Few American animated shows have had the depth and breadth of the long-running Adult Swim series “The Venture Bros.” The series, created by Jackson Publick and Doc Hammer, started as a riff on old Hanna Barbera shows like “Johnny Quest,” following adult super-scientist Dr. Thaddeus “Rusty” Venture (James Urbaniak) as he tries to escape the shadow of his genius father and child stardom as a boy adventurer. Along with his bodyguard, the turbo-competent Brock Samson (Patrick Warburton), he’s also trying to raise his sons, Hank (Chris McCulloch) and Dean (Michael Sinterniklaas), who are hilariously earnest and sweet and disaster-prone. They faced off against Rusty’s nemesis, the Monarch (McCulloch), along with various other villains from the Guild of Calamitous Intent, for seven seasons before being pretty abruptly cancelled, leaving them with a pretty unsatisfying ending.
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In an interview with NPR, Hammer shared his feelings on the “ending” they were left with following the cancellation, which saw Hank leaving the family to go find himself out in the world. It was a perfect cliffhanger, but not the right kind of ending for a show with as much heart and focus on family as “The Venture Bros.” and Hammer explained why it felt so bitter.
Despite its acerbic humor, Venture Bros. had a huge heart
Hammer explained that the open ending was a bummer that didn’t vibe with the show’s themes, especially since Hank was often the heart of the Venture family:
“We would never end the show with one of our characters going away. We have a character walking away from the Venture family, which is not the way Jackson and I think of the Ventures. There is love and family at the core of all this, and yes [it’s] dysfunctional … but love and family is a deep part of our show. And to have somebody flip his gears and just go off in search for himself … that’s not the kind of ending we would ever write. That doesn’t feel good to me.”
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Thankfully, the Adult Swim teamed up with Max (they’re all owned by Warner Bros.) to stream some original movie follow-ups to beloved Adult Swim shows, including “The Venture Bros.,” so fans (and the show’s creators) got a much better ending than the one that we were originally stuck with following season 7. The movie, “The Venture Bros.: Radiant Is the Blood of the Baboon Heart,” gives fans of the show as perfect an ending as a show can get, and with a show as wonderful as “The Venture Bros.,” that’s some seriously high praise. If you’ve never seen “The Venture Bros.,” get on that, because it’s an incredible ride with a perfect ending … even if fans had to wait a little bit.
