Show #207: The Venture Brothers Series 6 & 7

Anything is possible, as long as you got FAMILY. We've followed the deranged exploits of the extended Venture clan all the way to their denouement in this last set of series. A new locale and a fresh start beckons, paring down the enormous cast to its comedic core before turning them loose with all the carte blanche a billion dollar super science corporation allows. Almost fated to be forever left unresolved on a cliffhanger, can those Venture boys keep their place in our hearts until the upcoming feature length finale bids them a fond farewell? Could such a thing ever be completely satisfactory? Is there a shameless reference they haven't wedged in yet? We ponder the answers to some of these and more over a Post-Podcast Repaste from that nice Italian place on the corner!

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Show #205: The Venture Brothers Series 4 and 5

Our boys have grown up so much! And that's just us going off on a longer-than-expected tear about the Venture Brothers when we thought we had the measure of them. Jackson Publick and Doc Hammer saw that coming though, proceeding to sweep aside sizeable swathes of their world of aimless adventurers and vacuous villains to allow something new to grow. It was a tough row to hoe for both the creators and the fans incensed at the change, but did all their hard work pay off? Teenage rebellion, the sins of the fathers and a catchy hit single underscore an immense inventory of a turbulent time, still keeping a little space for a Post-Podcast Repaste of course.

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Drawn Or Alive #5: The Tick VS The Tick VS The Tick

 Masked avenger Brian Smith answers the clarion call of justice as the unstoppable force meets the immovable object meets the inevitable cliff edge! A Drawn Or Alive first, it's a triple header of titles all adapting comic crazy Ben Edlund's big blue maroon as he thwarts crime in animation in 1994 before becoming larger than live-action in 2001 and 2016 respectively. With Edlund himself pitching in rather than working these ideas out on the page each version could be deemed the realest deal, but what makes each Tick... tick? There's no time to waste chum, as evil is out there handcrafting mischief for the swap meet of villainy!

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Show #203: The Venture Brothers Part 2

 
Arch-villain Brian Smith is unleashed to cast a wiser eye upon the awkward transitionary phase of the Adult Swim darling in our second retrospective chunk, comprising series 2 and 3. While we get a better sense of the cartoon it would become, and the ambitions of Jackson Publick and Doc Hammer for it beyond an outlet for coarse humour, The Venture Brothers still had a lot of growing up to do. The good news is you get a whole lot more: more dumb-voiced duos! More genuine pathos! Ever more oblique cultural references! And more to come way down the line with the prospect of a movie to cap off the whole lot. It's bigger, it's louder, and it's got an appetite for a Post-Podcast Repaste to match!

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Show #199: The Venture Brothers Part 1

Jake de Búrca joins our expedition into the world of mystery, danger and offbeat musical references inhabited by those strange siblings The Venture Brothers. Dreamed up by the even more peculiar pairing of Jackson Publick & Doc Hammer it proved an ostentatious outpouring of their influences and enthusiasms that set the show apart from its stablemates at Adult Swim. Our multi-stage journey begins here in the murk of the first series and its preceding pilot, wherein we may discover the Venture Brothers' not-so-secret origins and glimpse their potential for growth beyond arbitrary late-night television weirdness. Of course this'll require a space age Post-Podcast Repaste to satiate us for more voyages with the Ventures in the tomorrow that is yet to be!

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Show #165: WildC.A.Ts

Back from a hiatus that totally involved a covert mission to bodyguard the president's space laser, Niall & Dwayne return with a new rude attitude that's a perfect fit for the WildC.A.Ts!

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After some upfront disclosure regarding where we've been and where we're going we dig into one of the products of the last era when superhero comics were a cultural juggernaut. But can WildC.A.Ts the TV show mirror the underdog success story of its printed counterpart? Bankrupt bad guys, pint-sized powerbrokers and an evolving mission statement await in this collector's edition episode!

THE SHORT VERSION

Wild AND covert

Complex characterisation

Anti-crime tactics

Show #150: Justice League (2001)

Martin Schneider shares in the festivities of our 150th episode, and what better way to celebrate an assemblage of all that is great & glorious about cartoons than with a rousing retrospective of Justice League!

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We've come a long way from our humble origins and have hopefully become something bigger & brighter than what we started as. Such is the case with Justice League, which took the baton from its DCAU forerunners and gave us a shining example of comics adaptation and excellent television, animated or otherwise. Have these merits withstood the test of time? After we get done talking about dream casting choices, indecent supervillains and sneaking filth into family friendly shows you may just find out!

THE SHORT VERSION

 Serious storytelling

Hirsute heroes

Motivation