Careers in Science

Infobox Television episode
Title=Careers in Science
Series=The Venture Bros.
Season=1
Episode=2
Airdate=14 August 2004
Writer= Doc Hammer
Ben Edlund (Story)
Director= Jackson Publick


Caption = "Let's take this slow. It's my first time."
Production = 1-02
Guests =
Prev=Dia de Los Dangerous!
Next=Home Insecurity

"Careers in Science" is the second episode in the first season of "The Venture Bros."

Plot

The episode opens with an educational slide presentation from 1971 of "Gargantua-1", the awesome, self-sufficient space station built by Jonas Venture. We see the station's features and even "Rusty" Venture as a ten-year old boy playing with his cowboy and Indian figures in front of an open equipment panel. This segues into a present-day shot of Team Venture in a spaceship. There seems to be some problem with "Gargantua-1" that requires the attention of its creator's son.

After docking, the team meets the only two people left on the station: Colonel Bud Manstrong and Lieutenant Anna Baldavitch (a woman with a perfectly sculpted body, but a face so ugly we only see her head from the back). As Manstrong escorts the visitors to the problem area, he "amuses" the boys with the tale of the "Phantom Spaceman" that supposedly haunts the station. Finally arriving in the control room, Manstrong reveals that the problem is a "problem light" that shines whenever there happens to be a problem... although it gives no indication as to what the problem "is". After Dr. Venture urinates in his space suit (under the mistaken impression that it automatically processes waste products), the team splits up to find the problem.

Venture idly flips switches at random while Brock and H.E.L.P.eR. investigate the cargo bay. Thaddeus accidentally opens the cargo bay doors, sucking the robot out of the station while Brock hangs on to whatever he can grasp. His eyes bulge and twitch as he is exposed to the vacuum of open space.

Manstrong, who seems to sense the attraction between Baldavitch and Samson, talks with her about their "relationship". Baldavitch, who has been waiting years for Manstrong to make a move, begins to argue with him but cuts the conversation short when she notices Brock's dangerous situation. Baldavitch rushes to the bay, where she retrieves Samson and marvels that he is not badly hurt. After a brief recuperation, he has sex with her but asks her not to remove her helmet.

In the meantime, Venture momentarily deactivates the artificial gravity in the control room, scattering his "diet pills". He restores the gravity and bends under the console to retrieve them, but knocks himself unconscious in the process. He has a vision of his father, twelve feet tall and constantly switching outfits, who tells "Rusty" that the station's problem must be his fault. Hank and Dean find their father lying still on the floor and assume that not only is he dead, but he has been killed by the "Phantom Spaceman" Manstrong described. Fleeing in terror, they spot through a window Brock and Baldavitch having sex and conclude that Brock is fighting the Spaceman...while nude...and stabbing it with "the only weapon he has." When the "spaceman's" helmet comes off, they realize that Brock's "opponent" is Baldavitch. Afterward, Manstrong berates Baldavitch for her liaison with Brock, and she angrily responds that she will not tolerate his jealous ranting.

H.E.L.P.eR. strikes a communications satellite and is eventually thrown back into "Gargantua-1", landing in a storeroom and becoming entangled in sheets and cleaning supplies. The robot wanders the corridors blindly until Hank and Dean spot it and mistake it for the Phantom Spaceman. They charge the disguised H.E.L.P.eR. and beat it with surprising force before blowing it out another airlock.

Thaddeus finally comes to his full senses, still angry over the hallucination of his father blaming him. He suddenly notices a panel leaking orange goo. He opens the panel to discover one of the cowboy figures he had played with as a boy, which has melted across several wires. When he extracts the ruined toy, the problem light turns off.

Manstrong and Brock, meanwhile, are out in space repairing the damage caused by H.E.L.P.eR.'s reentry. During the one-sided conversation, Manstrong insists that Brock "do the honorable thing" and marry Baldavitch. When Manstrong places his hand on Brock's shoulder for emphasis, Brock's hair-trigger temper is set off and he beats Manstrong to a pulp.

The team reunites and prepares to leave. Manstrong remains helplessly floating in space, begging Baldavitch to rescue him, but she refuses to do so until he apologizes for his childish behavior. As the Venture's ship leaves the station, the exhaust slams Manstrong against the station, and he drifts away again. Dr. Venture's spacesuit, which he draped over a chair, begins to leak urine onto the control panel and the problem light activates again...

After the credits, H.E.L.P.eR. re-enters Earth's atmosphere and crashes on the grounds of Venture Industries.

Cultural references

*"Sharky's Machine", which was mentioned in the episode, is an 1981 film directed by and starring Burt Reynolds.
*Mr. Mouth is the name of a children's board game where players flip plastic flies into a rotating frog's mouth. [ [http://www.hasbro.com/common/instruct/Mr._Mouth.PDF Mr. Mouth instructions] from [http://www.hasbro.com hasbro.com] ]
*The comment that "Gargantua-1" formerly contained 'One Busy Barber' is a reference to the sarcastic comment from Captain Haddock in Herge's "Explorers on the Moon": "They'll ask me, 'What was your job on the Moon Rocket?' and I'll say, 'Me? I was the Hairdresser!'". Further reference to "Explorers on the Moon" can be seen with Hank and Dean space suits' which look like the one wore by Tintin and the crew in that said book.
*For reasons unknown Brock's outfit in this episode resembles the training outfit of Rocky Balboa, from the first "Rocky" film.

Production notes

*This is the only normal-run episode in the series that is lacking the "presented in glorious extra COLOR" card.
*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 "Careers In Science" the credit reads Kimson "Peligro" Albert.

References