The Doctor Is Sin
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| “The Doctor Is Sin” | |||||||
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| The Venture Bros. episode | |||||||
 "This one is for your diet pills, and this is for whathaveyou." |
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| Episode no. | Season 3 Episode 28 |
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| Written by | Jackson Publick | ||||||
| Directed by | Jackson Publick | ||||||
| Production no. | 3-28 | ||||||
| Original airdate | 8 June 2008 | ||||||
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"The Doctor Is Sin" is the second episode in the third season of the television series The Venture Bros.
Contents |
[edit] Plot
Dr. Venture's business is once again on the rocks, so he tries to pull out all the stops to convince a four-star army general to buy from Venture Industries, but the General passes, seeing that all of the gadgets are just leftovers from Venture's father. After the general leaves, Dr. Henry Killinger arrives to offer his services, hiring "Venchmen" (henchmen for Venture) and quickly repairing the compound, returning it to its former glory. In the midst of his renewal of the compound, Dr. Orpheus discovers that Killinger may be something more sinister than anyone can comprehend.
After being evicted, Orpheus and Triana move in with the Alchemist. Brock arrives later with a housewarming gift (a case of beer) and is convinced by Orpheus that Killinger is up to no good. Back at the compound, Dr. Venture is put through a difficult test to "repair his soul", which involves overcoming his lack of self-worth and his jealousy over his brother Jonas's continuing success. It turns into a race against time as Orpheus, Brock and the Alchemist attempt to stop Killinger, who reveals he has been slowing preparing Dr. Venture to sign with the Guild of Calamitous Intent as a villain, with an option to arch his brother.
In the end, Venture turns down the contract and is left with none of the improvements Killinger made to the compound's operation, neither the Venchmen nor even the villain costume designed for him. The episodes ends with Killinger reciting a classical poem before an additional scene after the credits reveal that the Monarch attempted to kill Dr. Venture back in 2003 with a packaged cobra, showing that Dr. venture is even unsuccessful in keeping his mail organized.
[edit] Cultural references
- Hadji Singh, as an employee of Jonas Venture Jr., and Jonny Quest, as a drug addict, appear in this episode, a reference to Jonny Quest.
- The scene in which Dr. Killinger disintegrates the union heads into small piles of bright, multi-colored dust is a reference to the 1966 film Batman.
- When Dr. Venture first puts on his supervillain suit, saying that it's different, Killinger responds saying "Nixon said the same thing when I gave him his first power tie." Henry Kissinger, whom Killinger is based on, was former U.S. president Richard Nixon's National Security Advisor and Secretary of State.
- The goggles on Dr. Venture's supervillain suit are almost identical to those of Captain Cold from DC comics. The suit is reminiscent of Lex Luthor's pre-Crisis costume.
- Dr. Killinger quotes William Shakespeare's "All the world's a stage" at the end of the episode.
- Dr. Venture says that Killinger took enough blood to make a Kiss comic book. The rock band Kiss starred in a series of comic books, for which all the band members donated blood which was mixed into the ink.
- Jonas Venture Jr.'s publicity campaign includes a spoof of the popular ads for the iPod as well as an interview in Super-Scientific American.
- "Alpha Dog," the cereal Dr. Venture eats in his flashback, is a takeoff on Alpha-Bits cereal.
- Pete White sold stock in his company to buy a Wii video game console.
- When Killinger asks Dr. Venture to get into his magic murder bag, Venture asks "What's in there?" and Killinger responds, "Only what you take with you." This exchange is taken directly from a scene between Yoda and Luke Skywalker in The Empire Strikes Back.
- General Manhowers mentions having a Fruitopia, which he can't remember since he had it last; Fruitopia was a brand of fruit juice marketed by the The Coca-Cola Company from 1994 to 2001.
- While Brock is breaking into the Venture compound, Killinger can be heard reciting a modified portion of The Secret.
- Dr. Venture says that without an arch-nemesis, he is being attacked by every "Tom, Dick and Skeletor." Skeletor was He-Man's archnemesis in the Masters of the Universe franchise.
[edit] Connections to other episodes
- Dr. Henry Killinger makes a return, helping Dr. Venture get on his feet.
- Features a number of previously unseen supervillains vying to become Dr. Venture's new archenemy, building upon the fact The Monarch has stopped arching Venture.
- General Manhowers makes his third appearance since the pilot episode, "The Terrible Secret of Turtle Bay" and "Guess Who's Coming to State Dinner?." He also talks on the telephone with Dr Venture in the episode, "Viva Los Muertos!".
- Features Dr. Venture's former traveling companions Hector and Swifty in the background of Jonas Jr's facility. It seems they have been hired by Jonas Jr. after Dr. Venture fired them.
- Hadji is the third "Jonny Quest" character to appear on this show, following Race Bannon in "Ice Station - Impossible!" and Jonny himself in "Twenty Years to Midnight". One way or another, all three characters have some connection to Team Venture.
[edit] Production notes
- The first 15 minutes of this episode was played on April 1, 2008, to promote the new season, although only being a rough cut, lacking music and sound effects.
- Despite an oath by the writers to stop using Star Wars references, the episode contains one ("Only what you take with you.")
| Preceded by: "Shadowman 9: In the Cradle of Destiny" |
The Venture Bros. episodes original airdate: June 8, 2008 |
Followed by: "The Invisible Hand of Fate" |
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