The Venture Bros./Escape to the House of Mummies Part II

Escape to the House of Mummies Part II
Season 2, Episode 4
Airdate	July 16, 2006
Written by	Doc Hammer
Directed by	Jackson Publick
← 2x03 Assassinanny 911	2x05 → 20 Years to Midnight
The Venture Bros. — Season Two

Escape to the House of Mummies Part II is the fourth episode of the second season of The Venture Bros. and the nineteenth episode overall. Brock must protect the boys from a time-traveling cult of Osiris, while Dr. Venture tries to win a bet.

Voice Talent: James Urbaniak (Dr. Venture), Patrick Warburton (Brock Samson/Brock Samson No. 2), Michael Sinterniklaas (Dean Venture), Chris McCulloch (Hank Venture/Pete White/Ibis Priest/Edgar Allen Poe), Steven Rattazzi (Dr. Orpheus), Doc Hammer (Master Billy Quizboy/Executioner/Believer), H. Jon Benjamin (The Master), Lisa Hammer (Triana Orpheus)

Plot Overview

The episode begins with a recap of Escape to the House of Mummies Part I, where Dr. Venture and Brock are captured by an ancient-Egypt-worshipping cult and meet the "perfect man", the whole family travels through time with Caligula and Sigmund Freud, the boys are captured by the cult and Dr. Venture and Brock rescue them, the group somehow free the Perfect Man from the cult but Brock kills him, the boys get captured again and Dr. Venture doesn't particularly care if they die, then the whole family is taken to the Hall of Sorrows.

In the Hall of Sorrows, the only outlet is an Anubis head against the wall. Dr. Venture tries to climb out through it, but the trap is activated and the walls begin to recede, protruding spikes. Hank suggests calling Dr. Orpheus for help. Dr. Venture refuses, but Brock forces him to. Dr. Orpheus at first can't help, but on hearing they're trapped by moving spiked walls, he tells Dean to fantasize about Triana, then casts a spell that stops the walls from moving. Dr. Venture climbs out through the Anubis head and returns to the Venture Compound.

The head of the cult comes in, pissed off that the room is broken and the captives aren't dead. Brock punches him out.

Dr. Orpheus walks into the lab to help Dr. Venture rescue his family, but Dr. Venture blows him off, since he doesn't really respect Orpheus' magic. The two of them begin to argue, and Dr. Venture counters all of Orpheus' magical feats with scientific solutions. Dr. Orpheus challenges Dr. Venture to a shrinking contest. He reminds Dr. Venture that the shrinking ray was sold off.

Brock and Hank come across Dean's head detached from his body, but still alive. There is also a mummy.

Dr. Orpheus tries to shrink himself, but he shrinks his spellbooks instead. Meanwhile, Pete White and Billy Quizboy return to their trailer to find it vandalized — and Dr. Venture is the culprit. Dr. Venture tells them about the bet with Dr. Orpheus, and when they give him the shrink ray, it's in pieces.

Brock chokes Edgar Allan Poe to find out the location of the Hand of Osiris.

Dr. Orpheus tries to sneak into Triana's closet, which is actually a gateway to the Necropolis. She yells at him for even putting it there, but instead of trying to explain he puts her to sleep and enters the door.

Instead of working on the shrink ray, Dr. Venture, Pete and Billy end up making lists of guilty pleasures. Pete and Dr. Venture list women, Billy lists ways to masturbate.

Dr. Orpheus goes to visit his old master, now in the form of Cerberus. Master rags on him for not paying attention to his wife.

Brock and the boys are back in the pyramid, where they see themselves captured. Apparently they only went back in time to earlier that day.

Pete White uses the shrink ray to shrink HELPeR, and then the three guys get into an argument about who should be the first human subject. It turns out Billy's a virgin, so they volunteer him.

Dr. Orpheus continues to talk to Master, this time discussing Triana.

Pete shoots the shrink ray at Billy, whose lungs shrink. Dr. Venture and Pete don't notice because they're too busy laughing about Dr. Venture farting.

Brock plans an assault with Hank, Dean (on the mummy's body riding Perfect Man), Poe, Freud, Caligula, and the other Brock. Both Brocks are kind of pissed that Dr. Venture hasn't shown up.

Pete keeps shooting at Billy, eventually making him bigger instead of smaller.

Dr. Orpheus and Master stare at the cosmos for a while, thinking things over.

Dr. Venture continues to work on the shrink ray, until Dr. Orpheus comes in and concedes. Dr. Venture admits he couldn't get the shrink ray to work. Billy runs in with a Rusty Venture lunchbox, saying that he used to idolize Rusty (Dr. Venture) as a kid. They all did, because he was good as a boy adventurer. Dr. Orpheus invites them back to his place for rice pudding.

Going to turn off the lights, Dr. Venture appears to step on the still-tiny-HELPeR.

The preview for Escape to the House of Mummies Part III: The Robot Cannon Mystery shows Brock, Brock, Hank, and a dead Edgar Allen Poe lost in the frozen wilderness. Brock #2 cuts Poe open to keep Hank warm.

Notes

• There was no Escape to the House of Mummies Part I, nor will there be a Part III.

Arc Advancement

Happenings

• The Venture Family become captives of an Egyptian cult with a time machine. The cult wants the Hand of Osiris. Dr. Venture escapes, but never comes back for the rest of them.

• Dean's head is separated from the rest of his body, and it is unclear if it ever gets re-attached.

• Dr. Venture makes a gentleman's bet with Dr. Orpheus over who can shrink smaller, a test of science versus magic. Neither of them manage to get it to work properly, and realize it was a pretty stupid bet in the first place.

Characters

• Venture Family: Dr. Venture's grandfather was a superscientist, and his grandfather was a milliner.

• Triana Orpheus: Triana's closet is actually a portal to the Necropolis, because her room is the only one on the south side of the apartment (she wanted a private bathroom). Her father did not bother to tell her this before he put it there, so she's been afraid of the closet since they moved in and never changes her clothes as a result.

• Dr. Orpheus: Apparently Dr. Orpheus was a workaholic who never paid much attention to his wife, so she left him for a younger man.

• Master: Dr. Orpheus learned his craft from "Master", who has now taken the form of a three-headed dog, á la Cerberus (but he thinks it's Argos).

• Dr. Orpheus apparently has some kind of spell that lets him track (and punish) boys who are thinking unpure thoughts about his daughter. He uses it to locate Dean.

• Dr. Venture, Pete White and Billy Quizboy all make lists of their guilty pleasures. Dr. Venture's number 2 is Joyce DeWitt and his number 1 is Bonnie Bedelia. Pete has Rhea Perlman for number 2. Billy puts down oiled garbage bag, sweat sock, melon heated in a microwave, and "Dustbuster with corner attachment."

Referbacks

• 1x10 - Tag Sale - You're IT!: Dr. Venture sold his father's shrinking ray to Pete White and Billy Quizboy. The transaction was begun, though never fully completed on-screen.

Trivia

References & Allusions

• Tem:
• Caligula:
• Sigmund Freud:
• Clarissa Explains It All:
• Joe Rogan and Fear Factor:
• Edgar Allan Poe:
• Joyce DeWitt:
• Bonnie Bedelia:
• Die Hard:
• A Mother's Right - the Elizabeth Morgan Story:
• Dustbuster:
• Argos:
• Cerberus:
• William Burroughs:
• Riven:
• Tobey Maguire:
• Thundercats:
• The Empire Strikes Back: