#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.

[belladonnaboudreaux]

The idea that if one twin died but not the other they only killed the surviving twin if he saw the death is really funny to me. Conjures the image of them telling Dean that Hank went to a farm upstate for a few weeks

[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]

[dynamoe]

My friend gave me this two months ago so I could hear the commentaries but I only just am listening to them now

The Rosey Grier Needlepoint for Men insert is the best visual reference in the season and why I finally busted out this DVD (to take a screencap for a friend who brought it up in conversation)

even the interior pages in the reverse angle? too much!

What can I learn from these commentaries and how can I use this canonical information? Let's semi-live blog...

Season 7 redesigned Billy is so ugly. I hate it... but he looks OK in some shots because the animators can't keep him consistent looking.

I'm glad the commentary calls out the very Robert Ludlum-y title construction theme they had most of the season.

--

Billy calls himself a neurogeneticist in Curse of the Haunted Problem (S07E01) which he hasn't since Are You There God? (S01E09). Where's this neurogeneticisizing happening, huh? Off camera? When do you have the time? Billy, admit you're a part-time surgeon AT BEST.

In (S07E03) Arrears in Science, Jonashead also calls Billy a neurogeneticist while requesting Billy perform surgery. Which a surgeon does, not a geneticist.

Commentary: "White, perpetual victim" "He hides during violent scenes. He's always hiding behind things." There was a scene cut that would have explained his decline into a sweaty wifebeater axe-wielding state. Jackson calls Pete's outfit a "Milli Vanilli jacket." Pete doesn't do much of anything else for the rest of the season.

Despite being the focus of The Bellicose Proxy (S07E06), neither Billy nor White have very many lines in it.

The rooftop tennis court where St. Cloud rehearses with Monarch/21— I remember seeing it from NY classroom windows but according to Doc H's commentary, it's been demolished since the episode came out

That red paintball paint would permanently stain White's jacket. Missed opportunity that it wasn't stained through the rest of the episode but it sounds this episode was a nightmare to animate as is.

Billy is way too small inside the Delta Boy/Diet Pepsi space suit. He loses like a foot of height. Was it intentional? (His height & head size is all over the place in these episodes.)

Commentary: Somewhere, there's audio a very long riff of the two ad-libbing as White/Billy describing their imagined beat down of St. Cloud. And 30 minutes of Billy riffing inside the cloud of laughing gas which Doc argued would be a great episode, even with no animation on screen. (I agree, but I'm an outlier.)

Commentary: I hadn't picked up that Killer Drone was supposed to look like a '60s Japanese sentai hero/villain, according to Doc H. (Like that would fight Ultraman or Kamen Rider, I guess.) but I see it.

Commentary: Neither of them knew the name of the Grumman Moon Suit but "The one from Life Magazine," is a pretty accurate epithet.

They didn't know the name of the Avrocar either. (The real Moon Suit prototype was 8 feet tall! A big-ass Diet Pepsi!)

---

The Forecast Manufacturer (S07E09) has too much shitting information in it. (I don't need this kind of canon, guys.)

Coffee gives Billy diarrhea. Already used that "fun fact" in this chapter.

Billy went to summer camp (where he couldn't shit) at some point.

Billy needs to read to have a shit (don't want to know this.)

What does he have to do? Bleed for you? His rectum is probably bleeding right now. (ugh)

Rusty: "Do you shave your chest?" line strikes me as coming out of nowhere. Even though Billy has stripped off in loads of episodes, this is the first time he's kickin' it underpants-only-style in front of Rusty. (Nice soft-edged blush on Billy's face here. He's less ugly in-episode than on his model sheet for this episode.)

Commentary: Jackson mentions Billy painting the rest of his arm to look like a full robot. Doc describes Billy having a latex hand cover he doesn't wear because it makes his hand look too big and bloated (I wrote Billy testing a synthetic hand cover in future chapter, now have to rewrite it so it doesn't seem like a ripoff)

The Inamorata Consequence (S07E05)

"White, perpetual victim" "He hides during violent scenes. He's always hiding behind things."

Helper kicked Billy into the pool and Hank filmed it with his watch.

None of these other episodes have Billy or White so I've lost interest.

[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.

[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

[gothamcityneedsme]

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.