bagels". A 3rd generation Italian American from "bricklayer stock." He fell out with his dad because he wanted to bring bricks into the future. He teamed up with Professor Vigo Dale, who screwed him out of half of the company after Brick Frog gave him all of his brick ideas.

Mantilla has the ability to make things invisible by touching them but claimed it was teleportation. “It’s all bullshit…and she had money from her past”

Mantilla has been "garbage picking" from The Monarch’s trash, such as Dr. Mrs.'s costume ideas in season 3 that she had thrown away and their wedding invitation.

The guys in the warehouse with Jefferson were all roommates in the 90s.

We would have had a full episode of Force Majeure and Jonas Venture's rivalry.

We would have had another episode of Billy and Colonel Gentleman "John Wicking" after Mischa was found dead right before a doggy costume contest.

Matt Berry was supposed to voice Force Majeure.

Why does The Monarch hate Doc so much? Jackson says “Obviously it (the thought that Debra left him for Rusty) bothers him a little more than he said.”

They called Gary's hair “the popular millennial cut” and made him "half Glen Danzig half Wolverine."

Doc has drunk his own urine multiple times because they pee in bottles in the Astrobase. "Recently".

During the last scene in the movie when everyone is talking, Gary and Hatred were talking about a loofah. Hatred asked Gary "Ah...you use a loofah?". Dr. O was talking about intermittent fasting.

24 made a guest appearance in the "Fan Questions" extra for a few seconds.

They refused to answer the questions about Scare Bear and what Rusty and Billy were doing in the time machine in case they're able to continue the story.

They made a joke about telling people just enough in the commentary to get them excited and want more. (A “joke” haha)

During Prom, Pete and Billy would have studied the Push It video extensively. Pete would’ve entered the dance floor and “boxed it out” to make space. Billy would’ve walked in the circle nonchalantly. Then they would have recreated the entire dance.

[flamingolegz]

i couldn’t find the commentary for season 7 of the venture bros online except for these very poorly optimized dvdrips (seriously. 1gb for every episode despite them being only 480p.) so i went ahead and re-encoded them and put them up on gdrive. the video quality is pretty poor and i stripped them of the other audio track but the main focus is the commentary so it doesnt matta. if you can find regularly priced copies you should still buy vb on bluray/dvd (they’re regionlocked for me) especially now that it’s seemingly getting taken off of streaming but for everyone else here’s this

https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/1pQEFZdTFNY7FjoF8Y4KMhMol4DS40BiJ

[irraydiate]

I tried to draw this fully on model and in line with how an actual scene from the show would look, but then I drew the background and I couldn’t help but give it some dumber lighting effects.

[slavhew]

Some doodles i did two hours before the new year

[weirdfrenchbimbo]

The fact that the monarch being a failed artist is canon gets me… like he was a performing arts major at heart aweee (he still gives me art history major/gender studies minor vibes)

I found this out in episode 7 (i think) of the director’s commentary… apparently the writers were planning on having rusty & the monarch be in a play together in college after rusty failed at pursuing science lol

[comments-collection]

[croc-odette]

we gotta get rid of this trend of after-show interviews with the directors/showrunners/writers/actors. i’m sorry they have nothing interesting to say and if they did i don’t want to hear it right after the episode aired. and if you’re not filming on location and you’re not filming with practical effects like what could you possibly say. the green screen was really lovely this time of year? good commentary was like after the shit had been on DVD for awhile and people had been allowed to develop their own memories and opinions of the thing and it was always like someone saying things like 1. this felt really homoerotic 2. viggo mortenson almost died in this scene

[gnome-adjacent-vagabond]

Psst hey *pulls you closer* Canon middle-aged queer relationships and multiple canon queer/queer-coded characters. *lets you go* Go watch Venture Bros.

There are WAY more than these but I can't put em all up here because queer coding is up to interpretation. I say that everyone in Venture Bros is queer until proven straight but that's just me.

I wrote a whole-ass essay and then accidentally deleted it so the wording on this will probably be off, but it feels important so I'm gonna try be succinct.

Minor spoilers ahead! Skip paragraph three if you don't want those, then resume on paragraph four.

Full disclosure, this is a show that started in the early 2000s and has a LOT of issues in the first few seasons as well as a couple in the later seasons. There are transphobic and homophobic jokes, ableism, racism, and sexism. Sergeant Hatred is a walking trigger warning for about three seasons straight. It goes without saying but I'll say it anyway: DON'T watch this show if you have multiple triggers or are easily offended.

Having said that, these writers realized the problems with what they were writing and have worked to remedy those issues through commentary, retconning, and public acknowledgement of the early seasons' failings. Their opinions evolve and so does the show.

Shore Leave is a flamboyantly gay man who was initially intended to be a one-off joke about the G.I. Joe series and the Village People. Instead he has morphed into a three-dimensional character who presents comfortably as both masculine and feminine. He's in a loving relationship with another gay man, Al, who is flamboyant but tends to be a little less flashy. Steve Summers and Sasquatch have been a happy couple for years now--and all because the epitome of toxic masculinity, Brock Samson, helps them find a quiet cabin away from the government hunting them. Brock's mentor, Hunter Gathers, is a canonically detransitioned trans woman who struggles with her identity throughout the show (I'm still waiting for her to retransition despite the show's cancellation). Hank is perfectly at ease in a hyperfeminine strength suit, and Dean also goes through identity struggles that are never played for laughs and are heavily if not explicitly queer-coded. Vendata's queerness is understated and exists simply as a fact rather than being joked about. Sky Pilot is similar, though slightly more in Shore Leave's camp in terms of presentation. Sheila and the Monarch are self-proclaimed swingers and could be read to be in a poly relationship with Gary, their henchman. Debbie St. Simone has a rather homoerotic obsession with Sheila and is almost definitely bisexual.

The Venture Bros universe is full of queer rep, and the creators of the show write it in with intention. Doc Hammer and Jackson Publick talk about wanting it to be treated as fact rather than completely defining each of their characters--they talk about how few women are in the show and why (Johnny Quest and G.I. Joe, the inspirations for Venture Bros, are heavily malecentric and there's constant homoeroticism in them for that reason). They acknowledge the flaws and work to improve themselves and their writing. This has culminated in a surprisingly moving series about love, death, grief, trauma, and change that radiates queer subtext from any angle--especially Dean's journey.

Try the show at least up to season 4. The first three seasons are on Netflix and the rest are on Adult Swim. If you still don't like it, that's fine. Thank you for trying! Just know that it's out there and that it's an example of how human beings can change and become better people. Doc Hammer and Jackson Publick aren't perfect and neither is the Venture Bros, but for what it is it's a damn fun (shockingly so) show.

[dynamoe]

REDRAW Venture Bros S01E10 "Tag Sale— You're It!"

→ → to all Billy Quizboy & Pete White posts

The scene where Mr. White and Master Billy (they didn't have full names yet) try to sell Dr. Girlfriend on becoming their nemesis opens with a tilt (camera moves up-down on X-axis), which I patched together from multiple screenshots.

This episode is officially Conjectural Technologies first appearance post-pilot, but the episode order was scrambled. Even as early as this episode is, when everything looked kinda “off” in general, in this scene in particular the proportions are very odd.

Dr. Girlfriend is enormous. It's not from a forced perspective/"wide lens" effect since even White is looking up at her— she really is like 7 feet tall here. The stretch is somewhat hidden by the tilt. She's supposed to be barely 5' (according to Doc on a commentary track)— a petite lady. Meanwhile, Billy's way too small in the shot. He's usually level with White's top row of buttons.

I rejiggered the proportions while faithfully recreating the poses, which I find both static/boring (the boys) + weird (why are her hands posed like that?) If I recall, I don't think anyone moves in this shot, just the simulated camera angle, so it may have been one drawing so no one could move, explaining the stiff poses.

Looks like I accidentally created a new subtext. White gives Billy judgemental side-eye for looking up with reverential joy at Dr. Girlfriend about to bless him with a laying-on of hands on his big ol' melonhead.

When I've drawn White with his parasol before, I used the typical Japanese design. I considered maybe the canon brolly might have been based on a Thai (or another Southeast Asian culture's) design. When it comes back in a later episode it has more of an inverse curve to it that you see in old temple roofs.

I've searched everywhere for a real life parasol with this design. Nothing. The closest I can find are big beach umbrellas at fancy resorts, but they aren't open at the top with criss-crossing ribs. Venture Bros takes place in a world very much like ours, but with subtle differences. This umbrella is one of those differences.

In my redraw, I added a Santa windsock. If you don't know why, turn in your fan club card, you POSEUR.

I found this abandoned drawing on my backup drive from 2021. Decided to finish it as self-care. (I'm moving in two weeks and very stressed out.)

First time (kinda) drawing Dr. Girlfriend. Only my fourth VB character drawn after, like, four years? Fifth if you count the Rusty Venture action figure.

What did they do with the Santa Windsock? Which one wanted it? Did Venture refuse sell it to them after he threw a snit over the Shrink Ray? He claims he won't sell the Shrink Ray to them in that scene (because they said the logo was stupid), but then they have it (in pieces) in their possession when he comes looking for it in Escape to the House of Mummies (Part II)

→ to Master Billy Quizboy & Pete White index

edited to add a further idea....

If only the show had an unlimited animation budget, it'd be more in character for Billy to be jumping around and gesturing wildly while making his pitch to be her nemesis. Sweaty. Hard sell.

...and smoking. (My version of Billy smokes.)

[theygotlost]

i really am so glad that i bought venture bros on dvd cause the director commentaries are a way to watch episodes ive already seen but still get something new out of it that i havent experienced before

[whats-9plus10]

venture bros core

radiant is the blood of the baboon heart midnight tonight on adult swim and streaming on max tomorrow

[eyepatchdate]

and they love US too!!!!

vbros really is just a love story between two guys

[garyfischy]

I wish I could have an open discussion of racism in vbros like that homestuck panel. But i dont think theres enough nonwhite venture bros fans for that LOL

also no offense but white people are convinced liking something means liking EVERYTHING about it. I love venture bros but the "satirical" racism is not my jam ok.

i could write a blog post about it and get more hate anons about how im a fake fan....

like some of the racism is supposed to parody jonny quest era shit but just ends up rehashing it, i shouldnt have to explain why a girl in stereotypical "indian" clothing being played straight is a bad choice. Or like. Just random bits like pete white making asian jokes or henchman 21 making asian jokes or the entirety of the pilot

its bad for nonwhite fans trying to actually criticize media they like already, but with something like vbros, its already regarded as super progressive for its time or whatever when it rlly isnt. Its attitudes around race are regressive and very White Liberal- insensitive commentary that really shouldnt have been written by 2 white dudes. Or offputting "jokes" that serve no other purpose than just rehashing racism. The parody angle only goes so far before it becomes Actual Racism (the kano can't drive because he's ASIAN jokes werent funny the first 2 times). The parody angle doesnt provide any interesting commentary on race other than "hey, isnt it so funny how they were racist back then?" .

this is nonsense sorry

[risingshards]

Oh my god Venture Bros movie was perfect. If that's it I'm beyond satisfied, but god I want more of my favorite idiot weirdos. They jumped back in like they never left, and the big movie budget made it feel all the more special. The reveals surprised me completely (my big theories were wrong but one is still in the game), the Jackson Publick action was better than ever, the Doc Hammer sentiment was sweeter than ever, and the duo's bizarre sense of humor was on glorious display. Also every reference made me all warm and fuzzy (even one towards the end that was a reference to commentary/a DVD extra/Jackson and Doc's Astrobase office habit that was somehow heartwarmingly nasty knowing its history), something being a love letter gets thrown around a lot but I dunno what else you'd call Radiant is the Blood of the Baboon Heart (a title that does make sense eventually in true batshit Venture Bros title tradition) than something made with love and joy for these goofuses.

Go Team Venture Forever ❤️

[comments-collection]

vb comments compilation to get it over with

[irraydiate]

Additional requests I got on twitter..

Rustyjaks

I needed to learn how to draw his face, but then I got carried away

If you want to use these you don’t need to give credit, but if someone asks, please link back here.