Monday, July 29, 2013

KND STORYBOARD PAGES (season three part 1)


Howdy!

Didja 
come to take a gander at
some original storyboard pages from
season three
of
Codename: Kids Next Door?

Then you came to the
right place!

I couple years ago I
recounted
(and repeated last post)
a couple of
fun stories
from seasons two and three
over
HERE
and
HERE

But I got
some new stories to go with
these beautiful storyboards
that the artists
poured so much love into.

Feast your eyes on part one of season three:
_________________________________________________


27A: Operation: FUTURE (part 1)
Writer: Mo Willems
Storyboard: Kim Arndt

Fun Fact:
Perhaps you noticed how much
the girl version of
Numbuh One looked like
Lucy Van Pelt?


________________________________________________


27B: Operation: FUTURE (part 2)
Writer: Mo Willems
Storyboard: Matt Peters

Fun Fact:
HIPPIE HOP
is one of my favorite pieces of
2x4 technology.
I was so hoping for a toy
but it never made it past the
prototype stage:


________________________________________________


28A: LEADER
Writer: Mo Willems
Storyboard: Maurice Fontenot

Fun Fact:
Coach Wetterhahn
was named after
storyboard artist
who did the board for 
Numbuh 274's first appearance in
Operation: CHAD
________________________________________________


28B: Operation: AFLOAT
Writer: Mr. Warburton
Storyboard: Guy Moore

Fun Fact:
I was out having a delicious meal with my wife
when I overheard someone say that
the restaurant had
"great white asparagus"
and...

BOOM!

I had a story idea!

I LOVE this episode
but wish we could do it all over again 
with the latest technology.
Imagine that sea of asparagus
done in CG!
_______________________________________________


29A: Operation: UTOPIA
Writer: Mo Willems
Storyboard: Kim Arndt

FUN FACT:
Looking back, 
I kinda feel like
Chester
and 
Professor Triple Extra Large
should have been blended into one character.
Then again,
there were funny things about
each of them
individually.
_____________________________________________


29B: Operation: ROBBERS
Writer: Mr. Warburton
Storyboard: Matt Peters

First appearance of
THE SIX GUM GANG

Fun Fact: 
After a busy day of bossing everyone around,
I returned to my office to find a note on my desk.
It read:

Murder on the Orient Express in a Schoolbus

It was from
color department intern
Alison Wilgus
and it instantly sparked the idea for this episode,
although it became less 'murder'
and more 
'Great Train Robbery'.

Alison 
(aka Numbuh 440)
provided the log lines for a 
bunch more shows and eventually became an
official
writer on the show!
____________________________________________


30A: Operation: FOUNTAIN (part 1)
Writer: Mr. Warburton
Storyboard: Guy Moore

First appearance of
LEAKY LEONA

Fun Fact:
Look closely!
You'll see Leaky Leona as a 
background character 
in a bunch of earlier episodes like
Operation: ZOO!
_____________________________________________


30B: Operation: FOUNTAIN (part 2)
Writer: Mr. Warburton
Storyboard: Maurice Fontenot

Fun Fact:
For a very short amount of time in this episode
you can see what color Nigel's hair
used to be!
__________________________________________

31A: Operation: BUTT
Writer: Mo Willems
Storyboard: Kim Arndt

Fun Fact:
I can't remember who pitched the idea for this episode
but all it took were the words
BUTT PHOTO BLACKMAIL
and I was in.
_______________________________________________


31B: Operation: TRAINING
Writer: Mo Willems
Storyboard: Matt Peters

First appearance of 
NUMBUH 60
SONIA AND LEE

Fun Fact:
As the series went on
we never got to learn much about
Patton Drilovsky
(aka Numbuh 60)
but he still became 
quite the fan favorite.

BONUS FUN FACT:
I always got a giggle when I looked at 
the story wall and
saw these two episodes next to each other:



_____________________________________________


32A: Operation: SLUMBER
Writer: Mo Willems
Storyboard: Maurice Fontenot

Fun Fact:
Cartoon Network was very adamant that its 
shows NOT have linear continuity.
Each episode had to stand on it's own.
This was mainly because the episodes very rarely air in order.
But me? 
I LURVE continuity in a series 
so we'd pepper in things like the
Code Module
that would play a BIGGER part in later episodes.

_____________________________________________


32B: Operation: ARCHIVE
Writer: Mr. Warburton
Storyboard: Guy Moore

Fun Fact:
For Numbuh One's rant at the end
of the show we needed a ton of random images
to flash on screen.
So we opened it up to the crew to come up with stuff:

Drawings
Photos
Artwork
Whatever they wanted.

I can't remember what 
most of them are but if you
don't blink you'll see:

Mo Willems with a mustache
as well as
multiple pictures of his young daughter, Trixie
and his dog Nelson.

Storyboard artist Jesse Schmal brushing his teeth.

BG artist Gideon Kendall's foot smashing a watermelon.

Storyboard artist Guy Moore and his son.

A stew that colorist Chrysoula Artemis was cooking.

And would someone remind me who that is playing the trumpet?

BONUS FUN FACT:
This episode won us the
BEST TELEVISION SERIES FOR CHILDREN
at the
2005 Ottawa Animation Festival
(my favorite animation festival)
_____________________________________________


33A: Operation: KASTLE
Writer: Mo Willems
Storyboard: Kim Arndt

Fun Fact:
Yes!
There was talk about making
Rainbow Monkey
plush toys!

But it was decided to
make the main characters instead:


The
PLUSHIES
didn't sell as well as the 
action figure lines.
So I wonder what would have happened if
they had made
Rainbow Monkeys instead?
_________________________________________

And that's the first half of
season three.

Let's all meet here
next Monday
and check out
the second half?

Okay?

While you're waiting,
you can review
all the previous posts
just for fun:

Thursday, July 25, 2013

NEW KND SHIRT!

Check
this
out:



It's the newest
Codename: Kids Next Door
t-shirt
available
ONLY
at
CARTOONNETWORK.COM!

It's part of a series of shirts
designed by the show creators
themselves!
(like me!)

Stop what you're doing
IMMEDIATELY
and get 
one
over



Monday, July 22, 2013

KND STORYBOARD PAGES (season two part 2)


I suppose you've returned to the blog
to take a peek at these
original storyboard pages
from the second half of
Codename: Kids Next Door
season two.

And why wouldn't you?
There's a ton of sooper action-packed stuff
that happened!

Like this:
_________________________________________________


20B: Operation: FUGITIVE
Writer: Mr. Warburton
Storyboard: Matt Peters

First appearance of 
NUMBUH 86
and 
NUMBUH 362

Fun Fact:
My first sketch of Numbuh 86
looked remarkably like an ex-girlfriend of mine
(who was so NOT like Numbuh 86)
So I changed the character design a bit,
made her Irish
and gave her red hair.
But 
EVEN THEN
I was accused of Numbuh 86 looking like someone else!
(check THIS old post for that story)

PS: 
Fanny Fulbright is STILL one of my favorite characters.
________________________________________________


21A: Operation: THE SHOGUN
Writer: Mr. Warburton
Storyboard: GUY MOORE

First appearance of 
THE CHEESE SHOGUN

Fun Fact:
I came up with the idea of Cheese Ninjas
throwing Kraft singles as shurikens
in an old college sketchbook.
Who knew they'd come to life
for reals
so many year later?

PS: I always thought this was a GREAT buddy episode
but oddly it never seemed to get that much recognition.
________________________________________________


21B: Operation: COLLEGE
Writer: Mo Willems
Storyboard: Maurice Fontenot

Fun Fact:
This episode featured the first appearance of 
Numbuh One's
R.O.A.D.S.T.A.R.
(Really Old Auto Dislodges Surfboards to Aerially Rock)

And then this happened:


Dream

Come 

True
________________________________________________


22A: Operation: REPORT
Writer: Mo Willems
Storyboard: Matt Peters

Fun Fact:
This was our second 
'ART SHOW'
where we set out to make an 
episode in 5 different artistic styles:

numbuh one = computer animation
numbuh two = comic book style
numbuh three = naive kiddie drawings
numbuh four - anime style
numbuh five = UPA style (ala Mo Willems)

This storyboard was one of Matt Peters' (many) masterpieces.
_______________________________________________


22B: Operation: BRIEF
Writer: Brian Meehl
Storyboard: Kim Arndt

First and only appearance of 
MR. WHITE

Fun Fact:
Mr. Willems and I were getting kind of 
exhausted writing all the episodes ourselves
so we went on the prowl for writers.
While having lunch with 
Mr. Meehl,
he pitched us the idea
of a pair of living pair of underwear
being hired to get rid of Numbuh One.

CHA-CHING!

Sold.
_____________________________________________


23A: Operation: CAKED-TWO
Writer: Mo Willems
Storyboard: Guy Moore

Fun Fact: 
When I first floated the idea 
that each season would have a 
CAKED episode
some smart guy
(probably Mr. Moore)
brought up the fact that if the DCFDTL
had a birthday each season,
the KND would be over 13
(and eligible for decommissioning)
rather quickly.

I was disappointed
until some other smart guy
(probably Mr. Moore)
realized that since there were 
five Delightful Children
they would have five
birthdays a year.

Like
DUH.
____________________________________________


23B: Operation: SPACE
Writer: Mr. Warburton
Storyboard: Maurice Fontenot

First appearance of
MUSHI SANBAN

Fun Fact:
The idea of a spaceship having this readily available:


...is what KND is all about.

Bonus:  
And the &%$!# button is a cupcake!
GENIUS!
Thanks, background department rockstar
_____________________________________________



24A: Operation: UNDERCOVER
Writer: Mo Willems
Storyboard: Matt Peters

First appearance of 
CUPPA JOE

Fun Fact:
We spend a lot of time dealing with how 
Lenny would reconnect
with his fellow DCFDTL.
Check the episode again and watch how he eerily slides 
back in and connects with a sickening
SPLORCH.

SFX Master
never failed to deliver
just the right sound.
__________________________________________

24B: Operation: BEACH
Writer: Mo Willems
Storyboard: Kim Arndt

First appearance of
KING SANDY

Fun Fact:
I think it was Mo who pitched the idea of
knights that lived in a giant sand castle
and knocked down everyone else's
measly castles.

BRILLIANT!

Adding the sweetness of Numbuh Four 
rescuing his princess
(under the guise of being owed a quarter)
made the episode even better!
________________________________________________


25A: Operation: DOGFIGHT
Writer: Mr. Warburton
Storyboard: Kim Arndt

First appearance of 
THE KID

Fun Fact:
Guy Moore made it his 
personal 
(and therapeutic)
goal to blow up 
EVERY SINGLE KND SHIP
created
(so far)
in this storyboard.

AND HE DID IT!

We just didn't have time to show them all
so most of them got cut!
_____________________________________________


25B: Operation: TRIP
Writer: Mo Willems
Storyboard: Maurice Fontenot

First appearance of 
THE INTERESTING TWINS 
FROM BENEATH THE MOUNTAIN

Fun Fact:
While inbetween seasons of
The Venture Brothers,
 creator 
went through our boards and punched up jokes.
So pretty much anything you LOL'd at
in the second half of this season 
was probably his gag.

Bonus Fun Fact:
The twins' name in Japanese
is
Omoshiroii Futago Yamashita
_____________________________________________


26A: Operation: End (part 1)
Writer: Mo Willems
Storyboard: Matt Peters

Fun Fact:
At one point Cartoon Network said
"You guys need to come up with a TV movie idea"

So after a couple weeks I pitched them 
Operation: END-- 
where the KND get 
accidentally decommissioned and
are on the run from their own organization.

And CN gets all like,
"Oh, KND isn't ready for a movie yet.
Why are you pitching us a movie?"

And i was like,
"Whaaaaaaaaaaaa?"

Two months later the consumer products division
asked why we didn't have a movie in the pipeline.

Grrrrrrrrrrrrrr...

So we just made it an episode.
_____________________________________________


26B: Operation: END (part 2)
Writer: Mo Willems
Storyboard: Kim Arndt

Fun Fact:
I really hated to 
"lose"
a big idea for a movie
so at first I wanted to save 
Operation: END.

But then I had a 
revelation:
Sooper huge episode ideas are rare.
What if KND suddenly
 got cancelled and we 
never got to tell this great story?

So
I vowed that instead of 
holding back a great story
I would just 
DO IT
and then
COME UP WITH SOMETHING
BETTER
when
(and if)
the time came
to make a 
movie.

And I stuck to that.
__________________________________________

And
WOOO HOOO
that's all of
Season Two!

Next week is all sorts of
Season 3
so come on back now,
ya hear?

And if you haven't seen the previous posts,
here are the links: