The complete series of The Venture Bros is finally available in one physical collection. That alone makes it worth picking up.
Spanning a total of seven seasons of 20 years, The Venture Bros. animated series is proof positive that quality is definitely preferred over quantity. When you look at it all together, especially considering the fact even the longest season only came in at 16 episodes (and was split in half), it seems kind of ridiculous to think it took so long to get seven seasons together. Not to mention the fact the story isn’t technically done, but thankfully the upcoming movie will resolve that.
While being a fan of the show has been somewhat frustrating because of the wonky release schedule over the past couple decades, it’s impossible to argue with the result. From it’s initial episode all the way to the series finale, every episode is a certified banger. There’s a reason it’s managed to retain (and grow) its fan base over the years despite the massive gaps between some of the seasons.
Originally kicking off as a dark riff on the older adventure cartoons of the 60s (specifically the original Jonny Quest) the show also managed to deliver its own unique storylines while being insanely hilarious. It’s insane how well this series holds up, and even the early episode from decades ago have aged impressively well.
This is far from the first time I’ve revisited the series, but I’m still blown away by how every joke/gag manages to have the same impact on each re-watch. Not every cartoon can do that on top of keeping a compelling overarching story going. Even more impressive to think how it’s managed to retain the same overall tone and feel over the years it’s been airing. Like, aside from some visual fidelity, you could take just about any episode from season one and compare it to season seven and be hard pressed to imagine them being made nearly two decades apart.
In short, it rules. I don’t often do any kind of “rankings” for my favorite things, but I never hesitate to mention Venture Bros. when discuss my all time favorite animated shows.
As such, the Complete Series collection is nice to have and if you fell off of the series during one of its (many) long breaks, there’s never been a better time to get into it. When the first three seasons originally aired, a few of the episodes were shown out of order. While most of the episodes work individually, the larger story is definitely more serialized and being out of order can be confusing. As has been the case with previous physical releases, the Complete Series DVD ensures the episodes are presented in the proper release order.
Generally speaking, the Complete Series DVD delivers exactly what it promises. It brings together all the seasons and all the previously released bonus features (not much, but still nifty) into one neat package. For that, I’m giving it an automatic recommendation for you all to pick up. If you never got into the show, this is the perfect way to catch up before the movie releases. If you’re a diehard fan it’s nice to have them all together in a single set, especially as you never know when Warner Bros. might decide to pull it from streaming.
That said…it’s frustrating that this is a DVD only release. Especially considering seasons three through seven were all released on Blu-ray at one point. This would have been the perfect opportunity to finally upgrade the first couple seasons to the higher-def format. And yet they decided not to. It’s a mind-boggling choice. The image quality is fine enough (especially for the older episodes), but in the later seasons, knowing Blu-ray quality transfers exist, it’s annoying.
In an age where beloved shows can randomly disappear and there’s no telling when you might see them again, this is very much a “beggars can’t be choosers” situation. While the DVD format isn’t ideal, having the full series under a single set is still pretty damn great.
If you already have the individual seasons, however, there really isn’t much reason to pick this one up unless you’re a completionist collector. But if you’re new to the series, or missed a few seasons, this is an excellent way to get all caught up.
The Venture Bros. Complete Series on DVD is available now online and at major retailers.
