If I had a dollar for every TV show that was unceremoniously cancelled, and with a cliffhanger no less, I would start my own network and give all a reprieve. Or at least a satisfying conclusion.
But no abruptly cancelled TV show hurt as much as The Venture Bros., the irreverent and intelligent Adult Swim ‘toon that came to an unexpected end in 2020.
Thankfully, I wasn’t the only one bothered by this, as fan outcry led Adult Swim to give the show the send off it deserves in the form of a finale movie, The Venture Bros.: Radiant Is The Blood Of The Baboon Heart, which has just been released on Blu-ray and digital. And while it didn’t make me okay with the show coming to an end, at least it gets to end, and in an interesting way.
When we last saw our Bros.,
in the season seven episode “The Saphrax Protocol,” Dean woke up to find that his brother Hank had snuck out of the hospital and gone off somewhere because, “it’s time I grow up,” while The Monarch finally got to join the hierarchy of The Guild Of Calamitous Intent, only to learn he’s related to his arch enemy, Dr. Venture. And then it promised, “The Venture Bros. will return…”
Which leads up to The Venture Bros.: Radiant Is The Blood Of The Baboon Heart, in which Hank is still M.I.A., Dr. Venture’s trying to launch his own version of Alexa, and Dr. Mrs. The Monarch is out for blood…literally. Dr. Venture’s blood. But when a secretive alternate to the Guild offers The Monarch a different way to be villainous, events are set in motion that could lead to some familiar faces’ final days.
As you’d expect if you’ve watched even one episode of the show, The Venture Bros.: Radiant Is The Blood Of The Baboon Heart is as smart, intricate, well-written, self-referential, very funny, and weird as, well, that one episode you watched. And all the other ones you watched after it because, like Oreos and tortilla chips — or, more appropriately, episodes of Rick & Morty or Archer or The Simpsons — one is never enough.
Not surprisingly, The Venture Bros.: Radiant Is The Blood Of The Baboon Heart also features the usual top notch work series’ regulars James Urbaniak (Dr. Venture), Christopher McCulloch (Hank), Michael Sinterniklaas (Dean), and Patrick Warburton (Brock), with the always excellent Clancy Brown returning as Red Death, the iconic J.K. Simmons as Ben, and the hilarious Jane Lynch as [NO SPOILERS].
It’s also nice that The Venture Bros.: Radiant Is The Blood Of The Baboon Heart is uncensored. A good “fuck” beats a “bleep” every time.
Though unlike most episodes of The Venture Bros. — save for maybe the last one of season four, “Operation: P.R.O.M.” — The Venture Bros.: Radiant Is The Blood Of The Baboon Heart also serves as a good ending to the show, as it answers some of the lingering questions from season seven and earlier.
That said,
The Venture Bros.: Radiant Is The Blood Of The Baboon Heart does feel more like a very long episode of the show than it does a movie. Or, for that matter, 3 or 4 episodes strung together.
It’s also not a stand-alone movie. It’s not like The Simpsons Movie, Beavis And Butt-Head Do America, or South Park: Bigger, Longer, And Uncut, none of which required prior knowledge of their respective shows to understand (though they were more fun if you had some). You absolutely need to have watched the all seven seasons of The Venture Bros. to follow, let alone enjoy, Radiant Is The Blood Of The Baboon Heart.
As for the Blu-ray version of The Venture Bros.: Radiant Is The Blood Of The Baboon Heart, it presents the movie with the kind of clear visuals and audio you expect when you buy a movie or TV show on Blu-ray. Which, of course, means it also doesn’t have the commercials or on-screen icons it will when it inevitably runs on Adult Swim.
The Blu-ray version of The Venture Bros.: Radiant Is The Blood Of The Baboon Heart also comes with some rather interesting extras. First, there are two running commentaries by co-creators, writers, voice actors, etc., Jackson Publick and Doc Hammer. In the first, like the episode commentaries they did for the previous seasonal sets and the recent The Venture Bros.: The Complete Series DVD, they watch the movie and talk about how it came to be, and why certain decisions were made, albeit in a way that’s fun to listen and not at all like a lecture you’d hear at film school.
As for the second, this has them answering questions from fans, though they don’t correspond to what’s going on in the part of the movie being shown, so I’m not sure why they did it as a commentary as opposed to just showing footage of Publick and Hammer talking.
Which is kind of what happens…
in the other special feature, “Hodgman And Friends,” in which John Hodgman — the comedic actor, Daily Show survivor, and voice of OSI agent Snoopy in Radiant — interviews Publick and Hammer about the movie and the series. Presented as a faux Joe Franklin-esque talk show only shown on TVs in NYC taxi cabs, this also has them answering fan questions, and Hodgman’s, albeit in a much less serious way. Which isn’t to say it’s not informative, just that’s it’s not as serious as the second commentary.
Though this is interesting: Both commentaries come with Spanish subtitles. And I don’t mean subtitles for the movie, the subtitles are for Publick’s and Hammer’s comments. Nice.
The Venture Bros.: Radiant Is The Blood Of The Baboon Heart Blu-ray also comes with a poster of the cover art…albeit one that’s all folded up, and thus will never look good hanging on your wall next to the one you got at Comic-Con.
As good as the extras are on the Blu-ray version of The Venture Bros.: Radiant Is The Blood Of The Baboon Heart, they could’ve been better. Though, possibly, not by a lot. Given that they didn’t include any, there’s probably nothing of significance lying on the cutting room floor. Which means the only things they could’ve included and didn’t, but should’ve, were the original trailers and commercials.
Oh, and the Robot Chicken sketch with Publick and Hammer about the show being cancelled. But then, I also wish that season of Robot Chicken was out on Blu-ray.
I also wish The Venture Bros.: Radiant Is The Blood Of The Baboon Heart was available on DVD. Not for me, but for people who don’t have a Blu-ray player, or want the movie to be in line with The Venture Bros.: The Complete Series DVD.
All things considered,
I still would’ve rather had an eighth season of The Venture Bros. more than Radiant Is The Blood Of The Baboon Heart. Or an eighth season that leads to a final movie. But if this is how it has to end, so be it. It’s a really, really good ending to a really, really good show and, more importantly, a fitting one, as it was clearly done on Hammer’s and Publick’s terms. Farewell, Venture Bros. I will miss you. But never more than when I watch this movie again.
SCORE: 8.5/10
