Interview with a Warburton


Code Module's top reporter, Numbuh 614 (better known as Valerie), got the chance to interview one of the coolest adults in the cartoon business, Tom Warburton, aka Mr. Warburton aka Numbuh Eleventy Billion, and ask him all about cartoons, the hit show Kids Next Door, and Pokemon.

Valerie: So first, a little about you. About when did you realize that you wanted to make a living off of making awesome cartoons?
Tom Warburton: Me? I went to college for graphic design but realized halfway through that I hated it. And one day a friend asked me the most important question of my life: "What's the job that you would laugh at people paying you to do?" I said making cartoons, but I didn't think I was good enough. She told me that if that's what I sooper REALLY wanted to do then that's what I HAD to do. And now look at the mess I'm in. If I ever find her, boy is she gonna get yelled at. All I do is WORK now! But I looove it!

Val: As a kid, what kinds of cartoons did you like to watch? Did any of them play a role in inspiring your future animation endeavors?
Mr. W: Well, when I was a kid there wasn't as much variety as you have today. Before cable TV, you waited excitedly until fall for the latest Saturday morning network line-up of cartoons (I still can't believe I was actually STOKED to see Pac-Man... peeeeeee-yew!). Otherwise, you had all the classic Warner Brothers, Hanna-Barbera and MGM stuff on the local channels, which I watched incessantly. Bugs Bunny and Daffy Duck were my favorites. I even used to type up my own "Duck Twacy" stories for my brothers and their friends. My mom found them a couple years ago and to be honest, Pac-Man was written better.

Val: You've worked on quite a few other shows in the past. Of your previous projects, what did you learn from them or walk away with?
Mr. W: Usually I walked away with a lot of office supplies. But at any job, good or bad, you should walk away having learned something. Sometimes it's about learning how NOT to do something.

Val: There's gotta be a number of perks to being the Almighty Warburton. What would you say is your favorite part of your job (having the title of "Almighty" aside)?
Mr. W: Well, there's the 'all the work you can do' buffet that's open 27 hours a day here at the office. I've got my face in that thing non-stop. But I think my favorite part of the job is just the fact that so many people like the show. We like making it, and folks like watching it. You can't really ask for more than that (although I often ask for some chocolate covered pretzels but I never get them).

Val: As you've said before, Sector V started off as the annoying neighbors of Kenny & The Chimp. What inspired the transition from trouble-makers to childhood heroes?
Mr. W: Using my sooper powers, I read the writing on the wall that KandC wasn't going to become a series (never mind that being able to read writing on a wall is a really LAME sooper power). Everyone at Cartoon Network always talked about how much they loved the kids who lived next door to Kenny, so I started thinking of what I could do with them. Now, I've ALWAYS had the opinions that adults were truly up to no good, so I thought that the KND would be the perfect group to fight against it. An international team of experts banding together. And here's a bit of trivia for ya: Originally, all the KND's technology was shiny and sooper high tech, but CN thought Dexter's Lab had already covered that territory so I went back to the drawing board and came up with 2x4 technology- kinda like the "Little Rascals" used to build. That was one of the best executive notes I ever got!

Val: Did you ever have zany battles against adult tyranny when you were younger?
Mr. W: I grew up being told that parents and teachers knew it all. And as I got older I started to realize that some of them (most of them) were winging it- or even just plain crazy. I WOULD have battled against adult tyranny, but I was too much of a shy, skinny little nerd playing with my Star Wars figures.

Val: And what do your parents think of the show? KND tends to rag on parents a bit with all of its conspiracy theories!
Mr. W: When I told my parents that I drew cartoons for a living, my mom asked if it was legal. So now I just tell them I'm an account executive and they smile and go back to reading the newspaper.

Val: A lot of the characters, villians and episodes are just off-the-wall insane. Where do you people come up with these ideas? Where do you draw your inspiration from?
Mr. W: Most of the villains are exaggerated kid problems made into human form. Kids hate going to the dentist, so what if we create a villain that forcibly fixes kid's teeth? Hence the Fluoride Fury, Knightbrace. And kids get sick all the time, so what if there's a guy that's always sick and blames it on kids? And magically appears the Common Cold. But the main point about our villains is that while they all look down on kids, they're no better than kids themselves. I think one of our big "Aha" moments was when Mr. Boss slapped some asparagus out of the Toiletnator's hand and said, "We only make kids eat that junk so we adults don't have to." It showed that the villains are just as petty and ridiculous as kids can be.

Val: Is it hard coming up with acronyms for all of your episodes?
Mr. W: It was VERY hard until our crack team of 2x4 tech scientists created the KND N.A.M.I.N.A.T.O.R. (Neat-o Acronym Maker Is Nearly Always Totally Objectively Readable).

Val: Could you give us an example of an episode idea/plotline that never made it to production?
Mr. W: Yay! More trivia: Did you know that SPANKENSTINE was originally a double episode thanksgiving special called SPANKSGIVING? When Posh Party Rainbow Monkey got electrocuted, the power went to all the houses and turned everyone's turkeys into spank happy minions. Imagine Night of the Living Dead with spanking turkeys! SCAAAAAAAARY! But for some weird reason CN didn't like it so we eventually salvaged it into SPANKENSTINE, which still rocked.

Val: Being friends with Maxwell Atoms, it was only a matter of time before your shows crossed paths. Who approached who first about the idea?
Mr. W: Most people don't know this, but that movie "Highlander" was based on being a cartoon creator. You know, "there can be only one blah blah blah" so we're always trying to kill each other. The good thing is that we're all so BUSY we barely have time to do it. So I figured that if Mr. Atoms and I were doing an episode together, I could finally get close enough to behead him AND make an awesome crossover at the same time. GENIUS! Wait... maybe he's thinking the same thing. Uh oh...

Val: How excited are you about the special and what can we expect from it?
Mr. W: I don't think the excitement dials go up that high. Be sure to tell your family members that if they find you passed out in front of the TV, they should get you to the nearest KND med lab to have your thrill levels checked.

Val: Aside from the upcoming KND/Billy & Mandy special, if you could pick any show from any network to crossover with Kids Next Door, which show would you pick?
Mr. W: Well, the "Operation: RUNWAY" crossover never materialized because Heidi Klum didn't like Numbuh Two constantly putting the moves on her. And "That Numbuh 70 Show" didn't work out because Numbuh 70 turned 13 and was decommissioned. Talk about embarrassing.

Val: The animation for the show really is amazing. What programs do the animators use when animating the show? Quite a bit of the show is also done up in 3D. (2x4 Technology specs, Nigel's version of what happened in REPORT, a great deal scenes in ZERO...) What program(s) is/are used for those scenes?
Mr. W: The 2x4 tech specs were originally done by our sooper powered editor Dave Courter using Cinema 4-D, Maya and After Effects, but other people help him out with them now. Curious Pictures has a sooper huge and sooper talented CGI department that helped us out with the Numbuh One sequence from REPORT. And on Operation: ZERO they went to town, trashed the place, drove back home and then went BACK to town to go even crazier. In fact, they kicked so much butt on the movie that the police are STILL getting calls from people complaining about sore bottoms. Oh, and I think they used Maya to do said butt kicking.

Val: You get a LOT of fanmail, and yet you always seem to take the time to answer all of them. How do you do it?
Mr. W: [sigh] It's just another one of my boring sooper powers. Why can't I get something COOL like being able to turn stuff into pizza with my eyes? But my lameness is the fans gain, I guess. Regardless, I think it's important to keep in touch with the people that watch the show. As long as I can keep up with it, I will. But sometimes I get pretty swamped and some letters get lost in the shuffle!

Val: You and your crew sure do an awful lot. How many hours a week would you say you all put into the show?
Mr. W: Well, it depends. Some people are able to work a standard 40 hour week, and some, like storyboard artists, require a lot more time. In the heat of production, I would get into the studio at 6am and leave around 8pm, 7 days a week. Although, when Mrs. Eleventy Billion and I had a son, I started leaving earlier so the kid might recognize his dad. So the answer to your question is: lots.

Val: Even creators of super awesome kid's shows need to take a break once in a while. What do you like to do for fun?
Mr. W: HA HA HA! A break? That's funny!

Val: Okay, okay. Well, word on the street is that you like Pokemon. Which would you say is your favorite Pokemon?
Mr. W: Vileplume rocks pretty hard. Oh, and Dragonair! Wait, no- Gengar. Aw, man... there are too many cool ones.

Val: KND turned out to be a huge success. Do you have any other ideas up your sleeves for other amazing shows in the future?
Mr. W: The evil scientists at Warburtonlabs are always experimenting with new ways to take over the world that are only hampered by the multitude of things blowing up in our faces. But that which doesn't kill us, only makes us hungrier for lunch. But oh yes... there are giant plans on the horizon. Don't you worry.

Val: And there you have it! One interview a la Warburton, nice and beefy with a side of french fries. Hope you all enjoyed reading this as much as I had fun interviewing!


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Interview conducted via email by Valerie Ledesma on November 2, 2006. Not to be reused or redistributed without permission. Part of Code Module.