The Mantis-Eye Experiment

LA Weekly's often comprehensive Venture Bros. news continues with a quick interview with Jackson and Doc as a preview of sorts for the upcoming Shallow Gravy special. There's info about the special of course, but also some stuff on season five's progress:

"We both have a script a piece, we probably need one more each, or five total, before we start making the show," says Publick (he and Hammer tend to write individual episodes on their own). "Hopefully, in two months at the most, we'll start up."

Why yes, Ken Plume is rather chatty with Venture Bros. creators lately, isn't he? Not that we're complaining, of course. Today you can listen to him chat it up with Doc Hammer about " shirtlessness, humidity, four voices, sports, and vaudeville" which sounds like a good time. I haven't had a chance to listen to it yet but chats with Doc Hammer always deliver so you should give it a listen now or put it on your favorite portable digital music device and listen to it on a bus or train or something.

For those of you attending Dragon*Con this year I have finally managed to cobble together a schedule of all Venture Bros. related items. Their schedule seems to only be available via an iPhone/iPad app that was quickly pulled from the App Store for unknown reasons (though it still updates itself when you start it). That's my only source for this year's schedule so you'll have to take my word for it until it goes online. This year's showing is slightly meager as far as official stuff goes. Adult Swim doesn't look like they will have a booth this year and Jackson informed me that he won't be attending. However you still get an hour-long Venture Bros. panel and all the Doc Hammer and James Urbaniak you can handle. As per usual I've also included the various fan-run events which Dragon*Con is often turgid with. There's a Venture Bros. fan panel right before the official one, a costume party and a number of fan panels and other events being run by Adult Swim Central. Note that there are some conflicts here and there, so choose wisely! Read the full schedule and remember that some times and places may not be finalized yet.

Also a reminder, I'm still looking for awesome folks to volunteer to cover Dragon*Con. I have someone willing to write an article or two but if you want to attend the Venture Bros. panel (or other Venture events) and also enjoy taking photos and having them appear on this web site, please drop me a line!

If a chat with Jackson just wasn't enough to sustain you then you should check out Shadowlock's interview with the Venture Bros. creator/writer/director/etc. There's a fair bit about the writing process for season five (which has begun but isn't quite in full swing yet) as well as themes of the show, how difficult it's been for Jackson to quit smoking and how they hope the process of season five and six will be different from three and four:

We owe the fans more than 'okay' writing. We owe them our best effort, so we've always tried to hold our own feet to the fire as far as the quality of our work and stuff like that. Sometimes it helps to be under the gun when production is actually moving and sometimes it hurts us. Last season was a little too rough on me in the fact that we were always behind and were constantly late with the scripts and there was never a chance to catch up and feel okay.

There's lots more, so go check it out.

Head on over to your favorite place to purchase digital music, including Amazon and iTunes, and spend four dollars to enjoy Shallow Gravy's breakout hit, "Jacket". The EP comes with four versions of the song and also includes a music video of the song. If you're holding out for a physical copy, you should be pleased to know that one is currently in the works. Says Jackson:

We're working on getting a physical CD (with bonus video content) available in the adultswim online store soon, hopefully.

And don't forget the special itself will air this Sunday night after a lengthy Venture Bros. marathon.

For those of you attending this year's Dragon*Con, some details of the scheduling have finally started to emerge. Namely this year's Venture Bros. panel will occur on Sunday, September 4th at 4pm in the Atrium Ballroom at the Marriott. This come from the official Dragon*Con iPhone/iPad app and isn't anywhere on their web site that I can see. There is also a Venture Bros. fan panel that same day at 2:30pm (in Dunwoody at the Hyatt) that promises similar Venture Bros. thrills and chills.

The official panel will contain Doc Hammer, James Urbaniak and Astro-Base Cadet, 2nd Class, Ken Plume as a moderator. Sadly Jackson will not be there this year, sorry to disappoint his fan club, but Doc and Urbaniak will probably solve crimes or something to make up for it.

I'll have a more complete schedule with various Venture Bros.-related events and Adult Swim activities up probably in the next couple of days. And for those of you attending who are also super awesome, there's a chance to contribute to coverage for this site.

Are you attending Dragon*Con this year? Do you know how to write and/or take photographs, videos and whatever else? If you said yes to the first question and at least half of the second one then The Mantis-Eye Experiment would like you to do those things at Dragon*Con. Essentially I would just like someone to attend this year's Venture Bros. panel and write about it and snap some photos of any Venture Bros. related events. This can include cosplay, signings, get-togethers and whatever else. Also if you like to take photos but don't want to write, or only want to write and not take photos that's cool too.

Please read on for more specific info, but if you're interested please email me with samples of your work and I'll get back to you.

Many thanks to Jackson for mentioning it, but you can pre-order the Jacket EP on both Amazon.com and iTunes for a mere $3.99. Those four dollars get you six items, all Jacket, including the standard version, the unplugged version, the orchestral version, the conjechno remix and the live version (at Timmy's birthday). You also get the music video with that. The EP releases on August 23rd, and don't forget the special airs on August 28th.

If you haven't listened to Ken Plume's chat with Jackson yet (and you ought to if you haven't) there's some valuable info buried in there about "From The Ladle To The Grave". Namely that a five-song EP of Jacket (Shallow Gravy's lone song) and 'various interpretations of Jacket' will be up on iTunes on August 23rd. The music video, screened at Comic-Con, will also be on iTunes as well as a sort of teaser for the special.

And for even more Shallow Gravy insanity, Adult Swim has also put up their second promo for the special the marathon that precedes it:

And remember, the special airs at midnight on the night of August 28th.

Fans of The Venture Bros. probably know of Ken Plume, the very first Astro-Base Cadet (he might even have graduated past cadet at this point) and his site called FRED. Among the features on the site include the 'Bit of a Chat' series where Ken chats with various guests as the name might suggest. This week he has a bit of a chat with Venture Bros. creator Jackson Publick. The chat promises to be about "writing, Edith Ann, pee jars, smoking, dead air, shoebox bases, and box furniture," so get your podcast listening device of choice ready and get going. Many thanks to Adult Swim Central for pointing this out.