History Recap / TheVentureBrosS3E11ORB

Picking back up in the 19th century {{Flashback}}, Sandow and Col. Venture are alone aboard the Zeppelin as the attack outside continues. Sandow begs Venture not to activate the ORB, while Venture argues that they have no choice as people are dying over it. He explains that the ORB has passed from [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Archimedes Archimedes]] to Creator/LeonardoDaVinci to UsefulNotes/IsaacNewton to [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Galileo_Galilei Galileo]] and countless other artists, poets, scientists, alchemists, and philosophers in between. Each added their genius to the ORB, though the device's true purpose remains unknown. Many believe it to be a powerful weapon, but Venture explains that he believes it is a powerful engine, and that he is "a man of hope." Sandow pleads one final time to no avail as Venture goes to activate the device. The camera moves close up to Sandow's distraught face as the sound of a neck breaking is heard...

** [[Recap/TheVentureBrosS1E2CareersInScience Jonas Sr.'s death]], a series-long mystery whose fine details are still ambiguous, was strongly implied to be the result of Kano killing him to prevent him from activating the ORB (although this ended up being a RedHerring).

** [[Recap/TheVentureBrosPilotTheTerribleSecretOfTurtleBay The Venture family dog, Scamp,]] is dug up in the back yard when searching for the treasure. Scamp was seen in the pilot episode of the series.

** The Venture family dog, Scamp, is dug up in the back yard when searching for the treasure. Scamp was seen in the pilot episode of the series.
** Rusty's low danger rating for giant spiders is given more context when Billy's slide show briefly shows him being attacked and almost eaten by one as a child.
** Jonas Sr.'s death, a series-long mystery whose fine details are still ambiguous, was strongly implied to be the result of Kano killing him to prevent him from activating the ORB (although this ended up being a RedHerring).

In the Studio 54 bathroom, Billy is exploring a hole in the wall they made behind the baby changing station. A security guard walks in and Rusty quickly explains that he is simply changing his son's diaper. Billy reluctantly plays along and gets in position to be changed as the guard watches. Just then, Rusty's communicator watch lights up, with Hank saying, "Studio 54 is not the coke house" and that they should go to the Frick museum. The incredulous guard asks about the watch, which Billy explains is his "Nintendo DS Lite, goo goo gah gah."

** The ''TabletopGame/YuGiOh'' card "Ancient Gear Fist" that Hank found is an actual card from the game, though it's green rather than orange-brown.

In what appears to be another of the show's many {{Flashback}}s, Jonas Sr. is badly injured and strapped to a chair in the lair of the supervillain Half-Jackal. Nearby, taking cover from behind some rocks, a young Rusty Venture sits on top of Kano's shoulders holding a sniper rifle while the badly injured Col. Gentleman lays nearby shouting instructions on where to aim and how to hold the gun. He tells Rusty that he is going to "see a man die today," and if he doesn't want it to be his father, he needs to pull the trigger. As he does, the scene rewinds and then pauses, revealing a code in the smoke.

It turns out that Billy Quizboy is watching an episode of the old Rusty Venture cartoon, looking for clues he believes will lead him to a treasure. He calls for Pete White to join him, and explains that the code is dimensions for a cylinder. He wraps a thin strip of paper covered in letters from another clue around a toilet paper tube the exact dimensions given in the code and, voila...more code. Billy thinks it's gibberish as he reads to to White, who informs him that it's a URL address. (Which at first, Billy doesn't believe because the Rusty Venture cartoon is from the 1970s.) They type it into White's computer and it brings up a map, pinpointing a spot on the Venture compound.

At the compound, Billy gives gives a slideshow presentation of clips from the Rusty Venture cartoon where he found all the clues. Venture cuts him off, not taking him seriously, by complaining that he hasn't seen "dime #1" from the sales of his cartoon's DVD. Then Billy goes to another slide, which is the map of the compound pinpointing the exact spot of the last clue. Brock realizes that is his herb garden and that he isn't going to dig there, as he was given exact orders when the took the Venture bodyguard assignment to keep an eye on that spot.

Ignoring Brock, Rusty and the others dig there anyway. Rusty sits in a lounge chair drinking while the others do the actual digging. Hank finds something, but it turns out to he the Venture's old dog from the pilot episode, Scamp. Dean runs off crying at this revelation.

In the kitchen, everyone but Brock is around the table waiting to open the box. Rusty hopes it is something of monetary value his father left to him while Hank suggest that it could be full of poison gas. Billy opens it to find another thin strip of paper. He instructs the boys to go get him a roll of toilet paper.

Upstairs, the rest of the family is deciphering the final clue: "In Minuit's bargain, sits the house that coke built, in a loud room of quiet whistlers, behind the Wilde gray gentleman sits the 221210." White types the clue into into a search engine and learns that "Minuit's bargain" is the island of Manhattan. He also figures that "the house that coke built" must be [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Studio_54 Studio 54]]. With that, Rusty and Billy take the X-1 to New York with the toilet paper roll code.

Rusty and Billy have made it to the Studio 54 bathroom, believing that they've figured out the final clues. This leads them to a baby changing station, where they believe the treasure they are seeking is hidden in the wall.

Orpheus returns with the Alchemist, where he discovers that the boys toilet papered his corporeal body while he was astral projecting. The Alchemist is told why he has been summoned, to "solve the mystery of the box we found in Brock's garden."

In the Studio 54 bathroom, Billy is exploring a hole in the wall they made behind the baby changing station. A security guard walks in and Rusty quickly explains that he is simply changing his son's diaper. Billy reluctantly plays along and gets in position to be changed as the guard watches. Just then, Rusty's communicator watch lights up with Hank saying "Studio 54 is not the coke house" and that they should go to the Frick museum. The incredulous guard asks about the watch, which Billy explains is his "Nintendo DS Lite, goo goo gah gah."

Venture, remembering a quote from his father that the best place to hide something is in plain sight, notices the ORB being used as a paperweight. He picks it up and begins fiddling with it, refusing to let Billy hold it, as Brock prepares to move in for the kill. However, at the last second, Rusty stops and decided that his father must have hid it for a good reason. Rusty decides that they'll study it carefully rather than attempt to activate it, quoting his father (and apparently, his great-grandfather) that they are "men of hope." (Billy cuts off the last part, saying it himself, as it was said in "like, every episode" of the cartoon.) Brock is satisfied with this, puts his knife away, and slinks back into the shadows. Billy begs Rusty for a "Go Team Venture!" salute, which Rusty reluctantly performs.

* GenerationXerox: The Venture family, from great-grandfather Lloyd to father Jonas Sr. to finally Rusty, are all globe trotting adventure-scientists. Each has a badass bodyguard (Sandow, Kano, Brock Samson) and a team of talented associates (the original unnamed Guild, the original Team Venture, and finally Rusty's associates.)

** Aside from Colonel Venture (based heavily on Theodore Roosevelt), other members of the original guild include occultist Creator/AleisterCrowley, authors [[Creator/MarkTwain Samuel Clemens]] and Creator/OscarWilde, and Colonel Venture's bodyguard is "Father of Bodybuilding" Eugen Sandow. Their rivals include inventor UsefulNotes/NikolaTesla and his army of Avon Ladies.

* HistoricalDomainCharacter: Aside from Colonel Venture (based heavily on Theodore Roosevelt), other members of the original guild include occultist Creator/AleisterCrowley, authors [[Creator/MarkTwain Samuel Clemens]] and Creator/OscarWilde, and Colonel Venture's bodyguard is "Father of Bodybuilding" Eugen Sandow. Their rivals include inventor UsefulNotes/NikolaTesla and his army of Avon Ladies.

At the compound, Billy gives gives a slideshow presentation of clips from the Rusty Venture cartoon where he found all the clues. Venture cuts him off, not taking him seriously, by complaining that he hasn't seen "dime #1" from the sales of his cartoon's DVD. Then Billy goes to another slide, which is the map of the compound pinpointing the exact spot of the last clue. Brock realizes that is is herb garden and that he isn't going to dig there, as he was given exact orders when the took the Venture bodyguard assignment to keep an eye on that spot.

* SmallReferencePools: Up to 11. While the show is usually chock-full of obscure references, this episode in particular really takes it up to 11. For example, French novel character Literature/{{Fantomas}} as a founding member of the Guild? Victorian era bodybuilder Eugen Sandow along with the HistoricalInJoke about his failed forays into the chocolate industry?

--> "For shame! This guild was founded to protect and serve man at his best, not to be a Guild... of Calamitous Intent!"

--> "For shame! This guild was founded to protect and serve man at his best, not to be a guild... of calamitous intent!"

Brock's box contained an old gramophone cylinder and a manual reading "Orders Regarding Bodyguard, Termination Clause." The voice on the gramophone is Victorian era bodybuilder Eugen Sandow, who tells the tail of a mysterious device known as "ORB." Sandow reveals that he was the bodyguard to Col. Lloyd Venture, Rusty's great-grandfather, and he was assigned to stop him from ever activating the ORB.

*** The other item Hank finds is a [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pogs Slammer Pog]]. (Rusty mistakes both the Yu-Gi-Oh card and the pog as items associated with gambling.)
* ShownTheirWork: Eugen Sandow listing chocolate recipes. (In RealLife, he tried and failed to open cocoa factories in the 1910s.)
** [[CriticalResearchFailure They did less well]], however, when Lloyd Venture states that Sir Isaac Newton added the lenses to the ORB and Galileo the prisms. This is actually reversed, as Newton was known for his work with prisms (using them in his research on color) and Galileo for his work with lenses (constructing and refining them for use in his telescopes.)
* SmallReferencePools: While the show is usually chock-full of obscure references, this episode in particular really takes it up to 11. For example, French novel character Literature/{{Fantomas}} as a founding member of the Guild? Victorian era bodybuilder Eugen Sandow along with the HistoricalInJoke about his failed forays into the chocolate industry?

-> "For shame! This guild was founded to protect and serve man at his best, not to be a guild... of calamitous intent!"

* ThrownFromTheZeppelin: ''Literally'' with Creator/AleisterCrowley, being thrown from the Guild zeppelin after he tries to activate the ORB.

The {{Stinger}} shows Rusty putting the Orb in a hidden wall safe. Hank walks in and asks what the treasure was, which Rusty says was only a note from his father. In the hangar, Brock drops out of the landing gear compartment of the X-1, where he hitched a ride home. Once out, his car (still on autopilot,) moves in to run him over.

Venture, remembering a quote from his father that the best place to hide something is in plain sight, notices the ORB being used as a paperweight. He picks it up and begins fiddling with it, refusing to let Billy hold it, as Brock prepares to move in for the kill. However, at the last second, Rusty stops and decided that his father must have hit it for a good reason. Rusty decides that they'll study it carefully rather than attempt to activate it, quoting his father (and apparently, his great-grandfather) that they are "men of hope." (Billy cuts off the last part, saying it himself, as it was said in "like, every episode" of the cartoon.) Brock is satisfied with this, puts his knife away, and slinks back into the shadows. Billy begs Rusty for a "Go Team Venture!" salute, which Rusty reluctantly performs.

Orpheus, now in the Venture living room, explains that the box they found is from the Victoria Era and that the "house that coke build" probably isn't Studio 54. He informs the boys and White that he knows an expert on the 19th century and astral projects to contact him.

** Jonas Sr.'s unexpected death is implied to be the result of Kano killing him to prevent him from activating the ORB.

** The Alchemist's reaction to White's preference for the internet over a dictionary is that he "doesn't want to play [[WorldOfWarcraft "World a' Warcraft]].

--> '''Gathers:''' "THERE IS NO GOOD NEWS! Only bad news and ''weird'' news..."