Kids Next Door. What do you think?

[Specineff]

Today I watched an episode of this series. When it premiered some months ago, I thought it was going to be another generic Kids VS. Adults story full of politically correct crap and "follow your dreams" feel-good kind of messages. Boy, was I wrong.

The series is fun, funny, and well-written. Sure, it portrays some adults as bad guys, specially corporate ones. (Tell me which CEO isn't evil, though. lol) Their gadgets are cool, there are some moments paying homage to old programs and characters that some adults and teenagers can recognize (an african american doctor making funny jokes on the background, with a voice very much like that of Bill Cosby? Winner.) I like how the main guy, Numbuh/Number 1/Nigel has a slight british accent, that the chubby guy Number 2 is not portrayed as dumb, Number 5 though she is a strong character is not shown as the female that simply must compete and prove she is just as capable as a male of the species. And Number 3 being australian is quite original. And don't get me started on the hilarious dubbing in spanish available through the SAP option. I find myself clicking back and forth in between the two audio tracks to laugh my butt off at the different ways a gag or joke is pulled off.

It's just like having Mission Impossible mixed with Inspector Gadget and the Little Rascals. I like it better than Mucha Lucha and it's on my top spot along with Foster's Home For Imaginary Friends. (Go hi-res computer drawings. Woot.)

Opinions?

[Sly Cherry Chunks]

I really liked the drawings, they reminded me of the old British comic strip The Bash Street Kids. Seems very old-school with the detailed backgrounds (the tree house for example) and solid characters - unlike the minimalist crap we get nowadays. -And importantly, it doesn't just try to look like anime which is refreshing.
Can't say I've seen enough of it to get into the characters yet though. Atomic Betty is the only cartoon I force myself to watch nowadays.

[FatCobra]

Yeah, Kids Next Door is pretty cool! I also like watching Megas XLR when it comes on.

I'm 22 and I still watch cartoons, you can never be too old to watch cartoons or play videogames.

[BulletMagnet]

KND is, in my opinion, one of the most pleasant surprises from recent cartoon-dom; just the concept of the age-old conflict between kids and adults as an international string of super-powered covert operations is funny enough, but as has been said it's pulled off quite capably for the most part, with lots of outside references to stuf that only adults (rather ironically) would likely get. There are still instances of "toilet humor" and the like which tend to bring the series down a bit, but I guess most "kid-centered" cartoons need a bit of that these days...still not enough to spoil the whole thing, thankfully.

My favorite outside reference was from an episode wherein the school bus is taken over by a couple of homework bandits (and of course the teacher won't believe any of the robbed students' excuses for not having their homework, heh heh) and Numbuh Five tries to fight them off. Near the front of the train a showdown with one of the rustlers (who uses a makeshift pistol made out of a soda bottle to shoot wads of chewed-up gum into people's hair) is imminent; however, one of the kids jumps into the bus aisle shouting "Wait! As 4th grade president I demand that a peaceful solution be worked out..." As he's talking, a wad of gum flies over his head and knocks his hat off. Apologetically, he turns to Numbuh Five and says "Abigail, yer on yer own."

A tip of the hat to anyone who knows where that one's from.

[BrianC]

I like KND quite a bit too and I'm 25. One episode actually had an Animatrix parody.

[Vexorg]

I can't say I share the same opinion of the show. The whole thing seems like overwrought, sugary kiddy drama with no real likeable characters (quite frankly, the kids are BRATS if you ask me) and too many potty jokes. I've liked some of Mo Willems' other stuff in the past (I thought Sheep in the Big City was quite good, even if a bottle of Ritalin in the writer's room would have destroyed the whole thing) but I just can't really get myself to like KND for some reason. The one that's probably my favorite cartoon on the air right now is Fairly Oddparents. Heck, my dad watches Dragon Ball Z and Spongebob Squarepants...

[SheSaidDutch]

Foster's Home For Imaginary Friends- I used to watch this show all the time, now I really do

Mucha Lucha-Shame I've only seen repeat after repeat, good cartoon though,
the flea rules

I want Cow and Chicken re-runs damn-it

[FatCobra]

I watched an episode just night where Numbuh four was bullyfighting dads hopped up on caffine, it reminded me of that old Bugs Bunny cartoon where Bugs got lost again and accidently becomes a matador and fights the bull in typical cartoon ways.

Brilliant stuff.

[cigsthecat]

Awful and ugly.

[Specineff]

Sorry to bump, but this was too good to pass up. Recently I saw one featuring a snow day, and of course the KND and their friends were having a blast. The class president had some modified school buses with long legs and Book Cannons...

It was the freaking Battle of Hoth all over again.

[Capt. Takehiko]

And Number 3 being australian is quite original.

He doesn't do us much justice, sounding like the Crockodile Hunter's deformed crack baby.

[BulletMagnet]

Heh, it's just the usual "fit every nationality/ethnicity you can in there in an attempt to be 'varied,' but end up stereotyping so badly that some people find it distasteful" trend.