The first time I saw this , years ago , I said, " please don't give these studios any ideas". A few years later, I wished this was the direction they took as compared to what was done with the Velma show.
You might see people complaining about the 'dark version' trope of kid's media being overused. But, that's because everybody else that does it is lazy. The adaptation here works on like five levels, the comedy beats are all amazing and this is like the c plot for this episode. Bonkers stuff.
I love how Valerie, who is an Ultra Extreme Feminist who wants to completely erase the Male Gender from existence still found this sequence funny. And that says a lot because Ted Bundy is the LAST person she would find funny
Freddy: "Now why don't you guys help us find a clue!" Sunny: "A clue, a clue to what?!" Freddy: "A clue to why I don't chain you to the back of my van, and road haul you til you're nothing but a pelvis wearing a belt!"
The reason why this is better than the Velma show, is because every character is subverted to the extreme, while still being in line with what the Scooby-Doo show was all about. The Velma show is about projection of a certain indian woman in a facsimile of the Scooby-Doo show.
I've instantly searched for this masterpiece after watching an utter garbage known as Velma. To whoever wonder why characters in this parody are named different here's why: Ted: Ted Bundy the "charismatic" serial killer. Patty: Patty Hearst the brainwashed kidnapped millionaire heiress turned terrorist Val: Valerie Solanus a super-militant feminist who gut-shot Andy Warhol Sonny: The Son of Sam (David Berkowitz) who, at his trial, told the court that his nieghbor's dog talked to him and told him to kill. He later retracted that statement.
I remember seeing this as a kid. It fucked me up because it was so fucked up. I watch it now, and I dont know if I'm harder, or if I'm just adjusted to this, but it doesn't hit me the same way as before. Don't get me wrong, it's still so messed up. Just not as shocking as I thought it was as a kid.
How old were you when Ventures came out? That's basically how those of us who saw the original Johny Quest reruns as kids felt about Venture Bros when it first came out. I mean specifically the edgy, disturbing and far more realistic parody of what we saw as kids. Admittedly even kids occasionally wondered wtf was with Quest dragging his kid around headhunters and crap lol. I mean that episode where Rusty admits his magic pleasure booth runs off _parts_ of an orphan still gets me ever time. Not even sure why I laugh so hard. Guess it's the combination of the delivery and how unspeakably dark it is...
