The Doctor Is Sin

"The Doctor Is Sin"

"The Doctor Is Sin" is the second episode in the third season of the television series The Venture Bros.

Plot

Dr. Venture's business is once again on the rocks, so he tries to pull out all the stops to convince a four-star army general to buy from Venture Industries, but the General passes, seeing that all of the gadgets are just leftovers from Venture's father. After the general leaves, Dr. Henry Killinger arrives to offer his services, hiring "Venchmen" (henchmen for Venture) and quickly repairing the compound, returning it to its former glory. In the midst of his renewal of the compound, Dr. Orpheus discovers that Killinger may be something more sinister than anyone can comprehend.

After being evicted, Orpheus and Triana move in with the Alchemist. Brock arrives later with a housewarming gift (a case of beer) and is convinced by Orpheus that Killinger is up to no good. Back at the compound, Dr. Venture is put through a difficult test to "repair his soul", which involves overcoming his lack of self-worth and his jealousy over his brother Jonas's continuing success. It turns into a race against time as Orpheus, Brock and the Alchemist attempt to stop Killinger, who reveals he has been slowly preparing Dr. Venture to sign with the Guild of Calamitous Intent as a villain, with an option to arch his brother.

Just as Brock storms the compound to stop Killinger, all of the Venchmen depart. Brock finds Dr. Venture naked and alone in his command center, where he reveals to Brock that he fired Killinger rather than become a super-villain, and asks Brock, "Am I a bad person?" Outside, Killinger, looking down on Venture, recites Shakespeare's All the World's a Stage as the episode ends.

After the credits, Venture, attempting to sort his own mail, finds a package containing a cobra poised to strike; Venture's excitement that he has a new, competent archenemy is short-lived when he discovers that the cobra is from the Monarch, dead to the point of desiccation and in an unopened box left over from 2003.

Cultural references

• Hadji Singh, as an employee of Jonas Venture Jr., and Jonny Quest, as a drug addict, appear in this episode, a reference to Jonny Quest.
• Dr. Killinger's umbrella-based gadgets references those of the Batman villain. The Penguin.
• The scene in which Dr. Killinger disintegrates the union heads into small piles of bright, multi-colored dust is a reference to the 1966 film Batman, as well as his already mentioned parallels to Mary Poppins.
• When Dr. Venture first puts on his supervillain suit, saying that it's different, Killinger responds saying "Nixon said the same thing when I gave him his first power tie." Henry Kissinger, whom Killinger is based on, was former U.S. president Richard Nixon's National Security Advisor and Secretary of State.
• In the scene where Rusty recalls seeing his father's loins, the music in the background is very similar to the theme of the Andy Griffith Show.
• The goggles on Dr. Venture's supervillain suit are almost identical to those of Captain Cold from DC comics. The suit is reminiscent of Lex Luthor's pre-Crisis costume.
• Dr. Killinger quotes William Shakespeare's "All the world's a stage" at the end of the episode.
• Dr. Venture says that Killinger took enough blood to make a Kiss comic book. The rock band Kiss starred in a series of comic books, for which all the band members donated blood which was mixed into the ink.
• Jonas Venture Jr.'s publicity campaign includes a spoof of the popular ads for the iPod as well as an interview in Super-Scientific American.
• "Alpha Dog," the cereal Dr. Venture eats in his flashback, is a takeoff on Alpha-Bits cereal, as well (presumably) as the B-movie Alpha Dog. It may also be a reference to Rusty's feelings of inferiority towards his father (Jonas being the alpha dog).
• Pete White sold stock in his company to buy a Wii video game console.
• When Killinger asks Dr. Venture to get into his magic murder bag, Venture asks "What's in there?" and Killinger responds, "Only what you take with you." This exchange is taken directly from a scene between Yoda and Luke Skywalker in The Empire Strikes Back.
• General Manhowers mentions having a Fruitopia, which he can't remember since he had it last; Fruitopia was a brand of fruit juice marketed by the The Coca-Cola Company from 1994 to 2001.
• While Brock is breaking into the Venture compound, Killinger can be heard reciting a modified portion of The Secret.
• Dr. Venture says that without an arch-nemesis, he is being attacked by every "Tom, Dick and Skeletor." Skeletor was He-Man's archnemesis in the Masters of the Universe franchise.
• During Dr. Venture's journey inside Killinger's Murder bag, he confronts his father's statue. A miniature Killinger refers to the statue as a 'Goliath', meanwhile Venture is dressed in a loincloth and holding a slingshot. This is a reference to the Biblical story David and Goliath

Connections to other episodes

• Dr. Henry Killinger makes a return, helping Dr. Venture get on his feet, previously was in "I Know Why the Caged Bird Kills".
• Features a number of previously unseen supervillains vying to become Dr. Venture's new archenemy, building upon the fact The Monarch has stopped arching Venture.
• General Manhowers makes his third appearance since the pilot episode, "The Terrible Secret of Turtle Bay" and "Guess Who's Coming to State Dinner?." He also talks on the telephone with Dr Venture in the episode, "Viva Los Muertos!".
• Features Dr. Venture's former traveling companions Hector and Swifty in the background of Jonas Jr's facility. It seems they have been hired by Jonas Jr. after Dr. Venture fired them.
• Hadji is the third "Jonny Quest" character to appear on this show, following Race Bannon in "Ice Station - Impossible!" and Jonny himself in "Twenty Years to Midnight". One way or another, all three characters have some connection to Team Venture.
• Dr. Henry Killinger tries to turn Dr. Venture into a villain (arching his brother) in this episode, which is ironic considering that Jonas Jr. was briefly a villain (intent on murdering his brother and Brock Samson) after escaping his brother's body.

Production notes

• The first 15 minutes of this episode was played on April 1, 2008, to promote the new season, although only being a rough cut, lacking music and sound effects.
• Despite an oath by the writers to stop using Star Wars references , the episode contains one ("Only what you take with you.")
• One of the animation directors (Kimson Albert) has a "nickname" inserted into his credits. The nickname is an unusual line or word from the preceding episode. For "The Doctor Is Sin" the credit reads Kimson "I Love Mein Job!" Albert.