Within the universe of the Venture Bros, the Teddy Talk-To-Me Doll is a stuffed teddy bear that talks via a built in cassette tape player similarly to the real world equivalent, Teddy Ruxpin. Like its inspiration, Teddy Talk-To-Me's eyes and mouth move as its speaks.
History[]
The voice of the doll was provided by Teddy Talk-To-Me, an actor that (according to Henchman 21) became a supervillain after he got caught in a burning doll manufacturing plant in Asia. Horribly scarred from the burns and driven mad, Teddy was eventually caught and sent to Dunwitch Asylum for the Criminally Obsessive.[1]
In the episode Any Which Way But Zeus, the Venture Family use a Teddy Talk-To-Me Doll as once of the voices of Doctor Rusty Venture's "kidnappers". Doc believes the doll to be an actual person.
In Momma's Boys, it is revealed that Hank Venture and Dermott Fictel have been using the doll and a prepaid phone at night to distract Dr. Venture while they sneak out at night to perform gigs as Shallow Gravy. Apparently, following Dr Venture calling the phone nonstop for a week, Dermott notes that Dr. Venture is going through "doll withdrawal". After going for too long without speaking to it, Dr. Venture eventually becomes afraid something horrible has happened to Teddy. He searches the Venture Compound and discovers the doll, thinking "Grumpy Bandersnatch" has placed a tape recorder inside it to record everything Teddy has said to him.
After Doc leaves, Gary Fischer suggests to Dermott and Hank to seek out the real Teddy Talk-To-Me in Dunwitch Asylum in order to calm down Dr. Venture. They pretend to rob a bank and use Gary's "Viceroy" Guild license to get themselves committed as insane supervillains, eventually instigating a riot in which Teddy is separated from them and escapes on his own. However, their problem solves itself when Teddy serendipitously meets Dr. Venture and Sgt. Hatred and saves them from falling into Bygone Gulch. With such an event, Dr. Venture gets the peace of mind that Teddy is okay.
The box for a Teddy Talk-To-Me doll makes an appearance in Redusa's home in the episode Maybe No Go, seen atop piles of boxes stacked around her home when The Monarch and Henchman 21 visit to ask her to sign away her arching rights to Dr. Venture.
Episode Appearances[]
Season 4[]
Season 5[]
Season 6[]
Trivia[]
- "Grumpy Bandersnatch" is a reference with a double meaning. One is to the obvious make-believe world Bandersnatch creature from the Alice in Wonderland lore. The other is to the video game Brataccas. Brataccas is believed to be the remains of the much hyped vaporware project "Bandersnatch," which was partially developed by Imagine Software. The cover for the game was drawn by none other than Roger Dean, whom Dr. Venture implies is where Dean got his name from in the episode Perchance to Dean.