The Venture Bros. -
The Fifth Season
(2013/Warner Bros/Adult Swim Blu-ray)
Picture:
B- Sound: B Extras: C Episodes: A
For
those who are familiar to our site, they will recognize that I have
sung the praises of The
Venture Bros time
and time again; well, nothing has changed!
The
Venture Bros is
as wonderful as ever; returning to thrill audiences with its off
brand of humor, stunningly intricate storylines, and pop
culture/superhero references galore!
If
you are just finding out about The
Venture Bros,
take a step back and proceed to Season
One.
Whereas each episode is relatively self-contained, filled with
wonderful humor and action; the fact remains that the series has
created this epic world that references itself constantly. Even
longtime fans such as myself are lost at times as the references come
slickly and quickly.
This
season has the Venture boys Dean and Hank coming more into their own,
breaking away from The Venture Compound, dear ol' dad, and even
bodyguard Brock Samson. The series manages to take itself to the
next level as characters who had seemingly little to do with each
other in the past are now consistently interacting; bringing heroes,
villains, secret agencies, and other assorted monsters to each
other's doorsteps (often quite literally).
The
insanity that occurs this season was worth the two year wait it took
to get new episodes; offering some of the best moments the series has
ever seen. The episodes may be individually marked, but collectively
the season feels like one giant overarching episode with a constant
to be
continued
aura. I can't exactly put my finger on what The
Venture Bros is
other than self-aware and a continuous homage to failure. Whereas,
each character is more content with themselves this season you can't
help but sense that the world of The
Venture Bros is
coming to a boiling point and something catastrophic is about to
occur that drags them all back together.
The
technical features of The
Venture Bros in
its 5th
Season
(3rd
release on Blu-ray) are again not outstanding, but are a vast
improvement over the shaky Complete
4th
Season release.
The picture is a 1080p, 1.78 X 1, VC-1 Encode even as the box lists
it as a 2.40 X 1 image. The disorder that existed in the previous
two Blu-ray releases continues here, just not at the same blatant,
chaotic levels. The art itself is stunning with bright colors,
dark/framing/inky borders, and nice direction; but the issues of
banding, odd vertical lines in certain scenes, and a general
sloppiness leaves the presentation at times distracting. The sound
is somewhat better as the 5.1 Dolby TrueHD track gets the job done
without many hiccups, but a DTS track for this epic series would have
cleaner and better suited. The dialogue comes through stunningly
crisp and clear, also demonstrating a solid bass, and dynamic panning
effects; but nothing that will knock your socks off.
The
extras are minimalistic to say the least; offering up eight (8) audio
commentaries that are interestingly lively, but that is about all.
Other extras include about 6 minutes of Deleted Scenes that neither
add nor detract from the series and a Fax
my Grandson
improv moment with voice actor Larry Murphy that is somewhat
entertaining.
Though
the studio and/or creators don't put much effort into the technical
features, the packaging is always awesomely fun. This time around
the box art (slip case) plays on the classic Hardy
Boys
book cover art, featuring (seemingly) hand painted art of a
pterodactyl latched onto The Venture Jet with the boys inside.
The
Venture Bros is
as great as ever and when new episodes arrive they pass by all too
fast; leaving the viewer wanting more. Here on Blu-ray you can
relive every crazy moment; and perhaps even help refresh your memory
on all of those moments where they make a reference from 3 seasons
ago.
-
Michael P. Dougherty II
