Kim Possible Review

In this week’s ABC Challenge K is for Kim Possible. This is a selfish pick again. This past week had the winter finale of Star vs the Forces of Evil. It was basically a love fest between Marco and Jackie with a hugely jealous Star only able to be a bystander. It also featured a certain scene that made me feel physically ill. Now note as an admitted Starco fan I was a bit annoyed. So I decided to watch arguably my favorite eventual pairing of all time. I also wanted to see if I still can binge an 87 episode show in under 3 days. The answer was a resounding yes and in 2 days time. Kim Possible was a show that me and my sisters watched all the time. It was a rare show in that it catered to both genders quite well. Sadly, I did not remember much about the actual plot line other than Kim and Ron eventually getting together. The theme song, her ringtone, all of their catchphrases, I remembered all of that, just nothing on plot. This is disappointing because it’s actually very well written. But I’m jumping too far ahead. I fondly bring you my thoughts, feelings, and opinions on Kim Possible. Spoilers ahead.

Characters and Basic Plot

Kim Possible is your titular main character. Her personal tagline is “I can do anything,” which is honestly not that far off. Prior to the series even starting she’s already a world-renown heroine that has taken on several death-defying missions. As a note, when the series starts, she’s only 14 years old. She’s extremely athletic and knows several martial arts. All of her superheroing doesn’t take away from her being a straight A student, head cheerleader, and most popular girl at her school. Again she can pretty much do anything. Now she’s also not above high school problems though either (i.e. dating, detention, etc.). The show basically highlights both her normal high school life and her secret agent other life.

Ron Stoppable is Kim’s sidekick, best friend, and later boyfriend. Ron is a very inconsistent character as far as personality and abilities. He is usually the comedic distraction on their missions. He also usually looks like a bumbling idiot. However, it is shown throughout the series that much of his deficiencies are from personal lack of confidence and laziness. Basis example in season 3 Ron inadvertently has becomes a villain who only wants to take over the world. With all of his focus on that one task, he comes the closest that any villain actually comes to doing it (in the non-rewritten time frame). Physically, again he appears meek and weak, but he ends up being a record-setting running back on his high school football team. Also don’t take away from him the fact that he can keep up with Kim on their missions which is not easy. In fact, Ron is actually, arguably the strongest being alive. Early in season 1 Ron is hit by a mystical monkey power beam that supposedly makes him an expert in Monkey Kung Fu, a skill he rarely uses. After that point, this is acknowledged a couple more times throughout the series with implication that Ron is a destined character. In the last episode of the series, you see Ron finally consciously tap into his mystical monkey powers. He literally destroys the villains that took over the world in a matter of minutes. Basically, Ron is the reincarnation of Sun Wukong or Son Goku, if you prefer. Yes that Goku. But what makes Ron great is not that he has potential to be the strongest or best it’s that he has flaws and he doesn’t shy away from them. He’s proud that’s he’s different and is just happy being himself.

The main villains are Dr. Drakken and Shego. Their relationship is similar but backwards to Kim and Ron’s. Drakken is the ‘leader’ of those two. He is a mad scientist bent on taking over the world. He’s also completely incompetent, weak, and honestly for a mad scientist not all that smart. His reason for wanting to take over the world stems from his friend’s making fun of him in college. Which admitted is a horrible thing for them to do, but his was a slight overreaction. Shego is the ‘sidekick’ in their relationship. She is smart, sassy, and strong. She’s way more competent than he is, in fact she’s the most competent of any of Kim’s villains. Shego basically became a villain because she became interested in the other side after being a hero for so long. Additionally the fact that her brothers, who she was in a superhero team with, were both incompetent and annoying might have helped push her in that direction as well. Basically, Shego and Kim are parallels to one another, with their skill sets and personalities. The Kim and Shego relationship actually goes so deep that Shego has saved Kim on a couple of occasions because she is the one that has to defeat Kim. Also in the one episode that Shego is a good character it is shown that her and Kim could really be best friends if they weren’t on opposites sides of the spectrum. As note Ron is not really a parallel to Drakken, other than both being bumbling idiots and not really fighters.

The remaining members of Team Possible are Wade the tech genius and Rufus the naked mole rat. Wade is a ten-year-old genius who’s already graduated high school and college and runs Kim’s website. He also makes all of her and Ron’s tech. He’s a recluse who until season 3 did not leave his room. By season 4, though, he did participate more actively in missions and in general, life as well. Rufus is a somewhat anthropomorphic naked mole rat. He is Ron’s pet who lives in his pants pocket. Rufus is also vastly intelligent for his species and is huge benefit to both Ron and Kim. Honestly, he’s more competent than Ron in much that they do. He knows advanced electronics, lock picking, and is also a master of Monkey Kung Fu. In fact, in Monkey Kung Fu he is more natural at it than Ron is. He is no mere mascot.

The rest of your more recurring characters are Kim’s parents, Ann and James, which are a brain surgeon and rocket scientist respectively. Her younger twin brothers, Jim and Tim, who are mechanical geniuses, but are still immature brats. Kim’s high school rival, Bonnie Rockwaller, who’s also a cheerleader but is a selfish snood. Bonnie’s supposed to be another of Kim’s parallels specifically of what she could’ve been if her personality was different. Kim’s best female friend, Monique, who’s helped with their missions but is more of a high school friend. Finally you have the remaining villains like Ron’s personal villain, Monkey Fist. Señor Senior, Sr. and Señor Senior, Jr. who are billionaires that turned to villainy out of boredom. Duff Killigan who is a crazy Scottish golfer that’s more of a mercenary than actual villain. Finally Professor Dementor, who’s more competent than Dr. Drakken, but still an idiot.

The typical plot line for the show was Kim or Ron would have some personal issue come up in their everyday life. While trying to deal with said issue they would have a mission that would usually parallel to the issue they were having. They would successfully complete the mission and turn out better people for it. Then they would deal with the everyday life issue in a mature way based upon what they learned on the mission. This is not to say that’s how every episode was, it is just a more common trend. Unlike most shows that are attempting to teach lessons to kids, Kim Possible was more subtle. It didn’t come off super preachy or anything, which is a nice change of pace. Now note, there was the nutrition episode in season 4 which is arguably the most preachy episode in children’s animation history, but that’s not going to take away from the overall series. It’s actually a valuable lesson too, I just found it a little too preachy. I did appreciate however, them lampooning the after school special during the end credits for that episode though. It was brilliant. But again for the most part lessons were not as preachy as other children’s shows, which as an adult, I appreciate.

Puppy Dog Pout will get you nothing!

         Commentary

I’ve made it well-known my thoughts on the relationship between Kim and Ron, so I’ll be brief in regards to that topic. Kim and Ron’s is one of the best most realistic relationships ever made for television. That’s not just animation that’s all television. They spent years developing as friends and came to the point were they understood each other completely. Their personalities might be vastly different, but they work on their issues together. That’s what real people do. It’s not all just prince meets princess and they’re instantly perfect for one another. Relationships take work. It’s a testament to Kim’s character that she could literally have any guy she wanted and chose the man who was always there for her. It is a little disgraceful that it took Kim dating another guy that was almost perfect for her, for Ron to finally accept his feelings for her, but that doesn’t take away too much from their relationship. I’m already planning a top 10 for my personal favorite official couples in animation for Valentine’s Day and they will be on it. Potentially even #1, but I have a lot shows to watch prior to making that call officially.

As much as I like this series for its creativity, characters, and humor for both adults and children, it has a couple serious flaws. It is another series that was inadvertently broadcast in non-chronological order and it’s very obvious. This is particularly a problem in seasons 1 and 4. Season 1 because of the nature of that season being mostly introductions it’s pretty obvious when things are in the wrong order. Just for an example, in episode 1 you have Kim and Ron already knowing Dr. Drakken and Shego and in episode 2 they are introduced to them. It’s only slightly annoying in season 1, in season 4 it’s really annoying. Basis examples, episode 2 of season 4, Kim has a secret agent car, when did she get that? oh, 3 episodes later. Another episode later in the season Kim gets a mission outfit the very next episode she doesn’t have it again. Oh and the next episode after that you officially meet the Fashionistas who Kim sought out from jail to design her new outfit. All of this brings me the second serious flaw.

The second major flaw in Kim Possible is that the fourth season is kind of a mess. It’s not bad just a mess. It has all of the aforementioned inconsistencies in time frame. It has a lot less missions and more home bound stories. Season 4 has an entire plot line of Ron’s parents adopting a baby girl who happens to be the reincarnation of the ultimate good for mystical monkey power and she beats the ultimate evil. Basically she and Yono the Destroyer are the physical forms of Yin and Yang. Along that plot line you have Ron finally completely tap into his mystical monkey power in the last five minutes of the series. Which leaves you with some, “that was awesome but where was this going?” thoughts. Don’t get me wrong I did like a lot of the personal development of Kim and Ron in season 4, but plot-wise it was messy. Personally, I believe that it was obvious that the creators thought that series was done after season 3, and when they got a fourth season they wanted to try new stuff. Much of the new stuff was good, but some of its execution could have been better. I will say that I did appreciate them actually having the opportunity to finish high school. That felt like a logical conclusion point, based upon where the series started. Although, the ending to ‘So the Drama’ and by extension season 3 is perfect.

I will also say this, I don’t think the flaws I mentioned really hurt the series that much. It would only be really obvious if you binged the series, like I did. If you just caught one or two episodes at a time you wouldn’t even notice. I state this because the series overall is extremely well written. Each episode, character, and plot line felt new and refreshing. This is also a great series if you just wanted to watch some random episode and be able to not only keep up but also be very entertained. The exception obviously being if you didn’t watch the movies or the series finale in a complete fashion, but hopefully you wouldn’t put yourself in that case. It’s just when taken all together the individual timing issues and more obscure plot lines are more prevalent.

Conclusions

Kim Possible was one of Disney channel’s longest running shows for a reason. It had a very good balance of action, comedy, and romance. Also even with a lot of unrealistic situations the characters felt relatable. The few flaws of the show stem more from a timing perspective than actual show performance. This show is well worth the re-watch if you haven’t seen it in a while. If you have never seen I really suggest you should watch it, if not for just the intelligence of the show that you are missing. Also in the re-watch category, some of the people who probably remember this show from the first time, may have age appropriate children by this point and it would be a great show to watch with them. Both you and your children should enjoy it. Just my personal opinion.