Codename: Kids Next Door

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Codename: Kids Next Door
Codename: Kids Next Door logo
Genre	Cartoon
Running time	22 minutes approx.
Creator(s)	"Mr Warburton"
Starring	Ben Diskin Lauren Tom Dee Bradley Baker Cree Summer Tom Kenny Grey DeLisle Tara Strong Jeff Bennett Maurice LaMarche Jennifer Hale
Country of origin	USA
Original channel	Cartoon Network
Original run	December 6, 2002–Present
No. of episodes	78 (List of episodes)
IMDb profile
TV.com summary

Codename: Kids Next Door, also known as Kids Next Door or by its acronym KND, is an American animated television series that debuted on the Cartoon Network on December 6, 2002. The series came about as the result of a viewer's poll by Cartoon Network. Broadcasted as two episodes per half-hour (except for a few half-hour episodes), the central characters of the series are five ten-year olds who operate from their treehouse against the tyranny of adults and teenagers. The central characters make up what is known as Sector V (the letter V, not the Roman numeral for 5) of a worldwide organization, also collectively known as the "Kids Next Door." The series is created by Tom Warburton, whom appears only as "Mr. Warburton" in the credits. The KND musical score is composed by Stephen Rucker & Tom Chase, and the end theme song is sung by Fake Brain.

[edit] Production History

The series was created by Tom Warburton. In 1999 the show won on a viewer's pole for Cartoon Network. Shows were shown to see which one would be voted to become a real show. Mr. Warburton also entered Kenny and the Chimp, originally combined with the Kids Next Door, earlier The Kids Who Lived Next Door. The Kids Next Door got Kenny into trouble, but the plotline was changed to focus on KND, and later, them battling adulthood.

[edit] Storylines

The stories are titled as missions, denoted as "Operation: " followed by an acronym which often give viewers clues to what the story is about. The stories are often about typical problems that children face, but usually magnified in the cartoon. Every mission might or might not be chronologically ordered in relation to the previous or the next, but it's accepted that most of the time they occur in the order that the episodes are shown. Sometimes a mission can make a reference to a certain situation, or lead to consequences in another mission. An example of this is the Age Ray, which first appeared in Operation: C.A.B.L.E.-T.V. but was reused by the Delightful Children From Down The Lane in Operation: G.R.O.W.-U.P. In Season 2, one ongoing plot arc involves an attempt of Cree to destroy the Kids Next Door Moonbase. This story arc runs through Operation: S.U.P.P.O.R.T., Operation: K.I.S.S., Operation: S.P.A.C.E. and Operation: E.N.D. Another example are the story arcs of Heinrich Von Marzipan and James Nixon McGarfield, who prefers being called Master President, as revealed in Operation S.N.O.W.I.N.G..

In season 3, several stories take place at Gallagher Elementary School. This is due to the adults extending school to 52 weeks a year, meaning the students of Gallagher are not going to have a summer vacation and the only time the adults let kids have a vacation is during Hannukah, Christmas, and/or Kwanzaa break or on a snow day, according to a press release from Curious Pictures.[1]

A recurring plot device involves the KND fighting the Delightful Children From Down The Lane over the latter's birthday cake. These stories always have the word "CAKED" in the title. Also seen throughout the series are the Delightful Children bribing other kids to do their bidding with slices of their birthday cake. There have been five "CAKED" episodes so far, which have all taken place on the same year, since there are five delightful children.

[edit] Kids Next Door Organization

Main article: Kids Next Door Organization

[edit] Characters

From top to bottom: Numbuh 4, Numbuh 3, Numbuh 5, Numbuh 1 and Numbuh 2 The main five characters belong to Sector V, one of many groups in the overall KND network

.

The Kids Next Door are regularly pitted against villains that embody the characteristics they resent. Among their more tenacious adversaries are Father and the Delightful Children from Down the Lane, well-behaved, obedient children who want to punish and destroy them for setting a bad example; the Common Cold, who blames children's germs for his cold and seeks to infect all people as sick as he is; Stickybeard, who, with his crew of Candy Pirates, sails about the city stealing candy from children; and Gramma Stuffum, who fattens up people with disgusting dishes from her bottomless cookpot, although Numbuh 2 seems to be semi-immune to her dishes' effects.

Other adults who aren't enemies of the Kids Next Door (most often their parents) are often hidden characters whose faces are not usually seen. As of 2006, viewers have seen all the children's parents with the notable exceptions of Numbuh Two's father (whose absence is a point of debate among fans) and the faces of Numbuh One's Mother and Four's Mother (although their faces have been revealed on the production blog). Numbuh Five's parents were not designed with faces.

On occasion, the younger siblings of the Kids Next Door have accompanied them on missions. A few episodes feature Numbuh Three's younger sister Mushi (Operations S.P.A.C.E., K.A.S.T.L.E., N.U.G.G.E.T., and C.L.U.E.S.), Numbuh Four's baby brother Joey (Operations S.P.R.O.U.T. and D.O.D.G.E.B.A.L.L.) and Numbuh Two's younger brother Tommy has gone on to become an adult-fighting crusader himself (he was briefly a Kids Next Door member, codenamed "Numbuh T", but he took himself out of their database to save the group; the KND security system won't let him re-enlist, and at the time no one except Numbuh 86 knew that the Recommissioning Module was functioning which would explain why Numbuhs 2-5 got re-enlisted but Tommy didn't. He now goes by the alias "The Tommy" and functions as an independent operative.

[edit] The missions (Episode list)

Main article: List of Codename: Kids Next Door episodes

[edit] KND Movies

The first Codename: Kids Next Door movie aired on Cartoon Network on August 11, 2006, called Operation: Z.E.R.O., (Zero Explanation Reveals Origins) in which the KND must recommission their greatest operative, Numbuh Zero. There is also a live action movie based on the series in consideration of being produced. [2].

[edit] Video games

So far the series has inspired 2 videogames: "Operation: S.O.D.A." for the Game Boy Advance and "Operation: V.I.D.E.O.G.A.M.E." for the Nintendo GameCube, PlayStation 2, and Xbox. Both games made poor sales.

[edit] Shows-inside-a-show

Main article: Shows-inside-a-show in Codename: Kids Next Door

[edit] Trivia

• From season 4 (Ops R.A.B.B.I.T. and F.L.U.S.H. onwards), the closing credits were redone, so that they show on half the screen (the secret agent-themed crediting and closing theme remain) with a "beauty shot" on the right. This is usually showcasing a humorous event inspired from the episode which follows the ending. The storyboard of one such sequence can be seen here. (These type of credits were also used in the first three season 3 episodes (F.U.T.U.R.E., A.F.L.O.A.T., and L.E.A.D.E.R.), while other episodes in that season used the old credits.)
• The show was originally "The Kids Who Lived Next Door".^{[citation needed]}
• It is shown on Thai Airways' Airbus A340s.

[edit] Titles in other languages

• Bulgarian: Кодово име: Съседските деца (literally: "The neighbor-kids")
• Chinese
  • Traditional Chinese: 小孩大聯盟 (Great Alliance of Kids)
• Danish: Kodenavn: Naboens børn (literally: "The neighbor-kids")
• Dutch: the title is the original English title, though the Dutch version has a Dutch-language script and voicecast. Even though sometimes they are called "kids van hiernaast"
• French: Nom de Code: KND
• German: Deckname KND
• Hebrew: ילדי השכונה (The Neighborhood Kids)
• Hungarian: Rémkölykök (Jelszó: Kölyök, Nem Dedós) (literally: Gruesomekids (Password: The kid is not babyish!))
• Italian: Nome in codice: KND Kommando Nuovi Diavoli
• Japanese: KND ハチャメチャ大作戦/KND: Hachamecha Daisakusen (literally "KND: Great Chaotic Operations")
• Lithuanian: Kaimynų vaikai (literally "Neighbour kids")
• Macedonian: Лозинка: Децата од соседството
• Norwegian: Kodenavn: Nabobarna
• Polish: Kryptonim: Klan Na Drzewie
• Portuguese:
  • Brazil: KND: A Turma do Bairro (also Kids from the Hood)
• Romanian: Nume de cod: Clanul nebunaticilor de alături (literally "Codename: The clan of the nearby lunatics")
• Russian: Кодовое Имя: Соседские Ребята (literally "Codename: Neighborly Children")
• Spanish:Los Chicos del Barrio
  • Spain: Código: KND
  • Latin America: KND: Los Chicos del Barrio (literally "Kids from the Neighborhood")
• Swedish: Kodnamn: Grannungarna (Literally The neighbourkids)
• Thai: 'รหัสลับเด็กข้างบ้าน (Rahadlub Dekkangbaan)

[edit] External links

• Official site at Cartoon Network (USA)
• Codename: Kids Next Door at Curious Pictures (producer)