| "Operation: S.P.R.O.U.T." | |
| Season 3, Episode 39 | |
| |
| Mission: | 073 |
|---|---|
| Production Code: | 313b |
| Airdate: | November 12, 2004 |
| Credits | |
| Writer(s): | Mo Willems Mr. Warburton |
| Storyboards by: | Matt Peters Abigail Nesbitt |
| Episode Guide | |
| Previous Mission "Operation: H.O.S.P.I.T.A.L." |
Next Mission "Operation: H.O.U.N.D." |
Sickening Produce Removal Operation Ultra Tricky
"Operation: S.P.R.O.U.T." is the 1st story in the 13th episode of Season 3 of Codename: Kids Next Door. It first aired on November 12, 2004 on Cartoon Network.
Summary[]
Wallabee eats one of his brussel sprouts (the most harmful vegetables known to children) by mistake. Nigel, Hoagie, and Abigail must shrink and retrieve it before Wallabee digests it, as Kuki keeps track how much time Wallabee has left to live.
Plot[]
The episode begins in the Beetles household during dinner. Numbuh 4’s father, Sydney Beetles, is telling a story about his shift at work; he works for Mr. Boss. As he's telling the story, a deathly-bored Numbuh 4 is fiddling around with the food on his plate, his boredom distracting him from eating. In the moment, he doesn't even realize that he accidentally eats a Brussels sprout whole. When Mrs. Beetles points this out to him, he immediately goes into full-blown panic mode at the realization of having eaten an actual vegetable. Without thinking, Numbuh 4 pulls from his hoodie an emergency siren, and within seconds, the rest of Sector V crashes the S.L.A.M.B.U.L.A.N.C.E. through the side of his house. Numbuhs 1, 3, and 5 rush out with a 2x4 gurney, and take Numbuh 4 away on it, that is, after he asks to be excused from dinner.
Numbuh 2 sporadically pilots the S.L.A.M.B.U.L.A.N.C.E. through the neighborhood, crashing into houses. Inside, Numbuhs 1, 3, and 5 begin to inspect their sickly comrade. A 2x4 cat scan (which is literally a cat tied to a tennis racket) shows that Numbuh 4 has indeed swallowed the gross vegetable whole. The team realizes their only chance of removing the brussell sprout is by shrinking themselves down to size and going inside his body.
The team arrive at MedLab moments later. Numbuh 1 assigns himself, as well as Numbuhs 2 and 5, with the task of shrinking to go inside Numbuh 4, while Numbuh 3 is ordered to stay behind and monitor his health. The vehicle used for this mission is the I.T.S.I.B.I.T.S.Y., used specifically for shrinkification missions. Unfortunately, shrinkification only lasts for a mere 6 minutes, meaning that time isn’t on the team’s side. Once shrunken, Numbuh 3 proudly announces that the "shrinkification" is complete. The team had to be shrunk as small as ants to able fit in Numbuh 4's nose. Even before they could go inside Numbuh 4's body for their mission, they have to evade an another incoming obstacle right in front of them as a large bulgy foot of a now Gigantic Numbuh 3 gradually drops down on the wooden floor. Being small as ants also meant Numbuh 3 is really big too and she soon proceeds to demonstrate how heavy would she really feel to her shrunken friends and stomps the floor just a few inches in front of the now shrunken vehicle. Numbuh 3 towers over 50 feet and weighs 55 tons (110000 lbs)! The impact of Numbuh 3's massive weight is in fact so unbearable which actually causes the ground to shake loudly as she slams her giant foot down. Numbuh 3 in proving how she can be even more clumsy and very unreliable to her shrunken friends after very nearly crushing them under her and startling them, picks the tiny vehicle, stares inside with her colossal eye which appeared even bigger than the ship, shakes it violently while running and takes her time to remember where to insert the team from. Numbuh 3 remembers and jams the I.T.S.I.B.I.T.S.Y. up Numbuh 4’s nostril. The exhausted team overwhelmed from Numbuh 3's massive mass difference begin to slowly navigate the confines of his booger-infested nasal cavity. The ship steps onto a patch of mucus, which begins to slowly consume it. Numbuh 5, who is co-piloting the I.T.S.Y.B.I.T.S.Y., begins frantically moving the legs against the floor of Numbuh 4’s nasal passage, prompting him to instinctively breathe deeply through his nose, causing a gust of wind strong enough to free the team and sending them flying into the brain cavity.
As Numbuh 2 once more begins navigating slowly, Numbuh 4’s brain juice begins to also consume them. Numbuh 1 orders Numbuh 5 to aim the ship’s harpoon at Numbuh 4’s very tiny brain. She successfully hits the target, causing Numbuh 4 to briefly go berserk and recite several random academic facets before dropping back onto the bed. The team reels themselves to safety and they continue moving, with time running out. As the sprout begins to "take over," Numbuh 4 starts talking to himself about completing chores at home, to the horror of Numbuh 3 who reports this back to the others. Back inside the body, the team reaches the stomach and sees the nasty green sprout still intact. Numbuh 1’s plan is to have two people go outside and manually attach cables to the vegetable, while the other pilots the ship; Numbuhs 1 and 2 go out while Numbuh 5 pilots.
Using 2x4 aqua bikes, Numbuhs 1 and 2 reach the sprout and begin to attach the clamps and cables. Once this is done, Numbuh 5 begins to navigate out of the stomach, the sprout attached to the back of the I.T.S.I.B.I.T.S.Y. Suddenly, a monstrous whirlpool forms in the stomach juice; Numbuh 4’s body is beginning to digest what's in his stomach. The aqua bikes are lost in the whirlpool, making it impossible for Numbuhs 1 and 2 to safely ride back to the ship without having to swim in the acidic juice. Just then, the cable detaches, but a quick-thinking Numbuh 5 jumps out of the I.T.S.Y.B.I.T.S.Y., into the ghastly stomach juice, and retrieves both ends of the cables. Before she can reattach it, the ship goes into autopilot mode, forcing Numbuh 5 to hold on to both cables at the same timeas the ship pulls. Numbuhs 1 and 2 climb their way back to the ship using the cables.
Only 30 seconds of shrinkification remain. Numbuhs 1 and 2 get back into the cockpit and begin operating the ship manually once again. A pained Numbuh 4 swiftly pops up from the gurney in a vertical position, meaning the team is now climbing vertically out of Numbuh 4 rather than horizontally. Numbuh 5 now holds on for dear life to both cables; one is attached to the I.T.S.I.B.I.T.S.Y. and the other to the massive sprout. With shrinkification very nearly expired, the computer gives the anxious team a 10-second warning before their abrupt return to normal size. When the countdown finishes, a sickly green Numbuh 4 seems as though his body is about to give up on him. Moments later, his left nostril begins to slowly expand to about 10x its normal size. He sneezes hard, blowing the rest of the team out of his nostril with great force. As Numbuhs 1 and 2 emerge from the ship, an exhausted and snot-covered Numbuh 5 triumphantly holds the sprout in her hand and tosses it in the garbage for a job well done.
Numbuh 4 returns to his home through the giant hole created by the team earlier. Mr. Beetles is still telling the story about his day at the office. The young operative sits down for dinner again. He gets distracted a second time and eats a whole chunk of liver, to which his father brings to his attention this time. The episode ends with Numbuh 4 going into panic mode all over again.
Featured[]
KND Operatives
Allies
- Sydney Beetles
- Mrs. Beetles (debut)
- Joey Beetles (debut)
- George (mentioned)
Villains
Locations
- Beetles Residence
- Med Lab (Sector V Treehouse)
- Kuki's giant foot
- Wallabee's bodily interior
2x4 Technology
- Emergency alert
- S.L.A.M.B.U.L.A.N.C.E.
- Stretcher
- CAT scan
- F.I.N.D.I.T.
- W.H.A.T.
- I.T.S.I.B.I.T.S.Y.
- Shrink Ray
- Diving suits
- Aqua bikes
Transcript[]
Operation: S.P.R.O.U.T./Transcript
Trivia[]
- This episode marks the first appearance of Numbuh 4's mother, Mrs. Beetles and his younger brother, Joey.
- There's is an online game based on this episode named Cell Shock.
- Joey is called "Baby Beetles" in the credits.
- This is also the first time Numbuh 4's house is shown in the series.
- No villains officially appear in this episode. However, Mr. Boss is mentioned.
- The S.L.A.M.B.U.L.A.N.C.E.'s only appearance is in this episode. Its name was first revealed in the TCG expansion pack.
- This episode marks the first and last appearance of a Giant sized Numbuh 3.
- As a Giant, Numbuh 3 is estimated to be over 50 feet tall and weighing over 55 tons (110000 lbs).
Series continuity[]
- Sydney Beetles works for Mr. Boss, which was established in the Season 1 episode Operation: O.F.F.I.C.E..
- A Shrink Ray was last used by the Great Puttinski in Operation: M.I.N.I.-G.O.L.F..
- Nigel later wears the same suit in Operation: S.A.T.U.R.N..
Cultural references[]
- This episode spoofed the 1966 film, Fantastic Voyage.
- "I.T.S.I.B.I.T.S.Y." is named after the Itsy Bitsy Spider nursery rhyme.
- The size of Numbuh 4's brain might have been inspired by an x-ray image of cartoon character Homer Simpson's tiny brain.
- Numbuh 4 mentions the following items in his "smart state":
- E=mc^2, which is Albert Einstein's famous Mass–energy equivalence formula.
- William Shakespeare was a famous English playwright and author.
Goofs/Errors[]
- Even though Numbuh 4 audibly swallowed the Brussels sprout, we later visibly see it go down his throat after he realized what he just ate.
- As soon as the CAT scan goes off, it disappears from Numbuh 5's hand.
- The I.T.S.I.B.I.T.S.Y. is a lot bigger when Numbuh 3 picks it up than when she shoves it up Numbuh 4's nose.
- When the I.T.S.I.B.I.T.S.Y. enters, the soles on Numbuh 2's shoes have disappeared.
- When the team escaped from Numbuh 4's brain, they probably landed in his ear-canal. Somehow, by following that tunnel, they ended up directly in his stomach.
- Numbuh 4's stomach acid would've damaged Numbuh 5 when she jumped into it.
- The force of Numbuh 3's giant stomp would've obliterated the I.T.S.I.B.I.T.S.Y.
Voice credits[]
- Ben Diskin: Numbuh 1 and Numbuh 2
- Lauren Tom: Numbuh 3
- Dee Bradley Baker: Numbuh 4 and Baby Beetles
- Cree Summer: Numbuh 5
- Jeff Bennett: Mr. Beetles
- Jennifer Hale: Computer, Mrs. Beetles and Cat
Gallery[]
