| "The Doctor Is Sin" | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| The Venture Bros. episode | |||
 "This one is for your diet pills, and this is for whathaveyou." | |||
| Episode no. |
Season 3 Episode 2 | ||
| Directed by | Jackson Publick | ||
| Written by | Jackson Publick | ||
| Production code | 3-28 | ||
| Original air date | 8 June 2008 | ||
| Episode Chronology | |||
| |||
| List of The Venture Bros. episodes | |||
The Doctor Is Sin is the second episode of Season 3 and the overall twenty-eighth episode of The Venture Bros.
Plot[]
Dr. Venture's business is once again on the rocks, so he tries to pull out all the stops to convince General Manhowers to buy from Venture Industries. Brock, Hank, Dean, Dr. Orpheus and Dr. Orpheus' daughter Triana take roles as different "staff" members, investors, foreign dignitaries and even a threat from the future, but the General passes, seeing that all of the gadgets are just leftovers from Venture's father. After the general leaves, Dr. Henry Killinger arrives to offer his services, hiring "Venchmen" (henchmen for Venture) and quickly repairing the compound, returning it to its former glory. In the midst of his renewal of the compound, Dr. Orpheus discovers that Killinger may be something more sinister than anyone can comprehend.
After being evicted, Orpheus and Triana move in with The Alchemist. Brock arrives later with the housewarming gift of a case of beer and is convinced by Orpheus that Killinger is up to no good. Back at the compound, Dr. Venture is put through a difficult test to "repair his soul", which involves overcoming his lack of self-worth and his jealousy over his brother Jonas's continuing success. It turns into a race against time as Orpheus, Brock and the Alchemist attempt to stop Killinger, who reveals he has been slowly preparing Dr. Venture to sign with the Guild of Calamitous Intent as a villain, with an option to make his brother into his arch-nemesis.
Just as Brock storms the compound to stop Killinger, all of the Venchmen calmly and politely depart. Brock finds Dr. Venture naked and alone in his command center, where he reveals to Brock that he fired Killinger rather than become a super-villain. He then asks Brock, "Am I a bad person?", to which Brock gives a noncommittal answer. Outside, Killinger, looking down on Venture quotes from Shakespeare's "All the world's a stage" monologue as the episode ends.
After the credits, Venture, attempting to sort his own mail, finds a package containing a cobra poised to strike; Venture's fear that he has a new, competent archenemy is short-lived when he discovers that the cobra is from the Monarch, dead to the point of desiccation and in an unopened box left over from 2003.
Episode Cast[]
- James Urbaniak: Dr. Venture
- Patrick Warburton: Brock Samson
- Mike Sinterniklaas: Dean Venture
- Chris McCulloch: Hank Venture, Dr. Killinger, General Manhowers, Pete White, Additional Voices
- Doc Hammer: Billy Quizboy
- Steven Rattazzi: Dr. Byron Orpheus
- Dana Snyder: The Alchemist
- Paul Boocock: Jonas Venture Sr., Additional Voices
- Lisa Hammer: Triana Orpheus
- Soul-Bot: H.E.L.P.eR.
First Appearances[]
- Alpha Dog (cereal)
- Apple Mummy (cereal - mentioned)
- King Nutri-Man (cereal - mentioned)
Connections to Other Episodes[]
Powerless in the Face of Death
- Dr. Venture fired Hector Molina and Swifty from Venture Industries in the episode Powerless in the Face of Death. In this episode we see both of them on Spider-Skull Island, now working for Jonas Venture Jr. at Venture Techno Industries.
- Jonas Venture Jr. and Sally Impossible first met in Twenty Years to Midnight, striking up a romantic relationship. In this episode we see Sally and her cousin Ned are both living on Spider-Skull Island with JJ and apparently working for Venture Techno Industries.
I Know Why the Caged Bird Kills
- Dr. Henry Killinger returns, having first appeared in the Season 2 episode I Know Why the Caged Bird Kills.
- Sri Lankan Devil Bird, the villain mauled by Brock in the beginning of the episode, has his costume stored away and later worn by Shore Leave while infiltrating Don Hell's Nightclube.
Cultural References[]
- "Alpha Dog," the cereal Dr. Venture eats in his flashback, is a takeoff on Alpha-Bits cereal.
- Dr. Killinger quotes William Shakespeare's "All the world's a stage" from the play As You Like It at the end of the episode.
- Dr. Venture drives an Avro Avrocar flying saucer jeep in his quest to find day laborers for Venture Industries.
Batman (1966)
- The scene in which Dr. Killinger disintegrates the union heads into small piles of bright, multi-colored dust is a reference to the 1966 film Batman.
- As Doctor Killinger leads Dr. Venture towards Jonas Venture Jr.'s base in order to assassinate him he compares this scenario with the Biblical tale of Cain and Abel. In the book of Genesis Adam and Eve's eldest son, Cain, slew his younger brother, Abel, out of spite that God had accepted Abel's sacrifice but shunned Cain's offering.
- In a dreamlike sequence Dr. Killinger has Dr. Venture re-enact the Biblical slaying of Goliath by David, with the statue of his father coming to life and Venture, dressed in a shepherd's tunic, using a slingshot to fatally pierce his father's forehead. A tiny Dr. Killinger serves as the projectile that takes down the giant.
- Dr. Orpheus refers to Dr. Venture's arrangement with Dr. Killinger as "Faustian," referencing the German legend.
From Dusk till Dawn (1996)
- The Alchemist's strap on weapon is a reference to the Robert Rodriguez/Quentin Tarantino collaboration From Dusk Till Dawn (1996). Special FX legend Tom Savini played Sex Machine, a long-haired biker wearing a codpiece revolver: a strap on single barrel gun with two revolving chambers, all attached to a codpiece over his crotch. The codpiece revolver was originally intended for the 1995 Robert Rodriguez film Desperado, but the scene was deleted from the final cut and the piece was only seen briefly among El Mariachi's arsenal.
- General Manhowers mentions having a Fruitopia, and he can't remember how long it's been since he had one. Fruitopia was a brand of fruit juice marketed by The Coca-Cola Company from 1994; it was discontinued in the United States around 2003.
- Jonas Venture Jr.'s publicity campaign includes a spoof of the popular ads for the iPod. Dr. Venture drives past a billboard featuring a black silhouette of Jonas Venture Jr. wearing white headphones in the pre-title sequence.
Jonny Quest (1964-1965)
- Hadji Singh, as an employee of Jonas Venture Jr., and Action Johnny (Jonny Quest), as a drug addict, appear in this episode, a reference to the animated series Jonny Quest.
- Dr. Venture says that Killinger took enough blood to make a KISS comic book. The rock band KISS starred in a series of comic books, for which all the band members donated blood which was mixed into the ink.
- In his flashback vision Dr. Venture states that King Nutri-Man is his favorite breakfast cereal but you don't get a prize. This is a takeoff on King Vitaman cereal which was a brand of sweetened breakfast cereal produced by Quaker Oats and sold in the United States from 1968 to 2019.
- The supervillain suit that Dr. Killinger gives Dr. Venture is reminiscent of the suit Lex Luthor wears in the Challenge of the Superfriends cartoon series. However, Dr. Venture's costume is colored in the typical "Venture Industries" blue.
- The title of the episode is likely a take on the sign on the front of Lucy van Pelt's psychiatric booth which would read "The Doctor is in" when she was available for counselling sessions as seen in the syndicated comic strip Peanuts and its animated television specials created by Charles Schulz.
- Dr. Killinger continues to have parallels to Mary Poppins, such as flying with his umbrella and instructing the boys.
- "Apple Mummy" may be a reference to Fruity Yummy Mummy and the other monster themed breakfast cereals released by General Mills.
Reducto (Birdman and the Galaxy Trio)
- The uniform that Dr. Killinger gives to Dr. Venture is based heavily on the outfit worn by the villain Reducto on the 1967-1968 Hanna Barbera animated series Birdman and the Galaxy Trio. The character was later revived as the size-conscious attorney Myron Reducto on Adult Swim's 2001-2007 satirical animated series Harvey Birdman, Attorney at Law. Stephen Colbert, the voice of Professor Impossible, also portrayed Myron Reducto.
- When Dr. Venture first puts on his supervillain suit, saying that it's different, Killinger resplies "Nixon said the same thing when I gave him his first power tie." Henry Kissinger, whom Killinger is based on, was former U.S. president Richard Nixon's National Security Advisor and Secretary of State.
- Jonas Venture Jr. has an interview with Super-Scientific American, a parody of the magazine Scientific American.
- Dr. Venture says that without an arch-nemesis, he is being attacked by every "Tom, Dick, and Skeletor." Skeletor was He-Man's archnemesis in the Masters of the Universe franchise.
Star Wars: Episode V – The Empire Strikes Back (1980)
- When Killinger asks Dr. Venture to get into his magic murder bag, Venture asks "What's in there?" and Killinger responds, "Only what you take with you." This exchange is taken directly from a scene between Yoda and Luke Skywalker in The Empire Strikes Back.
The Secret (2006)
- While Brock is breaking into the Venture compound, Killinger can be heard reciting a modified portion of The Secret.
- Pete White sold stock in Conjectural Technologies (his partnership with Billy) to buy a Nintendo Wii video game console.
Production Notes[]
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Wikiquote has a collection of quotations related to: The Doctor is Sin |
- 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 The Doctor Is Sin the credit reads Kimson "I Love Mein Job!" Albert.
- The first 11 minutes of this episode were played on April 1, 2008 to promote the new season. Only being a rough cut, the clip lacked music and sound effects.[1]
Trivia[]
- Henchman 24's face is on the "Have you seen me?" side of the juice carton Jonas Venture Sr. takes out of the refrigerator and sets on the counter.
References[]
| Preceded by: "Shadowman 9: In the Cradle of Destiny" |
The Venture Bros. episodes Original Airdate: June 8, 2008 |
Followed by: "The Invisible Hand of Fate" |