Warning: This preview contains minor spoilers to recent events in the show's universe and elements of the upcoming season.

If there has been any constant running through the soon-to-be six seasons of The Venture Bros., it’s expanse. Things are never quite what they seem; they tend to be bigger, vaster, and way more complex.

This all started with the 2003 premiere, an episode any fan should rewatch if they would like to gasp at the advances since. (Creators Jackson Publick and Doc Hammer told Ars that the slick setting and animation awaiting viewers in this upcoming season has only been possible in the last two years. It’s not a technical evolution, though; “it’s our idiocy that makes it possible,” Hammer insisted.)

Any inklings that the show was a not-so-subtle Johnny Quest tribute were subverted quickly in season one as The Venture Bros. proved it wasn’t just another sci-fi cartoon. The show pioneered modern narrative through lines and world-building well before TV’s Golden Age kicked in (The Wire and Sopranos were infant peers; Mad Men, Lost, et al come later). Publick and Hammer took time to do things their way—insisting on old school animation, voicing characters themselves, weaving in deep cultural references, etc.—and that freedom to meticulously pursue artistic vision preceded the writer-driven anthologies or Louie/Louis CK-type arrangements of today.

The Venture Bros. revealed itself to be a show that's focused on a singular family but is about many things at once—humanity’s shortcomings and its search for meaning, the repercussions of crazy sci-fi villains and equally outlandish tech, sophomoric running gags and deep pop culture references. It's an entity that may be dense and daunting to a newcomer, but the show's intricacy and depth continually offer something for everyone. There's a reason The Venture Bros. universe, lore, and devoted following seemingly grow every year whether there are new episodes or not.

Luckily, this is a year for new adventures. Season six finally premieres this weekend at midnight Eastern on January 31 (Sunday into Monday, prep your DVRs accordingly). However, it was really set in motion during the epilogue of last year's “Gargantua-2” special. That space-epic-you-can’t-believe-hadn’t-happened-yet resulted in the death of the show’s big, bad, chaos-in-the-villain bureaucracy, the loss of (non-regenerative) Venture family members, and the destruction of the Venture compound itself (which acted as the show’s long-time main setting). The whole structure of the Venture world was turned upside down within a single hour, and viewers were left with only a Crash Test Dummies sea shanty and the notion that things were headed to NYC. Publick and Hammer killed their darlings and were seemingly ready to rein in their almost unmeasurably large universe.

“Well, I don’t think we miss anyone we killed or we wouldn’t have killed them,” Publick told Ars ahead of season six.

“I think the big ‘maybe dead’ is Jonas, but it’s the second time we killed General Treister,” Hammer added with a chuckle. “Though they’re not ‘maybe dead'—we just killed them.”

“And,” Publick continued, “we don’t miss them.”

Farewell, our Sovereign Our interview with Publick and Hammer was scheduled well ahead of time, but it ended up happening on Our interview with Publick and Hammer was scheduled well ahead of time, but it ended up happening on the morning the great David Bowie died . Aside from being a general cultural force, the music legend was massively influential on The Venture Bros. creators. Their most famous scene may be a Bowie gag, and the show cut a tribute soon after the news. Hammer provided an eloquent remembrance of the musician that day. "It’s weird because there are two David Bowies,” Hammer said. “There is David Bowie that’s a human being that is married to Iman and lives five doors down from me. The loss of that David Bowie is heartbreaking, devastating. "But then there’s the David Bowie that you and I know. We don’t talk to David Bowie as a real part of our lives, he’s a cultural phenomenon. That David Bowie is still here, nothing happened to him. The music is still here, what he did to fashion is still here, everything he’s done still exists. "That David Bowie did not and cannot die. It’s a really hard thing to grapple with, that paradigm. That’s what I’m kind of dealing with. Prove it. If he’s gone, someone prove it to me. He’s still a huge part of my life. "He’s always been this very powerful thing to us—he’s the pinnacle of cool. When you just say his name, it means so much. The character that stole his name understood that a lot of power comes from just saying, ‘I’m David Bowie.'"

Publick, Hammer, and company now have the most visually rich background for their favorite dysfunctional families. While NYC may be unexplored territory, they're able to orient both characters and viewers immediately through subtle directorial decisions, visual cues, and familiar nuances. A new villain may show up in one scene as the current reality of the Guild of Calamitous Intent is discussed, but the very next moment may have Brock and Hank dissing Justin Bieber and referencing dick pics like old times.

"The first episode gives you a sense of what it’s like to be a person first moving to New York," Hammer told us. "It’s really big, it’s really different, everyone seems new. But even by episode two, just like if you move to New York, it’s not that different. Your life has not changed that much, you’re just standing in a new place. Things get familiar really quick."

"As much as everything is different and redesigned, we made a conscious effort to inject bits of familiarity," Publick added. "Our establishing shot of the new penthouse is at the same angle as our old establishing shot, and Columbus Circle has a statue in the middle that harkens back to the Venture Compound. Even the living room maintains its relationship to the kitchen. There are all these little echoes to locations we were familiar with—it’s just bigger, brighter, and newer."

Like that innocuous premiere from 13 years ago, looks in this premiere can be deceiving. This coming season of "The Venture Bros. take NYC" isn’t smaller. This isn't some extended bottle episode where Dean, Hank, Rusty, and Brock never leave their borough and become regulars at a diner. If anything, the relocation to NYC only enables Hammer and Publick to put more of their unique perspectives into the series. The Venture Bros. has always contained a strong element of its creators, and now the show is literally happening in their hometown. So while the setting may have a tighter focus, it only allows Publick and Hammer to introduce deeper corners of the Venture universe and dive further into the human condition. (The more things change...)

“We’re always writing about our dumb lives,” Publick said. “Now we get to put a little more day-to-day BS in there.”

“Yeah, it was rejuvenating for me,” Hammer added. “Jackson and I have always been New Yorkers. We think of it as our hometown. It’s not like we’re writing for it as ‘Oh, the big city, Gotham!’ We think of it just like the shitty little Venture Compound—this is where we live. So it wasn’t that big of a stretch, and in our hearts I don’t think it changes that much.”

“Well, there’s more checkered cabs,” Publick noted.

Weaving public transportation into the show's fabric (including subway-inspired promotional stills) isn't the only structural change. Without giving too much away, season six at times harkens back to a pre-Venture era of TV. "It’s something we never really did before, maybe because we were too into The Monarch or maybe we were purposefully trying to sidestep The Tick," Publick admits. "But this season kind of plays out in a 'villain of the week' kind of way." When added to the events of "Gargantua-2," that ominous statement carries big implications for the overall stories of Dr. Venture, The Monarch, Dr. Girlfriend, and the rest of the Venture regulars.

Having seen the first episode, though, we encourage you not to get lost in the details of what changes and what hasn't just yet. The Venture Bros. is back in all its odd, crude, profound, and complicated glory. The show remains equal parts quotably hilarious and reflectively thought-provoking. With only eight episodes to enjoy before who knows what (and when) comes next, even its creators won't dwell in the past.

"I don’t miss it. We spent a lot of time at the Venture compound and we can always do flashbacks," Publick told us. "It took us five seasons to build it and fill it with rooms and hone in the design of it, but there are so many more opportunities in NY. Let's just move forward."



"It was dusty, anyway," Hammer added. "Though it did give them more opportunity to use the plane."

Listing image by Adult Swim