What’s The Sitch?: Kim Possible 2019 D-COM

It’s been just over three years since I rewatched Kim Possible, the seminal (to me at least!) Disney Channel cartoon about a teenage superhero, her friends, and their beloved Naked Mole Rat pal. Kim meant a lot to me as a teenager, and I came to really love what the show did as I rewatched it, and I was super eager to see how Disney Channel brought her into a new generation with this movie.

The movie was delightful. It executed Kim perfectly. She’s here in all her butt kicking, overly confident, but insecure when it counts, good friend, heart stopping glory. We also get fun takes on Shego and Drakken, and a slightly minimized roles for Ron and Wade at the expense of a new character.

Kim’s been working as a superhero for a few years as she prepares to start her first year of high school. The opening mission is Kim and Ron rescuing a kidnapped scientist from Proffesor Dementor. (Patton Oswalt! He voiced Dementor as well. This sparked joy!) It’s followed up by Kim running for the bus, after her mom, played by Alyson Hannigan! talks to her about high school. Kim’s got it on lock, though because OF COURSE SHE DOES.

She doesn’t. Barkin rearranged the school, Bonnie informs her that cheer squad isn’t the cool thing anymore, and no one knows her from her adventures.

Not Baddical, y’all, not baddical at all.

Shego breaks Drakken out of prison and he decides he’s going to enact a plan to destroy Kim.

Meanwhile, Kim and Ron meet and befriend a hapless new girl named Athena, and takie her to Bueno Nacho, and then on a mission. (I should note that this was around when I realized we were pretty deep into things and hadn’t met Rufus and I started to get pissed. (He showed up like two scenes later. And it was perfect.)

The mission, which involves Shego taking an energy source from a a museum, goes well, because Athena is a great fighter. Kim gets insecure, Athena becomes a big deal, turns out Athena is a robot programmed to make Kim insecure and steal her essence?

(This plan was an episode, btw. But it’s a good rough outline, so I’ll allow it.)

In the end, Kim learns to be a better friend, Athena joins the team, and Drakken is shrunk down to a middle schooler and enrolls at Middleton, setting us up for a sequel.

Boo-Ya’s And Nacos

• I really really enjoyed the cast, Sadie Stanley and Sean Giambrone bring Kim and Ron to life with such joy and precision. Giambrone doesn’t get quite enough to do, and while de-aged Drakken is a decent set up for a part 2, I think a stronger choice would be Monkey Fist, which would give Ron a solid B story. Taylor Ortega was also great as Shego, and the rest of the cast followed suit.
• Christy Carlson-Romano played a pop star who owed Kim a favor and gave her a lift to the mission, Nancy Cartwright stayed on as Rufus. Will Friedle was not to be found. (Yet another reason for Monkey Fist…just sayin.)
• Nana Possible, Bonnie, Barkin, The Dr’s P, and the Tweebs all made appearances. And Drakken name drops Duff Killigen and Senor Senior Senior. The lack of Monique, Brick and Josh Mankey is a bummer, but understandable given the time constraints.
• One of the big things I took away from the movie is how tight a concept Kim Possible is and how charming the best DCOMs are. The good ones always had oodles of charm, usually centered around their humor and strong casting.
• In conclusion, the movie was good, but there was something very important missing:

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If You Wanna Page Me It’s OK: We’re going back to Middleton! BOO YA!

You guys.

YOU GUYS!

YOU GUYS!

Disney Channel has announced that we’re getting a live action remake of Kim Possible as an original movie.

I’m kind of having a meltdown about it. I really love Kim Possible. (As these many recaps may tell you!)

Baddical!

And I happen to think that she and her friends are great characters to introduce to a new generation. That said, having watched the show and analyzed it, Disney Channel, I have some notes:

I won’t speak to casting the kids. I have no idea who’s in the Disney Stable these days, although someone mentioned the girl who played Sadie on Stranger Things for Kim, and I’d be into that. Of course, it’s very likely that The Mole Rat will be CGI.

The adults, however, I have opinions on casting.

Aubrey Plaza should play Shego. There is no other choice.

While I actually think there’s no reason to not have John DiMaggio simply throw on some blue makeup and take on Drakken in live action, if there’s an objection by the powers that be to this, I suggest bringing in Will Friedle.

Seriously, picture Plaza and Friedle doing this. So good.

This would provide a really fun connection to the original, while still giving Friedle the chance to do what he does best, which is go completely bonkers.

Barkin should be another reprise, simply have Patrick Warburton do it. Seriously, no reason not to.

Christy Carlson Ramano should by all means be involved, and while she’s probably still a little on the young side to play Mrs. Dr. Possible, it’s the best fit for her. (If DiMaggio is Drakken than Friedle can be Mr. Dr. P. This will be adorable.)

Overall, as a blogger, this makes me very happy. As a fan of KP? EHHHHH…I mean, my brother and I discussed it a bit yesterday at lunch.

Me: I’m going to have a busy few weeks. Disney Channel is doing a reboot of Kim Possible, as a live action movie.
Mike: What, how? Isn’t Christy Carlson-Ramano like 80? (Mean, she is probably in her late 30s…)
Me: It’ll be new people.
Mike: Well, I mean, sure but…like, how do you not have Will Friedle? Also, how bad were all the other production ideas this week at Disney Channel that “Live Action Reboot Of Kim Possible” got the green light?

I mean, he’s not wrong. In general we’re in a weird cycle of remakes and reboots, and so creatively it might be leaving folks at a loss. But since the piece of new pop culture I’ve gotten the most joy out of in the past few months has been Duck Tales, I’m optimistic.

Plus, as I said above, I really like this property and seeing more of it, in any form, is a net good to me. (Plus a kick butt teenage heroine in the mainstream…also good.)

Also, I’d hope that the movie STARTS with her in the crop top and cargos, has at least one scene in the battle suit, and ends with the Season 4 look.

I’ll certainly be watching casting and development closely, and even more certainly, you can be sure I’ll be seated, Kimmunicator in hand, ready to see what the sitch is when the thing finally airs.

By Kimmunicator I mean glass of wine.

But I think you knew that.

*DOO DOO DAH DO*

Here’s The Sitch: Kim Possible Season 4 Episodes 21 & 22

Hey everyone, it’s the end, for real this time. Not with 22 extra episodes, now we drift off into nothingness. I for one, have really, really enjoyed this year of exploring Kim Possible, and reminding myself of why I loved the show to begin with.

One Last Time

Season 4 Episodes 21 & 22 “Graduation Day”

So, Kim and Ron are getting ready to graduate from high school, but first they have to foil Drakken’s latest scheme which is something about mutating plants.

Basically Drakken wants to be Poison Ivy. Everyone, Shego included, thinks that he’s starting to scrape the bottom of the barrel. There is an accident however, and Drakken winds up half flower.

God I love this show.

Anyway, Kim considers the plan foiled and she and Ron go home to graduate. After being warned by Barkin that his life is all down hill from this point, Ron, starts to freak out, despite Kim assuring him that everything is going to be fine.

Also, the tweebs are building a satellite. Sure. Whatever.

There’s been a rash of vandalization of golf courses, which sends Kim and Ron to Duff Killigan, but that doesn’t do much, since he’s not the one doing it, they head to grad time.

Kim is abducted by aliens during the ceremony, as is Drakken. Turns out that it’s Warmonga and her boyfriend War Hawk. Hey! We know them! Anyways, they deploy an army of ships to conquer earth.

Ron and The Possible family go into a plan to get Kim back and save the world, meeting up with Shego in the process. Kim and Drakken break out of their bonds with the use of Drakken’s newly grown flower vine and they defeat War Monga and War Hawk as a team.

Almost. When it seems as if all is lost, Ron channels mystical monkey power and beats the crap out of War Hawk.

Then there’s a dance party after everyone graduates, except Bonnie, who has to go to summer school.

Boo-Yas And Nacos

• I wish I could start with good things, but I really, really, dislike this ending. Why in the end is this Ron’s heroic journey? We got the apex of his monkey powers a few episodes ago. It’s sort of a betrayal of the whole concept of the show. Not into it.
• I do love Shego and Drakken ending up together, as well as the tag of all the villains hanging out and Dementor ragging on him for finally getting things right as a world saver. That’s pretty good.
• Hey! We see Zeeta and Felix, I kind of forget they existed! And I think they get together? This makes sense to me. Nerd love forever!
• The tweebs just incinerator stuff. They are good at it.
• Other people that pop by? Kim’s Uncle Slim and Nana Possible! Yay!!!!
• I really adore that they use the Grease ending of Kim and Ron flying away in the car and waving to their friends. It’s pretty cool.

Final Thoughts

I don’t really know how to explain what this experience has meant to me. Making sure I watched a show every week, considered it critically, and wrote it up, without ever skipping, and only rescheduling once or twice has helped me grow immensely as a writer and specifically as a critic.

The whole thing was also great for me to pay closer attention to animation, voice acting and storylines as broken down in twenty two minutes. Kim Possible did a lot of good stuff in those areas, but it wasn’t perfect and it was always hard to see.

But especially, it was great to fall back in love with these characters. It was awesome to be reminded of how great Kim, Ron, Wade, Rufus and the rest of this gang was.

So, thanks for reading and finding me. Maybe in a few months I’ll pick up with another rewatch of something, but for now, I’m going to relax, enjoy having an extra flex day, and finish Game of Thrones and Sailor Moon.

Here’s The Sitch: Kim Possible Season 4 Episodes 19 & 20

Guys it’s our second to last week. So as we get ready to say goodbye to this gang, which I am having trouble with, it’s about time that we got an episode that’s all about Rufus.

Well, half an episode. But still.

Season 4 Episode 19 A “Chasing Rufus”

Kim and Ron are at a fancy party and find that Camille Leon has been posing as a Greek Shipping heiress to steal, something.

Doesn’t matter, because I really, really like Camille. Anyway, after they catch her, Kim and Ron have to fly commercial because Wade is on vacation with his parents. Rufus gets separated and winds up on an adventure with Debutante, Camille’s hairless cat, to get home.

Kim and Ron also fly back and forth to Greece like 5 times.

This episode just feels like a love letter to the classic chase cartoons, with their own flip on the script and Nancy Cartwright kicking all of the asses with her voice work.

Season 4 Episode 19 B “Nursery Crimes”

Not as brilliant as “Chasing Rufus” but the second half of this episode send Kim and Ron on the chase of an evil nanny who is stealing pacifiers and creating an army of babies with a machine that turns adults into babies.

It’s not great. It’s funny, and Kim saving the day with her babysitting skills is a cool detail,  but there’s nothing much here to excite me.

Season 4 Episode 20 “Larry’s Birthday”

Kim’s cousin Larry is not my favorite KP character. I don’t dislike him the way I do, say The Bebes, but I still think that there’s a lot of room for improvement as far as he’s concerned.

But that’s OK because “Larry’s Birthday” features one of my favorite KP characters as well, and that’s Professor Dementor. I’ll always appreciate Drakken’s much more competent rival, not least of all because of Patton Oswalt’s brilliant voice over work.

Anyway, plot, Kim is tasked with distracting Larry while his surprise birthday party is set up. Meanwhile, Dementor is trying to tech his brother in law about super villainy and still lusting after Kim’s battle suit. The brother in law mistakes Larry for Ron. (The only descriptor is “A guy with Kim Possible who doesn’t look like he should be.) Thus there’s a lot of cool action that Larry assumes is the world’s biggest RPG.

Boo Yas And Nacos

• My utter delight over “Chasing Rufus” cannot be overstated. I think it’s perfectly wonderful.
• As much as I dislike Larry as Nerd Caricature, I do love that he’s the king of said nerds and Brian Poeshenne does wonderful work with him. He even gets a girlfriend in the end, the arguably worse caricature of nerd girl, Charlotte.
• Hannah helps on the mission, and by help, I mean she sets off lasers with her ninja magic. Obviously.
• Dementor, like all of the non monkey fist villains, cannot remember Ron’s name, but he refers to him as “the boy that Kim Possible improbably dates,” and “the sidekick.”
• Seriously, guys, Patton Oswalt. So great.

Here’s The Sitch: Kim Possible Season 4 Episodes 17 & 18

Hey everyone! Only two more weeks left after this. I’m going to miss my little visits to Middleton, but I am excited for more room to work with other things, especially with the new TV season coming up, but still, this has been a remarkably fun year! (Or so)

Season 4: Episode 17: “Clean Slate”

Drakken had a dream of a fool proof plan that he can’t remember. In order to recover the memories he attempts to steal a machine meant to recover memories.

He also begins using to-do lists because Drakken is a tremendous dork and I love him very much in this episode.

Anyway, the machine breaks and instead of giving Drakken back his memories, Kim’s get erased. With Kim out of comission Shego goes on a crime spree and Drakken continues to try to piece his plan together, which is actually infecting soldiers food with his mind control formula, and it almost works.

Meanwhile, Ron is in a panic, because Kim is starting to remember things, but she doesn’t remember dating Ron, which is tough on him. They do eventually save the day and Kim remembers that they’re a couple and that “I think I love you.”

Awww.

Season 4: Episode 18: “Homecoming Upset”

Kim and Ron open the episode saving a tech genius/food blogger from Duff Killigan. It’s a decent battle. Ron and Wade both worship the guy and Kim has no idea who he is.

Anyway, once he’s safe, Kim and Ron head home to attend the Middleton Homecoming game. Ron scores the winning Touchdown (natch!) and then is voted Homecoming King, unfortunately Bonnie is voted queen rather than Kim.

This miffs Kim but she really gets irritated when she catches Bonnie kissing Ron and it turns out that she’s heartbroken because Brick broke up with her. Ron resolves to find her a new boyfriend, which gets in the way of a new mission, because the Snack Blogger has gone missing again.

It turns out the guy wasn’t kidnapped, it’s just that Senor Senior Jr. hired him to create the best search parameters for him finding the perfect girlfriend, who as it turns out is Bonnie!

I love the fact that the series wraps up with them as a couple.

Boo-Yas And Nacos

• Pretty much everyone says that “they never got” Kim and Ron, but I am clinging most to Shego, because SHIPPITY SHIP SHIP SHIP!
• Drakken’s to-do lists are my favorite, but I also like that Shego decides to keep to do lists also.
• Bonnie’s breakdown over her breakup is great, but when Ron calls Brick about it, he calls her simply, “The Mean Girl,” which is harsh, but true.
• Wearing her tiara cheers her up. Bonnie and I have that in common.
• Ron takes him homecoming king duties very seriously. Which is almost as adorable as Drakken’s To Do list.

Kim Possible: Season 4 Episodes 15 & 16

Hey everyone! It’s a Ron heavy week, which is a lot of fun, but also kind of, meh. I like Ron heavy stories, but I feel like two in a row makes Kim feel like a side character and that’s a bummer.

Season 4: Episode 15 “The Mentor of Our Discontent”

Smarty Mart has installed stock robots, which Ron loves and Barkin hates. Ron’s abilities as a Smarty Mart employ insights Martin Smarty to put him in charge of his young son.

This does not go well, as the kid is very into a rebellious stage, constantly going against “the man,” as Ron has learned he is. But not in the good way.

Meanwhile, Drakken is feeling uninspired, but when Frugle Lucre shows up, asking to be mentored. Drakken is skeptical at first, and Shego is annoyed, but when Lucre’s plan to hack to stock bots seems viable everyone goes with it. Shego gets the codes to the bots by seducing Smarty, which she winds up being very cool with.

The plan is foiled by Young Smarty and some otters, and Smarty and the kid bond, and Ron is pronounced, “the man,” this time in the good way.

Season 4: Episode 16: “Oh no, Yono!”

Ron has been having trouble managing Hanna, although he doesn’t yet know she’s a mystical ninja baby, he has his suspicions that something is definitely up with his sister, who he adores, by the way.

In order to defeat the ultimate weapon, who he does not know is Hanna, Monkey Fist awakens Yono the destroyer, with a pledge to serve “the dark path.” Whatever that means.

Kim and Ron learn that Sensei arranged Hanna’s adoption and go to the Yamanuchi school to ask him about it, just in time for Monkey Fist’s attack, and while Yori and Kim manage to stall them, the final showdown comes down to Hanna and she does an awesome job.

“The Dark Path,” as it turns out means getting turned into stone and buried in the earth, which is…disturbing.

Boo-Yas And Nacos

• The biggest stand outs of “Mentor” are Barkin’s technophobia and Shego trying on a relationship with Martin Smarty. She decides she’s not cut out to be a step mom. Probably a good call.
• Gah! I just love all the Yamanuchi school stuff! All of it! But my favorite part of this episode is Yori and Kim working as a team. I love, love, love, that they’re not jealous of each other and just want to work.
• Hanna uses the basic lessons that Ron teaches her, ie dancing and turning book pages, and her super magic Ninja strength to defeat Yono and Monkey Fist.
• Ron’s parents are pretty unphased by Hanna’s ninja-ness. It’s great.
• At one point Ron is convinced that Hanna is part of a large government super baby conspiracies called, “Juggertot.” This is the cutest thing ever.

Here’s The Sitch: Kim Possible Season 4 Episodes 13 & 14

Watching Kim Possible has started to become such a part of my weekend routines now. I wake up on Saturday morning, I watch my episode, I go downstairs, I have breakfast. I write this post. It doesn’t always go that way, but more often than not it does.

Weird that that’s coming to an end!

Anyway, here’s this week’s write ups

Season 4: Episode 13 “Cap’n Drakken”

I love pirates. I always have, I grew up in a house where Peter Pan, in all of it’s various incarnations, is basically a sacred text. Then I was a teenager during the explosion of Pirates of The Caribbean, and my senior show was The Pirates of Penzance. 

This all goes to say, that I think an episode where Drakken is possessed by the the ghost of a long dead pirate who was defeated by Barkin’s ancestors is a splendid idea, and not just because it gives John DiMaggio a chance to do a pirate voice.

It’s senior trip week, and when a freak storm hits the beach side location, the grade is instead sent to Barkin’s father, who runs a historical village, where they must live as if it’s the 17th century. This does not go over well, and everyone is pretty bad at it, especially Bonnie.

The village was once attacked by a vicious pirate who vowed his revenge from beyond the grave. When Shego and Drakken find his gold, well, guess what happens?

The end game is a fight with ghost pirates and Kim as a pirate, and it’s wonderful.

Season 4, Episode 14 “Mathter and Fervent”

Kim and Ron have to do a paper on their hero, and Kim is doing her dad, and since Barkin said Ron wasn’t allowed to do Kim, he’s drawing a blank. His own father is a little hurt by this, and Ron is a lot oblivious about that.

Ron instead decides to do his paper on Hego, and he and Kim head to Go City, and wind up fighting Team Go’s math themed villain the Mathter. Ron winds up being changed into an anti matter, something, and it’s his dad that saves him with number powers.

This is a weird episode. I didn’t really get it. But Ron ends up writing the paper about his dad and it’s very sweet.

Boo-Yas And Nacos

• The historical village is a fun detail, but I’m wildly obsessed with Kim’s pirate outfit.
• Other fun things in the pirate fight? Monique climbs a mast and cuts a bunch of ropes, because she’s the best.
• Shego does not like to be called “Wench.”
• Watching “Mathter and Fervent” made me wish that Hego was voiced by Kevin Conroy. For…reasons. You know the reasons. Don’t play dumb.
•  Seriously, this is not a good episode. It’s OK because the other one is SO GOOD it makes up for it. But ehhh, no.