The Venture Bros.

The Venture Bros.
File:Venture bros logo.jpg Dr. Thaddeus "Rusty" Venture, Brock Samson, Hank and Dean Venture.
Created by	Jackson Publick Doc Hammer
Starring	James Urbaniak Patrick Warburton Michael Sinterniklaas Christopher McCulloch Doc Hammer
Country of origin	United States
No. of seasons	2
No. of episodes	26 (list of episodes)
Production
Running time	0:22 (0:30 with commercials)
Original release
Network	Cartoon Network (Adult Swim) Teletoon Bravo
Release	February 16, 2003 – present

The Venture Bros. is an American animated television series airing as part of Adult Swim on Cartoon Network. It chronicles the adventures of two dopey teenage boys, Hank and Dean Venture; their super-scientist father, Dr. Thaddeus "Rusty" Venture; and the family bodyguard, secret agent Brock Samson.

Season three is set to begin on June 1, 2008. In May 2007, James Urbaniak, who provides the voice for Dr. Thaddeus Venture (and other characters), denied rumors that he was leaving the show due to moving to Los Angeles. At March's Toronto Anime Con, Mike Sinterniklaas, the voice of Dean Venture, stated that he had finished recording on Season Three. Jackson Publick and Doc Hammer will soon commence working on Season Four.

Origins

Show creator Jackson Publick (a pseudonym for Christopher McCulloch) was one of the main writers for the Saturday morning animated series, The Tick. Ben Edlund, creator of The Tick, has co-written two episodes and written one full Venture Bros. episode, "¡Viva los Muertos!." Patrick Warburton, who played The Tick in the short-lived FOX live-action TV series, provides the voice of Brock Samson.

McCulloch created The Venture Bros.' storyline sometime prior to 2000. After working for the television program Sheep in the Big City and the live-action version of The Tick, McCulloch set to turning The Venture Bros. into an animated series. The Venture Bros. was originally conceived as a comic-book story for an issue of Monkeysuit. McCulloch realized that his notes were too extensive for a short comics story, and decided to pitch it as an animated series to Comedy Central, but it was rejected. Although the first draft of the pilot script was written in the spring of 2000, the premise was not greenlit until around the summer of 2002 by Adult Swim. McCulloch had not previously considered Cartoon Network because he "didn't want to tone The Venture Bros. down" and was unaware of the existence of the network's Adult Swim sub-unit. With the revised pilot, production began in autumn of that year and the pilot was first run on February 16, 2003. The first season of the series was completed in 2004 and it was added to the summer schedule in August.

Characters

File:VentureBrosCharsSeason2.jpeg

New and recurring characters from the show's second season.

Main articles: List of characters from The Venture Bros. and List of secondary characters from The Venture Bros.

The characters of The Venture Bros. are largely either re-imaginings of the characters from Jonny Quest, comic book superheroes and supervillains; or of other famous figures from popular culture. Hank (voiced by Christopher McCulloch) and Dean Venture (voiced by Michael Sinterniklaas) are the titular twin brothers of the show; both boys have identifiable characteristics, with Hank being the more adventurous and Dean being the more "effeminate" and bookish of the two. On the commentary track for the episode Hate Floats, Jackson and Doc joke that Dean and Hank may be clones of Dr. Venture and Brock:

Jackson: "Well this is one of the first times we really copped to Dean being Doc's protégé."
Doc: "No, it's because he is a clone of Dr. Venture and Hank is a clone of Brock."
Jackson: "Yes."
Doc: "And I just said that in the commentary so now you can believe it."
Jackson: "Now it's the law."

Dr. Thaddeus "Rusty" Venture (voiced by James Urbaniak) currently runs Venture Industries. Dr. Venture assumes the occupation of a "super-scientist", although his knowledge and credentials in the field are questionable. Brock Samson (voiced by Patrick Warburton) is the massively-muscled and hyper-masculine bodyguard to the Venture family. He is an Office of Secret Intelligence agent with a license to kill. Dr. Venture's deceased father, Dr. Jonas Venture (voiced by Paul Boocock), developed a loyal and rather emotional robot named H.E.L.P.eR. (voiced by Soul-Bot) that accompanies and assists the Ventures.

Throughout the series, the Venture family has had various recurring antagonists. Many of them are current or former members of The Guild of Calamitous Intent, a group that bears resemblance to the Legion of Doom. The organization is run by the mysterious leader known as the “Sovereign”, who is revealed to be none other than David Bowie in episode 26. The pernicious but ineffective Monarch (voiced by Christopher McCulloch), the masculine-voiced Doctor Girlfriend (voiced by Doc Hammer), and their numerous henchmen are some of the Venture family's main villains. Baron Werner Ünderbheit (voiced by T. Ryder Smith) is a former dictator of the duchy of Ünderland and bears a grudge against Venture for the loss of his jaw in college, citing "One is always supposed to look out for one's lab partner!". Phantom Limb (voiced by James Urbaniak) is a ruthless killer, villain insurance agent, and high-ranking Guild member; also, he is a former lover of Dr. Girlfriend (before she left him to become The Monarch's companion). He seems at least as intent upon persecuting The Monarch, as he is in pursuing the Guild's villainous agenda. Phantom Limb and Brock Samson have a strong respect for one another, and have teamed up in at least one episode of the show.

The Ventures also have acquaintances that are used to help progress stories and add to the atmosphere of the show. The expert necromancer Doctor Byron Orpheus (voiced by Steven Rattazzi) and his apathetic, teenage goth daughter Triana (voiced by Lisa Hammer) rent out a portion of the Venture Compound. The albino computer scientist Pete White (voiced by Christopher McCulloch) is a former college friend of Dr. Venture's, and usually appears in the company of hydrocephalic "boy genius" Master Billy Quizboy (voiced by Doc Hammer). Surviving members of the original Team Venture, a group of extraordinary people assembled by Dr. Jonas Venture, have also appeared occasionally.

Episodes

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The season one episode title card with "Presented in glorious extra COLOR" at the bottom.

Main article: List of The Venture Bros. episodes

The second season of the series premiered on the internet via Adult Swim Fix on June 23 2006 and on television on June 25 2006; the season finished on October 15, 2006. The considerable delay between the end of the first season and the start of the second was partially caused by Adult Swim's delay in deciding whether to renew the show; but, primarily because the show is drawn and inked in the traditional animation style (albeit digitally), causing each episode to take considerable time to move through production. (Many Adult Swim cartoons are produced using various kinds of all-digital processes, which is cost- and time-effective yet often lower quality.) Additionally, the producers were dealing with the time constraints of producing a first-season DVD that contained live action interviews and commentary for several episodes.

According to a recent interview with the creators, the show has been officially renewed for both a third and fourth season. As Adult Swim's website earlier stated that 26 new episodes were on the way, this breaks down into two seasons with 13 episodes each (which conforms to the runs of the first two seasons). Currently the third season is slated to begin in June of 2008. The Third and Fourth season will be in high-definition.

A 15 minute rough cut of "The Doctor is Sin" aired on April 1, 2008 as part as adult swim's april fools theme of airing sneak peeks of new seasons of current shows and pilots of new shows.

Running gags

Most episodes open with a letterboxed scene prior to the opening title sequence. Additionally, almost every episode features both a smash cut into the end credits, and a short scene following the credits that itself often smash cuts into the final production logo, and usually wraps up the episode humorously or reveals something significant about the characters (usually both). This gives each episode a cold open, and two "cold closes."

Each episode is "PRESENTED IN GLORIOUS EXTRA COLOR", as jokingly stated during the episode's end credits - a reference to Hanna-Barbera programs in their golden age being presented in Technicolor. The only normal-run episode that this is missing from is episode 2, "Careers in Science".

Since the first season, two credits change every episode. One for Soul-bot's "voicing" the character H.E.L.P.eR., and another for animation director Kimson Albert. Starting with season 2, each end credit sequence holds a different additional, fake duty for AstroBase Go!.

Another running gag in the Venture Bros begins with the last episode of Season 1 with the death of Hank and Dean. In episode 1 of Season 2 it is revealed that both Venture Bros are clones. This is revealed by a montage of Hank and Dean being killed in various ways, either by super villains, lab accidents, or through Hank and Dean's own stupidity. Beginning in Season 2, hiding this fact from Hank and Dean becomes a running gag between Dr. Venture and Brock.

Themes, homages, and references

One of the themes of The Venture Bros. is its multifarious use of allusion in its dialogue, character design and other facets. The series openly pays homage to a variety of sources, including adventure serials, pulp magazines, and many other elements of pop culture; musical references, television shows, movies, toys, fads, and comic books have all been used for fodder.

Jonny Quest

Comparing the main characters of The Venture Bros. and Jonny Quest

The series's predominant homage is to Jonny Quest, as it is the basis for many of the main characters. Dr. Venture is loosely modeled on Benton Quest, Brock likewise on Race Bannon, and the Venture boys correspond to Jonny and Hadji. The comparisons, however, are taken to the level of an extreme parody: Dr. Venture is a pill-popping, barely-competent scientist who treats his children and those around him with overt disdain and contempt; Brock is a hyper-macho man with a (frequently used) license to kill; and the boys are nincompoops stuck in an out-of-date mindset. One newspaper critic remarked, "if filmmakers Woody Allen and Sam Peckinpah had collaborated on Jonny Quest, it would have come out a lot like this."

In the latter part of the first season, and more overtly in the second, the writers have retrofitted the notion of Dr. Venture being an adult analogue for Jonny Quest. Flashbacks and references to merchandise show Rusty as a Jonny Quest-like child adventurer. This was expanded upon in season two with brief appearances from Hector, who served as an analogue for Hadji, and former boxing champion Swifty as another analogue for Race Bannon.

Characters and devices from Jonny Quest appear in person in two episodes. "Ice Station – Impossible!" features a cameo appearance from Race Bannon. In "Twenty Years to Midnight", a drug-addicted adult Jonny Quest lives in the same bathysphere that his father, Benton Quest, once used to communicate with sea life. In "Fallen Arches", Dr. Venture has built a "Walking Eye" machine, reminiscent of the spider-like robotic spy built by Dr. Zin from the Jonny Quest episode "The Robot Spy".

Scooby-Doo

Hank may be modeled off of Fred from Scooby-Doo with the signature white ascot and scarf that Freddy wears. The major difference is that Hank wears a short blue scarf around his neck while Fred's scarf is yellow and it drapes down in front of his shirt. In one episode a minor character even asks Triana what Hank looks like only to get the answer "Like Fred from Scooby-Doo."

Comic books and other literature

The boys' ages and desire to solve mysteries is reminiscent of The Hardy Boys; Jackson Publick's original sketches of the boys depicted what he called "dim-witted Hardy Boys". Hank's appearance and clothes also closely resemble that of the character Fred Jones from the Scooby-Doo series, while Dean's resemble Peter Parker circa Amazing Fantasy #15. In several episodes, Dean wears Spider-Man pajamas and Hank wears Aquaman pajamas similar to Underoos. Hank has been frequently shown wearing a Batman costume. Brock Samson is a mix of Doc Savage, James Bond, and of course Race Bannon among others.

The family of four that possess Impossible Industries have received horrific, inferior versions of the Fantastic Four's powers. The Office of Secret Intelligence (OSI) is a direct parody of S.H.I.E.L.D., featuring similar uniforms, the jet-pack seen in older Nick Fury tales, and a flying headquarters along the lines of the S.H.I.E.L.D. Helicarrier. Dr. Jonas Venture and the original Team Venture are strongly reminiscent of pulp novel hero Doc Savage and his entourage. The characters Doctor Byron Orpheus and Baron Werner Ünderbheit are influenced by Doctor Strange and Doctor Doom, respectively. The Monarch even refers to Ünderbheit as a "dime store Doctor Doom" in the episode "Dia de Los Dangerous!" Elements of Molotov Cocktease's background and appearance can be seen as references to the first Black Widow as well as to Aeon Flux, while her turbulant relationship with Brock mirror's that of Race Bannon with his old flame Jazabell Jade. Torrid, the villain that Doctor Orpheus fights against alongside The Order of the Triad, is a version of Marvel's Dormammu, but also resembles Marvel's Pyro and DC's Deadman to some degree. The Monarch may be a parody of DC's Killer Moth as seen by the butterfly themed motif and weapons compared to Killer Moth's moth based theme. In commentary of the first season DVD, it was revealed that the Monarch was originally "the Black Mantis," a parody of Aquaman's nemesis, the Black Manta.

Music

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A fictitious version of David Bowie in the season two finale, "Showdown at Cremation Creek (Part II)"

Musicians and songs are commonly referenced and quoted in The Venture Bros. Many characters often quote songs, sometimes to a great length. Monarch henchmen numbers 21 and 24 are usually discussing music related topics. For example, after the Monarch calls at the beginning of the episode "Hate Floats", they begin to sing the movement "Mars" from Gustav Holst's "The Planets" orchestral suite. Some musicians have even appeared as characters in the show. David Bowie is the most referenced musician in the series as of 2006, to the point of appearing as a major character (voice impersonated by James Urbaniak), with Iggy Pop and Klaus Nomi in "Showdown at Cremation Creek (Part I and Part II). Also in Showdown at Cremation Creek Part II, when worried that Phantom Limb may come back to fight the Monarch, Bowie assures him that he'll sick the Diamond Dogs on Phantom Limb, this is in reference to the song Diamond Dogs, a song by Bowie himself. Dr. Venture, as the Monarch's best man, quotes Rick Springfield's "Jessie's Girl" as Dr. Girlfriend walks down the aisle.

The dialogue between Major Tom and Jonas Venture at the beginning of "Ghosts of the Sargasso" refers to the David Bowie songs "Space Oddity" and "Ashes to Ashes." Major Tom's spacecraft is named "TVC 15", the title of another Bowie song. It is said that Mr. Brisby won his "long-time companda" from Bowie in a trivia contest. Bowie later sends the mercenary Molotov Cocktease to retrieve the animal (Brisby notes that Bowie has always been a trend-setter).

In the episode "The Trial of the Monarch", the Monarch discovers that one of his henchmen has written a tell-all biography to capitalize on the publicity surrounding his boss's legal woes. The book includes a picture of the Monarch at Danceteria making out with Stiv Bators and Lydia Lunch. Lydia Lunch has collaborated on a number of musical releases with Jim Thirlwell who composes the music and soundtrack for the cartoon.

There have been numerous references to the band Led Zeppelin, primarily in relation to Brock. Brock mentions that "Zep sold out" on In Through the Out Door. He later implies that he hates the album due to its connection to his memories of a former lover (Molotov Cocktease). When Brock must take an exam to renew his license to kill, instead of answering the questions on its written portion, he draws Icarus from the Swan Song Records logo, this is a misconception as the logo is of Apollyon the fallen angel of the apocalypse, which is often mistranslated as the Greek god Apollo; Brock eventually gets a tattoo of this logo. While listening to "The Battle of Evermore", H.E.L.P.e. R. proceeds to call Zeppelin "jock rock" and an argument ensues between it and Brock. In the episode ¡Viva los Muertos!, Led Zeppelin's song Black Dog can be heard while Brock attempts to throw knives into a target.

In the episode "Assassinanny 911", after Hank accidentally stabs himself in the neck with Molotov Cocktease's poisoned boot and dreams that he must kill his father, he walks into his father's lab and begins to blurt out lyrics from "The End" by The Doors in a sequence drawing heavily upon Francis Ford Coppola's use of the song in Apocalypse Now.

In the episode "Fallen Arches" Number 21 and Number 24 attempt to become supervillains in their own right under the monikers of Jet Boy and Jet Girl. When 24 remarks that the "Those names suck," 21 replies "But it's a French song. Street cred with the indie crowd. The Damned do a cover of it." 24 is referring to the song "Jet Boy, Jet Girl" which he incorrectly believes to be a cover of "Ca Plane Pour Moi" by the Belgiun punk singer Plastic Bertrand. "Jet Boy, Jet Girl" is actually the original version, first recorded by the English group Elton Motello.

In the episode "I Know Why the Caged Bird Kills" Myra quotes from the song "True" by Spandau Ballet. In related scenes a faux New Romantic tune can be heard playing in the background.

The soundtrack music is credited to J.G. Thirlwell, AKA Foetus, a prominent composer whose own music blended industrial and metal aesthetics with brassy, melodramatic symphonic strings, similar to the music of Jonny Quest which is heavily satirized in The Venture Bros.. The show's opening theme is a reworking of the Steroid Maximus song "Fighteous" from the album Quilombo.

The closing credits from the first season finale episode "Return To Spider-Skull Island" featured "Look Away", written and performed by Nick Demayo, and recorded by John Holzinger at Clay Castle Sound & Recording.

Episode 1 of Season 2 Powerless in the Face of Death, featured a lead into the series with the 1991 song "Everybody's Free (To Feel Good)" performed by Rozalla. The remix used was released in 2002 by Aquagen.

General pop culture

The Guild Of Calamitous Intent's agents, called "Strangers", seem inspired by the antagonists of the 1998 science fiction thriller Dark City. (See "The Trial of the Monarch" for additional notes.) The Strangers wear headpieces similar to those of the Cyclops from the French movie The City of Lost Children.

Brock works for the "Office of Secret Intelligence", a subtle play on the Office of Scientific Intelligence that employed agent Steve Austin in The Six Million Dollar Man. The homage extends further when Brock meets Steve Summers (a play on both Steve Austin and Jamie Sommers, the Bionic Woman), a former government agent who has been bionically rebuilt. Brock's mentor from the OSI, "Colonel Hunter Gathers", takes his appearance and first name from the late gonzo journalist Hunter S. Thompson, combined with the uniform and technology of Nick Fury. The character's mirrored aviator glasses, distinctive speech cadence, and use of a long cigarette holder all echo Thompson's public persona. (The full name is a nod to the hunter-gatherer mode of society, which some idealize as a simpler, better, time.)

In an ostensible reference to William S. Burroughs, Colonel Horace Gentleman speaks to a scantily clad boy named Kiki, with whom it is implied he has had sexual relations. (Burroughs had an affair with a boy named Kiki, which was depicted in the film Naked Lunch.) In a later episode, Horace Gentleman's diary reveals that he attended a party with "the Frosts". The Frost couple, and the party they hosted, were also a major part of the film Naked Lunch. When Pete White accidentally shoots Billy Quizboy with a shrink ray, Quizboy sarcastically comments "Nice shot, William Burroughs." (Burroughs killed his common-law wife Joan Vollmer while drunkenly attempting to shoot a glass perched on her head.)

The episode "The Incredible Mr. Brisby" heavily references Disneyland, Walt Disney, and Mason Verger of the movie "Hannibal."

James Bond is heavily referenced in the series as well, as Brock is essentially a pumped up Bond and actually carries a license to kill. Brock remarked in an episode that killing guys in a tux makes him "feel like James Bond." Colonel Horace Gentleman, one of the members of Dr. Jonas Venture's original Team Venture, speaks with a Scottish accent that sounds just like Sean Connery, one of the many James Bonds in cinema, but actually a knowing jab at Connery's character in The League Of Extraordinary Gentlemen. Additionally, in the episode "The Incredible Mr. Brisby", when Brock is rendered unconscious by a cigarette, he mutters "chloral hydrate..." just as Timothy Dalton did in The Living Daylights.

Other pop-culture references are abundant. Other references, most of which are used as "one-shot" jokes, include Superman, Total Recall, Easy Rider, Mad Max Beyond Thunderdome, The Rocky Horror Picture Show, Apocalypse Now, Clarissa Explains It All, Jim Foetus aka J.G. Thirlwell, Lydia Lunch, Stiv Bators, Henry Kissinger, John Woo films, film director Kevin Smith, the questionable sexuality of members of Depeche Mode, a polar bear from Lost, Voltron, INXS, the Illustrated Wildlife Treasury, Magic: The Gathering, Dungeons and Dragons, Incredible Hulk foam fist merchandise, Lord of the Rings replica sword; representations of characters from Indiana Jones, Magnum P.I., and Knight Rider; the music video for Duran Duran's "Hungry Like the Wolf", and prominently, the late German New Wave performer Klaus Nomi, and punk rock singer Iggy Pop (resulting in a sly joke about "stooges"). In the first episode of the first season, the doctor in Tijuana who steals Dr. Venture's kidneys is named Ernesto Guevara, the real name of Che Guevara, who obtained his medical degree in his native Argentina before meeting Fidel Castro in Mexico City in the 1950s.

Star Wars is often referenced in the show. Many episodes either directly or indirectly refer to the series, and a number of memorable lines have been quoted. In one episode, the Monarch jokingly says "Hank, I'm your father!" The writers have made references to common Star Wars pop culture icons (from the Star Wars Kid to the The Star Wars Holiday Special), and several episodes parody the film series.

Technology

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The space station Gargantua-1, built by Jonas Venture, Sr. over 30 years ago.

The "advanced technology" in the Venture Compound is a hodgepodge of unrealistic jet age retro-future technology and current technology. For example, Hank and Dean own hoverbikes, and the learning aids built into their beds still run on punch cards (However, as the "learning bed" was invented by Jonas Venture, it was probably advanced for its time.)

Dr. Venture's airplane, the X-1, is named after the Bell X-1, which was the first aircraft to exceed the speed of sound, and is illustrated to look like an XB-70 Valkyrie supersonic high-altitude bomber. In the original pilot episode it is alluded to be nuclear powered. At the end of the Christmas special Dr. Venture says that the X-1 runs on plutonium. The same X-n naming convention extends to the Ventures' hydrofoil research ship, the X-2. The X-X-1, invented by Jonas Venture, Jr. is a jet as absurdly advanced by modern standards as the X-1 was by jet age standards.

Fictional technology is commonplace in the show. The characters have used or mentioned functioning teleporters, robots, shrink rays, time machines, and other similar machines that are science fiction clichés. Various vehicles, especially those of minor villains, tend to resemble airplanes, rocketships, cars, and other conveyances from other popular science fiction and children's TV shows and films.

Failure

Publick and Hammer have stated that one of the primary themes of The Venture Bros. is failure.

"Yeah failure, that's what Venture Bros. is all about. Beautiful sublime failure." —Doc Hammer

In the commentary for the episode "Home Insecurity" Hammer and Publick elaborated on the theme.

Publick: "This show... If you'll permit me to get 'big picture,' This show is actually all about failure. Even in the design, everything is supposed to be kinda the death of the space-age dream world. The death of the jet-age promises."

Hammer: "It's about the beauty of failure. It's about that failure happens to all of us..."

"Every character is not only flawed, but sucks at what they do, and is beautiful at it and Jackson and I suck at what we do, and we try to be beautiful at it, and failure is how you get by."

"It shows that failure's funny, and it's beautiful and it's life, and it's okay, and it's all we can write because we are big fucking failures. (laughter)"

Additionally, in a conversation between Dr. Impossible and Dr. Venture, Impossible—after telling Venture how little he thought of his super-scientist abilities when they were professor and student—goes on to say "I somehow doubt that 20 years of amphetamines and failure have changed you."

DVD releases

DVD Name	Release Date	Ep #	Additional Information
Season One	May 30, 2006	13	This two disc set includes all 13 episodes of Season 1. Bonus features include "The Terrible Secret of Turtle Bay" (the pilot) and "A Very Venture Christmas", deleted scenes, behind the scenes mockumentary with the Venture Bros. Cast and creators commentaries on "Mid-Life Chrysalis", "Eeney, Meeney, Miney... Magic!", "Tag Sale – You're It!", "Ghosts of the Sargasso", "Return to Spider-Skull Island", and "The Terrible Secret of Turtle Bay".
Season Two	April 17, 2007	13	This two disc set includes all 13 episodes of Season 2. Bonus features include commentary on every episode by Jackson Publick and Doc Hammer and, for some episodes, "special guests" such as voice actors James Urbaniak and Michael Sinterniklaas. Features also include deleted scenes and a tour of Astro-base Go!.

File:VentureBros S1 final.jpg

Season One DVD cover.

The first season of The Venture Bros. on DVD was released on May 30, 2006, as officially announced by Warner Home Video. It coincided with the June 25 premiere of the second season. Originally, it was scheduled for March 14, 2006, but was delayed until May 30, 2006. The DVD packaging and interior art was created by comic artist Bill Sienkiewicz. On May 31, 2006, the season one DVD reached #1 on Amazon's top selling DVDs list.

The "Lost DVD Commentary"

On a June 30, 2006, LiveJournal post, Jackson Publick revealed that he and Doc Hammer had recorded a commentary track for the season one episode "Home Insecurity." Warner Bros. chose to omit this track from the Season One DVD due to space limitations and some minor sound quality issues. Publick also stated that the commentary can be found and downloaded from Quickstop Entertainment.

External links

• Adult Swim - Venture Bros. Website
• The Venture Bros. on TV Squad
• Template:Tviv
• Series Creator Jackson Publick's blog at LiveJournal