The Venture Bros./Tag Sale - You're IT!

Tag Sale - You're IT!
Season 1, Episode 10
Airdate	October 9, 2004
Production Number	106
Written by	Doc Hammer
Directed by	Jackson Publick
← 1x09 Are You There God? It's Me, Dean	1x11 → Past Tense
The Venture Bros. — Season One

Tag Sale - You're IT! is the tenth episode of the first season of The Venture Bros., and the eleventh episode overall.

Guest stars: T. Ryder Smith (Baron Underbheit), James Urbaniak (The Phantom Limb, Mister 12, Green Goo Scientist, Girly Mag Scientist), Charles Parnell (Mister 1), Michael Sinterniklaas (Mister 16), Christopher McCulloch (Monarch Henchman #2, The Intangable Fancy, Mister 7), Doc Hammer (Monarch Henchman #1)

Plot Overview

Always short on cash, Dr. Venture decides to unload his father's old scientific equipment in a huge yard sale that attracts fellow scientists and super-villains alike. Everyone is supposed to be on their best behavior, but the Monarch can't resist to wreak havoc when he finds himself inside "the belly of the beast" .... nor can he find a bathroom.

Arc Advancement

Happenings

• Dr. Venture holds a yard sale to raise some money. The yard sale is attended by many supervillains, necessitating extra security.

• The Monarch and Dr. Girlfriend attend the yard sale, but the Monarch needs to use the bathroom. Finding the porta-potty unsatisfactory, he starts a riot so he can sneak into the residence, where he uses Dr. Venture's toilet.

• Hank opens a grinder (sandwich) and lemonade stand at the yard sale. His employees are Dean, HELPeR, and Triana.

Characters

• Triana buys a pair of huge women's underpants at the yard sale. It is unclear who they belonged to.

• Dr. Orpheus' business card:

Doctor Byron Orpheus

Master: Necromancer

Astral Projection, Levitation, Conjuring, Etc.

1297 Venture Compound West

• Billy Quizboy and Pete White speculate on whether Dr. Girlfriend is a real woman. They also attempt to get her to become their arch-enemy.

• We see that Dr. Orpheus really wants an arch-enemy of his very own.

• Dr. Girlfriend runs into the Phantom Limb, who she may have had some sort of relationship with. He asks her to leave the Monarch.

• The Monarch has a brief moment where he realizes Dr. Venture's life is pathetic, and feels bad for him.

Trivia

References

• Lizzie Borden and Anne Frank: The two henchmen are having an argument about who would win in a fight, Lizzie Borden or Anne Frank. Lizzie Borden was a young woman accused of killing her father and stepmother with an axe in 1892. She was later acquitted of the crime. Anne Frank was a young Holocaust victim who hid in an attic with her family from the Nazis for two years (1942–1944). During this period, she kept a diary detailing her daily travails that was later published by her father (the only survivor).

• Ska: Dr. Venture refers to the government agents as a "ska band". Ska is a form of Jamaican music that combines traditional mento and calypso with American jazz and rhythm and blues. Many later ska bands (Third Wave) would have their members dress in identical suits while on stage.

• Depeche Mode: The Monarch and Dr. Girlfriend see one of the members of Depeche Mode at the yard sale. Depeche Mode is a synth-rock band, founded in 1980, known for their innovative techniques and use of sampling. They are considered legends that have inspired many of today's current electronic artists. Currently, there are three members of Depeche Mode. It is unclear which one is at the tag sale (and thought to be gay), though it is either Martin Gore or David Gahan since the third member, Andrew Fletcher, has been happily married with two children for 14 years.

• VH1: Dr. Girlfriend says she saw a special about the Depeche Mode guy on VH1. VH1 is a cable network originally created to show music videos for a slightly older audience than its sister network MTV. In recent years its focus has shifted to general pop-culture-based programming, including reality shows and documentary series like Behind the Music. Given VH1's propensity for gossip, it is possible that she was watching a program that mentioned David Gahan's personal problems (meaning he was the member of Depeche Mode they spot at the tag sale).

• Rock 'Em Sock 'Em Robots: The scuba men purchase a set of Rock 'Em Sock 'Em Robots from Dr. Orpheus. Rock 'Em Sock 'Em Robots is a toy consisting of a mock boxing ring with two plastic robots in it, one red and one blue. Pushing a button at the base of the platform causes the robots to punch each other. If a robot is hit in the chin, its head will pop up, signifying defeat.

• Seven and the Ragged Tiger: Billy Quizboy is buying a "Seven and the Ragged Tiger" T-shirt from Dr. Venture. Duran Duran is an electronic pop/rock band, part of the New Wave movement in the 1980's. They have had eighteen singles on the Billboard Hot 100 chart over the course of their career. Seven and the Ragged Tiger was their third studio album, as well as the last album featuring the band's original lineup (until the release of Astronaut in 2004, around the time this episode aired).

• The Phantom: Dr. Girlfriend runs into Phantom Limb at the tag sale. His costume is similiar to that of The Phantom, a crimefighting comic strip character considered to be the first true costumed superhero. The Phantom wore a purple skintight costume with a cowl that covered the top of his head, and a diamond-shaped mask that covered only his eyes.

• Macbeth: When he comes out of the porta-potty, the Monarch paraphrases a line from the Shakespeare play Macbeth, "It was all sound and fury, signifying nothing." In the play, Macbeth has just been told his wife is dead, and he muses about the meaning of life, saying, "Life's but a walking shadow, a poor player that struts and frets his hour upon the stage and then is heard no more: it is a tale told by an idiot, full of sound and fury, signifying nothing." Macbeth is saying life is a bad play; the Monarch was talking about the fact that he flatulated but did not defecate.

• Sarah Michelle Gellar: The hipster finds a box full of girly mags, including one featuring Sarah Michelle Gellar, star of Buffy the Vampire Slayer. Buffy the Vampire Slayer was a television program that focused on a teenager who discovers she is the chosen one, destined to slay vampires and save the world (repeatedly). The show ran for seven seasons. Sarah Michelle Gellar has also starred in numerous movies, including both Scooby Doo films. Gellar has never posed nude for a magazine (though she has taken some risqué photos).

• Kenner: When Henchman 21 buys the lightsaber, Dr. Venture says Kenner wasn't interested in a toy whose parts would cost $21 million. Kenner was a toy company who held the license to produce Star Wars toys from 1997 to 1984. The company was later purchased by Hasbro, who currently holds the Star Wars license and produces their own plastic lightsaber replica toys.

• Star Wars Kid: Henchman 21 clumsily attacks Brock with the non-functional lightsaber, his awkward movements a direct copy of the Star Wars kid video. Ghyslain Raza is an overweight teenager who made a video in his high school studio of himself swinging around a golf ball retriever as if it were a lightsaber (an energy blade from the movie franchise Star Wars). The video was later stolen by some of his classmates and uploaded to the Internet, where it was downloaded millions of times and even mentioned on mainstream media outlets as an example of Internet privacy issues.

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