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Operation: G.R.A.D.U.A.T.E.S.

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"Operation: G.R.A.D.U.A.T.E.S."
Season 3, Episode 36
G.R.A.D.U.A.T.E.S.
Mission: 068
Production Code: 36
Airdate: August 06, 2004
Credits
Writer(s): Mo Willems
Mr. Warburton
Storyboards by: Maurice Fontenot
Guy Moore
Bob Suarez
Quack Leard
Episode Guide
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"Operation: J.E.W.E.L.S." 		Next Mission
"Operation: T.R.I.C.K.Y."

Gargantuan Ray's Advance Decimates Unprepared And Terrified Escaping Soldiers

Operation: G.R.A.D.U.A.T.E.S. is the tenth episode of Season 3 of Codename: Kids Next Door. It first aired on August 6, 2004 on Cartoon Network and featured the largest ensemble of operatives at that time.

Information[]

Plot[]

The episode starts at the Kids Next Door Moonbase, where a big graduation ceremony for cadets who completed KND training is taking place. Among the graduating cadets are Tommy Gilligan, Sonia (Numbuh 83) and Lee (Numbuh 84). Tommy expresses his sadness and disappointment that his older brother Hoagie (Numbuh 2) couldn’t be there to celebrate with him. Unfortunately, the C.O.D.E.-M.O.D.U.L.E. itself is missing anyhow, due to Numbuh 86’s negligence in having a slumber party instead of guarding it. At that moment however, Numbuh 1 and the rest of Sector V, visibly battered from a recent skirmish, show up with the Code Module retrieved from the Delightful Children From Down the Lane. Numbuh 362 inserts the Code Module into the Super Big Computermabob and powers it up. The first to graduate is Tommy. After he’s sworn in by Numbuh 362, he retrieves a booger from his nose to put inside the Code Module. The codename he chooses, to everyone’s confusion, is Numbuh “T.” Nevertheless, it’s made official and Tommy becomes a Kids Next Door operative. He is subsequently placed in the one and only Sector V with his big brother.

Back on Earth, Father and the Delightful Children are watching the entire ceremony on a live broadcast in Father’s study and plotting a big scheme that will supposedly bring to an end the Kids Next Door for good. He uses his organ to power up an orb in the middle of the room, but the process is interrupted by his dog chewing up the wires. The dog runs off and Father chases him down. As soon as he grabs the dog’s tail, it rips off and reveals to have been a costume worn by Numbuh 88, who was undercover. Father swiftly deals with him.

At Moonbase, an afterparty is underway for the graduating cadets. Tommy gleefully celebrates becoming an operative and expresses his excitement to fight adult tyranny alongside his brother and the rest of Sector V, to their annoyance. Just then, Numbuh 88 broadcasts an emergency message over the Moonbase intercoms that “Father’s device is operational.” A struggle can be heard, followed by a mysterious rooster cawk. The signal is then lost. Numbuh 362 immediately scrambles every available KND operative to their battle stations and orders Sector V (Tommy included) to tag along with her. Numbuh 60 rallies the troops to arm themselves and get into their ships, after which, hundreds of them depart from Moonbase to Earth.

The ships all converge on the Delightful Mansion From Down The Lane. Numbuh 362 orders them to open fire, first with lasers, but the mansion armors up to deflect their shots. They then use missiles, but the mansion fires missiles of its own to counterattack. When both attacks prove futile, the ships deploy Subway Shuttle Pods, each of them carrying dozens of KND operatives. Hundreds of ground troops, led by Numbuh 86, rush out of the pods and charge the mansion. In response, an army of Knightamatons emerge from the mansion to do battle. The operatives hold their positions and begin firing their weapons at the advancing robots. Both sides begin to slowly converge onto one another. Numbuh 86 tells Numbuh 362 that they’ve got the situation under control, but only for now.

While this is happening, Numbuh 362 gives Sector V the task of sneaking inside the mansion while the battle is taking place. Their mission is to figure out what Father’s so-called “device” is. Fearing that it may be an aging weapon, Numbuh 362 tells Sector V to don their Age-o-Tonic Birthday Suits. Tommy however misunderstands “birthday suits” and strips down completely naked (save for his aviator goggles). As Sector V didn’t make enough protective suits for Tommy, Numbuh 1 tells Tommy to stay behind and provide cover. Numbuh 362, seeing Tommy naked, awkwardly dismisses him and tends to the troops fighting outside. A frustrated Tommy puts his clothes back on and tells himself that, as a graduated operative, he is more than ready to take on a task as big as combatting Father.

Sector V blows a hole in the side of the mansion and they begin to sneak through the hallways. Father sees them on his surveillance cameras and is eager that everything seems to be falling into place. While the Delightful Children leave to supervise the battle outside, Father waits for his guests. Tommy follows his fellow operatives closely behind. The team enters a pitch-black room, to which Father lights up with his flames. He responds to the intrusion by burning Sector V’s weapons. Tommy hears the commotion and runs towards the room. Numbuhs 1-5 attempt to escape but are cut off by the doors being slammed shut; Tommy is also locked out of the room. Father then uses his organ once again to activate the orb device in the center of his study. Numbuh 1 orders his team to activate the birthday suits. Father then implies that the device is for a different purpose rather than aging the KND operatives. As the orb begins to slowly project a green ray field, a distracted Numbuh 5 is caught inside and begins to transform into a gazelle, revealing that the device isn’t an aging weapon, but an Animalization Ray that turns kids, who are members of the KND, into animals. Soon after, the rest of Sector V are turned into animals; Numbuh 4 into a koala, Numbuh 3 into a red-crowned crane, Numbuh 2 into a hippopotamus, and Numbuh 1, who attempts in vain to fight off Father and avoid the ray, into a seal. Tommy watches in horror through the door knob’s keyhole.

TRANSMISSION INTERRUPTED

When the transmission returns, the assault on the mansion is still underway; operatives continue to fire at advancing Knightamatons and the ships are still launching missiles at the indestructible mansion. Numbuh 44 tells Numbuh 86 that they won’t be able to hold off the robot knights for much longer. She then radios Numbuh 362, who has joined her troops on the ground, to tell her they can’t stop Father’s Knightamatons. Numbuh 362 tries to reassure Numbuh 86 that she’s sent in the best team to infiltrate the mansion. When Numbuh 86 learns it is in fact Sector V, she defeatedly declares (to herself) that they’re doomed.

Back inside Father’s study, he manically revels in his device operating successfully and his alleged victory over the Kids Next Door. Tommy, still outside the room, sees the green ray field emerging through the doors and walls and makes a beeline down the hall to avoid the ray’s effects. He turns a corner and runs away to warn the operatives outside, but bumps into the Delightful Children. When Tommy sees the ray field closing in on them, he prematurely celebrates “defeating” the Delightful Children but Tommy then called the Delightful Children From Down the Block instead of Down the Lane. However, they’re not at all affected by the ray. They reveal to Tommy that the device only works on registered Kids Next Door operatives, though they have no idea how Father designed the device to tell the difference between operatives and non-operatives.

Tommy frantically runs outside the mansion in the midst of battle, the ray field following close behind. Numbuh 86 grabs a panicking Tommy and tries to talk some sense into him. Unfortunately, she’s caught in the ray and is turned into a dog (Irish settler). The rest of the KND operatives begin retreating to their ships, with many of them sadly being caught in the ray and turned into various animals. Numbuh 362, ordering her troops to withdraw, is accidentally pushed down by a retreating operative. She starts crawling away from the advancing ray. Tommy then grabs her and drags her to safety. Father once more celebrates this huge victory as the last of the KND ships flee the planet.

Back at Moonbase, Numbuh 362—who now has monkey legs due to being partially affected by the ray—and the couple dozen remaining KND operatives that weren’t turned into animals, plan their next move. A 2x4 technician suggests modifying the birthday suits in order to stop the animal transformation effect. The Supreme Leader scrambles the few operatives she has left to get to work.

A forlorn Tommy looks out the window, watching hopelessly as the ray field is coming towards the Moonbase. He tells Numbuh 362 that he wants his big brother back to his normal self. She assures the new recruit that the Kids Next Door have what it takes to get through this. When she’s notified of the completion of the new and improved birthday suits, she once more orders the operatives to their battle stations. However, Tommy is told to stay behind due to his inexperience as a cadet and that there aren’t enough suits.

The KND operatives in their ships begin to fly towards the advancing ray field. They then activate their birthday suits and prepare for the worst. As the ships enter the ray field, the suits do their job and everything seems to be going according to plan. It doesn’t take long however for the suits to fail and for every other operative to turn into animals, leaving Tommy to be the sole member of the entire Kids Next Door not to be turned into an animal. Rather than give up, he formulates a plan to save everyone. He reminds himself that the Kids Next Door never quit, but then he thinks up something devious to the contrary.

At the mansion, with a ton of animals running amok, Father and the Delightful Children seem satisfied that the device worked flawlessly. After they laugh, Father then orders his children to go clean up animal poop around the mansion. He points out that kids are always wining about getting pets but they don’t bother to clean up after them. When he realizes they forgot the pooper scooper, he orders them back into his office. When they do come back, the Delightful Children have turned into sheep. A confused Father is then confronted by Tommy, who tells him he’s figured out how the device works; it is able to tell who is and isn’t a KND operative thanks to the genetic material inside the Code Module. That was why Sector V was able to retrieve the Code Module. Tommy tells Father that in order to avoid being turned into an animal, he removed his genetic material, thereby quitting the Kids Next Door. (By turning the Delightful Children into animals, that technically has made them into members of the Kids Next Door.) Tommy tells Father, who is actually impressed by the graduated cadet’s ingenuity, that the only way to turn his kids back to normal is by shutting off the device. Father refuses to do so, claiming that the Delightful Children are not only annoying, but that the sheep thing is actually an improvement. He then gives chase to Tommy.

As Father chases Tommy down the hallway, he is briefly confronted by the animalized members of Sector V, who begin to mercilessly pounce on him. He fights them off and continues to chase Tommy, who is busy liberating the animalized operatives out of cages. Father then surprises him and holds him up against the wall. As he begins to monologue, Tommy interrupts by sticking his finger up Father’s nose and inserting his booger into the Code Module that he had been carrying on his person. Father is made a member of the Kids Next Door and then turned into a lion. Tommy locks him inside one of the cages. He and Sector V break into Father’s study and destroy the orb, thereby turning the operatives worldwide back to their normal selves.

At the Moonbase, Numbuh 362 informs Sector V that, unfortunately for Tommy, once a booger is removed from the Code Module, there is absolutely no way to reinstate them into the Kids Next Door. This is done as a failsafe to prevent decommissioned operatives from infiltrating the organization. Numbuh 4 threatens to quit the KND in protest, though no one seems to care all that much. Tommy, donning a cloak and hat, states that it’s no problem he’s no longer an operative, for he has decided to work alone under the pseudonym The Tommy to battle adult tyranny on his own. He flies away in a makeshift trashcan pod. The episode ends with Sector V making fun of him and Numbuh 2.

Featured[]

KND Operatives

Villains

Cameos

Allies

Locations

2x4 Technology

Villain Technology

Transcript[]

Operation: G.R.A.D.U.A.T.E.S./Transcript

Quotes[]

  • Tommy/Numbuh T: "With this booger, I do hereby eagerly enter the grand tree house of the Kids Next Door. If I do not live up to the Kids Next Door code of bravery, strength, and all-night chocolate milkshake parties, let this booger be replaced by another worthier kid's booger, and banish me from the Kids Next Door forever!
  • Numbuh 86: "VICTORY OR ADULTHOOD!"

Continuity[]

  • The Code Module is missing at the beginning during the graduation ceremony because, according to Numbuh 362, Numbuh 86 was busy having a slumber party instead of guarding it. This is a reference to an earlier episode in the season, Operation: S.L.U.M.B.E.R., in which Numbuh 86 was betrayed by Numbuh 12, who stole the device.
  • Numbuh 88 wore the same dog disguise as the one used by the Japanese KND in Operation: T.R.I.P.. This might be a standard KND dog disguise.
  • The events of this episode later leads to Operation: I.T., where Father takes advantage of his operative status.
  • Numbuh 363 was not seen with the KND cadets, because he had either already graduated prior, graduated off screen, or had yet to be recruited. He wasn't properly introduced until Operation: Z.E.R.O..
  • Three of the Chicks from Operation: C.A.K.E.D.-T.H.R.E.E. appear in Father's animal pens.
  • Fang the Dog, who first appeared in Operation: T.R.I.P., makes his second appearance in this episode.

Pop Culture[]

  • During the first scene a planet with a large X can be seen in the background, similar to the Planet X from the 1953 Looney Tunes Cartoon "Duck Dodgers in the 24 1⁄2th century".
  • Numbuh 60's speech is similar to Sgt. Apone’s speech from Aliens.
  • When the DCFDTL turn into sheep, they are in the same art style as Sheep in the Big City, another Cartoon Network show made by Curious Pictures.
    • Bruce even looks exactly like Sheep himself.
  • A car ad can be seen on the Super Big Computermabob for the brand "Furd", a parody of "Ford".
  • An operative in the graduation crowd looks like Ash Ketchum from Pokemon.
    • This operative will appear in later episodes.
  • The monkey that Numbuh 362 turns into slightly resembles Chimpy from Kenny and the Chimp.

Trivia[]

  • The Super Big Computermabob, the Kids Next Door's computer system, is first named in this episode.
  • Numbuh 4 did not know his sector was Sector V.
  • This is the only time Numbuh 92 appears without Numbuh 93 and his final appearance outside of Operation: M.E.A.T.B.A.L.L. and cameos in the comics.
  • Operation: G.R.A.D.U.A.T.E.S. is also an online game on CartoonNetwork.com that is similar to Galaga. The player chose one of the members of Sector V, each who have their own unique airship, with the possibility of getting more KND members to assist said airship. The goal is to retrieve the Code Module from the DCFDTL, which explains why in the beginning of the episode, Sector V comes with the Code Module and is all dirty. Also, if the majority of the players won, then the KND would win in the episode. However, if the majority of the players lost, then the KND would lose.
  • The animals that Numbuhs 3, 4, and 5 turn into are references to their ethnic backgrounds. Numbuh 5 is a gazelle as she is African American. Numbuh 4 is a koala as he is Australian. Numbuh 3 is a red-crowned crane, and cranes are mostly found in East Asia as she is Japanese.
  • The animals that Numbuhs 1 and 2 turn into are references to their physical appearance. Numbuh 1 turns into a seal because seals have a small amount of hair, which is similar how Nigel is bald, and partly because he barks out his orders to his team (seals tend to bark to speak). Numbuh 2 turns into a hippopotamus because hippopotamuses are one of the heaviest land animals and he is overweight.
  • Numbuh 362 turns into a monkey because she has flexible fighting moves and is rather smart.
  • Numbuh 86 turns into an Irish setter because she tends to bark a lot and her nationality is Irish.
    • This is also a joke about her often "bitchy" attitude, as she turns into a female dog.
  • Father turns into a panther because he is very violent.
  • DCFDTL turn into sheep, because they stay together the same way a flock of sheep does.
  • During the ground battle, all KND soldiers use ice cream based weapons, including Fanny, who usually uses a M.U.S.K.E.T..
  • Almost every KND plane/ship is featured in this episode.
  • To activate his special weapon, Father uses an organ and plays an A and a B#, followed by a D an a D#.
  • Tommy graduates into the KND in this episode but quits near the end of the episode in order to save the rest of the KND including his own brother. Tommy would never be able to re-enter the KND due to his DNA being removed from the code module.
  • During the KND battle against Father's knight-robots, a male operative shouts, "Keep firing, soldiers! Give 'em heck!!." This is a kid-friendly version of the battle phrase "Give 'em hell!." Also, earlier during the initial charge, Numbuh 86 can be heard shouting, "Victory or adulthood!," which substitutes "victory or death."
    • On Warburton's blog, he stated that he was surprised that they were able to get away with Numbuh 44 saying "well, that figures" in response to Numbuh 86 turning into a female dog. It's likely a reference to the word "bitch," which defines both a female dog or an unpleasant person who complains a lot (which many of the KND operatives associate Numbuh 86 with).
  • The orange circle with a purple outline on Rachel is the same as it's on her orange sweater that covers her samurai suit that she later wears.

Goofs[]

  • Some of the graduates on stage for the graduation ceremony can also be seen in the crowd watching the ceremony.
  • When Rachel is talking about the KND Code Module being stolen, the 86 on Fanny's helmet goes from yellow to black, then it's yellow again.
  • The whole audience at the graduation ceremony were surprised when Tommy chose a codename without a number. Later in the series, we are introduced to other, older operatives whose codenames are not number, such as the members of Sector A.
  • Father is watching the graduation ceremony from his office, which means he would have had to install a camera at the Moonbase, but he's never been there.
  • When the Kids Next Door fly out of Moonbase, Earth is visible behind the Moon, but the ships fly straight out and then the camera turn around to show the Earth in another spot instead.
  • The Subway Shuttle Pods are shown dropping down from inside of the K.O.L.O.S.S.A.L.I.N.E.R., but they were flying out of the Moonbase by themselves earlier and they were hovering outside of the Delightful Mansion as well.
Numbuh35ColorErrorGRADUATES

Numbuh 35 colored wrong

  • When wearing his summoning armor, his hair and skin tone have a more bleached color to accommodate for his helmet. In this episode, Bartie is seen with his bleached color scheme, even though isn't wearing his helmet. This is due to an error from the team not accommodating for his different color codes.
  • When we see the two crowds of operatives and Knightamatons go against each other, the KND's vehicles are not parked the same way as earlier.
  • When Father is talking to the DCFDTL, Lenny's metal facemask on his football helmet is white but it's usually gray.
  • The DCFDTL are originally unaffected by Father's animal ray, though as they are really Sector Z operatives that were delightfulized, the ray should have turned them into animals right from the beginning.
    • This could be attributed to the fact that Father removed their boogers from the Code Module before enacting his plan (as he knew of their being Sector Z before he delightfulized them), though this is unlikely, because as Numbuh 362 explains later in the episode, anyone's boogers that are removed from the Code Module are permanently excluded from reentry, and Tommy would've had to put their boogers back into the Code Module in order to sign them into the KND as he said he did. This could also be attributed to the ray not recognizing them as KND operatives due to their delightfulization.
      • It's also possible that this is simply because the episode takes place before the DCFDTL were revealed to be former KND operatives, and that plot detail wasn't written in until Operation: Z.E.R.O.
  • Numbuh 86 keep changing between standing in the crowd of operatives and standing at the front of the crowd between shots.
Numbuh 92 GRADUATES error

Numbuh 92 in two places at once

  • Numbuh 92 and Numbuh 44 are duplicated in the crowd for the purpose of having a larger crowd of KND Infantry fighting, causing a few continuity errors:
    • Numbuh 92 appears more than once when Fanny says were doomed when Rachel says she sent in Numbuh's 1 through 5 of Sector V, there seems to be three of him.
    • Numbuh 92 was shown as having been turned into a polar bear in an earlier scene as the Kids Next Door were retreating from the Delightful Mansion, but was also later shown as one of the operatives that managed to escape the animalization ray in the safe haven of the Moonbase Headquarters.
  • When all the KND operatives were at the DCFDTL mansion if you look closely at the ships that landed on the ground you can see Operative C run out of the ship following Numbuh 86 twice. 
  • When the operatives are running to their ships to escape the Animalization Ray, they are drawn way smaller compared to their vehicles than normal.
  • When Father tells his kids to go clean out the animal pens, the tall girl is farther than the rest of the DCFDTL when they are walking away and Constance is smaller than the rest of them.
  • The credits for this episode contain some inaccuracies:
    • Ben Diskin, Dee Bradley Baker, and Cree Summer are uncredited for their voices as the Delightful Children in this episode.
    • Even though Numbuh 42 didn't have a speaking role in the episode, he is mentioned in the credits being voiced by Tom Kenny. He might've had a line in earlier drafts, but was cut for unknown reasons.
    • Tom Kenny is also credited voicing a character called, "Operative C", (the character is one of three other operatives under the Operative (A-D) label, also seen in their production art.

Voice Credits[]

Gallery[]

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