| "Radiant is the Blood of the Baboon Heart" | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| The Venture Bros. episode | |||
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| Directed by | Jackson Publick | ||
| Written by | Doc Hammer and Jackson Publick | ||
| Original air date |
July 21, 2023 (Digital) July 25, 2023 (Blu-Ray/DVD) | ||
| Episode Chronology | |||
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| List of The Venture Bros. episodes | |||
Radiant is the Blood of the Baboon Heart brings the conclusion of The Venture Bros., and takes place right where Season 7 ended that released on Digital on July 21, 2023, and Blu-Ray/DVD on July 25, 2023.
Plot
The story begins where Season 7 left off with Hank Venture still missing, successfully evading the efforts of Brock and Dean trying to locate him, when a secret Office of Secret Intelligence laboratory in Queens is attacked. The OSI call off their search of Hank and focus on investigating that incident, while Dr. Mrs. The Monarch and The Guild of Calamitous Intent suspect Brick Frog as the main perpetrator. Following The Saphrax Protocol where The Monarch learned that he and Dr. Thaddeus "Rusty" Venture are related, he is again restricted from arching Dr. Venture until their relationship is confirmed through more tests. He and Henchman 21 are then approached by his ex-girlfriend Debbie St. Simone, now a super villain called Mantilla, who offers him the opportunity to arch Dr. Venture in exchange for joining her organization ARCH, which he agrees.
Meanwhile, Dr. Venture, Master Billy Quizboy, Pete White, The Pirate Captain, are working on Venture Techno Industries latest product, the Helper Pod. Billy warns Dr. Venture that the device is not ready to be released due to a bug that makes it blast music too loud and uncontrollably levitate off the ground. Venture, desperate to keep VenTech from going bankrupt, ignores Billy's warnings and insists on releasing the product. Because of the product launch, Dr. Venture does not help or care for finding Hank, which frustrates Dean, who turns to Dr. Orpheus and the Order of the Triad for help. Dr. Orpheus agrees, and using his magic, he deduces that Hank might be heading back to the old Venture Compound in Colorado. With Jefferson Twilight and his car The Blood Vessel, they embark on a road trip there to find Hank.
Hank, feeling lost, and acting on the advice of his imagined alter-egos, decides to return to the old Venture Compound in Colorado to find himself. Upon arriving, he decides that he wants to find his mother and to act on tip given to him by The Action Man when they were both in comatose purgatory who told him that Bobbi St. Simone is his mother. With the help of his old friend Dermott Fictel who still is on the compound, he sets out to find her.
Back in New York, evidence is found that frames Dr. Mrs. The Monarch as the perpetrator of the laboratory attack, as both The Guild and The OSI attempt to apprehend her. Brock, Red Death, and Shoreleave who believes she is innocent, help her escape with Red Death's horse, Daisy. The Monarch and 21 attack VenTech Tower, only to be betrayed by Mantilla, who, seemingly aware of the HelperPod's flaws, remote activates them to all levitate at once, which launches the building into space and trapping, Dr. Venture, Sergeant Hatred, The Monarch and 21 inside. While spending the night at Jefferson's old base in Chicago, Dean, Orpheus, and Jefferson are attacked by Blacula's led by Nuno Blood. While they were able to escape the blaculas, Dean appears to be bitten, as he in an anxious panic, starts to act out as a vampire.
Hank finds Bobbi who now runs an animal sanctuary for the animals of heroes and villains. She tells him her backstory on how she had a tryst with his grandfather, Jonas Venture, Sr. who gave her invisibility powers, but would be recruited as an OSI spy after their relationship fell through. She switched sides, became Force Majeure's lover, and had Mantilla. After Force Majeure was killed by The Sovereign, Bobbi and Debra escaped and began new lives at the animal sanctuary she starts, and approached Rusty Venture to remove their invisibility powers, but did not have sex with him and therefore is not Hank and Deans mother. She reminds Hank that she had told him this story several times before, the shock of which causes Hank to relapse into a coma again and return to purgatory again where is trapped there by his alter-egos.
Back at the VenTech tower, Billy and Pete advise Dr. Venture and Sargent Hatred to destroy the HelperPods as the only way to stop them from levitating. With the help of The Monarch and 21, they attempt to but are severely injured by the strong gravitational field the pods create and are forced to retreat and escape. Dr. Mrs The Monarch with the help of Red Death and Daisy figure out that Mantilla is the real perpetrator and track down her apartment. There, Mrs Monarch confronts her and understands her plan. Mantilla has had an decades long obsession on Mrs. Monarch and felt that they were meant to be together, so she had created ARCH and came up with an elaborate plot that would cause her to leave The Guild and her husband, and join her to be a feminist supervillain duo together. She also mentions that Dr. Venture had transferred her mother's invisibility to her in exchange for her eggs (which would mean she is actually Hank and Dean's biological mother) and that she is the rightful heir to the Guild. Mrs Monarch rejects her plan and proposal and convinces her to turn off the Helper Pods and turn herself in exchange for control of the The Peril Partnership, which Mantilla accepts.
Dr. Orpheus and Jefferson, with Dermott's help, find Hank with Bobbi St. Simone. Jefferson and Orpheus using their combined powers, enter purgatory to rescue Hank. Dean accidentally transports himself to purgatory and is attacked and trapped by Hank's alter-ego. Orpheus rescues them both, as Hank happy to learn that it was Dean who organized the rescue, and forgives him for the affair he had with his girlfriend Sirena Ong. Jefferson also consoles Dean that it was his fang necklace that "bit" him on the neck and not the blacula's, therefore, he is not turning into a vampire. With the HelperPods off, VenTech tower starts to plummet back to Earth at a high speed. General Hunter Gathers sees the building as a major threat to the planet and orders the O.S.I. Hover-Quarters to destroy it. Still stuck inside the tower, Dr. Venture and company find JJ's Ventronic robot and take control of it, as he, Hatred, 21, and The Monarch with assistance from the Hover-Quarters, safely bring the building back down to Earth at the old Venture Compound. However, The Monarch in Ned's clown arm compartment, got separated from the rest of the robot and crash lands onto the compound, causing him to be impaled under the Jonas Venture statue that fell on top of him. Ben arrives and saves The Monarch with a blood transfusion from Dr. Venture and shares that the two are actually clones of each other that he and Jonas Venture had made for The Monarch's infertile parents. He also explains that the two are different from each other due to The Monarch given baboon DNA to offset male pattern baldness, though it makes The Monarch extra aggressive. Despite this news, The Monarch still vows to continue to arch Rusty, while Rusty responds with indifference. Ben gives Hank Jonas's old watch, telling him that "blood doesn't make a family, love does", while Rusty tells Dean whoever their real mother is loves them very much. Mrs. Monarch, given temporary invisibility powers by Mantilla, visits The Monarch.
In the post credits epilogue, a younger Rusty Venture is seen wearing an artificial womb attached to his chest, with baby Dean and Hank inside, revealing them to H.E.L.P.eR..
Movie Cast
- James Urbaniak as Dr. Thaddeus "Rusty" Venture, Phantom Limb, and Jonas Venture Jr.
- Patrick Warburton as Brock Samson
- Michael Sinterniklaas as Dean Venture
- Chris McCulloch as Hank Venture, The Monarch, Sgt. Hatred, Pete White, Gen. Hunter Gathers, H.E.L.P.eR., The Pirate Captain, Tough Love, Dragoon, Col. Gentleman, Watch, Action Man, Additional Blackulas, Waiter
- Doc Hammer as Dr. Mrs. The Monarch, Henchman 21, Billy Quizboy, Shore Leave, Dermott Fictel, Red Mantle, Rose, and Ward.
- Nina Arianda as Mantilla
- Clancy Brown as Red Death and Daisy
- John Hodgman as Snoopy
- Hal Lublin as Clayton, Seth, and tour guide
- Jane Lynch as Bobbi St. Simone
- Charles Parnell as Jefferson Twilight and an OSI Agent
- Jay Pharoah as Nuno Blood and additional Blackulas
- Steven Rattazzi as Dr. Orpheus
- J.K. Simmons as Ben
- Dana Snyder as The Alchemist, conductor, and houseless guy.
First Appearances
- Bobbi St. Simone (first on-screen appearance as a non-background character)
- Clayton
- Force Majeure (first on-screen appearance)
- Mantilla
- Nuno Blood
- Pants Golem (Shmatte Golem)
- Seth
- Tough Love
Connections to other Episodes
Powerless in the Face of Death
- The Bat returns as one of Hank's fugue identities, first seen in a flashback in the opening episode of season 2.
- Crime-O-Dile is first mentioned by one of his henchman at a support group meeting in season 2; we finally see Crime-O-Dile as a member of The Council of 13 in this movie.
Showdown at Cremation Creek (Part I)
- Russian Guyovitch returns as one of Hank's fugue identities, having first appeared in the first half of the season 2 finale and not appeared in any subsequent seasons.
Showdown at Cremation Creek (Part II)
- Dean appears in the same Atreyu outfit he wore in his hallucinatory fantasy sequence from the finale of season 2.
Shadowman 9: In the Cradle of Destiny
- The mutated ocelot appears at Bobbi St. Simone's ranch.
- One of the Villains at Meteor Majeure, appears to be Murderous Bettie Rage.
- The giant flying mech Ventronic first appeared in season 3.
- We see Wonder Boy V balancing on Crime-O-Dile's grave in season 4 and finally see a living Crime-O-Dile as a member of The Council of 13 in this movie.
- The OSI agents seen with Jonas Venture, Sr., are the ones The Intangible Fancy murders.
- In season 4, Hank tells Billy that he wants to grow up to run a wild animal sanctuary like Jane Goodall's Chimp Eden. In this movie, Hank discovers Bobbi St. Simone running a wild animal sanctuary.
- Detective Hank appears as one of Hank's fugue identities, not seen since this season 4 episode.
- Dermott collects items from the Venture Compound, following in his mother Nikki's footsteps; Nikki was established as a top collector and seller of Rusty Venture memorabilia in this season 4 episode.
- RICO was last seen on a boat off the shore of Puerto Bahia, though he seems to have returned to Ben.
- Enrico Matassa appears as one of Hank's fugue identities, first seen in season 5.
- Henchman 21 once more wears the Calamity Conference t-shirt he received in season 5.
- Sirena Ong watched a scene from Follow That Bikini on her television back in season 6.
- The Order of the Triad has moved into the former synagogue building which the Alchemist had shown the real estate listing for in the post credits scene of Arrears in Science.
- The Monarch's use of Handy Dandy hair products is established in season 7. In the movie, Jefferson Twilight's old Chicago base of operations is an abandoned Handy Dandy factory.
- Jonas was implied to have cloned Thaddeus before, it is fully confirmed that he did in fact clone him.
- Dean continues trying to find Hank after he disappeared following the events of The Saphrax Protocol.
- Hank returns to "Coma Town" in his unconscious mind.
- Hank partially quotes the movie Darkman at the end of this episode; Clayton, a character based on Darkman, appears in the movie.
Hank's Venture Compound Memories
When Hank returns to the Venture Compound in Colorado Springs and finds the entire structure razed to the ground, he imagines a vivid landscape of memories from before the Venture family moved to New York City. They include:
- Hank and Dean looking for their dog Scamp, from the pilot episode The Terrible Secret of Turtle Bay.
- Hank and Dean's conversation near their Hover Bikes, where Hank says "Ma Venture didn't raise no fools" and Dean replies "We don't have a mom, Hank", from the pilot episode The Terrible Secret of Turtle Bay.
- Hank and Dean working at HankCo.'s Lemonade & Grinder World food stand from season 1's Tag Sale - You're It!
- Hank and Dean forming "Mecha-Shiva" from the season 1 episode The Trial of the Monarch.
- Hank dressed as The Bat jumping off of the roof with an umbrella, first seen in flashback in the season 2 opener Powerless in the Face of Death.
- Dean dressed as a robot and Hank wearing a fake gun on his torso from the season 3 episode The Doctor Is Sin.
- Hank and Brock giving a martial arts demonstration in front of Dermott and the day campers from the season 3 episode The Buddy System.
- Henchman 21 telling Hank that he is an immortal, with Hank immediately comparing himself to the Highlander, from the season 3 episode Tears of a Sea Cow.
- Hank wearing the canine mask and holding the sniper rifle from the season 4 opener Blood of the Father, Heart of Steel.
- Rusty dangling from the strings of The Monarch's "Scarionette" rig and his Cocoon, from season 4's Self-Medication.
- Hank hanging on to the hood of a car driven by Hunter Gathers, part of Hank's tryout for S.P.H.I.N.X. in the season 4 episode Pomp and Circuitry.
- Hank in a white tuxedo, sticking out of the sun roof of a limousine from the season 4 finale Operation P.R.O.M.
- Shallow Gravy (Dermott, Hank, and H.E.L.P.eR.) playing on the roof of the compound, from the season 4 special From the Ladle to the Grave: The Shallow Gravy Story.
- Dean, Hank (California Raisin costume), and Dermott (The Crow costume) from the season 5 special A Very Venture Halloween.
- Hank and Dermott camping in a tent in the yard from the season 5 episode Perchance to Dean.
- Hank, Dean, Shoreleave, Sergeant Hatred, and Brock playing football in the yard from the season 5 episode Assisted Suicide.
- Dean confessing to Hank that they are clones and Hank replying that that is awesome from the season 5 finale The Devil's Grip.
Dermott's Stash
Dermott Fictel has appropriated numerous items from the charred remains of The Venture Compound and stashed them away in his trailer home, many of them in the wall safe that used to be located in Dr. Venture's home office. They include:
Some of Dermott's Stash
- A two-way wrist Communicator Watch, first seen in the pilot episode The Terrible Secret of Turtle Bay.
- Dean's clown lamp, first seen next to the Learning Beds in the season 1 episode Home Insecurity.
- The decorative skull that Dr. Orpheus uses for recording voice messages, first seen in season 1's Eeney, Meeney, Miney... Magic!
- The kitchen table chairs from the Venture kitchen, first shown in season 1's Eeney, Meeney, Miney... Magic!
- The stone Aztec calendar disc that Hector used to protect Rusty and Jonas Sr. from a spear upon first meeting them in the season 2 opener Powerless in the Face of Death. The same stone calendar was later used to disguise the wall safe in Dr. Venture's home office.
- The huge metal Venture Industries logo sign from the wall of the conference room where the Treaty of Tolerance was signed, first seen in season 2's Fallen Arches. Dermott has hung it over his bed.
- One of The Fluttering Horde's standard-issue "comm link" radios that convert into a grappling gun, stolen and repainted from Sergeant Hatred's armory, as confirmed in the season 3 episode Home is Where the Hate is.
- The camera that Sergeant Hatred refers to as his "surveillance equipment", used to take a photo of him with Dr. Z in the season 3 episode The Buddy System.
- The Mego action figures of Spock and Falcon that Dr. Orpheus transformed into prototype dolls of The Alchemist and Jefferson Twilight, first seen in season 3's What Goes Down Must Come Up.
- The mysterious (broken) Orb, appropriately first seen in the season 3 episode ORB. Dermott tosses it on the ground while rummaging around.
- One of the Learning Bed diplomas issued to either Dean or Hank in the season 4 episode Pomp and Circuitry.
- Dean's list of dream jobs from the season 4 episode Pomp and Circuitry.
- The electric razor that Shoreleave used to buzz Hank's hair into a regulation cut for his S.P.H.I.N.X. tryout in season 4's Pomp and Circuitry.
- One of the "king-size" candy bars handed out by Sergeant Hatred in the season 5 special A Very Venture Halloween.
- The Rubik's Cube solved by The Outrider in the season 5 special A Very Venture Halloween.
- An autographed photograph of actress Bobbi St. Simone.
- A "polyphase venturilium converter", which Dermott sells to Ben for $200 (minus the cost of his spilled beer).
- The artificial womb that Rusty used to birth babies Hank and Dean, which Hank finds lying on Dermott's floor and picks up to casually examine.
Cultural References
- The Helper Pod is a parody of the Amazon Alexa and similar voice-controlled virtual assistant technology.
Barbarella (1968)
- The Ice of Weir and The Action Man as Mark Hand "The Catchman" once more appear in Coma Town with Hank.
Batman (1966-68)
- Hank once more dresses as The Bat using his Adam West-era Batman costume.
- The Monarch and Henchman 21 add fireman poles to their lair as seen in the 1960s Batman television series and 1966 Batman movie. The music that accompanies them is similar to the music from the show as well.
Batman Forever (1995)
- The line about "nipples on the batsuit" is a reference to Joel Schumacher's 1995 film Batman Forever.
Batman Returns (1992)
- Several of the penguins with bombs strapped to them in Caring Hands animal sanctuary appear to be refugees from The Penguin's aquatic bird army in the Tim Burton sequel Batman Returns.
Blade (1998)
- While fighting the New Jack vampires, blackula hunter Jefferson Twilight turns to wink at the camera in an homage to Wesley Snipes in the 1998 vampire hunting film Blade.
Bronski Beat - "Smalltown Boy" (1984)
- While the song plays on the movie soundtrack, Hank rides a train as he runs away from home and thinks about his past and future, similar to the protagonist of the music video for this Bronski Beat song.
- Bobbi St. Simone and her Caring Hands animal sanctuary are partially based on Carole Baskin from the Netflix true crime documentary series Tiger King.
- We see Bobbi St. Simone's skin being painted with blue paint in 1968 in an early instance of "blue screen" chroma key technology used to simulate invisibility on film.
CSI: Crime Scene Investigation (2000-15)
Darkman (1990)
- Jefferson Twilight's heavily bandaged contact in Chicago, Clayton, is a reference to the 1990 Sam Raimi film Darkman.
Death of a Salesman (1949)
- Brick Frog is referred to as a Willy Loman of the Guild.
- Dermott Fictel still has a poster of the animated band Dethklok hanging on his bedroom wall.
- Hank assures us that Disko Island is a real place, and it is -- off the west coast of Greenland.
- Iconic drag actor Divine shares a booth with Force Majeure and other Guild power players at Don Hell's nightclub.
- Dr. Orpheus and the Order of the Triad fittingly move into a headquarters similar to Dr. Strange's mansion in Greenwich Village.
E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial (1982)
- Dean compares Dr. Orpheus to the titular character from the 1982 Steven Spielberg film E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial.
Hannibal (2001)
- Dermott selling old lab equipment to Ben is a reference to the orderly who sold body parts in the 2001 film Hannibal.
Harte & Company Building (Brooklyn, NY; c. 1930)
- The Rana-Dale Industries factory attacked by Brick Frog is based on the real-life Harte & Company Building, formerly located at 280 Franklin Street in the Greenpoint neighborhood of Brooklyn, New York. It was built circa 1930 and sat vacant since 2004, with demolition beginning on it in 2022.
High Fidelity (2000)
- Hank imagining Sirena making out with Dean is a reference to a scene in the film.
- One of Hank's persona also referenced the film in which he suggested on finding his exes for advice.
How to Stuff a Wild Bikini (1965)
- Follow That Bikini parodies the 1965 film How to Stuff a Wild Bikini.
H.R. Pufnstuf (1969)
- Phantom Limb refers to Brick Frog in his old costume as the titular character from the Sid and Marty Krofft children's television show H.R. Pufnstuf.
Inhumans (2017)
- Red Mantle complains about having to watch the Inhumans television series simply to follow the movies in the Marvel Cinematic Universe.
- The gorilla seen playing drums in Follow That Bikini and attacking Hank in Caring Hands animal sanctuary wears a "whoopee cap" like Jughead Jones from Archie Comics.
- A mantilla is a traditional Spanish and Latin American liturgical lace or silk veil or shawl worn over the head and shoulders, often over a high comb called a peineta, popular with women in Spain, as well as in Latin America.
Minority Report (2002)
- During their confrontation over Dr. Mrs. the Monarch's framing, Shoreleave screams at her to run in an unsettling manner that is a reference to a similar interaction in the film.
Moon landing conspiracy theories
- Jonas Venture, Sr. is seen aiding director Stanley Kubrick in one of the most famous moon landing conspiracy theories, popularized by the Flat Earth Society in 1980 -- faking the footage of the moon landing in a studio backlot.
New Jack City (1991)
- The group of blackulas that Jefferson Twilight and the Pants Golem battle are based on the cast of the film New Jack City.
- Tough Love, the gun-wielding vigilante wearing a skeleton on his torso in the Handy Dandy factory in Chicago, is a parody of Marvel Comics' Punisher.
Roadside Picnic (1972)
- Jackson Publick said he based part of the sequence with the floating HelperPods on the influential Soviet-era Russian scifi novel Roadside Picnic.
Rob Base & DJ E-Z Rock - "It Takes Two" (1988)
- The Helper Pods play the song "It Takes Two" as the VenTech Tower ascends.
Sarah McLachlan "ASPCA" Commercials (2006)
- The commercial for Caring Hands animal rescue was inspired in part by Sarah McLachlan's ubiquitous commercials for the ASPCA, in which her song "Angel" played over footage of abused and neglected shelter animals.
Sixteen Candles (1984)
- Red Death's horse, Daisy, says that Mantilla reminds him of a scene from Sixteen Candles when she's sitting cross-legged on the table.
- Jonas Venture, Sr. is seen helping famed director Stanley Kubrick fake the moon landing on an Isotope studio backlot -- six decades after Jonas' own grandfather, Colonel Lloyd Venture, first landed on the moon in 1902.
Sudden Impact (1983)
- The gun Mantilla uses to threaten Dr. Mrs. the Monarch and Daisy is the .44 auto magnum Dirty Harry Callahan uses in the 1983 film Sudden Impact.
The Empire Strikes Back (1980)
- Hank returns to the icy world of Hoth when he revisits "Coma Town" in his unconscious mind.
The Fly (1986)
- Seth, the mad scientist/fly hybrid living in the Handy Dandy factory in Chicago, is based on Jeff Goldblum's "Brundlefly" character in David Cronenberg's classic 1986 remake The Fly.
The Game (1997)
- The scene where Dr. Mrs. The Monarch meets Red Death, Brock Samson, and Shoreleave at the former Arch offices only to find them abandoned is an homage to a similar scene in the 1997 thriller The Game.
The Ghost in the Invisible Bikini (1966)
- Follow That Bikini parodies the 1966 film The Ghost in the Invisible Bikini.
The NeverEnding Story (1984)
- Dean is once more depicted as Atreyu from the film The NeverEnding Story in the unconscious world of Coma Town.
The Nutty Professor (1963)
- Stu Donlevy as Professor Fribble in Follow That Bikini is a parody of Jerry Lewis' character Professor Julius Kelp in the 1963 film The Nutty Professor.
The Police - "Roxanne" (1978)
Tiger King (2020-21)
- Bobbi St. Simone and her Caring Hands animal sanctuary are partially based on Carole Baskin from the Netflix true crime documentary series Tiger King.
Tippi Hedren (b. 1930)
- Bobbi St. Simone and her Caring Hands animal sanctuary are primarily based on The Birds actress Tippi Hedren, who has been an animal rescue activist since 1969 and founded the American Sanctuary Association in 1998, still serving as its president to this day.
- The Monarch commands Rusty to get him an Uber. Brock says he's going to call The Monarch an Uber.
Untamed Heart (1993)
- This romantic drama starring Christian Slater and Marisa Tomei tells the story of an unlikely romance between a young woman unlucky in love and a shy young man who has a heart defect. It was originally titled The Baboon Heart.
- Red Mantle refers to the Inhumans as "fake X-Men".
- Force Majeure is visually based on the design of Magneto from Silver Age X-Men comics.
- Bobbi St. Simone's Madame Majeure costume is based on Dazzler's costume from Bronze Age X-Men comics.
Zardoz (1974)
- Dr. Orpheus takes the form of Zed from Zardoz when he reaches out to Hank in Coma Town.
- Jefferson Twilight appears in Coma Town as the flying stone head of Zardoz.
Licensed Songs
- Bronski Beat - Smalltown Boy - plays when Hank recounts what happened to him after he disappeared in The Saphrax Protocol.
- Rob Base & DJ EZ Rock - It Takes Two - plays when Mantilla hacks into VenTech Tower through 21's phone and activates the HelperPods.
Trivia
- Christopher McCulloch says the "Shmatte Golem" (Pants Golem) was the final remaining character from the original pitch book for The Venture Bros. to be adapted to the screen.
- Red Death reveals the name of his horse: Daisy.
- Ben's license plate reads NA-H2O, or salt water. Ben, appropriately, is a surfer.
- The Monarch is revealed to be a clone of Rusty Venture, with 2% baboon DNA added to prevent male pattern baldness.
- Had there been an eighth season of the show, Matt Berry would have provided the voice for Force Majeure.
Goofs
| Preceded by: "The Saphrax Protocol" |
The Venture Bros. episodes Original Airdate: July 21, 2023 |
Followed by: "N/A" |