THE VENTURE BROS season 4 part 2 DVD review

The Venture Brothers finally graduate from boy adventurers to misguided young man adventurers. But while new careers and sexy encounters complicate and baffle the Ventures' lives, their enemies stay single-minded in their intent on mayhem and revenge. The cost of clandestine alliances, closely guarded secrets and mysterious mind wipes are piling up almost as fast as the body count. Toss your cap and get comfortable in your gown... The Venture Bros. Season 4 Volume 2 is about to commence...

The wait for part two of season four of Venture Brothers was a long wait - read my review for part one right here - but it was all worth it. Venture Brothers does not miss a beat as it easily strides back into doing what it does best - layering twisted stories through its world of Johnny Quest inspired insanity.. The focus however has shifted away from boy-man scientist Rusty and his arch-nemesis the complex and frustrated Monarch and instead focuses on the supporting characters, in particular Master Billy Quizboy and Shore Leave, the very openly gay S.P.H.I.N.X agent. This serves to help keep the series fresh and allows for different parts of the well established Venture-verse to open up.

There are some truly stand out moments in these last collection of episodes that make up the finale of season 4. One particular story arc involving Rusty and a teddy bear is particularly hilarious and kooky necromancer neighbor Dr.Orpheus gets his own episode as well. Another episode focuses primarily on the villain Phantom Limb and his history with Professor Impossible.  This half season is one of the best collections of The Venture Brothers and is proof that the show is still going strong and staying fresh.

The Venture Brothers story is such a fascinating one, essentially good versus evil complicated by perverse adult hang-ups and situations that would never be mentioned in such a simple context. The machinations of how good does do battle with evil is explored thoroughly, picked apart and ridiculed, and despite this each character still has a very strong presence and it is hard to imagine the show without them, for these reasons alone The Venture Brothers still stands as the best western animation television series conceived.

The extras on the DVD include some deleted scenes and adverts for the season finale which is a double length episode and they are all par for the course. However the commentary returns for each episode as it was in the Season 4 volume 1 DVD, and once again proves highly entertaining and occasionally insightful regarding the production of the series and various ideas behind characters and plots. The commentary utilizes a pretty casual approach with the two creators, Doc Hammer and Christopher McCulloch spending half their time getting side tracked and discussing ideas they might want to implement and referring to fan opinions concerning the show as a whole. The commentaries are just as fun as the episode themselves and very much worth a repeat viewing of the show.

Overall it is perhaps a shame that the season was split in two like it was, and it cant help but be stated that a release of the full season 4 in one package would have been more desirable, here is hoping for a Bluray release! Regardless both parts of this incredible season are well worth it, bring on season five!