Showdown at Cremation Creek (Part I)

"Showdown at Cremation Creek" redirects here. For part two of the episode, see Showdown at Cremation Creek (Part II).

"Showdown at Cremation Creek (Part I)"

"Showdown at Cremation Creek (Part I)" is the twelfth episode in the second season of The Venture Bros.

Plot

Template:Spoiler After a romantic tryst between Dr. Girlfriend and The Monarch goes sour over the Monarch's jealousy of Phantom Limb, Dr. Girlfriend gets ready to leave in a huff when Monarch proposes to her. Dr. Girlfriend lays out a few stipulations, the last one being that Monarch ends his arching against Dr. Venture. After some reluctance, the Monarch agrees and Dr. Girlfriend accepts. One month later, the Cocoon has been trashed (thanks to the Monarch's bachelor party) and scores of disheveled henchmen, including #21 and #24, wake up to discover that the entire Venture family, including a shirtless and annoyed Brock Samson, are locked up in the holding cell.

In the meantime, the Monarch meets with Phantom Limb to pick up Dr. Girlfriend's (now Dr. Fianceé's) belongings. While there, Phantom Limb chats with Monarch while doing some hunting; his prey turns out to be Monarch's former prisonmates. In quick order, he shoots Mr. Monday, takes out Dr. Septapus and shoots off White Noise's arm. Limb reveals that he had Tiny Attorney win their appeals, then promptly shoots a naked Tiny Attorney. After briefly turning the gun on Monarch, he lets him go pick up Dr. Girlfriend's belongings, but not before warning Monarch that he will have his revenge.

During this time, The Order of the Triad is fighting Torrid over the "all seeing orb," a giant round object that resembles a large eyeball. The team forms a pyramid and successfully subdues Torrid. The battle, however, was less than impressive for the trio, all of whom complain about holding up Dr. Orpheus and feel slightly embarrassed. Orpheus chalks it up due to a lack of practice and admonishes them to work harder and decides to convene a training session at his house, one that the Alchemist assumes is a "slumber party".

Upon returning to the cocoon, Monarch is horrified at the discovery of the Venture family, knowing that Dr. Girlfriend would assume that he was behind it and would be furious. His horror gives way to surprise and asks them how they even captured them, given that they haven't succeeded in this task in ten years of trying. It turns out that after the bachelor party, the henchmen got very inebriated and decided to get a tattoo for #21, at the same tattoo parlor that Brock Samson was coincidentally also getting a tattoo. Upon seeing him, the henchmen decided to attack, while Brock was off his guard. After a vicious struggle, they managed to overpower and capture him. Upon realizing that the Venture family was now defenseless, they drunkenly stormed the Venture compound and captured the now unprotected Venture family. After this revelation, Dr. Girlfriend walks in. Upon seeing the Venture family, she is infuriated and threatens to call the wedding off. The Monarch quickly comes up with an explanation: Dr. Venture is his best man in a gesture of good faith and that they were only in the cell because of Hank's curiosity. This explanation is helped when Hank groggily asks where he is. Accepting this, Dr. Girlfriend goes to get dressed, but not before giving the Monarch a long kiss and grabbing his butt, which leads Dr. Venture to realize that she was 'Charlene' (from Mid-Life Chrysalis).

Meanwhile, The Sovereign notifies Phantom Limb that his request, upon review, has been denied and directs him not to commit any acts of vengeance against The Monarch. The Sovereign adds that the Guild cannot authorize such requests because of Breakups, and suggests that Limb keep a diary instead, or jog with friends. Phantom Limb gives The Sovereign his word that he will not move against the Monarch (in the conversation, the Sovereign lets it slip that he has a "wedding to get to" but changes the subject). However, after their communique ends, the Phantom Limb is seen massing a large helicopter strike force...

#21, #24 and the Monarch lead the Venture family around the cocoon after they agree to go along with the wedding. Brock and the Monarch get into a minor argument in which Brock questions the Monarch's sexuality and Dr. Girlfriend's femininity, which the Monarch attributes to jealousy and in turn, insults Brock's tattoo. Brock had been attempting to get an Apollo (whom he misidentifies as Icarus) tattoo from the Led Zeppelin albums, which the Monarch also mocks. Hank and #21 exchange putdowns over life as a henchman and Hank's clothing while Dean annoys #24 with his pseudo-scientific questioning. Dr. Venture spots a murderous moppet and slips away to find Dr. Girlfriend. On arriving at her room, he enters and begins to hit on her. After some initial confusion, she remembers her previous liaison with Dr. Venture.

At the Venture Compound, Orpheus is busy with Jefferson Twilight when the Alchemist arrives, dressed in Hawaiian garb. The Alchemist suggests they start drinking, but Orpheus and Twilight are put off by this, as it's still before noon, and Twilight is a teetotaler. After a brief back and forth, the Alchemist tempts Twilight with "Nik-L-Nips", sweet colored sugarwater that comes in tiny bottle-shaped wax containers. Twilight snaps and fights with Alchemist for taunting him. Later, we see that Twilight drank all the Nips and is passed out from his sugar binge. The Alchemist asks Orpheus if he really thought that a bunch of middle-aged guys were honestly going to take this whole 'superhero team thing' seriously, and continues that "It's the gayest thing I've ever heard! And remember that's coming from a guy who voluntarily has sex with men!" Disappointed, Orpheus says that he'd hoped they would, but is interrupted by an alarm from his brooch, which tells him that great destruction and death is coming. Enthused, both he and The Alchemist prepare to intervene.

At the Monarch's cocoon, the wedding is about to begin. #21 and Hank argue over the contents of #21's closet, which #21 insists are collectibles, but Hank dismisses as toys. After playing around with some of #21's stuff, #21 lets Hank borrow an old-school henchmen costume for the wedding (which is attended by mostly supervillains, necessitating an appropriate costume for Hank). Hank also puts on a fake goatee, and jokes around by pretending to be a minor Russian villain. The weak disguise proves useful, as he ends up seated next to Sergeant Hatred, whom Hank remembers "bad-touched him." Tired of Dean's pestilence, #24 suggests to Dean that he go "exploring" to the engine room, but warns him not to touch anything. While Dean is outside the engine room door, however, it opens and a henchmen enjoins Dean to deliver an urgent report to the Monarch: the radar indicates numerous helicopters are en route. However, Dean sees something interesting and heads into the engine room.

As the wedding begins, David Bowie arrives to give away Dr. Girlfriend (after some threats exchanged with Brock, who apparently has a past with Bowie). Dr. Killinger performs the ceremony, but just before the Monarch and Dr. Girlfriend can say "I do", Guild of Calamitous Intent helicopters surround the cocoon and Phantom Limb appears on the com monitor. In violation of direct orders from Sovereign, he announces that if the Monarch doesn't hand over Dr. Girlfriend in 5 minutes, he will destroy the Cocoon...and all inside.

Cultural references

• The entire episode acts as a parody of the wedding of Mr. Fantastic and the Invisible Woman of the Fantastic Four. In the comic, the wedding was attended by heroes from various Marvel franchises and crashed by Dr. Doom, whereas here, The Monarch and Dr. Girlfriend's wedding is attended (mostly) by villains.
• Brock's unfinished tattoo is of Apollo as based on his appearance as the logo for Led Zeppelin's Swan Song Records. It is often incorrectly identified as Icarus, including by Brock and The Monarch in this episode.
• The scene where Phantom Limb kills Mr. Monday, White Noise, Dr. Septapus, and Tiny Attorney is a parody of The Most Dangerous Game.
• The "all seeing orb" that the Order of the Triad takes from Torrid physically resembles the Emerald Eye, the weapon of the DC supervillainess, the Emerald Empress but is more likely a reference to Doctor Strange's association with the Eye of Agamotto and/or the Orb of Agamotto (see also: Agamotto) since Dr. Orpheus is based on Doctor Strange.
• After obtaining the "all seeing orb", The Alchemist holds it up to his face and says that he is a member of The Residents, referencing that group's frequent use of giant eyeball masks to conceal their identities.
• Hank takes the vandyke beard from a vintage toy called "Hugo, Man of a Thousand Faces". This toy was a doll of a bald blue-eyed Caucasian man that came with an assortment of beards, mustaches, hairpieces and a pair of glasses that could be applied in different combinations. Part of the advertising for the toy was that children could also wear the beards and mustaches for their own "disguises".
• Dr. Venture does indeed quote lines from the Rick Springfield song "Jessie's Girl" at the wedding.
• When first confronting David Bowie, Brock says he should kill for what he (Bowie) did in Berlin. Bowie was actually part of the Berlin music scene in the late 1970s, during which he and Iggy Pop were roommates. The three albums in Bowie's Berlin Trilogy were his most experimental work to date and may, perhaps, have rubbed Brock the wrong way.
• David Bowie (voice impersonated by James Urbaniak) appears in this episode (after being referenced several times) along with Klaus Nomi and Iggy Pop.
• Klaus Nomi, who has a cameo in this episode and features prominently in the next one, died in 1983. No explanation is given for his still being alive.
• When Brock tells David Bowie when to escort Dr. Girlfriend down the aisle, Bowie says, "I know when to go out," a reference to the opening line to the Bowie song "Modern Love."
• The "spirit" that the Triad materialized from the beyond is a Sullustan from the Star Wars universe -- most likely Nien Nunb from Return of the Jedi. Dr. Orpheus also says he may have come from a trading card, a reference to the large number of Star Wars trading card sets released since 1983.
• The "hunting sequence" closely resembles the film "The Most Dangerous Game"

Trivia

• The episode was very close to missing the Sunday broadcast as the plane carrying the videotape was struck by lightning, forcing it to be diverted to another airport.
• The episode did not premiere on the Adult Swim Fix on Friday as it was not delivered in time for conversion and posting, making it the only episode of the second season not to be shown on the Fix before airing on television. Shortly after its premiere, the episode was unceremoniously added to the Fix.
• During the scene in the hotel room, The Monarch calls Dr. Girlfriend "Dr. Mrs. Monarch", a reference to the phone calls that the Monarch made to Dr. Girlfriend and his henchmen while in prison between the events of The Trial of the Monarch and the Season 1 finale.
• The outfit #21's gives Hank is based on the henchman outfits seen in "The Terrible Secret of Turtle Bay".
• Sergeant Hatred, previously mentioned in "I Know Why the Caged Bird Kills" and "Hate Floats" and briefly seen in the background of "Fallen Arches", has his first speaking role in this episode.
• Truckules, seen with Sgt. Hatred in "Fallen Arches", has his first speaking role as well. Despite being a villain, he is thoughtful enough to register himself as a person with a guest, so he gets two seats to support his large frame.
• Dr. Killinger (I Know Why the Caged Bird Kills) returns this episode and performs the wedding - for which he is, at least partially, responsible.
• Dr. Girlfriend's Moppets (Fallen Arches) also return in this episode. She apparently did not get rid of them, as she suggested.
• The events Dr. Venture talks about with Dr. Girlfriend are from "Mid-Life Chrysalis".
• Baron Ünderbheit, last seen in "Love-Bheits", can be seen in the shots of the full wedding reception.
• This is the only episode of The Venture Bros. to be split into two parts; as a result, it has no end credits.
• The song #21 & #24 perform at the wedding is available for download from Quick Stop Entertainment.
• Sgt. Hatred mentions that he sees monitors from his Hover-Tank at the wedding. In "Hate Floats", #21 and #24 mention that they repaired the cocoon with parts from Sgt. Hatred's Hover-Tank.
• Besides Hank's accusation that Sgt. Hatred once "touched him inappropriately," Hatred also appears to have a foot fetish that he acts on, rather inappropriately, in public.