Cultural References
Brainulo's Robot.
Brainulo named his robot Futaro. The appearance it has resembles that of Gigantor, a Japanese manga series created by Mitsuteru Yokoyama in 1956.
Also, related to the series. It also has characteristics to Astrobase Go inc.'s mascot, Soul Bot.
Dr. Jonas Venture Jr: This is the real atomic secret Rosenbergs tried to sell the Russians.
Jonas Jr was referring to the incident involving Julius Rosenberg and Ethel Greenglass Rosenberg who where communist spies working for the Russians They where convicted and executed after being discovered passing information to Soviet Russia about the Atomic Bomb.
Dr. Jonas Venture Jr: That means formal evening dress Scooby-Doo purple suit with a clip-on that happens to be black.
Jonas Jr may have been referring to the Scooby-Doo character, Daphne Blake.Scooby-Doo is a popular and classic animated series created in 1969. The character Daphne Blake usually wears dress that is almost completely purple.
Dr. Rusty Venture: Great. I'm going to have to talk to the Harlem Globetrotters again.
This could be another direct reference to the Hanna-Barbera cartoon universe (to which the Venture Bros. is based). Harlem Globetrotters had a 3 year long cartoon with Hanna-Barbera that lasted from 1970 to 1973.
Though It could also be just a basic coincidence.
There was also a Scooby-Doo 'movie' featuring the Harlem Globetrotters, in the Scooby-Doo series called "
The New Scooby-Doo Movies". The Venture Bros, as mentioned several times, is somewhat a spoof of Scooby-Doo.
The
Harlem Globetrotters are a comedic basketball team who combine athleticism and comedy. they where formed in 1927 by Abe Saperstein in the United States.
The Action Man: Yeah, they're not exactly the brightest bulbs on the old Menorah.
The Action Man reference a Jewish/Hebrew religious object called Menorah. A Menorah is a candelabra with it's eight columns all aliened in a row. The use of the Menorah is used to celebrate the Jewish holiday of Hanukkah (also known as the "Festival of Lights"). Hanukkah is the eight-day holiday commemorating the rebuilding of the Second Temple in Jerusalem on the 2nd century BCE.
Dr. Rusty Venture: Give me another double sidecar.
Dr. Venture was asking a bartender for a cocktail drink called a sidecar.
A sidecar is a cocktail drink which ingredients traditionally consist of Cognac, orange liqueur, and lemon juice.
Dr. Jonas Venture Jr: What? Who Richard? He was in the Boys' Brigade.
The Boys' Brigade is a uniformed youth organization formed in Glasgow in 1883 by William Alexander Smith.
The Action Man: Man, howdy you would of loved it. Friday night, we'd fly down to Cuba. Arch Castro for a couple of hours. Then swing up to the White House for debriefing. It's Jack's code for one of his legendary pool parties. For round two we'd jet over to Vegas in time to catch Frank's last show at the Sands. Then bingo-bango down to Coco Beach to whoop it up with the Mercury Guys.
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Cuba, of course, is a Caribbean island currently known to harbor a communist dictator known as
Fidel Castro. Fidel Castro, with the aid of his revolutionary party and Che Guevara, came into power after a successful military coup in 1956.
- Sometime in October 1962, then US president
John Fitzgerald "Jack" Kennedy made a speech regarding the documents containing areal photography taken by an American spy plane which revealed missile bases being built in Cuba. Which lead to one of the largest threats to the US in history. Cuban-American relations where never the same again. (President Kennedy was also shown inside the museum's photo gallery in a portrait of Dr. Jonas Venture Sr. give a hand shack to the president.)
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John Fitzgerald "Jack" Kennedy was the 35th President of the United States from January 20, 1961 – November 22, 1963. His term in office ended after an assassination attempt took his life. Jack was known to be a "play boy" in his time. He was also known by some to be philanthropist, cheating on his wife, Jacqueline Kennedy. (The Action Man was referring to this when he mentioned "Jack's famous pool parties")
- The
White House, of course, is the residence and workplace of the President of the United States.
- (Las)
Vegas, of course, is a city in Nevada that features legalized gambling, and is also known for their entertainment sectors such as singer's club, major resort city for the gaming industry, shopping, and other motives for tourism.
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Francis Albert "Frank" Sinatra was an singer who sang on multiple popular genres on time like: vocal Jazz, big band and swing. Frank had an album in 1956? named "Sinatra at the Sands", the "Sands" (aka "
Sands Hotel and Casino ") is a resort where he use to perform shows regularly.
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Coco Beach is a beach located on the east coast of Florida.Somewhat of relative distance from the NASA Kennedy Center. The "
Mercury Guys" the Action Man was referring to are members of the Mercury astronauts team, known as the "Mercury Seven". the team was formed in 1959 by NASA from orders of US President Dwight D. Eisenhower for missions related to the Mercury capsules, which where tight small cramped capsules that would only allow people of certain height in them.
Colonel Gentleman: Don't you try it, Prince Adam!
Prince Adam is a character of the "Masters of the Universe" cartoon/comics franchise. He turns into his alter ego, He-Man, after he says a magical line and raises his mystical sword.
Colonel Gentleman was referring to how Brock turns into a killing machine when altered.
Colonel Gentleman: So I buried my grief in an entire box of Mallomars with a Yoo-hoo chaser. While you boys must of happened upon me whilst I was in the throws of a diabetic coma.
- Mallomars are seasonally produced chocolate products, produced by Nabisco. And first introduced the public in 1913 Mallomars, like "Moon Pies" are a layer of marshmallow sandwiched in between two graham cracker and enrobed in dark chocolate that forms a hard shell.
- Yoo-hoo Is the name of a chocolate milkshake-like product, first produced in New Jersey in the 1920s.
- Eating many high-in sugar products causes a diabetic patient to go into a dangerous coma like state, known as diabetic coma. The shot inside the syringe Kiki gave him was most likely a shot of insulin. Diabetes is caused when the hormone "insulin" isn't being sufficiently produced naturally inside one's body. Diabetes is characterized by disordered metabolism resulting in abnormally high level of sugar in blood.
-- Diabetic coma is the medical emergency associated with people that live with diabetes. When suffering from this, the patient becomes in comatose (unconscious) state, due to one of the acute complications of diabetes.
The Action Man: I can't believe you slept with Killermanjaro!
The villain (?) Killermanjaro's name is a play on word on the set of three volcanic mountains named "Kilimanjaro" located north-eastern of Tanzania.
Colonel Gentleman: Neither did he, till the day he tried to ambush me in the middle of a threesome Gore Vidal and Wally Schirra.
Gore Vidal is an American author of novels, stage plays, screenplays, and essays, and an erstwhile political candidate, who was most noted for being one of the first authors to include openly homosexual characters inside his novels.
Walter Marty Schirra, Jr. was an American astronaut and was part of the Project Mercury. He was the only person on this project to fly in all of America's first three space programs which were the Mercury, Gemini and Apollo missions.
Also note that Wally Schirra was part of the
Mercury Seven, as noted by the Action Man.
Colonel Gentleman: List Pot Noodle, we are the memory, OK? Now I saw your "suggested donation box" on the way in. So unless you're giving us a cut of the do, I suggest go roues Spider-Man and the Great Gazoo over there.
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Pot Noodle is the brand name of ramen-style instant noodle snack foods. It comes in a dehydrated microwavable cup container, and only needs to add hot water to make it cook.
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Spider-Man is a Marvel Comics superhero developed in 1962 by Stan Lee and Steve Ditko, and has abilities like a spider.
Colonel Gentleman was referring to how Scaramantula is consider by them to be a rip-off of Spider-Man in a way. Scaramantula has a scar on his nose that vaguely resembles a spider-man, but as he explained to Billy Quizboy, the scar is only part of his persona. He includes his eye brow and his mustache as his tartula persona. Also he has a harry hand with eight fingers on it.
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The Great Gazoo is a character from the Hanna-Barbera series, the
Flintstonea. The Great Gazoo is an alien that was exiled to earth and was discovered by Fred Flintstone and Barney Rubble. He often helps Fred and Barney from time to time, referring to them as "Dumb, Dumb" He is only visible to them and children.
Colonel Gentleman was referring to how Brainulo looks like. Like The Great Gazoo, Brainulo has a short size, a large cranium and a different skin color. The Great Gazoo is green, while Brainulo is pink.
Colonel Gentleman's Book and Book Cover.
Colonel Gentleman's, "Gentlemen Prefers Gentleman", is a spoof on the comic novel written by Anita Loos in 1925, "Gentlemen Prefer Blondes".
Colonel Gentleman's book cover has Colonel Gentleman wearing a tuxedo and drinking a martini. Clear reference to the Ian Flemming's character, James Bond, agent 007. Colonel Gentleman is part parodied to him. both are British have the same Scottish (Sean Connery) accent, and have daring jobs.This is also running gag in the series. There have been more references to his comparison with both James Bond and Sean Connery.
Pirate Captain: Ya could Photoshop him in later.
Adobe Photoshop, formally Macromedia Photoshop, is a world renowned computer graphics editing program currently being published by Adobe.Systems. First developed in 1988 by Thomas Knoll.
Brainulo: Kay Sang
(?), 1970. You still hear the cries of the children as you burn their village.
Since the city or village Brainulo mentioned (Kay Sang ?) isn't eligible, it is easy to assume that he was referring to war crimes committed by the US government during the Vietnam War. February 7, 1968 another village by the name Ben Tre was purposely burnt to the ground and destroyed by U.S. An AP reporter by the name of "Peter Arnett" asked an unnamed soldier about this. To which he said:
| Quote: |
| "It became necessary to destroy the town to save it." |
Brainulo: You fantasize about conquering... The mother from Growing Pains!?
Pete White: Oh yeah, that episode where they showed her in the bath tub.
Growing Pains is an American television sitcom that premiered in 1985 on ABC network, till 1992. The mother from this show Brainulo was referring to "Maggie Seaver", and was played by actress "Joanna Kerns"
The episode Pete was referring to, if any, is still not clear.
The Action Man: Jinkies, it's pirates!
Clear reference to the famous line from the Scooby-Doo character, Velma Dinkley. Who in occasion, she utters the word "Jinkies". Also, she even had said "Jinkies, it's pirates" on at least one occasion.
Talk show host (Dick): Uh, Dr. Venture. What would you say is your greatest adventure, and parenthetically what is your greatest invention?
Dr. Jonas Venture Sr.: Hmm, Well, Dick. Those are both excellent questions, but I'm afraid I only have one answer. My son.
The man interviewing Dr. Jonas Venture Sr. was most likely Richard Alva "Dick" Cavett from The Dick Cavett Show. His accent is almost identical that to Dick Cavett.
This man also resembles that of Ed Sullivan from the Ed Sullivan show.
Other possible connections, though most likely not the case, could be "Dick" Clark, or even Johnny Carson.
Fenadragon's background and third nipple.
Scaramantula: No doubt, your supernumerary nipple made you a prior in your childhood village of... Japananowa.
Japananowa is a play on words of Japan + Okinawa
Japan, of course, is the island nation located in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean.
Okinawa is the largest of the Ryukyu Islands, and is home to Naha, the capital of Okinawa Prefecture. And is the scene of one of the most horrific battles of the second world war taking place in the Pacific Ocean.
- A supernumerary nipple is the birth abnormality that are often mistaken for moles, which is an additional nipple occurring in higher mammals, including humans. The rate that supernumerary nipples are diagnosed in humans are at 1 out of 18 births.
Dr. Fenedragon/Dr. Jonas Venture Sr.'s fake supernumerary nipple is located on the left side of his lower cheek.
This could also be reference to the James Bond film and the Ian Fleming's character shown in the Bond movie "The Man with the Golden Gun". In the movie, James bond had to go undercover as a man that had an supernumerary nipple located in his chest.
Subsequently, In another Bond Film, "You Only Live Twice", James Bond had to go undercover as a Japanese man.
Screams made by a Scaramantula henchman when Team Venture's tunneling machine busts into Spider Skull Island.
The scream heard after Team Venture's tunneling machine busts into Spider Skull Island was actually a pre-recorded reused production stock sound effect named the
Wilhelm Scream.
Wilhelm scream was first used in the1951 film Distant Drums, and notably used in Star Wars: A New Hope and a big list of other films, video games, and television shows. The actor who is most likely the person who recorded this scream is Sheb Wooley.
Note: This is the third time this season that the Wilhelm scream is heard.
1)
The Buddy System
2)
What Goes Down, Must Come Up Dr. Jonas Venture Jr.: Say Brock, my bartender whips up a Shirley Temple that's out of this world. Maybe you should take the boys?
Brock: Yeah yeah. Sure. Come on boys, lets go wet our non-alcoholic whistle.
A Shirley Temple, named after child actress "Shirley Temple", is a non-alcoholic mixed cocktail drink made with ginger ale, grenadine syrup, and orange juice and garnished with a maraschino cherry and a slice of lemon.
Professor Impossible: Sally! I did it all for you, Sally. (Professor Impossible jumps off the balcony)
This a parody to the scene to the 1976 (remake 2006) movie, The Omen. In the movie, Damien's nanny hangs herself as a gift to Damien on his fifth birthday party. He she jumps off a balcony and hangs herself
(1976 version) Her line goes as follows:
Nanny: Look at me Damien! It's all for you!
She then jumps off from the window, and hangs herself.
Pirate Captain finding Sally Naked.
The scene where Pirate Captain finds Sally naked after taking a shower is similar to a brief scene in the live action movie "Fantastic 4" (2005) in which Reed Richards (Mister Fantastic), goes looking for Susan Storm (Invisible Woman) and opens a bathroom and finds her showering. Susan turns invisible just after she notices Reed coming in without knocking.
The Fantastic Four is a superhero team published by Marvel Comics, created Stan Lee and artist/co-writer Jack Kirby by in 1961. The live action movie premiered in 2005 and it's sequel in 2007. Sally Impossible and the rest of the Impossibles are based on The Fantastic Four.
Dr. Jonas Venture Jr.'s Jet pack
The exhaust fumes coming out of resembles that of all the propelling devices shown in the Hanna-Barbera cartoon series,
The Jetsons. It could as be a reference to Jetson's character Mr. Spacely who is equally small in height and frequents raveling in a anti gravity chair that has the same fumes coming off of it.
Dr. Jonas Venture Sr. doll: Watch out! Incoming frogmen!
This is a homage to the old
Johny Quest cartoon series. to which the frogmen are recurring stock enemies on said show.
Scaramantula
Scaramantula is mixture of characters, most notably his features include a scar on his nose resembling a spider with two legs. And as he explained it: "the mustache and the eye brows make eight" legs. He also has one hand covered in hair with the same hand having eight fingers on it. He could be based upon several Ian Fleming's characters like:
Francisco Scaramanga of the Bond movie "The Man with the Golden Gun". The who played Francisco Scaramanga actor is Christopher Lee, who at that time period resembles physically Scaramantula. Also in common is that both Scaramantula and Scaramanga lived in remote islands layers.
Ernst Blofeld the Bond movie "Blofeld of You Only" Live Twice, to which Ernst and Scaramantula have very similar villainous layers.
Scaramantula also resembles a creature from the cult classic movie "A Corpse Hangs in the Web" aka "Horrors of Spider Island". Apart from the movie title, which obviously is point in reference to Scaramantula's old headquarters, the monster in question use to be a man who got infected by a spider bite , and was slowly transforming into an inhuman spider monster covered in thick brown fur. It first spread all around his hands, then his entire body.Brainulo's appearance.
Brainulo's appearance can be attributed to several DC Comics and Marvel Comics superheroes and villains with enlarged craniums. Most notably DC Comics supervillain Brainiac, who has a large head with mechanical diodes, or neural implants, attached to it. Brainulo's name also somewhat resembles that of Brainiac's name.
Another DC Comic's supervillain hat resembles Brainulo is Hector Hammond, which has a large-head who also possesses psychic powers.
A Marvel Comic's supervillain that resembles Brainulo could be Leader aka Samuel Sterns. Leader has a large cranium and a small body.
Dr. Entmann: The Compound's fine, but those kids keep trying to flush me down the fucking toilet. They think I'm the Ty-D-Bol man!
The Ty-D-Bol man is actually a commercial character for the bathroom toilet cleaning product,
Ty-D-Bol.
The commercial can be seen here. Otto Aquarius ability to communicate with sea animals.
it is revealed in this episode that Otto Aquarius has the ability to communicate with sea animals. In this case, piranhas. This is reference to one of the abilities DC Comic book superhero Aquaman has, to which Otto Aquarius' character is based on.
Ned's hat.
Ned wore a
New York Jets that he had been previously seen wearing in the season two episode "
Twenty Years to Midnight".
New York Jets is a professional American football team based in the New York metropolitan area. To which they are They are members of the Eastern Division of the American Football Conference (AFC) in the National Football League (NFL).
Dr. Entmann's Humongoloid persona's height, appearance and physical deformities.
Dr. Entmann, as Humongoloid, resembles famous old time wrestler André the Giant, who, like André, struggled with health problems related to his size, including shortness of breath, and heart restraint caused by his acromegaly. André was 7'4" and had the same style of hair Humongoloid had. They both also had a very deep voice. Though since André was not as tall as Humongoloid.
Analysis
Hover boots and hover Bike
The two recurring gadgets makes an appearance on the flashback scenes. These two gadgets are also revealed to be inventions of Dr. Jonas Venture Sr., and not what it was previously assumed to be Dr. Rusty Venture's. This is also a running gag on the show where inventions that seemed to be Dr. Rusty Venture's are in fact his father's.
Both gadgets where frequently used by Hank and Dean inside the Venture Compound.
Dr. Jonas Venture Sr. Death?
One of the running mysteries revolving around the series is what actually happened to Dr. Jonas Venture Sr.
For the most part, it has been repetitively stated that Dr. Jonas Venture Sr. is in fact dead. Though there are many doubts to this claim.
Dr. Rusty Venture hinted that Team Venture had a hand in his late father's death:
Dr. Rusty Venture: (Drunk) I just came by to say how glad I am you were all able to make it out gorge yourselves on free shrimp in my father's honor
Brock: OK doc.
Dr. Rusty Venture: It's too bad your old pal Colonel Gentleman couldn't be here to bask in the glory with you. Oh, or did you guys get him killed too?
Dr. Rusty Venture implies that the original Team Venture had a hand in his late father's death.
Two children attending the museum's inauguration.
Again we see two of the children, (Red haired kid, and dark skinned kid), who attended "Rusty’s Day Camp for Boy Adventure" ("
The Buddy System" ). Who were then shown during a flashback scene under the Venture estate. They where described as orphans back then. ("
What Goes Down, Must Come Up"). The later was an error, the animators reused stock characters for this flashback scene. In contrast to the error, the appearance of these two children roaming the museum with an elderly man is fully intentional. One of the even wears a new "Rusty Venture" T- shirt. (
Picture)
Also note, the red haired kid has worn the same shorts on all three episode, and the shirt was only seen on two of them. (Nothing strange for a cartoon though.)
Kano speaks.
First episode to feature Kano speak, though he only speaks in unison with other characters and is inaudible. The event was when the original Team Venture were taking a picture and Dickie told them to say "Go Team Venture!". In the episodes to fallow, namely
ORB, it is revealed that Kano took a vow of silence in respect
after the death of Dr. Jonas Venture Sr.
More into his abilities is revealed, like he can some how summon or naturally breath out fire..
The Minotaur death.
Seemingly the Minotaur was a part of Scaramantula's "Fraternity of Torment".
As we learned in previous episodes, the Monarch made up a fake alter ego named "The Minotaur" to elude the Phantom Limb from finding out his true identity. It turns out that there was a real supervillain named just that. The Phantom Limb seeked out vengeance on The Minotaur and seemingly killed him earlier this season (
Shadowman 9: In the Cradle of Destiny).
The reason that is supposed he didn't attend the Museum's opening seems thought that he truly had died by the hands of the Phantom Limb.
Colonel Gentleman's Sexual Orientation.
Stated by Jackson Publick in his LiveJournal since Colonel Gentleman's first appearance, and hinted in the show numerous times, it has became clear that Colonel Gentleman's sexual orientation leans towards him being gay. though, he could also be a bisexual. Though, by his autobiographical book, which is titled "Gentleman Prefers Gentlemen", seems clear that he prefers men.
| Jackson Publick's LiveJournal Wrote: |
| Colonel Horace Gentleman (named after the bassist from The Specials and designed to look like a cross between Sean Connery and Quentin Crisp) is a retired RAF officer/spy who now lives in Tangier...with a bronzed man-child named Kiki (apologies to "Naked Lunch"). Kano, because you always need an Asian master of the martial arts in any self-respecting action team, is named after one of our storyboard revision artists--Danny Kimanyan--because I once made the embarrassing and politically incorrect social gaffe of thinking he was Asian, when in fact he is not. The Action Man you might remember from the "Ghosts of Sargasso" episode--is all-American--pretty much a low grade Captain America type, probably a military supersoldier or something. And Otto Aquarius, the exiled son of Atlantis, half man, half Atlantean, is of course an homage to Aquaman and SubMariner and characters of that ilk. Only now he's sought solace in the Jehovah's Witnesses and lives in Brooklyn Heights. |
One reference to his sexual preference can be seen in the season three episode
Dr. Quymn, Medicine Woman, where Dr. Jonas Venture Sr. is hosting a Swinger's party and looks at a young man in a particular way.
The Original Team Venture team members.
We find out that apart from the members we already know of, ie.:
- The Action Man
- Otto Aquarius
- Colonel Gentleman
- Kano
- Swifty
- Dr. Jonas Venture Sr.
- Dr. Paul Entmann as "Humonguloid"
- Major Tom
There was another member that had not been seen or heard of before. This member, Ook Ook, was a caveman who had been apparently frozen in ice for a long time.
Also, Professor Richard "Dickie" Impossible, was a semi-member of the team, and part of a group called "the Boy's Brigade".