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The Venture Bros. :: ORB (03x11)
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Episode Information |
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| Title: | ORB |
| Episode #: | 03x11 |
| Production Number: | 3-29 |
| Original Airdate: | Sunday August 10th, 2008 |
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Episode Summary |
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When Billy Quizboy stumbles upon a series of cryptic clues, starting from the old Rusty Venture cartoon, it is up to Team Venture, with the help of Billy Quizboy, Pete White, Dr Orpheus and The Alchemist, to uncover a mystery left by the late Dr. Jonas Venture Sr. about a mysterious Guild of Calamitous Intent conspiracy. Each new clue they solve leads the team to another clue to solve which takes them deeper into secrets inside the Venture family. While Brock goes out of his way to sop Dr. Venture from taking on this adventure, he learns that his extended current OSI mission protecting Dr. Venture wasn’t what he had always thought it was.
| | There are no foreign summaries for this episode: Contribute | | English Recap Available: View Here |
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Guest Stars |
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| Guest Stars | | •Christopher McCulloch | voiced | Pete White / Hunter / Kano / Lloyd Venture / Fantomas / Additional Voices | Recurring (11th appearance) | | •Dana Snyder | voiced | The Alchemist | Recurring (9th appearance) | | •Doc Hammer | voiced | Billy Quizboy | Recurring (9th appearance) | | •James Urbaniak | voiced | Oscar Wilde | Recurring (6th appearance) | | •Michael Sinterniklaas | voiced | Half-Jackel | Recurring (first appearance) | | •Paul Boocock | voiced | Dr. Jonas Venture Sr. / Sandow / Samuel Clemens | Recurring (11th appearance) | | •Steven Rattazzi | voiced | Dr. Orpheus / Alastair Crowley | Recurring (16th appearance) |
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Main Cast |
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Episode Notes |
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During the credits, animation director Kimson Albert had a nickname added to his credit, which was a gag from the episode:"Butter me, I'm on a roll". It reads, Kimson ""Butter me, I'm on a roll"" Albert.
| The episode had credited a "Special Thanks" to Vishal Roney & Jennifer Stephens.
| The first episode of the season to credit Soulbot as H.E.L.P.eR.
| This episode had no opening title sequence for this episode, just a small interlace scene where we see blood (or red paint) spattering on the background of the show's logo, dividing the first scene and the main episode.
| According to video commentary posted on the Adult Swim website, Doc Hammer and Jackson Publick stated that this episode was cut down from 29 minutes to 23 minutes.
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Episode Quotes |
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Brock: Doc, can we talk outside?
Dr. Venture: You can say it to everyone.
Hank: Ah, cool. Brock’s going to swear.
Dr. Venture: No he’s not.
Hank: Cool. Brock’s going to talk about naked sex ladies.
| Dean: I think I have heatstroke.
Dr. Venture: You have lolligaggers’ syndrome, that’s what you have.
| Billy Quizboy: What are you drinking?
Doctor Venture: Red Moco Cooler! It's Kahlua, Hershey's syrup, and a dash of red Kool-Aid.
Billy Quizboy: That sounds horrible.
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Episode Goofs |
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Continuity Error.
during the scene where Brock was about to listen to the cylinder recordings of Sandow for the first time, it is clearly shown that Brock had both cylinders. Yet, later in the episode, Brock notices that he needed to listen to the second cylinder he which was missing. It turns out that Kano had it all along. (Pictured.)
| Continuity Error.
During the scene where Brock goes to see Colonel Hunter Gathers, Gathers was seen smoking an already lit, almost new cigarette. The view switches to Brock and not two seconds later, Gathers asks Brock to let up his new cigarette.
| Factual Error.
Lloyd Venture: The orb! Archimedes himself began the construction with little more than a mirror alignment! da Vinci added the gearing. Newton the lenses. Galileo the prisms! And all of the great poets, painters, scientists, alchemists and philosophers have had the orb in their hands.
Regarding Newton and Galileo.
Lloyd could have had his facts reversed regarding "Newton's lenses" and "Galileo's prisms". Seeing that Newton was known for his work with prisms, and Galileo was known for constructing large magnification lenses for his self built telescopes.
| Minor continuity error.
During the old Rusty Venture cartoon intro, a brief scene involving two Action Men wearing jet-packs and flying in the sky can be seen. While as we know, there is only one Action Man. (Pictured.).
In the video commentary posted in the Adult Swim website, Jackson Public and Doc Hammer admitted this was a mistake, but they felt that they could leave it in the final edit, seeing that it could be interpreted as an episodic plot device inside the Rusty Venture cartoon. (As in a hypothetical episode where the Action Man was cloned.)
During the same commentary, Doc and Jackson said that they original intended one of the two men to be Doctor Jonas Venture Sr.
| Reuse of Stock Background Character Models.
Two character models from previous episodes can be seen during the airport scene. One being Sky, Doctor Venture's dance partner and love interest in the opening montage scene in "Powerless in the Face of Death". Second one being the Pez lady that Phantom Limb offered fake pez to in "Trial of the Monarch. (Pictured)
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Cultural References |
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Master Billy Quizboy: You just rape this piece of paper what appears to be nonsense around it and Bingo was his name-o.
The line 'Bingo was his name-o' is part of an English language children's song called Bingo.
| Pete White: Sure I'll take another Fanta.
Fanta is a trademarked fruit beverage owned by the Coca-Cola Company. Fanta comes in over 90 different flavors worldwide. The most common flavors are grape and orange.
| Billy Quizboy: What are you drinking?
Doctor Venture: Red Moco Cooler! It's Kahlúa, Hershey's syrup, and a dash of red Kool-Aid.
While the drink may or may not be real, the ingredients are.
Kahlúa Is coffee-flavored liqueur.
Hershey's Syrup is a chocolate syrup made and distributed by he Hershey Chocolate company.
Kool-Aid is a brand of fruit powdered mix drink owned by the Kraft Foods Company.
| Hank: I found even more treasure out there. A mysterious card that says 'Ancient Gear Fist' and a coin! I bet it's Indian money. And look, a magic nerd shoe!
Pete White: That's my shoe.
Dean: Hey! That's my Yu-Gi-Oh! card and my slammer pog
Dean's Yu-Gi-Oh! card is real life trading card game based of the manga and anime series of the same name. Also, Ancient Gear Fist is also a real card from that game. It's 'lore' description reads: Equip only to an "Ancient Gear" monster. Destroy any monster that battles with it, at the end of the Damage Step.
The game was made popular in 2001.
Pogs is game made popular during the 1990s. A pog in the game refers to a small plastic-like disk the size of a large coin used to play the game. A slammer pog is a slightly larger, thicker, and heavier pog made up usually of metal, used to 'slam' regular pogs.
| (Everyone looks at the box in suspense as Billy was opening it.)
Pete White: Uh! For the love of! Was anyone else waiting for their face to melt of?
Pete was referring to the climatic scene in Indiana Jones Raiders of the Lost Ark where when the Nazis opened the Ark of the Covenant and spirits came out of it and melted all of the Nazis faces off.
| Pete White: Alright, Googled Minuit, and he's the guy who bought Manhattan Island from the Indians for beads or something.
Google is a Internet search engine.
Peter Minuit did buy the Island of Manhattan for $24 in trinkets and beads from the American Indians in fear that they might attack the settlers there.
| Pete White: I'm on it, the house that Coke built... No wait that's cola... Wait! Studio 54 New York City.
When Pete mentioned 'No wait that's cola' was referring to the soft drink beverage Coca Cola, sometimes called Coke.
Studio 54 is Broadway theater located in New York City and was a former discothèque located at 254 West 54th Street in Manhattan. The disco opened in April 26, 1977 and closed in March 1986. It was later renovated in 1994 but ultimately re-closed. Presently, since 1998, it has been a venue for the Roundabout Theatre Company, with a 900 seat theatre equipped with two full service bars.
Studio 54 has had a reputation for the hedonism that occurred within it; the balconies were known for sexual encounters, and drug use was rampant. Its decoration even had drug themes, including the dance floor decorated with a depiction of a Man in the Moon that included an animated cocaine spoon.
| Rusty Venture Show intro & and smoking advertisement.
During the Rusty Venture intro graphic scene (Pictured), young Rusty mimicking a pose made famous in the 1967 intro to the English adaptation cartoon to Mach Go Go Go' called Speed Racer. (Pictured).
The same Rusty Venture Show intro is mostly a parody to old Hanna Barbera cartoons intros in general. Namely Johnny Quest, the which this entire show is a parody to.
Announcer: Rusty Venture! Brought to you by... Smoking!
The smoking advertisement at the end of the Intro is an indirect parody to an old Flintstones advertisement for its sponsor Winston cigarettes. In the 1960s the series had strong ties to its sponsor. Advertising for tobacco or any other product was not unusual for television at that time.
| On-board car computer: Verify clearance level eight.
Brock: John Bonham rocks
John Bonham was an English drummer and songwriter. He was the drummer for the rock band Led Zeppelin.
| Kano: Do you watch Top Chef?
Brock: Ah yeah, but I didn't like Top Design.
Top Chef and its spin-off Top Design are American reality television series that air on the Bravo network. Top Chef deals with chefs competing against each other in culinary challenges, while Top Design has interior designers competing against one another to win cash and receive a spot in New York's Designer showcase.
| Kano: Lets go to karaoke bar. I so want to sing Humpty Dance.
The Humpty Dance is a song sung by Digital Underground.
| Lloyd Venture: The ORB! Archimedes himself began the construction with little more than a mirror alignment! da Vinci added the gearing. Newton the lenses. Galileo the prisms! And all of the great poets, painters, scientists, alchemists and philosophers have had the ORB in their hands.
Lloyd describes most of history's brightest thinkers poets, painters, scientists, alchemists and philosophers adding something off of their knowledge to the ORB. He even goes into detail on some of these people and what they've added, all of which is based on real history (disregarding the ORB).
-Archimedes' mirror alignment: Archimedes (287 BC – c. 212 BC) was a Greek mathematician, physicist, engineer, inventor, and astronomer. In myth he is known for creating a type of heat ray involving mirrors destroy enemy ships during the Siege of Syracuse. It is argued that Archimedes may have used mirrors acting collectively as a parabolic reflector to burn ships attacking Syracuse.
-[Leonardo] da Vinci's gearing: Leonardo da Vinci (1452 – 1519) was an Italian polymath, scientist, mathematician, engineer, inventor, anatomist, painter, sculptor, architect, botanist, musician and writer. He created many inventions (both on paper and practical) that utilized gearing mechanisms.
-Newton's lenses: Isaac Newton (1643 – 1727) was an English physicist, mathematician, astronomer, natural philosopher, alchemist, and theologian. Newton is known for his observation on how a prism decomposes white light into the many colors
-Galileo's prisms: Galileo Galilei (1564 – 1642) was an Italian physicist, mathematician, astronomer, and philosopher. Galileo is known for improving the telescope from only 3X magnification to 32X magnification and his his astronomical observations.
(Note: While both were well known astronomers, Lloyd may have been confused between Newton's lenses and Galileo's prisms. Newton was also known for his work regarding prism decompression of white light into the many colors, and Galileo was known for the construction of large magnification lenses for his self built telescopes.)
| The Alchemist: I don't want to play World of Warcraft.
World of Warcraft is a massively multiplayer online role-playing game (MMORPG) by Blizzard Entertainment first released in 2004. Set in a fictional world, players control a character avatar who explore the landscape, fight various monsters and enemies, completing quests, and interacting with Non-player characters or other players.
| The Alchemist: Internet! It's only good for finding out that your boyfriend is sleeping around. Freaken MySpace. What? I'm not supposed to look at his friends comments? They're right on the first page. That's hardly snooping.
MySpace is a social networking website owned by Fox Interactive Media, which is owned by News Corporation. Users of the site get to add contacts share photos and other media, they also get to add comments to their friends profiles.
| Billy Quizboy: There's nothing in there but disco tech
Doctor Venture: It could be something small like an IBM stock or something. Keep looking.
IBM (International Business Machines Corporation) is successful and well known multinational computer technology and IT consulting corporation. Having stock from that company could be very valuable.
| Billy Quizboy: Now, this is how we lost George Michael.
George Michael is a Grammy Awards winning English singer-songwriter. Best known for his song 'Faith'.
Billy may have been jokingly referring to George Michael Los Angeles police sting incident, where an undercover police officer inside an LA bathroom stall allegedly tempted to play, as Michael described it, "'I'll show you mine, you show me yours". This somewhat mimics Doctor Venture and Billy's situation inside the restroom.
| Billy Quizboy: My Nintendo DS Lite? Goo-goo ga-ga?
Nintendo DS Lite is a dual-screen handheld gaming system developed and manufactured by Nintendo.
| Brock: Alright, book me on the next flight to LaGuardia.
LaGuardia Airport is an airport located in Queens County on Long Island in the the City of New York.
| (While trying to re-figure out what 'The house that coke built' means.)
The Alchemist: "Studio 54 is the house that coke built"? You guys went crazy since everything after that guy that sold Manhattan.
(After establishing that coke is a byproduct of coal)
The Alchemist: Ahem, gentlemen we need a coal magnate with a home in Manhattan. Two points, The Alchemist!
(While communicating with Doctor Venture)
Pete White: Come in Boy Wounder, this is control. Studio 54 is not the 'coke house'. Head to the Frick museum on 70th...
Boy Wounder is dual reference to both DC comics superhero Batman's sidekick, Robin. And to Rusty Venture himself.
The Frick museum, (Better known as The Frick Collection) is an American art museum located in the East 70th Street Manhattan, New York. The museum is located inside the former home Henry Clay Frick who owned a coke and coal mine company.
While the Alchemist said "Two points, The Alchemist", he was acting out making a two point shot in a basketball game.
| The Alchemist: Sweat pecan pie, I've solved it! Alright, now try to keep up. 'In a loud room of whistlers' is the Whistler Wing in the Frick. 'Behind the wild gray gentleman' refers to Whistler's painting of Robert de Montesquiou, the guy who was the model for Dorian Gray. And who wrote The Picture of Dorian Gray?
Hank: Edgar Allen Poe!
The Alchemist: Not even close, Hank. It was Oscar Wilde. So behind the wild gray gentleman means, behind the portrait of Montesquiou. Get it?
-While there is no Whistler wing inside the Frick museum, the art collection includes several of James McNeill Whistler artwork.
-James Abbott McNeill Whistler was an American-born, British-based artist.
-The museum also does house the painting of Robert de Montesquiou painted by James McNeill Whistler.
-Robert de Montesquiou was a French Symbolist poet and art collector.
-While it is uncertain that Robert de Montesquiou the model of inspiration for Dorian Gray, Robert de Montesquiou was also a 'dandy'. A 'dandy' is a man who affects extreme elegance in clothes and manners.
-The Picture of Dorian Gray is the only novel to be published by Oscar Wilde. The Novel is about a man obsessed with his self appearance he stores his aging body in a magic picture of himself in his house's attic.
-Oscar Wilde was an Irish playwright, poet and author of numerous short stories and a novel.
-Edgar Allen Poe was an American writer, poet, editor and literary critic.
| Billy Quizboy: Don't even try to tell me that hasn't been your fantasy since you saw The Pink Panther.
The Pink Panther Is a film series of the same name of which feature Peter Sellers as the bumbling French policeman Jacques Clouseau. A series of animated cartoons by the same name also exist.
| The mysterious Victorian era Guild [of the ORB]. (Origins, influences and members.)
The guild itself is a parody of the League of Extraordinary Gentlemen, which is a comic book series written by Alan Moore and illustrated by Kevin O'Neill, published beginning in 1999. The series The series takes place in Victorian era England where all of the characters and events from Victorian era literature actually existed. Such as " Mina Murray of Bram Stoker's novel Dracula, Allan Quatermain the hero of H. Rider Haggard's series of books, Captain Nemo from Jules Verne's novels, Mr. Hyde, created by Robert Louis Stevenson, and Edward Griffin, the Invisible Man from the 1897 novel by H.G. Wells".
Two of this guilds members, Samuel Clemens and Oscar Wilde both created characters that were featured in film adaptation of this comic series.Clemens' Tom Sawyer and Wilde's Dorian Grey.
It is also hinted that this Guild is was the predecessor to the Guild of Calamitous Intent. Its logo is identical to that of the current guild, as is one of their leading members Fantômas, the apparent ancestor of Phantom Limb. Also, Oscar Wilde eluded to the creation of this guild as it "was founded to protect and serve humanities best. not to be a guild of calamitous intent."
Known Members:
-Colonel Venture.
-Eugen Sandow: (1867–1925) born Friederich Wilhelm Mueller in Königsberg, he was an East Prussian pioneering bodybuilder of the Victorian era. He considered to be "Father of Modern Bodybuilding".
-Samuel Clemens (aka 'Mark Twain'): (1835-1910) Was a famous and popular American humorist, writer and lecturer. He is best known for his novels 'The Adventures of Tom Sawyer' and 'Adventures of Huckleberry Finn'.
-Fantomas: While he was meant to connect current Guild and the Victorian era Guild, Fantomas' character was based on Fantômas (aka 'Lord of Terror'), which is a fictional character created by French writers Marcel Allain (1885–1969) and Pierre Souvestre (1874–1914) for a series of detective novels of the same name. He was a master of disguise almost always appeared under an assumed identity, often that of a person he has murdered.
-Oscar Wilde: (1854 –1900) was an Irish playwright, poet and author of numerous short stories and one novel. He was best known for his witty plays and urbane nonfiction.
-Aleister Crowley: (1875–1947) was a British occultist, mystic, poet, and social critic. He was best know for his occult writings. He was also called in his day as the “Wickedest Man in the World” or, as he liked to call himself, “The Great Beast 666" (as made eluded to in the episode.)
| Sandow: Colonel Venture, It's Tesla and he's with the Avon ladies! They have us surrounded!.
While it is uncertain who Sandow was referring to when mentioned Tesla, it is possible tha he was referring to Nikola Tesla.
Nikola Tesla (1856 - 1943) was a Serbian-American inventor and electrical engineer. Tesla's most famous contribution was the theory of polyphase alternating current electricity, which he used to build the first induction motor, invented in 1882, as well as developing the designs of numerous other electrical machines and related technology.
(This could also be eluding to a Venture Brothers running gag about David Bowie, who played Nikolas Tesla in the 2006 film adaption of "The Prestige")
Avon ladies re door-to-door saleswomen selling Avon brand cosmetics, perfume and other products. Avon was founded in the 1880's and was a household name for their sale tactics.
| Brock's car attempting to run him over.
In the post credit scene, Brock's car appears in the Venture compound hanger suddenly and attempts to run him over. This is a reference to the Stephen King horror movie/novel "Christine". Where the car in the novel was said to be evil and took a life of its own.
| Brock's 'Playbin' Magazine.
While he was in his room listening to music, Brock was reading a gentlemen's magazine named 'Playbin' This is a parody to the gentlemen's magazine "Playboy"
| Billy Quizboy's Jars filled with Urine.
In the beginning of the episode, while he was attempting to decypher clues from the old Rusty Venture cartoon, Billy is seen inside his mobile home with jars of urine all around the room. This is a reference to how Howard Hughes use to do the same thing during his mental decline.
Howard Robard Hughes, Jr. (1905–1976) was an American aviator, engineer, industrialist, film producer, film director, philanthropist, and one of the wealthiest people in the world.
| Sandow's chocolate recipes.
Kano: That's about it. The rest is Sandow listing chocolate recipes. That's why I kept it. I like to bake.
The real Eugen Sandow promoted a variety of products. Including his own line of Health and Strength Cocoa (Pictured)
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Analysis |
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The ORB
The ORB itself could be a parody of, a reference to, or inspired by any number of things. Mysterious Orbs have been used as a plot element/device in numerous instances, such as:
-The Orb of Aldur of the five-part Belgariad novel series. In the novels the orb was said to be created by a god, and also it was said that it had a life of its own.
-The seven yellow wish-granting balls in the Dragon Ball anime series.
-Magic and fortune telling crystal balls such as the ones featured in J.R.R. Tolkiens the Hobbit and Lord of the Rings, known as "Palantír"
-In the Adventures of Brisco County, Jr., more than half the premise of the show involves a mysterious magical golden orb, the call "The Orb". The show takes place in 1890s, no unlike this episode.
-The Sphere, of the Michael Crichton Novel of the same name. This sphere was found on the bottom of the ocean amongst the wreckage of an alien spacecraft. It is said to hold unthinkably powers.
-In the 1981 animated film Heavy Metal, an astronaut comes back to earth from a mission to space. He gives his daughter a sphere, presumably from outer space, the which melts him after he opens the case of which it was stored in. This sphere introduces himself as Loc-Nar "The sum of all evils."
While none of these could be said to be a direct reference, seeing that they all share very different attribute, and physical appearances, it does share mysticism behind them.
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Other Episode Crew |
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Featured Songs |
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Episode References |
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