The Mantis-Eye Experiment

Summary

Dr. Venture is offered a job by theme park owner and cartoon magnate Roy Brisby, who won't take no for an answer in his quest for worldwide entertainment dominance. Meanwhile, the boys are given the Patty Heartst treatment by the Orange County Liberation Front, a group of militant suburbanites who want to take down Brisby's empire. Brock enlists the aid of former lover and fellow superspy Molotov Cocktease to "mount" a rescue, but she may have her own agenda...

Capsule

We start off with a scene of what appears to be Africa and the X-1 landing. The boys, sleeping inside the jet, wake up and start getting all excited about being in Africa:

HANK
Dude, look! Elephants!

DEAN
That's... [thumbs through a box of index cards] Loxodonta Africana. You can tell which ones are the males because they're the only ones with tusks.

HANK
I got no problem telling which one's the male, bro. Check out the fifth leg on that beast.

DEAN
It's called, a trunk.

HANK
It's called you're a spaz, and that ain't what I'm talkin' about.

DR. VENTURE
Brock, be ready with your tranq gun on my signal. Those two are gonna be bouncing off the walls if they figure out where we are.

Just then a voice comes in over the radio telling them that his assistant Mandelay will escort them. Dr. Venture tries to cut him off, but the voice reveals that they are not in Africa, but in Brisbyland.

Roll opening credits.

The boys are all excited by the prospect of visiting Brisbyland until their father tells them they have to stay on the X-1:

HANK
This is gonna be fat city!

DEAN
I am all over that teacup ride!

DR. VENTURE
Boys, halt! You are 'all over' no such thing. You are both to stay aboard the X-1.

DEAN
What?!

HANK
Aw, weak!

DR. VENTURE
Weak, schmeak, Hank, we're here for business, not for fun.

DEAN
But, pop...

HANK
What are you, on the rag?

DR. VENTURE
[groans] It's impossible for me to be 'on the rag', I'm a- I can't believe I'm even arguing about this with you!

After the boys go back onto the jet, Mandelay, a very large and silent black man, shows up and leads them to their destination which is the office of Mr. Brisby, owner of Brisbyland. Mr. Brisby is very old and confined to a wheelchair. When they enter his office Brock is instructed to wait outside.

Mr. Brisby turns around to reveal himself to Dr. Venture, and it seems his face is stuck in a weird grimacing position and unable to move very much otherwise. Apparently Mr. Brisby fell victim to an animetronics accident which caused him to be trapped under a metal Lincoln for two hours, enough to give anyone a stroke. Dr. Venture is then introduced to Li-Li, Mr. Brisby's panda which he won from David Bowie in a trivia contest (years before the big trivia craze; but then Bowie always was a trend-setter).

Meanwhile back on the X-1 the boys aren't too happy, though Dean is keeping himself occupied identifying various animals wandering around the X-1.

Outside Brisby's office Brock attempts to converse with Mandelay, but Mandelay is a man of even fewer words than Brock is. Like, no words at all. That's very few. Inside the office Mr. Brisby finally makes clear to Dr. Venture his reason for inviting him: he wants Dr. Venture to clone him. Dr. Venture of course responds by saying that congress has banned all cloning research in North America (though he says it in a very suspicious way, hint, hint perhaps?). Mr. Brisby responds by saying that everyone in congress is short sighted, and not people of vision like he, Dr. Venture and Dr. Venture's father.

Brisby is willing to pay 'handsomely' for Jonas Venture's notes alone, but Dr. Venture still refuses:

DR. VENTURE
Well, I don't know if I've kept any of dad's old notes.

MR. BRISBY
Don't play coy with me, of course you kept them! You've been riding his corpse's coattails your entire adult life!

DR. VENTURE
Hey! Where do you get off?! You don't know me!

MR. BRISBY
Oh, I know you, Dr. Venture. My researchers are very thorough. For instance you're not actually a doctor of anything. You never finished school. I also know that since you took over Venture Industries, profits have gone... zippidy-do-da.

DR. VENTURE
I- that's it! The deal is off! I don't care if you are rich, I don't have to take this crap from a gimp!

Back on the X-1 Hank is distraught over all the fun things going on in Brisbyland while Dean continues to look up animals on his cards. A new one swims into view, but Dean doesn't have a card for that one. It appears to be a hippo, but the mouth opens and some suspicious looking guys with what appear to be orange (like, the fruit) earmuffs peek out.

Outside Brisby's office Mandelay gives Brock a cigarette and a light. Inside Mr. Brisby is trying to convince Dr. Venture, but to no avail. So, the panda puts Dr. Venture in a bag. Outside Brock hears the scream of Dr. Venture.

On the X-1 Dean is making fun of Hank, which causes Hank to start a fight with Dean, just as the weirdos with the orange earmuffs sneak onto the X-1. Back at Brisby's office, Brock has taken out Mandelay and busted down Brisby's door. He's about to get down to cripple bashing (I guess) when he starts to feel woozy and passes out. The cigarette Mandelay gave him was laced with chloral hydrate. Oldest trick in the book. Brisby gloats in front of his fireplace and ends up catching on fire, with Li-Li quick to put him out.

Hank, meanwhile, has one of those gross spitwads going, hanging it precariously above Dean's mouth. Just then the orange guys bust in and knock out Hank (by sticking an orange in his nose) and the spitwad falls into Dean's mouth in a scene that never fails to gross me out. The guys knock out Dean as well in th same way.

Dr. Venture, meanwhile, has been carted off the a mysterious location. Okay, so it's really just the Brisby Dome, a big beehive shaped structure roughly 50 yards from Brisby's office. Smooth.

Commercial.

Brock, meanwhile, is being dragged from a tarpit by the scantly clad and Russian Molotov Cocktease. She says that she would never let anyone kill him, because that's her job. Brock is then kicked in the face. Change over.

Hank and Dean, meanwhile, have been taken to the gym at the Orange County Community College (that's OCCC for those keeping track) by a group calling themselves the Orange County Liberation Front (OCLF). The OCLF is fed up with Brisby who has tainted their county by building Brisbyland there.

Inside the Brisby Dome, meanwhile, Brisby is still trying to convince Dr. Venture to clone him and join him or something. Dr. Venture still refuses, but Brisby will not take no for an answer:

MR. BRISBY
I need you to clone me, Dr. Venture! That I might live to see my dream fulfilled. This dried old husk of mine might be broken and used up, but my brain is as alert and alive as the day I scribbled my first Bizzy Bee. [sighs]

DR. VENTURE
Ooohh! Ah ha ha, now I see. You know, it took me a minute, but I just got it.

MR. BRISBY
Got it? So you'll come aboard?

DR. VENTURE
Oh, no no no. What I just got is that you're like a total jacked up freaky-deaky crazy pants!!

MR. BRISBY
[sighs] I see. [pause] Mandelay!!

Mandelay then quickly stabs Dr. Venture with a needle in the neck. Dr. Venture attempts to call Brock, but passes out before he gets too much out.

Not that it matters much, because Brock is unconscious in a bathtub as Molotov Cocktease cleans off the last of the tar. Or is he? He quickly grabs her arm and slams her face into the toilet. He gets out of the tub and Molotov takes out his legs and straddles him.

MOLOTOV
Mmmmmm. How long has it been, Sampson?

BROCK
Three years, forty-eight days.

MOLOTOV
[playing his his hair] Ah yes. Prague, wasn't it? Or was it Lisbon?

BROCK
Akron. [he grabs her and flips over so he's on top].

MOLOTOV
Of course. Laser Zeppelin at the planetarium.

[MOLOTOV knocks BROCK's arms from under him, smacking his face into the floor, and then kicks him off her and into the next room. BROCK picks up his knife and throws it at MOLOTOV who catches it in her teeth]

MOLOTOV
How ever did you survive the fall?

BROCK
Landed in a dump truck full of circus peanuts.

[MOLOTOV charges him and he dodges a knife stab but not a punch to the jaw. He grabs her hand but she kicks him in the face a few times until he grabs her leg. He then flings her onto the bed which wraps her into the bed sheets like a bag. He grabs the sheets and smashes them (and her) into the wall and floor a few times and then back onto the bed. He moves the sheets from her face]

MOLOTOV
You killed my father!!

BROCK
You killed my partner.

MOLOTOV
You took my eye!

BROCK
After you took... my heart.

At this they kiss and the camera shifts to the wall for a second (revealing a skull has been smashed into the wall) and we hear the sound of zippers and buckles. When it shifts back to them Molotov is nude except for some metal chain panties with a USSR hammer and sickle on them. She tells Brock that she can still only go to second base. Brock, frustrated, moves aside and smokes two cigarettes and gives third to Molotov, who is suddenly clothed again. Brock watches her as she smokes for a second (with various scenes of her body, a good amount of which is not covered by her costume) and then screams and stabs the bed with his knife. He then stands up to reveal he has a raging boner (hee hee, raging boner) and walks off to the bathroom telling her he has to go take care of something.

Back at the OCCC gym the OCLF are professing their hatred for Bizzy Bee and Brisbyland and explaining their, uh, philosophy to Hank and Dean. Lots of places the OCLF members enjoyed before Brisby came to town were torn down to make room for the park and he's spread to Florida and France too! The OCLF leader then reveals to the boys two Bizzy Bee club hats. Only these aren't ordinary hats. They were stolen from Brisby core headquarters by an OCLF agent and apparently are intended for mind control. Hank and Dean still like Bizzy, however, so they will make the perfect test subjects. For danger! I added in that last part myself.

Inside the Brisby Dome Dr. Venture is hooked up to a lie detector, but still not awake. Mandelay wakes him up with a swift slap to the face and Brisby asks Venture to state his name:

DR. VENTURE
Reading from top to bottom. Lisa. Carol. Fremont.

[they all stare in disbelief]

BRISBY DRONT
[consulting the printout] Uhhh, he's telling the truth.

Back at the motel Brock is, uh, finishing up, while Molotov explains to him that the boys were kidnapped by the OCLF and not Brisby. Brock asks if she knows where they are and we quickly cut back to the OCCC gym where Hank and Dean are now decked out in OCLF gear. Debbie (the OCLF leader's wife) holds up a Bizzy Bee dummy which the boys kick the crap out of. The leader then tells the rest of the OCLF members that they will attack Brisbyland tonight. They all cheer and march off.

Outside OCCC two OCLF sentrys are keeping watch when Brock jumps out of some bushes and pole vaults over the fence using one of the sentrys as a plant. Molotov runs by next and jumps over the fence using the other guard to jump off of, but he doesn't get hurt. The X-1 has begun takeoff and Brock cases after it, but sadly can't keep up and ends up falling down in a last-ditch diving attempt. He throws a rock in frustration which clocks HELPeR (who is outside the X-1, R2D2 style) in the head. HELPeR only waves at Brock.

MOLOTOV
You know this robot?

BROCK
Yeah. Wait a minute! If I summon him he'll override the X-1's controls and bring her back here. [he presses a button on his watch] He's programmed to come when we call him.

On the X-1 HELPeR's lightbulb flashes and he jumps out of the jet, making a rather loud sound when he hits the ground. Molotov says that she'll drive since she knows where they're going anyway.

Back in the Brisby Dome Dr. Venture is still blabbering on. It seems the truth serum is interacting with 'something' in Dr. V's system. He is a pill popper after all. Just then the OCLF barges into the Dome, throwing orange bombs (yes, bombs that look like oranges) and beating up guys dressed like Bizzy Bee (or getting beaten up by guys that look like Bizzy Bee). General chaos ensues when Brock and Molotov walk in. Brock tells Molotov to help him look for the Doc and the boys, but Molotov refuses saying that she only helps her clients. They kiss, she slaps him, and then she flys off with one of those nifty Batman grappling hook guns. Brock watches her go and gets tackled by a Bizzy Bee while he's off guard.

Dr. Venture wanders out of the room he was in to find the chaos. Just then the room behind him explodes and he falls (the room was high up in the Dome), falls, falls until Brock fires a nailgun which hits the mark and nails Dr. Venture's pant leg to the wall of the Dome. Brock then confronts Mandelay. They crack various body parts and Dr. Venture falls again and is again saved in the same manor by Brock. Brock points the gun at Mandelay who says he doesn't even need this job any more, and walks away.

Just then the boys rope in from the ceiling to confront Brock (who once again saves Dr. Venture with the nail gun). Brock tells the boys to put down the guns, but Hank and Dean seem set on killing him (or the Bee anyway).

Brisby is attempting to make his escape when Molotov confronts him. She tells him to turn it over (he knows what 'it' is) and she won't have to kill him. Brisby responds by catching on fire again.

Back in the dome Brock throws down his gun and tells the boys that they don't want to shoot him because they know him, and also what he'll do to them if they do shoot him. Hank and Dean look more confused and look away from Brock for a second, which he takes as an opportunity to bash their skulls together, which snaps them out of the mind control.

Dr. Venture then calls out for help since the final nail didn't actually hit his pants but his wrist. Brock takes the nail out of his wrist and Dr. Venture falls to the ground as the boys realize they're in Brisbyland after all and the Doc is the 'best daddy ever!'. Go team Venture!

Roll end credits.

Molotov has escaped and is driving down the highway, talking on the phone:

MOLOTOV
All went according to plan. There were no complications; the threat has been neutralized and your package has been secured, Mr. Bowie. [the camera zooms out to reveal LI-LI sitting in the passenger seat of MOLOTOV's car]

Notes

• This is the first appearance of Molotov Cocktease and Roy Brisby, though I don't know if the latter will be making any further appearances, the former certainly will.
  
  
• Roy Brisby and his empire is of course a Venture-universe version of Walt Disney with Bizzy Bee being Mickey Mouse. You'll notice Brisby uses a few Disney catch phrases throughout the episode such as 'zippity doo-da' and 'Jiminy Crickets!' (the latter is actually used as a expression of surprise, but it's inclusion is clearly intended). From Jackson Publick's livejournal:

  In an early draft of this episode, Brisby was planning to launch a massive new satellite network to take over the world's television entertainment. His plan was to have been thwarted by either the boys or Dr. Venture, who find, in the Brisby vaults, his original Bizzy Bee cartoons from the 1920's, which were, as Disney's early Mickey shorts were, utterly racist in nature. They then play the cartoon on the new network's inaugural broadcast, which sends the world into revolt against Brisby's empire and pisses Mandelay off enough to go after his boss. It would have been a very touchy bit of satire to try to handle, and I honestly don't know if I'm a developed enough satirist to have pulled it off respectfully.

• Mandelay, who was inspired by Manute from Sin City and Punjab from Little Orphan Annie is actually named after his theme song, which was written by feotus, aka JG Thirlwell, the guy who scores Venture Bros. The song was originally used in the pilot episode when Brock dares the UN guard to take his knife from him.
  
  
• The Sin City references don't end there though. Molotov dragging Brock out of the tar pits, complete with dinosaur replicas, is an homage to the tar pits in the Sin City story 'The Big Fat Kill'.
  
  
• After the boys get their new Bizzy Bee hats from the OCLF one of the members says "Jeeze, Ted. Those hats really work. What, did you turn them up all the way to Patty Hearst?". Patty Hearst, in 1974, was kidnapped by the Symbionese Liberation Army, and eventually joined the SLA after being locked in a closet and abused. She was later photographed holding an assault rifle while robbing a bank and was arrested. For more info on Patty Hearst, try here, and if you want to join the SLA, start here.
  
  
• When Dr. Venture is all hopped up on truth serum the lines he utters are those of Lisa Carol Fremont from Alfred Hitchcock's Rear Window (played by Grace Kelly) which stars Jimmy Stewart as wheelchair-confined man who is stuck in his apartment because of this and spies on his neighbors.
  
  
• Similar to Careers in Science, this episode was originally rated TV-14, but later re-rated by Adult Swim's new S&P team to be TV-MA, most likely thanks to Molotov's outfit and Brock's, er, shall we say, attraction to Molotov and subsequent implied relief of said attraction. I don't know why I decided to put it like that. More fun I guess.