Episode - Season 2, Episode 4 (Production Code: 2-18)
First Aired: July 16, 2006
Previously on… The Venture Bros., the Venture family, joined by Dr. Sigmund Freud and Emperor Caligula, has found themselves mixed up in a time travel plot involving the dreaded "Osiris Cult." Action/adventure cliches are rampant.
After that "recap," The Venture family finds themselves trapped in a pyramid chamber, with the only apparent way out through the mouth of a jackal sculpture. Dean tries in vain to fit through, but cannot, leaving Doc as the only one small enough to fit. Before he can, spikes protrude from the walls as the walls begin closing in. With death approaching, Doc reluctantly uses Hank's suggestion of calling Dr. Orpheus for help on his wrist communicator. Orpheus, who is raking leaves back at the Venture compound, receives the call but is unable to help unless he knows the Venture family's exact location. Without explanation, he asks that Dean imagine making out naked with Orpheus' daughter, Triana. Orpheus is able to locate the Venture family using Dean's strong emotional response and disables the trap. Venture escapes the room, leaving Brock, Hank, and Dean behind for now.
Venture returns to the compound and begins rummaging through his lab looking for equipment that can help him rescue the boys and Brock. Orpheus enters the lab, irritating Venture, and the two enter a debate on the merits of science vs. magic. Forgetting about his trapped family, Venture makes a bet with Orpheus. Whoever can shrink themselves the most using science or magic will win. They will meet back in the lab the next day to determine the winner. Venture, sensing an easy win, is unnerved when Orpheus reminds him that Venture sold his old shrink ray to Billy Quizboy and Pete White at his yard sale.
A convoluted and incomplete series of scenes shows that Brock and the boys have escaped the room on their own. Dean has been decapitated but remains alive due to "pyramid power." They've also acquired a friendly mummy companion. They steal the cult's time machine and end up in the 1800s, where Brock has Edgar Allan Poe in a headlock. They then travel back to the present day with Poe in tow.
Venture has broken into Billy and White's "Conjectural Technologies" mobile home, trashing the place while trying to find the shrink ray he sold them. Billy and White return home to see the place wrecked, believing that they have an arch-villain. Instead, they find Venture. White admits that he disassembled the shrink ray since it didn't work, hoping to find a "treasure map" or something inside jamming it up. Venture despairs over the bag of parts, but the three agree to work together to reassemble it.
Triana enters her room to find Dr. Orpheus in front of her closet with an unearthly light pouring out of it. Triana, upset that her father never told her that her closet was actually a portal to hell, berates him for making her think she was going insane and forcing her to wear the same clothes every day out of a fear of the closet. Orpheus tries to explain but fails to convince her. Orpheus instead casts a sleep spell on her and erases the event from her memory. Orpheus then enters the closet portal.
Brock, the boys, and their historical companions, have time traveled once again. Hank accidentally set the machine to 12:30 AM instead of 1230 AD, resulting in them witnessing their own capture by the Osiris Cult.
In the "necropolis" dimension in Triana's closet, Orpheus approaches the throne of his master to find a three-headed dog. Orpheus attacks with a fireball before the dog reveals that he is Orpheus' master, shapeshifted into the form of Cerberus. They discuss Orpheus' lack of friends while one of the dog heads licks the master's crotch.
Venture, White, and Billy have finally reassembled the device, testing it successfully on H.E.L.P.eR. They then want to test it on a human subject, but Venture is unwilling to take the risk claiming that he's a single father while White declines as he's an albino. Billy attempts to get out of it due to his virginity, but the others force him to be the test subject. The shots of the shrink ray are only partially successful, shrinking first Billy's lungs, then his head.
Brock, another Brock from a different timeline, the boys, Sigmund Freud, Edgar Allan Poe, and Emperor Caligula meanwhile work together to plan an assault on the Osiris Cult.
Orpheus and his master now lay on the ground, looking up at the stars. Orpheus ponders how insignificant he feels in comparison to the whole of the cosmos. His master admits that Orpheus is his best student and urges him to win the "incredibly gay" bet with Venture.
Venture, White, and Billy admit that they cannot repair the shrink ray. Venture admits that he isn't a very good super scientist and has never been able to repair anything his father had built. Billy cheers him up by showing him an old "Rusty Venture" cartoon lunchbox he bought on eBay, depicting a young Venture riding a pterodactyl. Billy explains that Venture may not be a very good super scientist, but he was a great boy adventurer, and he is what inspired Billy to become a "boy genius."
Orpheus approaches and states that he can make himself no smaller than he already is and concedes the contest. Venture admits that he fared no better. The group leaves the lab, but Orpheus mentions that they feel like they are forgetting something. Venture turns off the lights and then steps on a still-shrunken H.E.L.P.eR.
The Stinger is an "On the Next..." style clip for Part III of the series. It shows Hank freezing to death in the arctic, begging Brock to put him out of his misery. Brock turns to alternate timeline Brock, telling Alt-Brock to cut open the dead body of Edgar Allan Poe so they can stuff Hank inside to stave off hypothermia. Alt-Brock does so, stating "and I thought he smelled bad on the outside." Other Brock stands with Hank in his arms and lets out a primal scream of "DOOOOOOOOC!!"
Tropes:
- Anachronic Order: The B-plot with Brock and the boys is hard to follow thanks to their time traveling and portions of the story that aren't shown.
- Ass Shove: Where Caligula hides the hand. Freud is clearly interested in this turn of events. Presumably it was explained in the nonexistent Part I.
- Butt-Monkey: Edgar Allan Poe. Brock seems to despise him for no clear reason.
- Call-Back: Rusty thinks he'll win the bet with Orpheus to shrink himself down thanks to his Shrink Ray. Orpheus then reminds him that he sold it to Billy and Pete in "Tag Sale, You're It!", forcing him to go get it back from them and leading to their involvement in the plot.
- Carcass Sleeping Bag: Parodies the The Empire Strikes Back scene, with Brock cutting open Edgar Allan Poe for Hank to rest inside of him.
- Clarke's Third Law: Part of Doc's conflict with Orpheus is his belief that Orpheus's magic isn't meaningfully different from his own superscience.
- Dumbass Has a Point: Hank is the one who brings up the idea of calling Doctor Orpheus to save them. Doc rejects the idea, since he thinks that Hank couldn't possibly come up with a good idea and he hates Doctor Orpheus's phony magic, but Brock points out that it's really the only idea anyone has, other than to hope for a quick death.
- Limited Wardrobe: Lampshaded by Triana, who is only ever seen in one outfit, says that this is due to a maddening fear of her closet, it being the doorway to the Master's realm.
- Lost in Medias Res: Invoked and Played for Laughs. Because part one doesn't exist, the viewer has no idea what is going on with the Time Travel B-plot.
- Magic Versus Science: Rusty and Orpheus challenge each other to "shrink themselves" as part of this debate. Orpheus ends up quitting because his master tells him how, philosophically, he's already as small as he can get in comparison with the vastness of the universe. Venture wins by default because Orpheus was the bigger man in admitting his failure, faster than Rusty could say he couldn't fix his father's shrink ray even with Pete and Billy's help.
- Plot Threads: The Venture/Orpheus story is the clear "A Plot" while the story of Brock and the boys forms the "B plot."
- Previously on… / On the Next: Spoofed at the beginning and end of the episode, referring to non-existent parts I and III of the trilogy.
- Ransacked Room: Rusty does this to Billy and Pete's trailer while searching for the Shrink Ray he sold them back in "Tag Sale, You're It!"
- Ridiculous Counter-Request: Rusty says one during the fake Previously on… segment for Part I:Head Cultist: Give me the Hand of Osiris.
Rusty: Give me head. - Scarecrow Solution: Doc sits on Brock's shoulders covered in a green blanket with a flashlight trying to scare the cultists. (It fails and the cultists Lampshade it.)
- Shout-Out:
- When probing Dean for an explanation, Hank says "yeah Clarissa, explain it all."
- The post-credits scene where alternate timeline Brock cuts open Edgar Allan Poe and comments on the smell is taken from The Empire Strikes Back.
- There are numerous mentions of Egyptian Mythology (Osiris, the Perfect Man hatching from an egg, the mummy, pyramids) and Classical Mythology (Cerberus, Argos.)
- One of the things Orpheus namedrops while trying to impress Rusty with his magic skills is "making you believe you are a very special episode of Blossom."
- Skyward Scream: Brock at the end. (One of the Brocks anyway...)
- Something We Forgot: After escaping, Rusty gets sidetracked with a science vs. magic competition with Dr. Orpheus and forgets all about Brock and the boys who are still in the middle of a wacky time travel adventure. Brock gets increasingly agitated about it as the episode goes on. Conversed with at the end of the main episode where the group ponders if they forgot something, Rusty realizes he forgot to turn off the lights in the lab.
- Throwing Your Gun at the Enemy: Lampshaded after a cultist throws his empty gun at Brock. Another cultist berates him for doing so.[Mook 1's gun empties he looks at it then throws the gun at Brock and the boys who are no longer in range]
Mook 2: "We have more bullets you know. You gotta stop doing that."
Mook 1: [sheepishly] "I know, it just looks so cool."
Mook 2: "Well, go get it." - Time Travel: Brock and boys play with all sorts of time travel tropes in the B Plot.
- Too Much Information: Billy considers his own "guilty pleasures" list this once he realizes he misunderstood the question. While Rusty and Pete list off famous women they're into, Billy listed off things he's actually done to pleasure himself, one involving a dustbuster.Billy: "I didn't understand the question!!"
- Trickster Mentor: Orpheus' master. He usually does give Orpheus helpful information, but in the form of riddles and metaphors.
- Un-Installment: There are no actual Parts I or III of this trilogy.
- Ungrateful Bastard: Dr. Venture isn't the least bit impressed or grateful that Dr. Orpheus managed to remotely save him and the rest of Team Venture from around the world, especially since he did it with magic.
- Utility Magic: Dr Orpheus can be seen using his magic powers to rake the lawn outside the Venture Compound.
- Voluntary Shapeshifting: Orpheus' master is a fan of it to teach him lessons.
- The Walls Are Closing In: With Spikes of Doom as an added bonus and lampshading.Doctor Orpheus: How fast are the spikes?
Doctor Venture: Uh, slower than "haunted house" spiked walls but not quite as slow as "evil scientist" spiked walls.
