Out today on Blu-ray (with DVD thrown in for good measure) is Season Six of The Venture Bros., where we see the newly-rich Dr. Venture and sons situated in their swanky new compound in New York City, a prime location for more (mis)adventures. This season started off with the special All This and Gargantua 2, which features pretty much every character we’ve ever seen on the show as circumstances clash them together against the backdrop of the epic space station Gargantua 2. If you haven’t seen this season yet, do make sure to start with the special as it does affect the rest of the season (and the Ventureverse in general), with important plot points including (seemingly) killing off several characters. It is included among the special features on the DVD and Blu-ray sets along with very amusing creator commentaries for each episode plus some deleted scenes (you can see editors’ logic behind cutting them, but they’re still an entertaining bonus nonetheless.)
In addition, whether you love Adventure Time because of its critical acclaim (BAFTA, Emmy, Peabody awards and more), because it’s something you can enjoy with your kids, or just because you like saying “The Land of Ooo,” you were probably among the 2.5 million people watching last season and following the exploits of Finn, Jake, and all the rest.
Thus, we state that next week from Cartoon Network is that show’s Season Six set. This includes all forty-three episodes as well as a featurette on Episode 7 (“Food Chain”) on which Masaaki Yuasa was a guest animator, galleries of a selection of the whimsical art from this season, song demos, and–my favorite–animatics (animated story boards), which provide an interesting look inside the technical building blocks that evolve into the final product viewers see and love.
Now, something to bear in mind for both sets is that, especially if you’re going to iTunes or Amazon to snag an individual episode, the numbering changes depending on where you look. Whereas this DVD for Adventure Time calls these forty-three episodes Season Six, they’re spread out across Six through Eight on those sites. And really, if you start looking at cost per episode, owning this thing just makes a lot more sense rather than buying it digital. You can get it on Amazon here.
On the Venture side of things, the special “All This and Gargantua 2” is listed as the first episode on the Adult Swim site. You can watch that, by the way, along with the first three episodes from this set if you mosey over there. (Take advantage while you can, of course.) Regardless, considering individual episodes will set you back $2.99 a shot and the entire season is $19.99, it makes sense to go ahead and grab it in physical form for just $21.99.
For some odd reason Adult Swim has All This and Gargantua 2 listed on their website as Episode 1, and it along with the first “regular” three episodes can be currently streamed for free (this of course will eventually change to viewers having to provide a login associated with their cable provider.) The episodes (not including the special) are also available on iTunes and Amazon for $2.99 each or the entire season for $19.99. But if you want all of the episodes, the special, and the rest of the extras, check it out on Amazon ($17.96 for the DVD, $21.99 for the Blu-ray.)
