If Annoying Orange and Collegehumor.com can afford him, he can’t be charging that much.
If I could summon the finger of God down from the heavens to smite just one thing out of existence, it would be that.
I’m sure he’s pretty damned rich just from Family Guy at this point. The Brock-centric VBs were made back in 2003-2005, then Family Guy started back up and took off. I’d say that VB seems more like another job so he doesn’t want to do it full time, but still part-times and takes one-off roles for fun.
I’m willing to bet the bizarre on-again off-again VB schedule also has something to do with it. If it had regular seasons, he could schedule around it. But when the pay sucks and it’s unpredictable, I imagine that makes it hard to work it in.
One more in the Hatred of Hatred group.
He pops up everywhere though, I hear Warburton in just about everything. Or the Tick as I like to call him (Newsradio notwithstanding).
So if his dance card is full it doesn’t matter how much he charges per dance.
So, that happened. It wasn’t terrible, but it wasn’t great, either. And just a few seconds of Brock. Sigh.
I thought the premier was fantastic. It was focused and sharp in all the ways season 4 was messy and up its own ass. Getting back to some good old fashioned super science was just what the show needed.
For those on fence either because they missed episode, or wish to take a second look, entire first episode of season 4 now available free via YouTube, and for others who prefer to download, also available free of charge via iTunes between now and June 10. More details available at official Venture Bros. blog.
One man’s spoiler-laden opinion:
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Was overall unhappy with episode for several reasons, not least of which being overtly “different” portrayal of Dean character as acting in a highly different manner than that to which we are accustomed (cussing out adults, setting fire to his precious doll collection, etc.), apparently intended to be shocking, but so heavy-handed that any potential shock value was immediately buried. Character came off as being downright grating at points.
Meanwhile, several other major characters were left to completely forgettable, one-note portrayals, such as Doc (bumbling egomaniac idiot who screws everything up) and the Monarch (oblivious idiot who mistakenly thinks 21 will return to henching any minute now).
Several gags seemed to fall flat, most notably Soylent Green reference, which was driven into the ground. [i
[spoiler]Return of the Jedi[/i]-esque Ewok Village reference didn’t seem to set the world on fire, either. Also odd that there were few to no marijuana gags at conclusion of episode, given the ending.
Despite the fact that the boys landed both Parks and Recreation’s Aziz Ansari (playing Martin, leader of colony) and The Daily Show’s Wyatt Cenac (playing Tommy, green-robed student), episode still suffered greatly from bad case of previous seasons’ problem: having only two primary voice actors with limited range. Publick/McCulloch as thoroughly uninspired villain “St. Cloud” was especially lifeless. With any luck, they’ll have landed services of Mr. Hader once more, since that young man has real range.
For those who despise Sgt. Hatred, new episode offers mixed blessing in that Henchman 21/Gary will apparently join protagonists as team’s joint moral center. Role was previously occupied exclusively by Brock character, then as Mr. Warburton’s schedule got fuller, Sgt. Hatred assumed role of Venture family’s conscience. Now, Gary will apparently share joint duties with Hatred, which we all saw coming at end of last season, but episode’s finale more or less confirmed matters.
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Hoping episode 2 will step things up.
I thought it was pretty good. Dean’s change makes sense if you’ve seen the Halloween special.
My wife and I thought this was the best Venture Brothers in years. I liked how Rusty actually accomplished something (he had the ray shield built instead of blowing it off). My wife liked that Rusty didn’t lift a finger to accomplish anything, he just let his interns get eaten or mutated, and they actually did the work. Many pop culture references, many obscurish history references, many great callbacks to Venture episodes past.
Maybe it’s because I watched this while only four-fifths awake, on a little tablet screen, hitting the snooze button on my alarm every five minutes, but I liked this. It did seem to improve on my principle complaints with the last couple of seasons-- constant failure, and excessive squick. The Moppets were there, but without all the creepiness. Shore Leave was there, but immediately went away, hopefully for good. Sgt Hatred was there, but spent most of the episode being tortured and humiliated, which is a fair compromise. And Dr. Venture and Billy, for the first time in a long time, succeeded. So, cautiously optimistic for this season.
It was a fine season premiere. The hand-on-crotch montage made me laugh, along with a few other bits, but alot of it bounced off me. I feel like this show peaked in Seasons 2 and 3, but I’m happy to keep on watching, since I like the characters.
Loved it. It was a fantastic season premiere in my opinion. All the things I love about Venture Bros (whip smart humor, geek culture references that don’t feel forced, etc.) were contained within that one hour slice of heaven.
Is this season going to be hour long episodes or was that just the opener?
I really enjoyed the last episode. Lots of Monarch and Dr. Mrs. the Monarch, a fair amount of Brock, Gary playing a major role, another absurdly enthusiastic performance from Hank, and a minimum of Hatred and Dean, who’s not much fun any more.
Dean is trying to get past his own “See your own clone coma” drama when he learned his unnatural origins during the Halloween special. That’s why he was reading Judy Blume an episode or two ago (“Wifey”, one of her novels for grown-ups). I like his shoegaze period. It’s a nice contrast to Hank’s new occasional superheroics. He could be fun after he gets over it. Hatred actually helped Dean a little!
Spoilers for H-scroll breaking Spoilers
A clue! Why has the Monarch hated Dr. Venture all this time? I had figured that the young Monarch was the child actor that played Rusty Venture in the old TV show, and that’s where the rivalry was formed. On the other hand, one of the henchmen referred to it as a cartoon show, not a live action show. But see how similar Lil’ Rusty and Monarch look? Maybe they’re also brothers, cousins, or clones.
I always thought that Rusty played himself, and that one of the reasons for his current raft of problems was his child star status, which seems to ruin so many.
Belated notice: those who missed this past week’s episode advised to catch up. Episode absolutely stirring return to form with varied cast (including fmr. Saturday Night Live player Bill Hader, Brendon Small, and Mr. McCulloch actually not phoning it in), decent character development, and last but not least, wall-to-wall Warburton. Easily best of season so far.
Adult Swim appears to be offering full episode online but requires sign-in verification for cable subscribers.
Yeah, having Brock as a main instead of a cameo was an all-too-rare (but therefore very special) surprise.