Ice Station – Impossible!

Infobox Television episode
Title=Ice Station – Impossible!
Series=The Venture Bros.
Season=1
Episode=7
Airdate=18 September 2004
Writer= Jackson Publick
Director= Jackson Publick


Caption = "That's all well and good, but mine fits for crap!"
Production = 1-9
Guests = Stephen Colbert as Professor Impossible
Mia Barron as
Sally Impossible
Prev=Ghosts of the Sargasso
Next=Mid-Life Chrysalis

"Ice Station — Impossible!" is the seventh episode in the first season of "The Venture Bros.".

Plot

Dr. Venture and his colleagues Master Billy Quizboy and Dr. Peter White have been invited by their old college professor Richard Impossible (voiced by Stephen Colbert) to a government-sponsored think tank, held at Impossible's Arctic base. While there, he comments that the jumpsuits the trio wear can do almost anything, as he begins stretching and flexing as if made of rubber. Soon thereafter the three must provide urine samples for Impossible due to mandatory drug testing. Aware that his own urine would be tainted by the many "diet" pills and stimulants he takes, Dr. Venture has cleverly brought a urine sample from his sons, but he accidentally spills it in the restroom; luckily, he manages to get a reprieve to provide the sample later. Along the way, the men meet Richard's attractive wife Sally, with whom Richard seems displeased for leaving her room.

The infamous Race Bannon has in the meantime defeated a horde of Snakemen on their plane, retrieved the top-secret formula they had stolen, and destroyed the plane with a grenade. As he parachutes to apparent safety, the wing of the out-of-control plane smashes into his stomach and knocks him unconscious. He lands in a neighborhood full of young children, who prod at his body and chase it when the wind fills his parachute and drags him along the ground. The plane crashes on the grounds of the Venture complex, but not before the canister Race had dropped smashes into Hank's head. After investigating the wreckage, Hank, Dean and Brock find Race, who is near death. Bannon gasps that the canister, which contains "the Goliath serum," must be protected at all costs, then dies. (Rather messily, as all his sphincters relax and he releases his bowels. Something which Brock deadpans, "Yeah, they never show that part on TV.")

Sally Impossible provides Dr. Venture with what she assures him is a clean urine sample, and the two begin flirting over a flask of whiskey. She confesses to Venture that she is frustrated with the confines of the base and longs to escape with an exciting man. As she draws near to kiss Venture, her skin vanishes and reveals the musculature beneath. Venture screams in horror and flees blindly, stumbling across Sally's brother Cody (who bursts painfully into flame when exposed to oxygen) and cousin Ned (who is mentally handicapped and resembles an enormous callus). Sally explains that these strange afflictions are the result of an accident, and that she is able to keep her skin visible only by concentrating. Unnoticed by any of them, Richard eavesdrops on the conversation via an elongated ear. Feigning a casual air, he enters the room and invites Venture for a ride in one of his advanced vehicles, a flying car. As he flies over the Arctic wasteland, he justifies what he is about to do to Venture, who can not hear him due to the howling wind. He abruptly strands Venture in the snow-swept landscape and returns to base. Attempting to look on the bright side, Venture reflects that the Impossible jumpsuit will keep him warm; as if on cue, the garment shatters into pieces and leaves him nude.

Brock and the boys view an old filmstrip they have managed to locate about the Goliath serum. Developed by Richard Impossible, it destabilizes living matter until it explodes powerfully. This is demonstrated by Impossible applying a tiny drop to an ant, which in a matter of seconds causes a detonation that destroys a steamroller. The filmstrip cautions that humans have never been exposed to the serum, but symptoms would include voracious hunger, rapid growth of facial hair, and a feverish flush to the cheeks. As Brock and Dean look at Hank, they notice his rosy cheeks and watch him stuff fistfuls of popcorn in his mouth. The boys panic as they realize that Hank has apparently become a human bomb, but Brock calms them by stating that he knows where to go for help.

Venture wanders aimlessly through the snow, suffering from hypothermia and hallucinating. Brock appears to kill a polar bear posed to attack Venture and gives him the bear's fur. Amazingly, Brock and the boys were flying to Impossible's base when they spotted him. They arrive at the Impossible base and confront Richard, who tells them that killing Hank is the only way to stop the reaction. Sally, Quizboy and White prevent him from shooting Hank, insisting that they will be able to find an antidote by working together. Although Richard disagrees, he is incapacitated by Cody and Ned as the other scientists get to work. After hurriedly mixing chemicals and experimenting, they arrive at a solution just as Hank exhibits the final symptom of uncontrollable hiccups. After the mixture is administered, his hiccups immediately stop, his beard falls out and his skin tone returns to normal. The group celebrates their victory as Richard, who has untangled himself, sniffs the beaker and proclaims that they have only succeeded in inventing ranch dressing. Obviously, he says, the serum failed to work on humans, as it was only ever tested on ants. As Sally argues the point with him, Venture quietly hurries the boys towards the X-1 to leave.

After the credits, Richard distantly soothes the weeping Sally as he peers at samples through a microscope. Frowning, he wonders aloud that Venture's urine sample seems to indicate that he was pregnant; to his puzzlement, Sally begins crying harder than ever.

Cultural references

*The Impossibles are parodies of the Fantastic Four.
**Richard resembles Mr. Fantastic, Sally is The Invisible Woman (although only her skin becomes invisible), Cody is a version of The Human Torch who cannot control his flames (which cause him great pain), and Ned the walking callus is the equivalent of The Thing.
**Mr. Impossible's first name, "Richard", is virtually identical to Mr. Fantastic's last name of "Richards."
**The flying device Venture and Impossible travel in is a homage to the Fantasticar used by the Fantastic Four.
**The revelation of Sally's pregnancy is a reference to Mr. Fantastic and the Invisible Woman's son, Franklin Richards.
*The episode name is a reference to "Ice Station Zebra".
*When Billy, White, and Dr. Venture are going to be drug-tested by Professor Impossible, Billy expresses anxiety about some cold medicine he took earlier showing up in the test results. White assures him, saying that Dr. Venture is the one who needs to be worried with his "Mother's Little Helpers", a song by The Rolling Stones.

Connections to other episodes

*Professor Impossible appears in the series' pilot, "The Terrible Secret of Turtle Bay", as a scientist at the UN. Although he still has "super stretching" capabilities, he is unnamed in the earlier episode and voiced by a different actor, Peter McCulloch (show creator Jackson Publick's brother). [Episode "The Terrible Secret of Turtle Bay"]
*The Impossible family reappears in "Twenty Years to Midnight," by which time Professor and Sally Impossible's son Rocket has been born. [Episode "Twenty Years to Midnight"]
*Brock kills a polar bear with nothing but his hands and a bowie knife; in "Eeny Meeny Miney Magic," one of Brock's "deepest desires," as manifested by the Joy Can, was to fight and kill a polar bear with a knife.

Production notes

*Race Bannon (from Jonny Quest, from which the show takes much inspiration) was a surprise guest star. Jackson Publick had wanted to use a Race-like figure to represent Brock's mentor, but upon learning that Cartoon Network actually owned the rights to Race, Jackson gladly used him.
*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 "Ice Station - IMPOSSIBLE!" the credit reads Kimson "Ba-Hey!" Albert.

References