Operation: F.U.T.U.R.E.

"Operation: F.U.T.U.R.E."
Season 3, Episode 27
Mission:	052
Production Code:	27
Airdate:	June 11, 2004
Credits
Writer(s):	Mo Willems Mr. Warburton
Storyboards by:	Kim Arndt Matt Peters Jesse Schmal Abigail Nesbitt
Episode Guide
Previous Mission "Operation: E.N.D."	Next Mission "Operation: A.F.L.O.A.T."

Female's Utopian Trap Unleashes Reprehensible Evil

Operation: F.U.T.U.R.E. is the first episode of Season 3 of Codename: Kids Next Door. It first aired on June 11, 2004 on Cartoon Network.

Information

Summary

Numbuh 4 learns he is to be sent to a boarding school – but he is not worried, as he's always escaped from them before. However, he then learns that the school is being run by an evil kid called "Madame Margaret", a girl who is getting high-tech aid from none other than her future self. Madame Margaret's abominable plan is to create a twisted utopia where girls rule the world, using a demonic weapon called the girlifying ray that can turn anything feminine. The team does not have much chance to stop this until they receive aid from Numbuh 4's own future self. Now the team must defeat her and save the future.

Plot

Numbuh 4 is sent to St. Rita's Preparatory School, but soon discovers that it's a girls-only boarding school. The director, Margie, wants to transform him and every other boy on the planet into girls, with the aid of her future self. Numbuh 4's left hand is girlified and he escapes, pursued by Madam Margaret's mobile school. He attempts to contact Sector V for help but learns that they have already been girlified although Numbuh 3 and 5 were girls anyway. However, he somehow manages to escape from Margie and the squad.

Seventy-five years into the future, Numbuh 4, who became old, still needs time to battle the evil plans of Madam Margaret with the help of the Boys Next Door, a future version of the KND in which all the operatives are boys who defend other boys from girls towards them (and from being turned into girls). One day, Sally Sanban, Numbuh 3's granddaughter, appears, inspired by her grandmother's stories of how boys and girls used to fight together against the adults. She brought them a girlifier rifle in hopes of reversing its effects. While Numbuh 4 won't accept her help, after the other operatives point out her bravery, she is accepted and Boys Next Door is now the Kids Next Door.

Unfortunately, Madam Margaret had anticipated her desertion and had secretly planted a tracker on her, sending her mobile fortress to finish off the BND. They manage to change the settings on the ray and make a boy rifle. They cheer and are ready to fight but soon learn Madame Margaret and the girls are coming. At first they blame Sally but the leader knows that Sally was being tracked. When Sally mentions they need more time Numbuh 4 has a plan. The BND fight their hardest, even with the Boyifying Rifle but are all girlified with the Supergirlifier Cannon. Madam Margaret enters her office happy that she had finally sealed the fate of every boy. However, Numbuh 4 appears on the scene revealing that it was all a distraction and, after knocking Madam Margaret to the ground with a kick, he uses her time machine to warp himself into the past. Margaret tries to follow him, but Sally destroys her time machine to prevent Margaret from doing so. Knowing that her ending was sealed and that all things obtained with her tyranny will cease to exist just like her, Madame Margret realizes it's doomed.

In the present, elderly Numbuh 4 appears in front of Sector V, who become hostile upon seeing him as an adult but he convinces them that his younger self is in trouble (with the help of Numbuh 3). They rescue Numbuh 4 and unleash Numbuh 3 in H.I.P.P.I.E.-H.O.P. against younger Margaret. Her future soldiers attempt to blast H.I.P.P.I.E.-H.O.P., but they find out their Girlifying Rifles have no effect against H.I.P.P.I.E.-H.O.P. (as it's already very girly). Numbuh 3 then smashes younger Margie's time machine and has her sent to another boarding school for life. At the same time, as alternate dystopian future is erased from existence as well with the Girl Squad and the Girlifying Rifles, her crimes against humanity in the future are deleted. With the time machine destroyed, the boarding school has also collapsed.

With the future changed, both Numbuh 4's left hand return to normal and the girlifying soldiers cease to exist, disappearing from the scene. Older Numbuh 4 then tells his younger self what not to do in his future but fades from existence before finishing his sentence about failing to ask out someone. Numbuh 4 fails to understand and the KND go home. The episode ends with a better future 75 years later, showing girls and boys in harmony. Sector V's treehouse is then seen in silhouette.

Ending Credits

During the end credits, Ms. Margaret is throwing her tantrum in front of the class like from earlier after Numbuh 4 escaped.

Featured

KND Operatives

• Numbuh 1
• Numbuh 2
• Numbuh 3
• Numbuh 4 / Old Numbuh 4
• Numbuh 5

Villains

• Madam Margaret / Margie (debut)
• Girl Squad / Girl Army (debut)
• St. Rita's Preparatory School Staff (debut/cameo)

Allies

• Boys Next Door (debut)
• Sally Sanban (debut)

Locations

• Uno Residence (front lawn)
• St. Rita's Preparatory School/Madame Margaret's Castle
• Sector V Treehouse
• Boys Next Door Hideout

2x4 Technology

• D.E.C.O.D.E.R.A.N.T.
• Backpack Jet
• Plunger Gun
• W.H.A.T.
• S.P.I.C.E.R.
• B.O.T.T.L.E.C.A.P.
• V.E.G.G.I.E.
• T.H.U.M.P.E.R.
• Rapid Rescue Ship
• H.I.P.P.I.E.-H.O.P.

Ally Tech

• A reversed engineered Girlifying Rifle/Boyifying Rifle

Villain Technology

• Girlifying Rifles
• Supergirlifier Cannon
• Principal Margaret mecha suit
• Mobile Fortess

Time Cards Shown

• 75 Years Later (twice)

Trivia

• Even though Abigail is already a girl, she still gets affected by girlification, gaining a more girly outfit. This implies that the rays also affect tomboys, girls with boyish personalities.
• Nigel's hair is revealed to have been brown in Operation: F.O.U.N.T.A.I.N., but in this episode, when he is girlified, his hair is black.
• When Wallabee was getting away the second time, his shoes were rockets. While in Operation: C.A.R.A.M.E.L., they were revealed to be guns.
• It's revealed that Wallabee doesn't wear a shirt under his hoodie.
• H.I.P.P.I.E.-H.O.P. being crushed at the end of the episode is a running gag in the series, with it being destroyed in every episode it appears in.
• Numbuh 4 attacks Madam Margaret in her office in the exact same way both as a young boy and as an elderly man. And Kuki destroys Margie's machine the same way Sally did in the future.
• This is the first episode to not list which characters are voiced by which voice actors in the credits, and the one of the only three episodes of Season 3 to do this.
  • This would later become the standard following season 4.
• Madame Margaret's plan to turn the world's male population into females is, realistically speaking, genocide for the entire human race. Without males, females would unable to mate in order to reproduce offspring, thus leading to the extinction of the human race.
  • The same result applies to the adult villains, whose plans to get rid of children would require sterilization of adults to prevent new children from being born, thus producing a lack of future generations, and leading to the extinction of the human race.
  • Due to this, the existence of Sally combined with Madam Margaret declaring men extinct raises lots of unanswered questions.
  • Utilization of in-vitro fertilization is a possible solution to Madame Margaret's extinction dilemma.
• This episode reveals that Numbuh 3's surname is Sanban, where her codename links to. Sanban is Number 3 in Japanese.
• When the elderly Numbuh 4 turns the Boys Next Door back into Kids Next Door, it was implied that he wasn't decommissioned, most likely because he was still missing by the time he turned 13, which is the decommissioning age per KND standards. This means that Numbuh 4 would have violated the KND standards, similarly with Cree Lincoln and Numbuh 12 when they chose to defect to evil rather than getting decommissioned, as well as Numbuh 0 when he was recommissioned in Operation: Z.E.R.O.. It's stands to reason that Numbuh 4 evaded decommissioning and went into hiding in order fight against the Girl Squad.
• This is the final episode of the series to air in the United States during Cartoon Network's "Powerhouse" era and therefore the final episode with the original 1992-2004 Cartoon Network logo on the bottom right corner. 3 days later (June 14, 2004) the era was replaced with the Cartoon Network "City" era with a newly updated Cartoon Network logo which would be seen on the bottom right corner on the remaining episodes of season 3 as well as the remaining seasons of the series.
  • Also, this was the only episode of season 3 to air under Cartoon Network's "Powerhouse" era.
• This episode marks the first time in this season the end credits gain a new look. Instead of the credits rolling overlaid on a white background with the show's simple logo and all five members of Sector V, it featured a split-screen where certain scenes of the episode looped in a perfect cycle for comedic effect on the right of the screen and the end credits on a plain black background the left of the screen, very similar to the end credits of many other Cartoon Network original series produced by Cartoon Network Studios produced at the same time (e.g. Foster's Home For Imaginary Friends, Camp Lazlo, etc.). Episodes from seasons four to the end of the series also display this tradition as well.
  • It is one of the only three episodes of season three to display this tradition at the end credits, the other two being Operation: A.F.L.O.A.T. and Operation: L.E.A.D.E.R..
• This is the first episode to feature a named Rainbow Monkey, Friends Forever Rainbow Monkey. This became more common following this episode.

Production Notes

• Starting this episode, some scenes now run at 30 frames per second, while most scenes still run at 24 frames.

Series Continuity

• This episode takes place after the events of Operation: E.N.D., where Numbuhs 2-5 are recommissioned.
• Numbuh 5 is seen reading the same magazine from Operation: L.I.Z.Z.I.E., with the ad for the YesDear 5000.
• The girlified Numbuh 5 looks identical to how she looked after being hit by The Proper Patrol's Proper Rays in Operation: C.A.N.N.O.N..
• This is the first time Numbuh 4 has been leader of the Kids Next Door since Operation: C.A.N.N.O.N..
• This is also the first time Numbuh 4 has led his own version of the Kids Next Door, the Boys Next Door. He expressed a wish to rename the group to the "Kids Next Four" in Operation: C.A.N.N.O.N..
• This is the only time H.I.P.P.I.E.-H.O.P. isn't smashed during the fight. Instead, it's smashed by a falling tower after the fight.
  • Although Kuki remained unharmed, her parachute still didn't open.
• When Future Wallabee was disappearing, he said, "Most importantly, I always regretted never asking out". It's implied that he was going to say Kuki. His "secret" crush on Kuki will be referenced more throughout the series.

Pop Culture References

• The episode is a parody of the Terminator film series. Numbuh 4 is John Connor, Madam Margaret is Skynet, the Boys Next Door are the Human Resistance, and the Girl Squad are the Machines.
• This episode also contains numerous references to the Star Wars franchise.
• When Nigel dressed up as a girl for the girly tea party, he bears a striking resemblance to Lucy Van Pelt from The Peanuts franchise, which was intentional from the creators.
• One of the Boys Next Door operatives resembles the boomerang-throwing Feral Kid from Mad Max 2: The Road Warrior.
• When two of the Boys Next Door operatives are transformed into girls by the Super Girlifier Cannon, they are having a tea party. One of them says "More tea, Mrs. Nesbitt?" This is a reference to Toy Story, in which Andy's Buzz Lightyear, after his arm broke off, is once renamed Miss Nesbitt by Hannah, "Would you like some tea, Miss Nesbitt?" and they have a tea party.
  • While it's also part of the name of the real-life Storyboard "operative", Abigail Nesbitt.
• Nigel's descendants bear a striking resemblance to Cloud Strife from Final Fantasy VII.
• When Numbuh 5's descendant uses a rainbow monkey doll to test if the disguised Sally Sanban is really a boy. The use of this tactic is the same as the human army from the Terminator series, using dogs to detect for human-like terminators.
• The reference to "sugar and spice" is likely a reference to the earlier Cartoon Network tv series, The Powerpuff Girls ("Sugar, spice, and everything nice.." is how that show's theme song began).
• Margie might be loosely based on the villain Granny Goodness from DC Comics.
• Madam Margaret robot suit called Principal Margaret, seems loosely based on the villainess called Mrs. Melisha Tweedy from a film by Aardman Animation titled Chicken Run and it’s sequel Chicken Run: Dawn Of The Nugget.
• The way St. Rita's Preparatory School moves about in a desolate wasteland might be based on the book, Mortal Engines.
• The really feral boy in the Boys Next Door was inspired by the feral boy in Mad Max 2.
• The entire episode references some assets from the game series Fallout, A Post Nuclear Role Playing Game, is a turn-based role-playing video game, which Fallout (game) and Fallout 2 came out 3 years before the KND series.

Time Paradox

• If Margie was defeated in the past before she can rule the future seen 75 years later before Numbuh 4 changed the timeline, she couldn't have created her Girl Army or the Girlifying Rifles and she would have not be able to transform boys into girls. As Numbuh 4 returned to the past and evaded this, this never happened, being proved when present Numbuh 4's hand getting back to normal. Eventually, however, Numbuh 3 and Numbuh 4 are married, as seen in the series finale "Operation: I.N.T.E.R.V.I.E.W.S."; so Sally Sanban was presumably erased from existence (although it's never stated if Sally was erased from existence or her lineage was heavily changed). However, if Sally was erased from existence, she never helped the Boys Next Door to make their final strike against Madam Margaret, so Numbuh 4 would have not be able to got back to the past and erase the future. It's plausible that Sally was erased from existence only after Future Numbuh 4 went to the past and changed the timeline.
• It should be noted that apart from all of this, it's never revealed the fates of the Girl Squad, the Girl Army, the Boys Next Door, or even Madam Margaret herself. However, it's likely to say that the first two groups ceased to exist as Margie would not be able to create them as she would be held captive at the Kids Next Door Arctic Base, and the latter one would not necessarily be created as any girl enemy organization would exist to combat them. In addition, whether this affected the lineages of their members (because they could have be present at the playground near the end of the episode) or erased them from existence is completely unknown.

Errors/Goofs

• When Numbuh 4 is being taken to the boarding school his left sleeve is the same color of his skin.
• As the car is driving up to St. Rita's, it drives outside of frame, even though the road is in frame and would mean the car drove off the road.
• St. Ritas's is shown to have a moat surrounding the school. This moat and the road leading up to the school prompty disappears before the school sprouts legs to chase after Numbuh 4.
• A math equation on the blackboard in Numbuh 4's homeroom says: "A^3 x H^3 = HAHAHA".
• Some of the girls at St. Rita's are actually students at Gallagher Elementary School.
• When Madam Margaret says, "hello Wilhelmina," the door behind her has disppeared off the door frame.
• Numbuh 4 jumps to the left to avoid the girlifying ray, but he is angled to the right when he lands.
• When Numbuh 4 looks at his newly girlified hand, in the shot before the close up, he does not have long red fingernails on his left hand.
• When he looks at his transformed hand, Madam Margaret can't be seen in the background, even though she is standing there in the next shot.
• The flowers Madam Margaret created on the classroom floor with her girlifying rifle disappear after Numbuh 4 escapes the room.
• When we first see the hologram of future Madam Margaret, the screen on Margie's control board is blue instead of black like it was in the previous and in the following shots. The buttons on the left side of the panel are also not shining red in this shot.
• When Numbuh 4 jumps to avoid the four girlifying beams by the Girl Squad from the future, the Madam Margaret robot at his feet has somehow regained its skirt and bottom half.
• When the Girl Squad shoots Numbuh 4's hoodie, the future Madam Margaret's hologram is missing from the desk.
• Margie's control panel has somehow flipped when she activates the bike controls, as the red buttons previously found on the left side are now on the right side.
• When we zoom in on the Boys Next Door's meeting room, the chart behind the boy on the stage is missing several details that is has in the next shot.
• When it changes to a more close up shot of the BND second-in-command, the shadows in front of him does not match the the characters that were standing in front of him in the previous shot.
• After old Numbuh 4 removes his glove to show his girlified hand, the glove disappears from his hand. It returns later when he puts it back on.
• When old Numbuh 4 asks Sally if she said they were running out of time, the boots on the back legs of his chair are facing backwards instead of forward. He also has pink firngernails on his right hand instead of on his gloved hand in this shot.
• The area surrounding the Boys Next Door Hideout are shown to be barren when St. Rita Fortress approaches it, but it was shown to be surrounded by scraps and garbage when we first saw the hideout.
  • And a tree suddenly appears in front of the base when the BND second-in-command exits the base to antagonize Madam Margaret.
• The Numbuh 2-like BND member took two hits in the chest by the girlifying rifle to be transformed.
• Just before the BND member with a robo-arm is hit, half his shirt is colored yellow for a second.
• Before the Boys Next Door Second in Command is transformed into a girl, his dialogue doesn't match the lip syncing.
• When one of the girls turn into boys the pink laser is shown instead of blue.
• When one of the boys are girlified, the one that is closer to the screen doesn't show a little part of the butterfly wings.
• When Numbuh 4 is flown away by Sector V, the St. Rita Building is far closer to the ground than earlier. Its front limb is also drawn a lot smaller and unproportional to the rest of the thing.
• After the Girl Squad hits H.I.P.P.I.E.-H.O.P. and up until it smashes through the window, Margie's mole is on the wrong side of her face.
• Numbuh 3 is not sitting in her seat when H.I.P.P.I.E.-H.O.P. opens, she suddenly comes jumping out from the bottom of the control room.
• As Numbuh 4's hand reverts back to normal, he's already wearing his hoodie that he left inside of the school.
• The tower from St. Rita's that crush H.I.P.P.I.E.-H.O.P. is not seen surviving the crumbling of the school earlier.

Voice Credits

• Benjamin Diskin: Numbuh 1 and Numbuh 2
• Lauren Tom: Numbuh 3, School girl
• Dee Bradley Baker: Numbuh 4, boys
• Cree Summer: Numbuh 5
• Tom Kenny: Numbuh 2-like BND member, BND members, girlified boys
• Rachael MacFarlane: Girl Squad members, girls
• Candi Milo: Madam Margaret, Margie, Girl Squad members
• Tara Strong: Sally Sanban, School girl
• James Arnold Taylor: BND leader, BND members

Gallery

Numbuh 4 being attacked by girl lasers

Sector V girlified and Numbuh 1 Resembling Lucy Vanpelt from the Peanuts

Boys flying in the air

Numbuh 3 stoping the others from attacking

Numbuh 3 with Older Numbuh 4

Notes

• Because the episode credits did not list which characters were voiced by which voice actor, we on the Wiki have had to make our own guesses.