'The Venture Bros.': The Complete Series DVD Review - A Crowning Achievement From Adult Swim

For the first time in the history of the world, every single episode of The Venture Bros. ever created! Stuffed full of your favorite evil nemeses, and larger-than-life heroes, plus a few smaller-than-life ones. It’s never not a great time to watch your favorite episode from any season, followed by any other episode from any other season. From “Dia de los Dangerous” to “The Saphrax Protocol” it’s all in one place!

It’s the Complete Series Venture Bros. Box Set, twenty years in the making. Including all the bonus materials that have been lovingly created over the years, and carefully curated for you now.

For thoughts on The Venture Bros.: The Complete Series, please check out our discussion on The Video Attic:

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Video Quality

The Venture Bros.: The Complete Series comes to DVD in a 14-Disc set featuring all 82 episodes with a 480p transfer that looks fetching despite the lack of a HD option. This set is a bit more frustrating than normal due to the fact that seasons 3-7 have previously been released on Blu-Ray, so it would have been nice to finally get the first two seasons on that format in a complete set. When comparing these discs to the Blu-Ray releases we have at our disposal, you can see the decrease in clarity and vibrancy with the DVDs, but it does still look good while avoiding an abundance of digital anomalies such as artifacting and digital noise.

The series has always had a gorgeous animation style that has only been refined over the years with great distinct lines and welcome detail in all of the backgrounds. This is a show replete with bright colors throughout, and this remains one of the best aspects of this presentation despite format limitations. The disc provides fairly deep black levels for a clean viewing experience free of ugly crush. The animation style remains appropriately strong throughout with occasional instances of blurring and jagged texture along edges. The DVD presentation is a nice experience, but it would have been a welcome sight to finally be able to own the complete run on Blu-Ray.

Audio Quality

This release boasts a Dolby Digital 2.0 track for the first season and a Dolby Digital 5.1 track for the rest of the series, all of which gets the job done well but feels somewhat restrained during some of the more chaotic moments. The music is a big part of establishing the tone of the series, and this track delivers it pleasing fidelity and clarity. Dialogue radiates clearly with no issues of clipping or distortion from what we observed. The mix is pretty dynamic during the more thrilling moments including nice support in the low end. Warner Bros. has done a pleasing job with this audio track considering the limitations of the format. There are optional English SDH subtitles provided.

Special Features

Season One

Episode Commentaries: Series Creators Jackson Publick and Doc Hammer.

- Mid-life Chrysalis

- Eeney, Meeney, Miney… Magic!

- Tag-Sale – You’re It!

- Ghosts of the Sargasso

- Return to Spider-Skull Island

Pilot – The Terrible Secret Of Turtle Bay: The original 25-minute pilot is provided here that was aired a year and a half before the series properly started. This is provided with an optional commentary track from series creators Jackson Publick and Doc Hammer.

Bonus Episode – A Very Venture Christmas: A nearly 12-minute holiday episode is provided here.

Deleted Scenes: There is nearly seven minutes of unused material from the season provided here including some scenes with unfinished animation.

Behind The Scenes of the Venture Bros. Live Action Movie: A nearly 22-minute piece in which “actors” from the fictional Venture Bros. movie discuss how they came to be involved with the project. This is some decent goofy fun.

Animating Hank and Dean: A nearly five-minute piece in which you “learn” how some of the animation is created. Worth a watch if you don’t expect to actually gain any insights.

Season Two

Episode Commentaries: Every episode is given an audio commentary. Mostly Jackson Publick and Doc Hammer with some guests in special episodes.

Tour of AstroBase Go: A 16-minute humorous visit to the facilities where the show is created which includes a lot of goofing around.

Deleted Scenes: There is nearly 22 minutes of unused material from the season provided here including some scenes with unfinished animation.

Season Three

Episode Commentaries: Every episode is given an audio commentary. Mostly Jackson Publick and Doc Hammer with some guests in special episodes.

Deleted Scenes: There is nearly 20 minutes of unused material from the season provided here including some scenes with unfinished animation.

Season Four

Episode Commentaries: Every episode is given an audio commentary. Mostly Jackson Publick and Doc Hammer with some guests in special episodes.

Deleted Scenes: There is nearly 30 minutes of unused material from the season provided here including some scenes with unfinished animation.

Comic-Con Promo: A four-minute promotional piece is provided here.

“Lost” Open: A two-minute previously unseen open is provided.

So This Is Captain…: A two-minute collection of audio outtakes from a very specific line reading.

Finale On-Air Promos: A nearly three-minute collection of promotional spots are provided.

Season Five

Episode Commentaries: Every episode is given an audio commentary. Mostly Jackson Publick and Doc Hammer with some guests in special episodes.

Deleted Scenes: There is nearly 6 minutes of unused material from the season provided here including some scenes with unfinished animation.

Fax My Grandson: A three-minute collection of audio outtakes of Diamond Backdraft.

A Very Venture Halloween: A nearly 23-minute Halloween episode is provided here.

From The Ladle To The Grave – The Shallow Gravy Story: A nearly 12-minute “Behind The Music” style episode is provided here.

Season 6

Episode Commentaries: Every episode is given an audio commentary. Mostly Jackson Publick and Doc Hammer with some guests in special episodes.

Deleted Scenes: There is nearly 17 minutes of unused material from the season provided here including some scenes with unfinished animation.

Season 5 Recap: A nearly six-minute catch-up on the previous season.

All This and Gargantua-2 + Epilogue: A nearly 51-minute special episode is provided here.

ID Tags: Five brief artistic interstitials are provided here that all run less than 30 seconds.

Season 7

Episode Commentaries: Every episode is given an audio commentary. Mostly Jackson Publick and Doc Hammer with some guests in special episodes.

Deleted Scenes: There is nearly 6 minutes of unused material from the season provided here including some scenes with unfinished animation.

Ghost In The Pro-BLEM: A 33-second trippy video is provided.

Sirena Goes Off…: A six-minute collection of Sirena speaking her mind to various individuals.

Promo: A two-and-a-half minute promotional piece is provided.

Final Thoughts

The Venture Bros. is one of the gems in the Adult Swim line of shows thanks to its thoughtful writing, carefully crafted characters, attention to world-building and the way it delivers huge laughs from the first episode to the last. The show took a while to create and unleash the entire run, but the way in which it maintained its standard of quality proved it was worth the wait. This is a world you rarely want to leave. Warner Bros. Home Entertainment has released the complete run of the show on DVD in one collection that sports a good A/V presentation and many interesting special features. Those who appreciate top-tier animation for adults will not be disappointed here. Highly Recommended

The Venture Bros.: The Complete Series is currently available to purchase on DVD and Digital.

Note: Images presented in this review are not reflective of the image quality of the DVD.

Disclaimer: Warner Bros. Home Entertainment has supplied a copy of this set free of charge for review purposes. All opinions in this review are the honest reactions of the author.