The Venture Bros./Guess Who's Coming to State Dinner?

Guess Who's Coming to State Dinner?
Season 2, Episode 9
Airdate	September 10, 2006
Written by	Jackson Publick Ben Edlund (story)
Directed by	Jackson Publick
← 2x08 Fallen Arches	2x10 → I Know Why the Caged Bird Kills
The Venture Bros. — Season Two

Guess Who's Coming to State Dinner? is the ninth episode of the second season of The Venture Bros., and the twenty-fourth episode overall. The Ventures attend a state dinner at the White House with Colonel Bud Manstrong and the ghost of Abraham Lincoln.

Voice Talent: James Urbaniak (Dr. Venture/Dr. Jonas Venture, Jr.), Patrick Warburton (Brock Samson), Chris McCulloch (Hank Venture/Lincoln's Ghost/Pirate Captain/Ned/General Manhowers), Michael Sinterniklaas (Dean Venture), Terrence Fleming (Col. Bud Manstrong), Joanna Adler (Mrs. Manstrong), Dana Snyder (President Breyer), Jarboe (Moe), Brendon Small (Agent Hauser), Mia Barron (Sally Impossible), Nina Hellman (Lt. Anna Baldavich/Cassie)

Plot Overview

Garagantua 1 crashes down to Earth with Colonel Bud Manstrong and Lt. Anna Baldavitch on board. Before the station hits the ground, Baldavitch gets out of her seat and approaches Manstrong. Garagantua 1 hits the ground somewhere in the desert, destroying a terrorist stronghold. Bud Manstrong is declared a hero, and a special reception is to be held at the White House so the president can give him a medal. The Venture Family is invited as well, only because Garagantua 1 still technically belonged to Dr. Venture. He is annoyed at the proceedings, but hopes to be able to talk to the president about a new invention of his. Hank is trying to take pictures with his camera when he is assaulted by a Secret Service agent named Hauser, who Brock attacks in retaliation. The two know each other, and have a brief confrontation.

Everyone sits down to dinner, where Bud tells the others about the crash. He doesn't remember much. Manstrong's mother asks him about Brock, who she proceeds to hit on. The president proposes a toast to Manstrong, which Mrs. Manstrong interrupts by saying he's just using her son for good publicity. Dr. Venture tries to use Bud to get close to the president, but Mrs. Manstrong drives him off. Just then, a blue specter resembling Abraham Lincoln floats out of the wall, spotted only by Dean. Before Dean can say anything to Hank, Brock interrupts to yell at Mrs. Manstrong, whose hands were touching Brock in an inappropriate place.

The president ends the dinner, and invites Manstrong to see him in the Oval Office. He openly admits that he wants Col. Manstrong to be his vice president in order to detract from the scandals currently plaguing his administration. Horrified by the lewd comments the president made about the secretarial staff, Manstrong leaves.

The boys are taken to the Lincoln Bedroom while a maid cleans their clothes, which Brock spit wine on.

Col. Manstrong talks to his mother, who tells him to go back to the president and accept the offer of being vice president. The pair of them walk back into the Oval Office. Dr. Venture wants to follow them, but Brock is hesitant because of Mrs. Manstrong. After a snide comment by Hauser, Brock changes his mind.

Back in the Lincoln Bedroom, Dean is scared by the ghost of Lincoln, who tells him that Colonel Manstrong is going to assassinate the president.

The Manstrongs are meeting with the president when Dr. Venture bursts in, followed by Brock. Venture presents his new forcefield device, placing the generator on the desk in front of the president. When he pulls out the remote for the device, Hauser runs in and tackles him, breaking the remote.

Lincoln explains to the Venture Brothers that Manstrong will kill the president, but he can't do anything to stop Manstrong since he's immaterial. Lincoln needs to borrow the body of one of the boys.

In the Oval Office, the forcefield is activated but Venture cannot turn it off since Hauser broke the remote. Using Post-It Notes, Hauser directs the other Secret Service agents to call the army and a scientist. They end up calling Jonas Venture Jr., who heads to Washington right away. When he arrives at the White House, T.S. is humiliated. Lincoln-in-Dean's-body tries to run through the forcefield, but bounces right off. Lincoln leaves Dean's body and runs away. Lincoln realizes that he can only get through the forcefield using items that bear his likeness, so he asks the Venture Brothers to gather $5 bills. They do so, and begin wrapping Lincoln in bills.

Back in the Oval Office, the secretary that was hiding under the president's desk finds a bottle of liquor in the desk and passes it around. Brock offers it to Bud Manstrong, who refuses. Brock apologizes for sleeping with Lt. Baldavitch. Bud refuses Brock's apology, and takes offense when Brock insinuates that Bud slept with Anna (mostly because he misunderstands the phrase "hit that"). Bud storms off, leaving his unconscious mother, who falls into Brock's lap. Bud misunderstands this as well, and challenges Brock to a fight. Lincoln runs into the room and tackles Bud, revealing the chip stuck to the back of his neck. Mrs. Manstrong shoots Lincoln, and Bud falls down unconscious. Dr. Venture attaches a reader to the chip, which he recognizes as the motherboard from Garagantua 1. Surveillance footage reveals that Anna Baldavitch was giving Bud a handjob as the space station crashed, and that the sexually-repressed Manstrong blocked out the memory.

The maid that was washing the boy's clothes uses club soda to rub through the force field.

Arc Advancement

Happenings

• Garagantua 1 crashes down to Earth, landing directly on top of a terrorist stronghold. The only survivor appears to be Colonel Bud Manstrong. He blacked out during the crash, repressing the memory of Lt. Anna Baldavitch giving him a hand job.

• The Venture Family attends a dinner for Bud Manstrong at the White House. Dr. Venture bursts into the Oval Office to show off his new force field device, but an attack by Secret Service breaks the device, trapping the president, a secretary, Dr. Venture, Brock, Bud Manstrong, and Mrs. Manstrong in the office for several hours.

• The ghost of President Lincoln attempts to stop Bud Manstrong from assassinating the president, but it turns out that Manstrong wasn't going to kill the president at all.

Characters

• Brock served in Vietnam with Agent Hauser. Not during the war, though, since he would have only been a kid at the time.

• Colonel Bud Manstrong is the only survivor of the crash of Garagantua 1. He is considered a hero and receives a number of honors, including a ticker-tape parade and a medal from the president. The president offers Bud the job of vice president. Bud refuses, but his mother bullies him into accepting.

• Lt. Anna Baldavitch is apparently killed in the crash of Garagantua 1 and buried at a closed-casket funeral.

• T.S. Venture builds a new force field device that actually works. He sneaks into the Oval Office to show it to the president, but his demonstration is ruined when Secret Service Agent Hauser breaks the remote that controls it. Jonas Jr. is called in to free them from the force field, but in the end a maid is the one who solves the problem.

• Bud Manstrong's father was a United States Senator.

• Sally Impossible and her brother Ned are living on Spider-Skull Island with Jonas Venture Jr..

• T.S. Venture stayed at the White House once as a child, and even masturbated in the Lincoln Bedroom.

Trivia

Allusions and References

• Guess Who's Coming to Dinner?:
• USA Today, New York Post, Time:
• Monica Lewinsky:
• Nelson Mandela:
• The Manchurian Candidate: