Operation: L.E.A.D.E.R.

"Operation: L.E.A.D.E.R."
Season 3, Episode 28
Mission:	054
Production Code:	302a
Airdate:	June 18, 2004
Credits
Writer(s):	Mo Willems Mr. Warburton
Storyboards by:	Maurice Fontenot Bob Suarez
Episode Guide
Previous Mission "Operation: A.F.L.O.A.T."	Next Mission "Operation: U.T.O.P.I.A."

Lizzie Enthusiastically Attempts Daring Executive Role

"Operation: L.E.A.D.E.R." is the second story in the second episode of Season 3 of Codename: Kids Next Door. It first aired on June 18, 2004 on Cartoon Network.

Information

Summary

Lizzie takes on the leader role in a mission, without Nigel knowing it. She takes too long to prepare the team and Nigel rushes to save her but is taken captive by Chad, ex-Numbuh 274.

Plot

The story begins when the KND are beating up the lesser Ice Cream Men at an ice cream parlor. After the fight, Nigel tells the team they did a great job and that another Ice Cream Parlor is safe for kids worldwide. An ice cream cone falls on Nigel's head and covers his head in ice cream. The KND head back to their treehouse and as Nigel heads to his room to clean himself up, he runs into Lizzie, who tells him that Nigel was to take her to the football game at the middle school. Nigel tells Lizzie he can do it another time and heads into his room to clean up.

The KND receive a message from Numbuh 65.3, and he tells Lizzie that he has mission specs for Nigel. Lizzie volunteered to give the mission specs to Numbuh 1. But Numbuh 65.3 explained that mission specs are for a Kids Next Door Leader only. Deciding Nigel needs a break, Lizzie decides to take over his position as the leader and takes the mission specs instead and takes the other KND out for ice cream before the big mission, not to mention she took Nigel's sunglasses with her. Numbuh 1 comes out of the bathroom and Numbuh 65.3 appears on the view screen and wonders where Lizzie went and asks Nigel why he's still there, because he already gave the mission specs to Lizzie. The Junior High football team has been practicing anti-kid maneuvers all week and it's up to the KND to find out what they are up too. Nigel thinks they're practicing for a football game and Herbie decides to cancel the mission, although, Nigel heads for the locker room to rescue Lizzie and his team. Meanwhile, Lizzie takes the Sector V Team to a beauty parlor to prepare for the mission. Hoagie and Wallabee complain about it, but Kuki and Abigail don't.

Nigel sneaks around the locker room and looks at a blackboard with X's and O's and discovers that those weren't football plays but an invasion plan against the KND Moonbase and leading the invasion is Numbuh 274, who prefers to be called Chad, and he was given a powerful explosive football, a Footbomb by Coach Wetterhahn, capable of destroying the KND Moonbase 110%, and Chad's going to take Nigel out of the game first! The football players start snapping their gym towels at Nigel, have him tied up and stuffed into a locker. While the KND cruise in the C.O.O.L.B.U.S, they start complaining about their new hairstyles and outfits and even Numbuh 3 and 5 even though they didn’t complain before but had to agree with Numbuh 2 and 4 now and Lizzie starts to get on their nerves. And poor Numbuh 2, 3, 4, and 5 didn’t know what was worse; wearing the new uniforms and having new hairstyles or the humiliation. She started to become hard on them and shut them up for no reason. The football players turn the stadium into a rocket and it blasts off. The C.O.O.L.B.U.S crashes into the stadium and the KND all end up inside the rocket. Chad and the football players are about to beat up the KND and Lizzie hides in the locker Nigel is locked up in for cover. Lizzie unties Nigel, gives his glasses back and orders the KND to attack. They manage to retrieve the Footbomb and do evacuation plan X-42, but end up in the football stadium and Chad and the football players play football with the KND, with the Footbomb as the ball! Numbuh 3 had it, then Numbuh 2, then Numbuh 5, and then Numbuh 1 and then Numbuh 4. Wallabee eventually gets the Footbomb and did a victory dance but accidentally threw it into the end zone and throws it on the ground, blasting the stadium and causing it to crash! After the blast, Coach Wetterhahn yells at the football team, saying it's the last time he lets a junior varsity football team plan invasions against the KND Moonbase and orders the Jets and Chad to do 6,000 push-ups.

Back at the Treehouse, Lizzie apologizes to Nigel for taking over his position, because she had no idea how hard his job was. Nigel tells Lizzie it's okay and she'll promise not to do it again. Nigel goes out for ice cream until Herbie appears on the communicator, saying another mission has come up. Lizzie tells Nigel that he can transmit the specs to her and she'll make sure Nigel gets them.

END TRANSMISSION

End Credits

Wallabee is seen his superhero costume and makeover dancing in the football field with a football in his hand to the show's ending theme.

This article is a stub. Please help the KND Code Module by expanding it. Thank you!

Featured

KND Operatives

• Numbuh 1
• Numbuh 2
• Numbuh 3
• Numbuh 4
• Numbuh 5
• Numbuh 65.3

Allies

• Lizzie Devine

Villains

• Ice Cream Men
• The Jets (debut)
  • Chad Dickson
• Coach Wetterhahn (only physical appearance)

Locations

• Icecream Shop (only appearance)
• Sector V Treehouse
• Mini Mall
  • Big Beauty (only appearance)
• Kids Next Door Moonbase (mentioned)

2x4 Technology

• C.O.O.L.B.U.S.
• R.O.A.D.S.T.A.R.

Villain Technology

• Footbomb (only appearance)
• Rocket Stadium (only appearance)
• Rocket Shoes

Trivia

• This is the third time Hoagie is seen without his hat; first two times were in "Operation: A.R.C.T.I.C." and "Operation: L.I.C.E."
• This is the only time we see Lizzie not wearing her glasses, even when wearing Nigel's sunglasses.
• This episode reveals Numbuh 65.3's real first name to be Herbie (likely a nickname for "Herbert").
• It is implied that Lizzie is already familiar with Numbuh 65.3, as she knows what his first name is,
• Numbuh 1 is revealed to not like strawberry.
• When Numbuh 2 makes a joke about not having the foot-bomb, the Jets players actually find his joke funny, despite everyone else being annoyed by his jokes.
• This is the last time there was a scene during the credits until "Operation: F.L.U.S.H."
• Coach Wetterhahn is named after storyboard artist, Mike Wetterhahn.
• This is another time that Sector V fought while in different outfits, only, Numbuh 1 wasn’t in a different outfit like his teammates.

Series Continuity

• By giving the mission specs to Lizzie, Numbuh 65.3 breaks the rules of the Kids Next Door Operations Manual, which he was particularly strict about during his last appearance in "Operation: B.R.I.E.F."
• Lizzie is the second kid to put on Numbuh 1's sunglasses and proclaim themself the leader of Sector V. Numbuh 4 did this back in "Operation: C.A.N.N.O.N.".
• Numbuhs 2 and 3 believed Lizzie to be Numbuh 1, just because she wore his sunglasses. This happens again with Mandy in the crossover special The Grim Adventures of the KND.
• The Mini Mall is shown for the first time since "Operation: C.O.W.G.I.R.L.", and the Cowboy Kids Club Treehouse appears to have been taken down.
  • This is likely because the Cowboy Kids Club's treehouse (and possibly the tree that held it) was used to create the B.A.R.N.S.T.O.R.M.E.R. in that same episode.
• This is Chad's first appearance since he betrayed the KND in "Operation: E.N.D."
• Coach Wetterhahn was last mentioned in "Operation: C.H.A.D.", and makes his only on-screen appearance in this episode.

Pop Culture References

• Chad's team, "The Jets", is likely named after the New York Jets.
• When Numbuh 3 is getting her hair done, she has the same hairstyle as Judy Jetson from Hanna-Barbera cartoon classic show The Jetsons.

Errors/Goofs

• The back of Numbuh 1's bed change in height between shots.
• Numbuh 65.3 claims to have transferred to Numbuh 1 the mission specs 3.457 teraseconds ago, which would be more than one hundred thousand years ago.
• When Lizzie announces that the team need more suitable clothes for the mission, the team is standing really close with Numbuh 5 in the front. But after Lizzie also announces double scoops of ice cream, Numbuh 5 is standing on the other side of Lizzie from the rest.
• Numbuh 1 walks in just as Lizzie walks out of frame. He would have been able to see her as she would still be in the same room.
• Numbuh 2 has a hair dryer over his head while he is still wearing his aviator helmet.
• When Numbuh 1 is talking to Numbuh 65.3, the door to his bathroom is missing the white sign.
• And when Numbuh 1 tells Numbuh 65.3 to stop while signing out, the door is also missing the door handle, and the hook next to the door is also gone.
• As Lizzie yells at Numbuh 2 to back off, Numbuh 4 can be seen enjoying his ice cream, with his hair curled. But in the next scene, he is visibly annoyed at having his hair curled and does not seem to care about the ice cream.
• Chad's hair was visible in the shadow that loomed over Numbuh 1, but Chad is much shorter than the other boys and his silhouette should not be part of the shadow.
• The placement and the amount of figures on the blackboard change a little between shots.
• The inside of the C.O.O.L.B.U.S. looks different than usual.
• After the C.O.O.L.B.U.S. crashes into the stadium, Numbuh 5 can be seen with her hair unharmed. But after Chad calls them stupid kids, her hair is a mess.
• The way Sector V fight the jocks is the same way they fought the Ice Cream Men at the start of the episode.
• When Numbuh 1 grabs the footbomb, the blackboard can be seen empty behind him.
• Some of The Jets' helmets are not properly colored right after the lights turn on in the stadium.
• Numbuh 1 is not holding the footbomb when the lights have turned on.
• After the stadium craches, Chad walks out of the wreckage coughing and then appears to be talking, but no audio can be heard from him.

Voice Credits

• Benjamin Diskin: Numbuh 1 and Numbuh 2
• Lauren Tom: Numbuh 3
• Dee Bradley Baker: Numbuh 4, Ice Cream Men, and Jocks
• Cree Summer: Numbuh 5
• Jeff Bennett: Coach Wetterhahn and Jocks
• Grey DeLisle: Lizzie
• Jason Harris: Chad and Jocks
• Tom Kenny: Ice Cream Men and Jocks

Gallery