Victor. Echo. November.

"Victor. Echo. November."

"Victor. Echo. November." is an episode of the animated television series The Venture Bros., the sixth episode of the second season.

Plot

Template:Spoiler Dr. Venture offers Dr. Orpheus a rent discount if he distracts the boys for the night, mostly so he can watch what he thinks is a porn film (The Best Little Whorehouse in Texas) without interruptions. With grave misgivings, Orpheus agrees to allow Triana and her friend Kim (played by Nina Hellman) to go on a double date with Dean and Hank, respectively. Orpheus painfully attempts to give "the talk" to Triana, who knows full well the Venture boys are harmless. Brock drops the boys off at a restaurant after giving them some much-needed advice on how to deal with women (and forcing Hank to change into his normal outfit from a Batman costume).

Doctor Girlfriend expresses her disgust at Phantom Limb's idea of "supervillainy," which is selling stolen artwork to sleazy collectors. In exasperation, Limb uses his "killer hands" on the current prospective customer and immediately expresses regret, mainly at the subsequent mess. Girlfriend storms off to change from her skimpy Queen Etherea outfit to "normal" clothes for their double date, in which they plan to meet The Monarch and an unknown woman (whose LiveJournal name is JollyRancher82, also played by Nina Hellman).

The Monarch is excitedly preparing for the date, which is to regain Guild membership and also another attempt to reclaim Doctor Girlfriend. The henchmen ditched the Monarch-mobile after the unfortunate "Venture incident", however, and Number 24 has to drive himself, Number 21, and his boss to the date in his Nissan Stanza. They head to the restaurant in relative silence. Coincidentally, they meet at the same restaurant at which Hank and Dean are nervously awaiting their dates.

Triana arrives in a dress, while Kim sports goggles and a shiny, revealing outfit. Hank assumes that she is a supervillain and tries harder than usual to impress her. Unfortunately, his mentioning of Dean's past encounter with testicular torsion and calling himself the 'Hankinator' only serve to embarrass Dean. A few tables away, Limb (whose various recollections of his origin are recounted by Hank, Monarch, and #21) is slowly discussing the paperwork that will allow Monarch to rejoin the Guild of Calamitous Intent and formally destroy Venture (his only real concern, unimpressed with the various plans and deals the Guild offers). As the simmering rivalry over Dr. Girlfriend's hand escalates, Limb boasts that he could destroy the entire Venture family with a phone call. Scoffing, Monarch dares him to follow on his claim. Limb smugly speaks a few terse commands into a headset.

Back at the compound, the steel shutters close on all windows and entrances. Brock bellows for the Doc to get to the panic room, but Venture shrugs him off, as "lockdowns" are a fairly normal occurrence for him. Only when Brock vaults naked into the den covered in blood, gripping a severed head, and proclaiming this to be the Guild's doing does Dr. Venture begin to take him seriously. Moments later, the power shuts off, as do the emergency generators. Brock orders H.E.L.P.eR. (the robot switches into an extremely impressive attack mode) to escort Venture to the panic room as he leaves to secure the area. He subdues another attacker and learns that the Guild is targeting "four and a robot." Aware that the boys are in danger, Brock (still nude and bloody) speeds off in his Charger to ensure their safety.

None of the "dates" are going particularly well. Monarch's companion has fled in tears, Dr. Girlfriend is infuriated by the immature posturing of both villains, and Kim and Triana are understandably puzzled with the boys' behavior, as Dean has dragged Hank into the bathroom to keep him from further embarrassment. Eventually, everyone ends up in the bathrooms: Hank accidentally urinates on his pants and gets the bright idea to use a hand dryer. Limb enters the bathroom unnoticed by the two boys and slips into a stall. Moments later, The Monarch slips into a second stall, and still later the two henchmen occupy a third. In the ladies' room, Dr. Girlfriend also mistakes Kim for a supervillain and hands Kim her business card, saying she "likes her look." Fed up by the men in her life, Girlfriend suggests forming a partnership with Kim, who assumes that the husky-voiced woman is flirting with her. Triana explains Girlfriend's actual intentions, causing Kim to marvel at how cool it would be to become a supervillain.

H.E.L.P.eR. fails to answer Brock's calls because it has been decapitated. Lying near the robotic head is Dr. Venture's severed left arm. Venture has crawled to the panic room (which is now housing their Christmas decorations as a glorified storage space) and attached a Christmas tree stand to his shoulder as a makeshift tourniquet. Over an audio link, he begs Brock to return and save him, but Brock refuses until the boys are safe. Growing faint from blood loss, Dr. Venture weakly tells Brock, "You're fired."

In the restroom, Hank's bright idea with the hand dryer has led to his crotch catching on fire; Dean obligingly attempts to beat out the flames. Still hidden, Limb calls off the strike force and asserts that he will kill the boys personally. Brock crashes his car into the wall and leaps through the window, quietly motioning for the boys to leave. After sneaking up into the stalls and confronting the henchmen and Monarch, each of whom handle the situation with differing levels of calmness, he gets to Phantom Limb and demands he leave the Ventures alone. While claiming to be unimpressed, Limb agrees not to bother "Brock's family" any more. Limb proposes a handshake before leaving the scene as 'enemies'; the two lock eyes for a tense moment before shaking. Brock laughingly admits that for a moment, he thought Limb would do the 'killer-hand thing' to him, and Limb admits that he also thought he might.

Hank and Dean finally return to their "dates." Kim, who is clearly intrigued by the idea of becoming a supervillain, decides that the Ventures should be her first archenemies after being unimpressed by their usual proclamation of "Go Team Venture!"

After the credits, Master Billy Quizboy has reattached Dr. Venture's arm. When Dr. Venture inquires about Billy's mechanical limb, the "boy genius" tersely replies that he has no idea how he got it (contrary to the various scenarios discussed early in the show).

Cultural references

• Hank's apparent enthusiasm for Batman appears once again. He was shown wearing a similar costume leaping to his death in "Powerless in the Face of Death" and later in "Love-Bheits."
• The Rembrandt painting that Phantom Limb was attempting to sell is "Christ in the Storm on the Lake of Galilee;" (in actuality titled The Storm on the Sea of Galilee),this and other paintings in his gallery were based on works that were actually stolen in 1990 from the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum in Boston and are still at large.[1]
• While The Best Little Whorehouse in Texas does indeed star Dolly Parton, it is a musical comedy rather than a "skin flick." Billy Quizboy tells Dr. Venture this at the end of the episode, stating that, 'It's a musical, you never get to see anything.'
• The scene in which Billy Quizboy fiddles with his bionic arm is almost identical to the last scene of The Empire Strikes Back, where Luke Skywalker's new bionic hand is tested.
• #21 mentions that Master Billy Quizboy "won a bunch of money on Card Sharks."
• #21's euphemism for defecation is "taking a Count Dooku".
• Dr. Venture's 'you're fired' repartee with Brock Samson is reminiscent of a similar conversation between Captain Kirk and Scotty in the Star Trek episode "The Apple." (The 'you're fired' conversation is a running gag in Star Trek, but "The Apple" most approximates the conversation in this episode.)
• When the Guild operative is trying to find a song he likes, he mentions how many Yaz albums the other operative has on his iPod. Yaz is a common American abbreviation of the British electropop band, Yazoo.
• The Monarch says that when he first met Dr. Girlfriend, she resembled Saffron from the band Republica.
• Triana notes that Dean dresses like Buddy Holly.
• The Monarch says that his girlfriend said his LiveJournal pictures were "teh sex". This is a reference to internet slang derived partly from typos.

Connections to other episodes

• Triana's friend, Kim, was first mentioned in "Return to Spider-Skull Island" and briefly seen in "Assassinanny 911."
• Brock comments that Dean's wallet has a cartoon bee on it; the wallet itself was seen in "The Incredible Mr. Brisby" and "The Terrible Secret of Turtle Bay".
• This is the third time we see the Venture Compound's panic room. It has become an extra storage room for Dr. Venture's junk.
• A close look at the iPod-like device that the Guild Operatives use reveals that where the circular gray touch pad would be on a normal iPod is replaced with the Venture Industries symbol. This is at least the third appearance of a mass-produced Venture Industries product, including the van from "Viva los Muertos!" and the sedan in "I Know Why the Caged Bird Kills".

Trivia

• In this episode it is revealed that the ‘Go Team Venture!’ gesture the boys often do actually emanates light, as Triana and Kim are bathed in light when Kim is talking about becoming the Venture Brothers' archenemy.
• The Monarch says he has "the LiveJournal;" both show creator (and voice of The Monarch) Jackson Publick and voice actor James Urbaniak each have one themselves.
• Phantom Limb's alleged "origin" stories include the following:
  • As a youth, his 12 year old roommate (Quizboy) used him to test an invention that speeds muscle growth. His limbs vibrated so quickly that they became invisible as well as lethal weapons. (Monarch's version. Note that Limb used the muscle growth invention on Brock in "Hate Floats," and that this version does not explicitly involve Quizboy losing his hand though it's the only one to explain Limb's "killer hand thing".)
  • He was a "good" scientist until he tested a time machine invented by his partner (again, Quizboy). His limbs, along with Quizboy's hand, traveled forty years into the future. (#21's version. Note that if this version were to hold merit, either Billy's hand would be invisible rather than simply missing, or Phantom Limb's limbs would be missing rather than invisible. Also note that Quizboy is shown losing his right arm while his left arm is the bionic one.)
  • He was an accomplished stage magician until, in a performance before the Queen of England, a trick went awry and sent his limbs to the moon, along with several props; he then cut off Billy Quizboy's hand and ate it. (Hank's version, Dean quickly denies it.)
• The Venture's Guild code, from which the episode gets its title, comes from the NATO phonetic alphabet. (V-E-N are the first three letters in "Venture.")
• There is indeed a Jollyrancher82 account at LiveJournal (here) that uses a screenshot of the character from the show, although it appears to have been created by fans rather than by the creators of the show. Not surprisingly, her interests are listed as cosplay, jolly ranchers, and LiveJournal.
• When The Monarch and his henchmen are driving to the double date, #24's tapemix sounds like a remix of the intro score without the brass set.
• One of the animation directors (Kimson Albert) has a "nickname" inserted into his credits. The nickname is an unusual line or word from the preceding episode. For "Victor. Echo. November." the credit reads Kimson "Heat Incarnate" Albert.

Goofs

• Kim first appeared in the earlier episode "Assassinanny 911" and hinted that she had already met Hank and Dean (she referred to Hank as "the Scooby-Doo kid"). In this episode, she acts as if she has not met them yet.
  • Jackson Publick and Doc Hammer have since stated that this issue was accidentally overlooked when they were deciding which order to air the episodes.
• Near the beginning of the episode, Doctor Venture throws his hands in front of his face briefly while sitting at the couch. His eyes show through his hands.
• In the bathroom, Kim's nose disappears for a split second when she says, "that is so cool."