"The Venture Brothers" - Who Said It? Quiz

Answer: Dr. T. S. "Rusty" Venture

Although "The Venture Brothers" is titled for Hank and Dean, Dr. Venture is really a more central character than either of his sons. He is essentially a pessimistic vision of what 1960s cartoon character Johnny Quest would have been like in adulthood. Though not utterly incapable at the super-science game, most of Dr. Venture's equipment (including his plane, the X-1) was constructed by his late father, Dr. Jonas Venture.

His relationship with his sons, though not overtly hostile, lacks much of the warmth one would normally expect.

This is exemplified in the above quote from episode "Dia de Los Dangerous!" where, having had his kidneys stolen, Dr. Venture calls upon his sons to donate a replacement. Rather than just take one kidney from one of the boys, the elder Venture takes one from each. Freaking amazing, indeed!

Answer: Hank Venture

If this sounds familiar, you've probably watched "The Godfather". In this scene, Hank is paraphrasing Michael Corleone, who is banishing the bookish (and non-Sicilian) Tom Hagen to a strictly legal role while the Corleone family prepares to have every enemy of their operation killed. In this scene from the episode 'Past Tense', Hank is planning a rescue mission, which, thankfully, Dean manages to forestall in favor of calling in the 'original' Team Venture.

If you could split the Venture brothers into brains and brawn, Hank would be the brawn - though it must be said that the boys really do lack much of either. Voiced by the series' creator, Jackson Publick (the pen name of Christopher McCulloch), Hank dresses almost exactly like Fred from the classic "Scooby-Doo" cartoon, right down to the neckerchief. According to Hank, this pleases his father, though whether Dr. Venture does feel pride over his elder son's choice of neckware is an open question.

Answer: Brock Samson

Brock Samson is probably the most competent adventurer on the program. Based on Race Bannon, the pilot/bodyguard from "Johnny Quest", Brock fulfills the same roles in "The Venture Brothers", albeit in an over-the-top violent nature. Earning the title "Dr. Venture's Swedish murder machine", Brock has been known to take out dozens of combatants with either his bare hands or his combat knife - he never uses guns, except occasionally as thrown projectiles.

In this quote from "Ghosts of the Sargasso", Brock is trying to coach Hank on how to defeat the pirates who have commandeered the Ventures' boat, the X-2. Though an unpromising student (he nearly strangles himself taking Brock's instructions too literally), Hank does come through.

Answer: Dean Venture

Dean is indeed the more cerebral of the Venture Brothers, making such stalwart decisions as calling in the old Team Venture when his father and Brock are kidnapped (as opposed to going off half-cocked as Hank would have preferred) in the episode "Past Tense".

He also has a serious case of unrequited love for Triana Orpheus; however, since the boys get their education by sitting in a box their pop made, this may be because Triana is the only human teenage girl Dean has ever met. He is also less earthy than Hank, as the above remonstrance to his momentarily potty-mouthed brother (uttered as they were both in prison during the episode "Return to Spider Skull Island") bears witness.

Answer: Baron Werner Underbheit

The putative arch-nemesis of Dr. Venture (although the Monarch comes into play much more often), Baron Ünderbheit is the hereditary ruler of Ünderland, a country that has all the characteristics of a Central European totalitarian state despite its location on the Michigan/Canada border. Since losing his real jawbone in a college laboratory accident (an accident he blames on his lab partner, Dr. Venture), Ünderbheit has sworn vengeance, mobilizing Ünderland's army (in which service is compulsory until age 38) against the bumbling protagonists.

Ünderbheit is based on Marvel Comics character Doctor Doom, who blames his college accident (which has caused him to perpetually wear a metal shell) on hero Reed Richards. Ünderbheits deformity is less extreme; instead of an entire mask and body armor, he is cursed only with a metal jaw, and his incidental body armor appears to be purely decorative. In the episode Past Tense, he and Venture (along with Brock and minor character Pete White) were kidnapped by a common enemy from their college days (Mike Sorayama) leading to the above exchange.

Answer: The Monarch

The sworn enemy of Dr. Venture (indeed, "pushing" Rusty's "buttons" is practically the only way The Monarch has any fun at all), this ostensible super-villain turned to the dark side after losing his parents in a plane crash and being adopted by monarch butterflies - only to lose his new family when they migrated to Mexico for the winter! He has a vast number of henchmen, most notably henchmen #21 and #24 who continually debate questions like that above, or whether or not Smurfs lay eggs.

Answer: Dr. Girlfriend

Seemingly born to be a female sidekick, Dr. Girlfriend was the assistant/lover of The Monarch for most of the program's first season, but has accompanied other super-villains (most notably Phantom Limb) both before and since. She is drawn with the stereotypically ideal feminine physique, but this is counterbalanced with a Harvey Fierstein-like voice.

These vocal characteristics have led some to speculate that she was not born a woman (and, more specifically, has had various organ transplants from a baboon), but, in the Season 2 episode "Victor. Echo. November", she clears the air with the above line to Triana Orpheus when the two meet in the ladies room.

Answer: Master Billy Quizboy

Neurogeneticist Master Billy Quizboy and his computer technician partner Mr. (Pete) White are occasional allies and colleagues of Dr. Venture and the crew. Though ostensibly brilliant scientists, they live in a trailer where they operate a consulting firm labeled "Conjectural Technologies". One may partially attribute their lask of success to their physical limitations: Master Billy Quizboy is a hydrocephalic dwarf with an artificial arm and a slight speech impediment, while Mr. White is an albino. More likely, they are probably just dissolute in the tradition of Dr. Venture himself.

In the above quote from "Are You There, G-d? It's Me, Dean", Dean Venture has a rather delicate medical condition that his father, perhaps unwisely, has referred to Master Billy Quizboy. For the full ramifications, catch the episode.

Answer: Dr. Byron Orpheus

Based on Marvel Comics character Dr. Strange, Dr. Orpheus is easily the most powerful character on the program, having the ability to read minds, predict the future, knock out opponents with a gesture, and any number of other miraculous capabilities. He is given precious little constructive action to do, however: he was assignted to read the accused's mind in "Trial of the Monarch", but this was curtailed when the courtroom was gassed.

He did get a crack at fighting super-villains in "Tag Sale, You're It!", but this was little more than a glorified playground fight and it failed to accomplish Orpheus' goal of acquiring a nemesis.

Answer: David Bowie

Bowie has been alluded to many times over the course of the program. In the first season episode "The Incredible Mr. Brisby", Bowie was the former owner of Brisby's panda. At the end of the episode, Bowie was revealed to have dispatched a Russian mercenary to retrieve the pet.

Though not a character in "Ghosts of the Sargasso", Bowie's songs "Space Oddity" and "Ashes to Ashes" provide the names of two characters and contribute tot the episode's plot and dialogue.

By the second season's finale, "Showdown at Cremation Creek (Part II)", Bowie is revealed to be Sovereign of The Guild of Calamitous Intent, the super-villain collective that The Monarch, Baron Ünderbheit, and Phantom Limb belong to. Alas, Bowie is voiced not by himself, but by James Urbaniak.