Advance Blu-Ray Review: Venture Bros. Season Five

 

Here’s the thing…a lot of what is being advertised for this release isn’t exactly what you are getting. Not saying there isn’t a bunch of awesome in this new release, because there is, however those out there really looking for deleted scenes and TWO specials may be a tad disappointed with the outcome.

As mentioned, there is a lot to love about Venture Bros. season five on Blu-Ray, for starters there is episode commentary on almost every episode on the disc (and you will see what I mean in a minute about ”almost) complete with ”deleted scenes” to account for just about every one of the episodes. I decided to put ”deleted scenes” in quotes, because the scenes aren’t actually ”deleted” rather they are animatics for scenes that never got produced. Normally, my definition of a deleted scene is a scene that was finished, but left on the cutting room floor where Blu-Ray/DVD producers sweep them up and load them up on a disc and label them as ”special features.” That isn’t the case for Venture Bros. Season Five on Blu-Ray, as you may be annoyed in looking for finished product on deleted scenes, only to get half-produced.

Now let’s get to the big elephant in the room…the episodes. Enclosed in this collection are eight episodes…eight. BUT, THERE’S MORE! That’s because you get two added specials, ”A Very Venture Halloween” and “From the Ladle to the Grave: The Story of Shallow Gravy”. Interestingly enough, the Halloween special comes with episode commentary whereas the Shallow Gravy special does not….why you may ask? Welp, I think I know:

”A Very Venture Halloween” is a Season Five episode…not a special.

The Halloween Special was produced to be part of the fifth season  of Venture Bros., with the only thing making it special is the fact that it aired a bunch of months earlier than the rest of the season. THAT’S IT!  The ”Shallow Gravy” special? YES…that is a special. But, don’t sell me the hooker with the heart of gold and tell me the Halloween episode was a special episode…it wasn’t. It was all part of the package, that’s why there’s episode fucking commentary on it!

You might be thinking that I’m sounding rather vindictive, no I’m not. It’s a marketing problem, has nothing to do with the producers of Venture Bros. On this release is Jackson Publick and Doc Hammer’s visual equivalent to Led Zeppelin’s IV and for $10 less than what it would cost to get all 10 episodes on Amazon going off at $3 a pop, you are getting a tremendous value for your buck and as a result is definitely warranted a purchase. Just don’t believe everything you read.