What an entertaining episode. It had a bit more focus than some of the others, and I think it benefitted from that. I love the idea of reimagining The Fantastic Four as three horrible mangled people under the thumb of a sanctimonious, self-aggrandizing jerk. The comedy the show wrung from Dr. Venture exploring the ice station and encountering all sides of this fractured take on the Marvel characters was funnier with each twist and turn to it. I especially liked the characterization of Dr. Impossible (a typically great performance from Stephen Colbert) who had the right mix of smugness and control-freak to make the character work.
The other story, featuring Brock and the boys encountering Race Bannon and trying to find an antidote for Hank's mixup with Goliath Syndrome also worked like gangbusters. First of all, the scenes of the kids playing around with the unconscious Race and his pockets full of toys was an incredible bit of physical comedy. Second, Brock playing the stoic straight man to the boys' idiocy is often a good recipe for laughs. His half-heartedly encouraging response to Dean declaring that the ship crashed because it was being flown by skeletons and his reply to Hank's request that Brock kill him if the Goliath Serum progresses too far, prompting Hank to retort "you've thought about this" were both great little moments that leaned into that dynamic.
And there was a lot of fun when the two stories collided as well! The sight of Dr. Impossible going all rubbery to fight Brock and Brock's angry demand that he stop wiggling around were highlights, and the assembled scientists who'd all been flunked by Dr. Impossible assembling to make an antidote themselves was even a nice emotional beat (immediately followed by the very dark beat of Venture and the gang ditching Mrs. Impossible). All-in-all, this one had a great premise, some great comedic sequences, neat takes on classic characters, and superb character dynamics to boot.
(As an aside, I actually had vague memories of this one, so it may have been one of the very few Venture Bros episodes I'd seen before I started this watch.)
Review by Andrew BloomVIP 9BlockedParent2016-04-22T15:18:43Z
What an entertaining episode. It had a bit more focus than some of the others, and I think it benefitted from that. I love the idea of reimagining The Fantastic Four as three horrible mangled people under the thumb of a sanctimonious, self-aggrandizing jerk. The comedy the show wrung from Dr. Venture exploring the ice station and encountering all sides of this fractured take on the Marvel characters was funnier with each twist and turn to it. I especially liked the characterization of Dr. Impossible (a typically great performance from Stephen Colbert) who had the right mix of smugness and control-freak to make the character work.
The other story, featuring Brock and the boys encountering Race Bannon and trying to find an antidote for Hank's mixup with Goliath Syndrome also worked like gangbusters. First of all, the scenes of the kids playing around with the unconscious Race and his pockets full of toys was an incredible bit of physical comedy. Second, Brock playing the stoic straight man to the boys' idiocy is often a good recipe for laughs. His half-heartedly encouraging response to Dean declaring that the ship crashed because it was being flown by skeletons and his reply to Hank's request that Brock kill him if the Goliath Serum progresses too far, prompting Hank to retort "you've thought about this" were both great little moments that leaned into that dynamic.
And there was a lot of fun when the two stories collided as well! The sight of Dr. Impossible going all rubbery to fight Brock and Brock's angry demand that he stop wiggling around were highlights, and the assembled scientists who'd all been flunked by Dr. Impossible assembling to make an antidote themselves was even a nice emotional beat (immediately followed by the very dark beat of Venture and the gang ditching Mrs. Impossible). All-in-all, this one had a great premise, some great comedic sequences, neat takes on classic characters, and superb character dynamics to boot.
(As an aside, I actually had vague memories of this one, so it may have been one of the very few Venture Bros episodes I'd seen before I started this watch.)