Those Kids Next Door, also known with several other monikers, were going to be recurring antagonists in the unproduced animated show Kenny and the Chimp. They were a group of mischievous kids who lived in the house next to Kenny's home. Those Kids Next Door would always welcome Chimpy, Kenny's insane chimp, amongst their ranks to aid them into causing mess of unusual size. However, while the show didn't get pick up by Cartoon Network after the airing of the pilot "Diseasy Does It", the network expressed interest on the Those Kids Next Door characters, leading Tom Warburton to rewrite them into the heroic Sector V from the hit animated show Codename: Kids Next Door.
Numbuh 1 and Numbuh 2 were voiced by Benjamin Diskin, Numbuh 3 was voiced by Lauren Tom, Numbuh 4 was voiced by Dee Bradley Baker and Numbuh 5 was voiced by Cree Summer in the final project.
Biography[]
When Tom Warburton was trying to pitch his own animated cartoon for Cartoon Network, he originally conceived Kenny and the Chimp, a show involving a boy named Kenny and his pet chimp Chimpy, the latter always causing trouble for the former. Warburton wrote a pilot episode entitled "Diseasy Does It", which involved Kenny and Chimpy causing trouble on the laboratory of Professor XXXL. Had the series been pick up as a full show, Warburton had already conceived other characters, and among them, there were Those Kids Next Door, who were planned to be recurring antagonists.
Those Kids Next Door were conceived, according to Warburton's notes, as a group of five kids who operated out of the house next door to Kenny's home, hence the "Kids Next Door" nickname. According to Warburton, no one knew which of the kids lives on the house (if any) neither any trace of parental supervision. Depending on the item they would have retrieved on an episode, the team would change their name for a new one which would not stuck for very long anyways, including monikers like the Catapult Kids, the Deep Fryer Five, the Chocolate Pudding Platoon, the Makeover Mafia, the Bucket of Brown Betty Bunch, etc. Given this explanation, among the items they would steal were definitely a catapult, a deep fryer, chocolate pudding and a bucket. As Warburton noted, as the series progressed, Those Kids Next Door could easily evolve from mischievous kids to criminals.
Those Kids Next Door were also meant to be very secretive of their actions and be not friendly to outsiders, especially Kenny. On the other hand, they would always welcome Chimpy, Kenny's insane pet chimp, amongst their ranks to assist them in causing a mess of unusual side, forming a combination of Chimpy's unintentional mischief with Those Kids Next Door's deliberate shenanigans. Despite this, Those Kids Next Door were somewhat easily outwitted and separated, but they would always regroup later and come up with a new deviltry and/or new moniker.
Unfortunately, Cartoon Network didn't pick up Kenny and the Chimp as a full series and "Got Your Nose", a second episode, went unproduced. However, Cartoon Network expressed interest on the Those Kids Next Door characters and believing they had potential, they had Warburton pitch another show with them as protagonists. Said and done, Warburton had Those Kids Next Door rewritten as the heroic Sector V and successfully pitched Codename: Kids Next Door, which was an immediate hit for the network. Unlike their original incarnations, Sector V lived in a huge treehouse and their parents were mostly seen and mentioned, sometimes even having major roles. In spite of this, Warburton was asked by Cartoon Network to not give Sector V high end technology like originally planned because that idea had been previously used in Dexter's Laboratory, leading Warburton to change their high technology for 2x4 technology instead. Additionally, the character of Professor XXXL would later be introduced in Codename: Kids Next Door as a minor antagonist.
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Trivia[]
- Judging by the sketch Warburton wrote about Those Kids Next Door and their details, by seeing the picture of Those Kids Next Door preparing to assist Chimpy in firing a weapon of the US military filled with chocolate pudding, it can be said that unlike their final incarnations, Those Kids Next Door were really dangerous to the point of stealing property of the military for their own schemes.
- It's unknown if Those Kids Next Door were intended to be the main antagonists of Kenny and the Chimp or just recurring antagonists as currently assumed, as we don't know how many more appearances Professor XXXL was intended to have in the show.