Richard Book is Innocent (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
oxfordtweed) wrote2010-09-28 09:22 am
oxfordtweed) wrote2010-09-28 09:22 am
The Horrible, Horrible Maths of the Venture Bros
Today’s DE question in the Back Room put me in a mood to rant about this. So rant, I will. There be spoilers in them there hills this post, and will assume that you’re caught up with the most recent episodes.
Now, as anybody reading this probably already knows, I adore the Venture Bros and (especially recently) think it's one of the most high-quality animated shows out there today. In a time when people have become obsessed with the ugly animation styles Adult Swim seems to adore, Venture is taking things in the other direction and becoming more and more complex as time goes on.
But, like everything we love, there's also a lot of hidden rage. My hidden rage with Venture is with the time line and continuity that gets fucked up as a result of it.
For the most part, the characters are all treated rather consistently, but the time line... I don't even begin to know wtf is going on there. NEAR AS I CAN TELL, the boys were born some time between 1983 and 1984. That's going off of a line in Mid Life Chrysalis where Rusty states that he was 43, and then in several different episodes where he mentions that he didn't lose his virginity until he was 24 (and it's heavily suggested a few times that he hasn't been with a woman since then -- at least, not until Charlene comes along, and even then, they didn't do anything [so says she]).
So, the first fact that we know: Rusty is 43 during at least some part of series 1.
If you count the pilot, the show starts in 2003. Or something. The boys turned 19 (or 16, according to Rusty) around about 2004. Or something. We'll come back to this, though, as it gets rather sticky.
According to Brock's official MySpace page, he's "currently" 42, and he left the OSI in 2008. Which is fine, and suggests that at least the series 3 finale took place in 2008. The first episode of series 4 spanned a year, which means that the final scenes did take place in 2009. But here's where I start to take issue with this. The MySpace page is apparently meant to be "current," ie- 2010. So, today, in September 2010, Brock is 42 years old. Rusty stated he was 43 in (probably) 2004. By these maths, Brock would have been 36 in 2004, leaving a seven-year age gap between them.
Now, when Rusty was in college, he had a room mate come in (as shown in Past Tense). This room mate was Brock. Unless Rusty was JUST finishing up his Ph.D (which we all know he never even came CLOSE to doing, since he dropped out of college when Jonas died), the age gap between Brock and Rusty would be closer to two, maybe three years at the most (sure, it's a MySpace page, and probably can't be treated as canon beyond maybe Word of God, but it's still fucking things up).
But if the episodes take place as they air, then Hank and Dead actually turn 19 in 2006; NOT in 2004, even though the events of Powerless in the Face of Death and Hate Floats are meant to take place days after the series 1 finale (which aired in 2004). And then they never have another birthday (at least on screen). However, in Pomp & Circuitry (which just aired a few weeks ago), Brock mentions that Hank 'needs to be eighteen' in order to join SPHINX, suggesting that they're only 17 (or 20, in the real world) at the oldest, but the maths still don't work out, since their "16th" birthday was about two years ago, even by their own fucked up time line. Or are the boys really meant to be 25/26 right now, but Rusty has managed to convince them that they're still only 17?
And Pomp & Circuitry just brings up another niggle (and a good point by Billy). If Rusty has told the boys that they're 17, but their birth certificates say that they're older by years, how the fuck is Rusty meant to get Dean in college? And what happens when Hank does finally decide to join the army? Someone is going to notice this! Sure, Rusty's not exactly the smartest Super Scientist on the block, but even he should realise this.
This has been bothering me for a very long time, and I'd love for it to finally get explained. Even a Word of God explanation from![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
jacksonpublick. Something! Anything!
Please?
Now, as anybody reading this probably already knows, I adore the Venture Bros and (especially recently) think it's one of the most high-quality animated shows out there today. In a time when people have become obsessed with the ugly animation styles Adult Swim seems to adore, Venture is taking things in the other direction and becoming more and more complex as time goes on.
But, like everything we love, there's also a lot of hidden rage. My hidden rage with Venture is with the time line and continuity that gets fucked up as a result of it.
For the most part, the characters are all treated rather consistently, but the time line... I don't even begin to know wtf is going on there. NEAR AS I CAN TELL, the boys were born some time between 1983 and 1984. That's going off of a line in Mid Life Chrysalis where Rusty states that he was 43, and then in several different episodes where he mentions that he didn't lose his virginity until he was 24 (and it's heavily suggested a few times that he hasn't been with a woman since then -- at least, not until Charlene comes along, and even then, they didn't do anything [so says she]).
So, the first fact that we know: Rusty is 43 during at least some part of series 1.
If you count the pilot, the show starts in 2003. Or something. The boys turned 19 (or 16, according to Rusty) around about 2004. Or something. We'll come back to this, though, as it gets rather sticky.
According to Brock's official MySpace page, he's "currently" 42, and he left the OSI in 2008. Which is fine, and suggests that at least the series 3 finale took place in 2008. The first episode of series 4 spanned a year, which means that the final scenes did take place in 2009. But here's where I start to take issue with this. The MySpace page is apparently meant to be "current," ie- 2010. So, today, in September 2010, Brock is 42 years old. Rusty stated he was 43 in (probably) 2004. By these maths, Brock would have been 36 in 2004, leaving a seven-year age gap between them.
Now, when Rusty was in college, he had a room mate come in (as shown in Past Tense). This room mate was Brock. Unless Rusty was JUST finishing up his Ph.D (which we all know he never even came CLOSE to doing, since he dropped out of college when Jonas died), the age gap between Brock and Rusty would be closer to two, maybe three years at the most (sure, it's a MySpace page, and probably can't be treated as canon beyond maybe Word of God, but it's still fucking things up).
But if the episodes take place as they air, then Hank and Dead actually turn 19 in 2006; NOT in 2004, even though the events of Powerless in the Face of Death and Hate Floats are meant to take place days after the series 1 finale (which aired in 2004). And then they never have another birthday (at least on screen). However, in Pomp & Circuitry (which just aired a few weeks ago), Brock mentions that Hank 'needs to be eighteen' in order to join SPHINX, suggesting that they're only 17 (or 20, in the real world) at the oldest, but the maths still don't work out, since their "16th" birthday was about two years ago, even by their own fucked up time line. Or are the boys really meant to be 25/26 right now, but Rusty has managed to convince them that they're still only 17?
And Pomp & Circuitry just brings up another niggle (and a good point by Billy). If Rusty has told the boys that they're 17, but their birth certificates say that they're older by years, how the fuck is Rusty meant to get Dean in college? And what happens when Hank does finally decide to join the army? Someone is going to notice this! Sure, Rusty's not exactly the smartest Super Scientist on the block, but even he should realise this.
This has been bothering me for a very long time, and I'd love for it to finally get explained. Even a Word of God explanation from
jacksonpublick. Something! Anything! Please?