Venture Bros: Season 7 [Blu-ray]
Let’s back up a second and talk about why the Venture Brothers is arguably the best show on TV right now. First of all, because The Sopranos is over, obviously. Second, because the proof is in the pudding and the Venture Brothers is mighty tasty pudding.
Watching the Venture Brothers is a delight for many reasons. Not just that Doc Hammer and Jackson Public have created a show so perfectly immersed in its world that it’s a thing of beauty to watch it evolve, or that they are such a large part of the creative process of this show (they are (writers/creators/voice actors/producers), or that they’ve managed to make the series better with each season, or that the attention to detail is so minute sometimes that it requires repeated watching to decipher, or that they know how to please their audience and provide fan service, or that they understand the importance of progression (each season reaps what it has sown the previous seasons), or that the show becomes more and more complex with each episode. It’s that it feels like you’re getting all of these things at one time.
As I’ve said, Doc Hammer and Jackson Public have created a vast world for the Venture Brothers to live in, but it’s a world that lives within the constraints of a superhero/action cartoon from the 60s (mostly Johnny Quest) and shows us the inner workings of the various characters. In a dark comedy kind of way. This superhero world we’ve grown up watching really is ridiculous and outrageous and Venture Brothers spend a large amount of time making sense of this outrage. As such, it’s carved out a very special niche for itself, and it provides an introspective look at the things we missed as kids. It asks how this world can possibly support itself on earthly resources?
Season 7 does absolutely everything we expect it to. The stories are more convoluted (the Ventures are in NYC now and have boosted their status to A-listers), new variables are introduced (Dr. Mrs. The Monarch now leads the Guild of Calamitous Intent), and some big questions are finally answered. With all this, it’s obvious as the series progresses that it’s not something newcomers can just get into, which is a shame, actually. For fans, however, it’s heaven.
A series like the Venture Brothers deserves the blu-ray treatment since the animation is top notch and with two musicophiles at the help (who have recruited none other than J.G. Thirlwell to do the music), the audio counterpart is just as stellar. The bonus features are just about right with some deleted scenes, audio commentaries and some outtakes for Sirena. It’s worthwhile noting however that Jackson Public and Doc Hammer are fully aware of their underwhelming audio commentary in previous seasons and have stepped up their game this time around and provide much more insight into each episode. That and complaining how bad the animation was on some episodes. Bravo.
So really, the season 7 blu-ray of Venture Brothers is already the “deluxe edition” based on how well it is put together and again and raises the bar of an already phenomenal show. The Venture Bros are at the top of their game, and with this season, easily still the best show on TV.
