Tears of a Sea Cow

"Tears of a Sea Cow"
	The Venture Bros. episode
	; "WHO PUT THE TOP UP?!" "You'll thank me later! It's gonna rain!"
Episode no.	Season 3; Episode 8
Directed by	Jackson Publick
Written by	Doc Hammer
Production code	3-34
Original air date	20 July 2008
Episode Chronology
← Previous; "What Goes Down Must Come Up"	Next →; "Now Museum-Now You Don't"
	List of The Venture Bros. episodes

Tears of a Sea Cow is the eighth episode of Season 3 and the overall thirty-fourth episode of The Venture Bros.

Plot[]

The episode begins with The Monarch, Dr. Mrs. The Monarch, and the Moppets (Kevin & Tim-Tom) raiding the base of their new arch-enemy, Dr. Dugong, who appropriately resembles a manatee, a very similar Sirenian mammal. His base bears strong resemblance to Stromberg's Atlantis from The Spy Who Loved Me. He is actually a very harmless "protagonist" for the Monarch. Encouraged to view the man as a stand-in for Doctor Venture, the Monarch fires his weapon at Dr. Dugong and blows his head off. This leaves the nefarious couple once again without a nemesis.

Meanwhile, back at the Venture Compound, Hank, Dean, and Dermott have the compound to themselves as Dr. Venture and Brock have gone to a Science Now conference. There Dr. Venture plans to exhibit his dynamic new invention: The Boom-Broom. Dermott and Hank plan to form a band, with Dermott on vocals, Hank on bass and H.E.L.P.eR. playing percussion through his internal system. Dean meanwhile is publishing the next version of his family newspaper, which apparently only The Monarch and Henchman 21 actually read.

Back at the cocoon, Dr. Girlfriend berates her husband over their declining standing in the Guild of Calamitous Intent due to The Monarch killing off his replacement "arches." Later, wandering the halls of his cocoon with 21 and 24, The Monarch laments the fact that he no longer enjoys super-villainy since Dr. Venture gave him the challenge he wanted. The trio decide to relive old times by doing an impromptu (and unauthorized) raid on his compound.

Meanwhile, H.E.L.P.e.R.'s percussion music continues endlessly, much to the chagrin of the Venture boys. Unable to turn it off, they lock the hapless robot in the closet, but even that does not muffle the noise sufficiently. Hank and Dermott camp out on the compound lawn, while Dean tries to ignore the music. Finally, unable to take it any more, Dean orders H.E.L.P.e.R. to shut down all accessible sound systems, which has the side effect of disabling the audible components of the Venture Compound's security system, just as the marauding Monarch and his henchmen arrive.

The compound's security lasers (silently) bombard the butterfly-themed baddies, blowing up the septic tank, nearly killing the Monarch, 21, and 24, and alerting the boys, who both think its aliens attacking again. Hank and Dean try to call Dr. Venture and Brock on their two-ways, but both of them do not answer (due to the audio systems being disabled). 21 and 24 take cover in the hangar, while The Monarch slips inside the compound. Hank and Dermott are investigating the damage when the two henchmen spot them and give chase. 24 easily captures Dermott, whose presence is questioned by 24, having not seen Dermott before in the compound. Dermott first reveals that he is Hank's friend, but 24 doesn't believe him. Dermott follows up by claiming that he is Brock's long-lost son, but 24 states that's impossible because he caught Dermott so easily. Dermott explains he couldn't run because of the lighter he stuck up his ass earlier to deter 'aliens', to which 24 then believes that Dermott is Hank's friend.

Inside, The Monarch finds Dr. Venture's lab. He performs miscellaneous acts of sabotage and mischief, culminating in finding Venture's guard robot G.U.A.R.D.O. and having sex with it. Dean walks in on this, and The Monarch claims that he is trying to infect the robot with chlamydia and then uses reverse psychology to convince Dean that reporting this perverted act to his father would be playing into the Monarch's diabolical scheme. The supervillain then gathers his clothes and sheepishly exits.

At this time, Dr. Girlfriend realizes that The Monarch has broken his word and is probably out raiding the compound. When Tim-Tom and Kevin ask about his hatred for Dr. Venture, Dr. Girlfriend only states that Dr. Venture did "nothing worth destroying a career--a marriage" before she calls the henchmen to fly the Cocoon to the Compound to retrieve her husband.

Meanwhile, 24 has convinced Dermott to also not tell Dr. Venture and Brock of their raid, by bribing him with Monarch weaponry. 21 calls a truce with Hank (mostly because he can't catch up to him) and tells Hank that he is just going through the motions of killing him because he thinks Hank is immortal. 21, after all, saw him die twice and then inexplicably turn up again. He then shoots Hank with a dart from his gun, which turns out to just be a tranquilizer. Upon realizing this later, 21 complains (again) that he is not informed of many matters.

At this time, the Cocoon arrives and collects all of the villains. As it leaves, Hank wakes up from his tranquilizer attack, and subsequently buys into the theory that he is an immortal, like Highlander.

For the epilogue, the Cocoon is shown over the ocean, two weeks later (and after the events of the next episode), approaching The Monarch's latest nemesis, whom Dr. Girlfriend chose as a close alternate to Dr. Venture—his brother, Jonas Venture Junior. The Cocoon rapidly approaches Spider-Skull Island for their first encounter.

Episode Cast[]

First Appearances[]

Mr. Reachy
The Venture Home News (first shown)

Connections to Other Episodes[]

Home Insecurity

G.U.A.R.D.O. was introduced in the season 1 episode Home Insecurity.

Tag Sale - You're It!

Dermott is using the Mr. Microphone first seen in Tag Sale - You're It!

I Know Why the Caged Bird Kills

When The Monarch reads aloud from The Venture Home News to Henchman 21 & 24, the advice column question about being in love with the boss’s wife despite the danger of the boss being a known killer was implied to be written by Henchman 21. 21 claimed to be "totally falling" for Dr. Mrs. The Monarch in I Know Why the Caged Bird Kills, which developed into a borderline-obsessive crush the more he interacted with her and showed chemistry with her.

What Goes Down Must Come Up

When first entering the Venture Compound, The Monarch, 21, and 24 make note of the smell and say there must be a septic tank nearby. This is likely a reference to the previous episode when the rocket used by the basement dwellers as a toilet collection system crashed, spilling its contents across the compound grounds.

Bright Lights, Dean City

Dean continues working on his mimeographed newsletter The Venture Home News in Bright Lights, Dean City.

Operation P.R.O.M.

Dean's newsletter The Venture Home News is being read by General Treister in Operation P.R.O.M.

Rapacity in Blue

The Boom-Broom and Science Now conference are later referred to in Rapacity in Blue. The Boom-Broom gets Dr. Venture banned from future Science Now conferences because it leaked radiation. However, he is later invited back after inheriting Jonas Venture Jr.'s fortune and control of Venture Techno Industries.
In the season 6 episode Rapacity in Blue, Dr. Venture has pamphlets on the dangers of Chlamydia that he carries in his wallet, suggesting he too had sex with G.U.A.R.D.O.

The Rorqual Affair

Wide Wale reveals himself to be the younger brother of Dr. Dugong and has held a grudge against the Monarch for killing him. Events later in the episode explain that Dugong survived the attack due to his regenerative DNA.

Cultural References[]

Chitty Chitty Bang Bang (1968)

Henchman 21 references the 1968 musical when the Monarch Mobile is revealed to be capable of flight.

Eddy and The Cruisers (1983)

Hank claims that his new rock band with Dermott and H.E.L.P.eR., Shallow Gravy, will be "the next big thing since Eddy and The Cruisers." Eddy and The Cruisers is a 1983 dramatic film about the rise and fall of a fictitious rock and roll legend from the 1960s who has disappeared from public view.

Guitar Hero (2005)

The Monarch states that all the henchman do now is hang around the cocoon playing a video game that uses a little plastic baby guitar. This is likely a reference to the video game Guitar Hero .

Gymkata (1985)

Dermott claims he practices gymkata, a gymnastic form of martial arts created for the 1985 film of the same name.

Highlander (1986)

Henchman 21 tells Hank that he has personally seen him die twice before and come back to life, leading him to believe that Hank is an unkillable immortal like Connor MacLeod from the movie Highlander.

Mimeograph

Dean uses a mimeograph machine to make The Venture Home News. The mimeograph was invented in the 1920s and fell into disuse in the 1970s, after photocopiers and offset printing became common. Mimeograph machines were mostly used by schools, churches, and clubs. The copies were best known for the purple ink used to make them, and their distinctive and heavy scent.

Mr. Roboto (1983)

The robot guarding Dr. Dugong's headquarters is based on the robots from the music video for the 1983 Styx song Mr. Roboto.

Star Wars: Episode V – The Empire Strikes Back (1980)

The scene where The Monarch uses reverse psychology on Dean Venture to prevent him from tattling to his father is a reference to Luke Skywalker's confrontation with Darth Vader in the lower levels of the tibanna production facilities of Cloud City in The Empire Strikes Back.

Thalidomide

The Monarch asks Dr. Dugong if his mother took thalidomide, a sedative drug that was banned in the early 1960s after being linked to severe physical birth defects.

The Blair Witch Project (1999)

After finding out that his uniform's goggles have night vision capability Henchman 21 notes that it's like "Blair Witch-O-Vision".

"The Tears of a Clown" (1970)

The episode's title is likely a reference to the hit 1970 Smokey Robinson & the Miracles song "The Tears of a Clown".

Production Notes[]

Wikiquote has a collection of quotations related to: Tears of a Sea Cow

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 Tears of a Sea Cow the credit reads Kimson "Weenis" Albert.
The working title of this episode was "Murder O'Clock".

Trivia[]

The advice column on the front cover of the Venture Home News has spelling errors such as “affraid” and can be spotted duplicated on the inner page.

	Preceded by: "What Goes Down Must Come Up"	The Venture Bros. episodes Original Airdate: July 13, 2008	Followed by: "Now Museum-Now You Don't"