You know it's been a rough winter when you're actually happy you only have to work 8 hours on a Sunday...because it's the first time you haven't had to work 12 hours on Saturday AND Sunday in two or three months.

I haven't posted in quite a while, mainly because The Venture Bros. production is just pulling itself from the wreckage of the longest, most difficult stretch in its history. Everything's going okay and all--the episodes are coming out great and we're only a little bit behind schedule--it's just taken an incredible amount of work from everyone to get it that way. Tons and tons of storyboard revision, last minute re-recording, last minute re-writes, a technical mishap or two, exhaustion--those and other dilemmas swelled into a Perfect Storm of oppressive, daunting labor and sleepless nights. This week I get a breather because the script Ben Edlund wrote for us not only turned out to be the first episode since ep. 18 that wasn't more than two minutes too long, but Rafael Rosado, one of our freelance storyboard artists, turned in the most beautiful board I've seen all season for it, so it won't require much revision. Between that and the sudden change in the weather (over 60 degrees in NY this week) the studio was alight with a spring break feeling on Friday.

Doc and I finished editing the first episode of the season last week and have turned it over to the sound designer, who will cram it full of sound effects and mix the whole thing over the next week or two and we'll finally have a completely finished product to show for all this effort that began back in May or June. Then just like that they start coming fast and furious; one every two weeks thereafter. We got the first rough cut of episode 18 back from Korea last week and I have to say their quality seems to improve with each episode. It's an unfortunate truth about my job that I am conditioned to see only the negatives in all of this--I have to scan every script, storyboard, animatic and rough cut for mistakes and figure out how to fix them--but an interesting thing happened this week that made me step back for a minute and appreciate what I'm seeing from season two. Noodlesoup installed a TV monitor in their waiting area, which runs samples of the studio's work all day, presumably to dazzle potential clients and baffle bike messengers. An episode from the first season was on a constant loop last week--and it was one of our better looking ones, mind you--but compared to this season's episodes, most of which are just rough cuts with no music or edits made to them yet--it looked like crap. So I think it's safe to say you're all going to be very pleased with the look of season two.

A couple of weeks ago I managed to steal away to Los Angeles for a day and a half to record Brendon Small, Dana Snyder and Ben Edlund for their roles in the last few episodes of the season. Despite the brevity of the trip, it was the highlight of my month to hang out with them and Phil Rynda and we got some very funny stuff on tape (or digital media or whatever). We recorded at Titmouse, inc., an animation studio run by my friends Chris and Shannon Prynowski, and they have an amazing space. Titmouse is where Brendon Small's new Adult Swim show Deathklok is being produced, and while I can't give anything away about it, I must extend my advance praise of the show. The backgrounds were unexpectedly luscious (I say "unexpectedly" not because I didn't know the studio was full of talented people, but because, being a show about a Scandinavian death metal band, I never suspected they would give it the gorgeous treatment they are), the plots and jokes I overheard were hysterical, and Brendon, his co-writer Tommy, and the rest of the staff seem to be having a ball making it, which is always a good sign. I'm pretty sure they're premiering a couple of months after we are, so keep an eye out for that.

This Tuesday will be our last recording session for The Venture Bros. season two. A couple of weeks ago was the last session for everyone but Doc and myself, but since we were recording for a two part finale we only got through about half the characters. Below are a few candid snapshots from the session, as taken by our pal (and Honorary Astrobase Cadet) Ken Plume, who was in town for Toyfare (and was gracious enough to bring my girlfriend and I along with him to a taping of The Daily Show, which was loads of fun).
JAMES URBANIAK SIGNING OUT
DOC JOTS DOWN A LAST MINUTE RE-WRITE
STEVEN RATAZZI (DR. ORPHEUS) SIGNS OUT
A FOND FAREWELL FROM SINTERNIKLAAS

Oh, and the DVD project is all in the can and everything. Bill Sienkiewicz turned in a supercool painting, as expected, for the inside packaging--a sneak peek of which looks something like this:


And lastly, now that we have four episodes back from Korea, here are a few more screenshots to whet your collective whistles:








We love you...

JP