Kim Possible

Kim Possible

    Kim Possible is a Disney Channel original cartoon created by Bob Schooley & Mark McCorkle and animated primarily by Steven Silver that, at the time of its release, aired on Fridays at 6:30 PM (Brittany Geragotelis, 2002). Kim Possible was a beloved Disney Channel show for many early 2000s kids. The series ran the usual Disney Channel course of four seasons with about 20 episodes each with a movie that is produced with the intention that it is going to become a Disney Channel Original Movie, in this case the movie being Kim Possible Movie: So The Drama (IMDb, 2022). Kim Possible is known as the second longest-running Disney Channel show ever (IMDb, 2022). The premise of the show is Kim Possible, voiced by Christy Carlson Romano, is seen as a typical high school student and cheerleader (IMDb, 2022). However, with the help of her friend Ron Stoppable, voiced by Will Friedle, his pet naked mole-rat Rufus, voiced by Nancy Cartwright, and her webmaster Wade, voiced by Tahj Mowry, go on secret missions to defeat evil (IMDb, 2022). 

    When Schooley and McCorkle approached Disney with the idea for a children's cartoon, they were super excited to develop a character or "new kind of hero" as they put it, that would appeal to both boys and girls (Beth Deitchman, 2017). DeseretNews.com's Scott Pierce interviewed Bob and Mark the day before Kim Possible premiered and was told that their "marching orders" was to come up with a show that would appeal to Disney's "tween" audience but not alienate kids (Scott Pierce, 2002). Pierce goes on to mention that both Schooley and McCorkle went out to lunch and upon entering the elevator, they practically had the show done (Pierce, 2002). "'I just looked at him and I said 'Kim Possible' ---- she can do anything' McCorkle told TV critics[,]" Pierce writes, "'And I said, 'Her partner is Ron Stoppable ---- he can't do anything,' Schooley added" (Pierce, 2002). Both Schooley and McCorkle said that it was important that the show felt real and that Kim's keenness for action was treated as "no big deal" by her fellow peers (Deitchman, 2017). Schooley explains their reasoning behind this, "We made the decision early on that everybody knows what she does and nobody really cares, because it's high school and they have their own priorities. What you do outside of high school doesn't matter"(Dutchman, 2017). 

Rufus's Animated Mouth Mechanics

Bob Schooley and Mark McCorkle decided that they wanted the show to have as daring of a look as the script, so they insisted the help of art director Alan Bodner and their executive producer/director Chris Bailey. Both Bailey and Bodner looked into the "futuristic" designs that appeared in 50's and 60's cartoons as inspiration for the shows backgrounds (Ron Barbagallo, 2002). They started off with free flowing lines and caricatured details as long with kidney-bean shapes and eventually made some truly shocking cartoon backgrounds (Barbagallo, 2002). Tracy McLoone of PopMatters.com mentions that the characters in Kim Possible were drawn with huge eyes and heads that fit the retro, "too-cute" aesthetic, like The Powerpuff Girls or Dexter's Laboratory from The Cartoon Network (Tracy McLoone, 2002). Furthermore, in Animation: A World History: Volume III: Contemporary Times, author Giannalberto Bendazzi mentions that McCorkle and Schooley made the shows limited animation a style choice by using a stylized design and bright colors, similar to Disney's Phineas and Ferb (Giannalberto Bendazzi, p. 11, 2015). In an online "crew chat" with director Steve Loter of Kim Possible, it was made known that in season four, there was multi-plane animation that wasn't used in previous seasons (Save Disney Shows, 2007). Loter's response was "Well, some episodes require more 'cinematic' staging than others. We tried to make certain episodes feel more like movies. [...]" (Save Disney Shows, 2007). The multi-plane technique was developed by Bill Garity, who worked at The Walt Disney Studios, back in 1940 and was used to make films such as The Old Mill (1937) and The Little Mermaid (1989) (The Walt Disney Family Museum, 2022).

Kim's Facial Expressions Chart #4

Kim's Facial Expressions Chart #3

Kim's Character Construction

    As popular as the art in Kim Possible was, it was never recognized with any awards. The same can't be said for the theme song "Call Me, Beep Me! (The Kim Possible Song)". The song won a Daytime Emmy award for "Outstanding Sound Mixing - Live Action and Animation" and David Finnigan boasts about its success in the July 15th, 2002 edition of the now defunct BRANDWEEK magazine, where he mentions the "theme song is a Radio Disney hit and is on WDR's Radio Disney Jams 5 CD [...]" (IMDb, 2022 & David Finnigan, 2002). Sean Nye conducted an interview with Adam Berry for the book Music in Television: Channels of Listening. Adam Berry was the composer of the Kim Possible score excluding the timeless theme song, which Berry sates as it being written before he was hired (Sean Nye, p. 217, 2011). Berry also mentions that most of his scoring before Kim Possible was orchestra driven, however the Kim Possible score is guitar driven, which is played entirely by him, and he found it interesting that the way he interpreted each note could affect the emotional feeling of the scene (Nye, p. 217, 2011).

"Call Me, Beep Me! (The Kim Possible Song)"

    In classic Disney fashion, Kim Possible had its fair share of crossovers. One of the most popular crossover in Kim Possible's run was and episode in the second season of Lilo & Stitch: The Series titled "Rufus". In this episode, Stitch gets stolen by Kim Possible villains Dr. Drakken and Shego, who are hired by Lilo & Stitch: The Series villain Dr. Hamsterviel and Lilo calls the nationally recognized Kim Possible to come help rescue him (Disney+, 2019 & IMDb, 2022). The chemistry between both sets of characters is definitely one of the reasons why this episode is so popular (IMDb, 2022). Kim Possible does have a different look and flow to her in this episode, however, and that is due to Chris Sanders using his own illustration style instead of the Disney standard (Petrana Radulovic, 2021). 

Lilo & Stitch: The Series S2 EP19 "Rufus"

Kim Possible World Showcase Adventure Entrance

Even though Kim Possible's last episode aired in 2007, its popularity is still alive and well amongst the "tween" population. Just two years after the final episode aired, in 2009 Disney introduced the Kim Possible World Showcase Adventure in the Epcot theme park of Disney World (Walt Disney World, 2009). The attraction would allow you to join Team Possible and help save the world from villains using the "Kimmunicator" (modified Verizon flip phones) (Walt Disney World, 2009). The attraction would take you all around the Epcot theme park in search for clues and, according to the Disney World website, was capable of producing "7 different experiences with 7 unique super villains" (Walt Disney World, 2009). 

Kim Possible World Showcase Adventure Modified Phone

The popularity didn't die out after 2009 however because in 2019 a live action Kim Possible movie was released as a Disney Channel Original Movie (IMDb, 2022). The film stars Sadie Stanley as Kim and Sean Giambrone as Ron and differs from the original animated series as it shows Kim and Ron starting high school as freshman (IMDb, 2022 & Disney+, 2019). The story also focuses on Kim's struggles with  trying to balance the whole saving the world thing and the difficulties of high school (IMDb, 2022 & Disney+, 2019). Some popular characters also got a change in the live action film. Entertainment Weekly's Dana Schwartz interviewed Adam B. Stein and he mentioned that both him and his co-director Zach Lipovsky decided not to give the character Dr. Drakken his signature blue skin like his cartoon counterpart in favor of creating a more grounded and less "cartoony" character (Dana Schwartz, 2018). 

Official Disney Kim Possible Trailer, 2019

 

    Kim Possible both was and still is one of the most popular Disney Channel shows from the early 2000s. This is proven by the fact that Disney brought back Kim Possible for a fourth, unscheduled, season after an overwhelming amount of fans wrote to Disney to bring it back (Rosalind Sibielski, p. 196, 2010). Not only was it the first animated series to be produced completely in-house, it was one of Disney's first series's that depicted a strong female character, especially one that was so close to the target audiences age (Sibielski, p. 196, 2010). Even though the entire series was basically developed in an elevator, co-creators Bob Schooley and Mark McCorkle felt it important to make the character Kim Possible as normal of a teenager as possible and wanted to make it seem like this is something any teenage girl can accomplish (Pierce, 2002). This show has garnished a cult following and a popularity that has trickled to children now with the release of the Disney Channel Original Movie Kim Possible in 2019. Brittany Geragotelis for American Cheerleader magazine mentioned back in 2002 "Kim's spunky attitude and intelligence will keep adults and younger viewers watching, cheer after cheer", and keep watching they did (Geragotelis, 2002).

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