Friday, December 10, 2010

Saturday Morning's Forgotten Heroes: Kim Possible (2002)

The NBC prime-time series, Heroes (2006-10), used the tagline, "Save the cheerleader, save the world". Problem was, Disney had already done them one better. They had a cheerleader who routinely saved the world.

Kim Possible debuted on the Disney Channel in 2002, and added a Saturday morning run on ABC shortly thereafter. Kim (Christy Carlson Romano, Even Stevens) is not only the captain of her cheerleading team at Middleton High, but also a globe-trotting adventurer who uses her athletic abilities as well as her brains to outwit and defeat the bad guys. Everyone knows the theme song, "Call Me, Beep Me", sung by singer-actress Christina Milian. Here's the open:



Disney had intended to end Kim's adventures after three seasons and 2 made-for-TV movies, but the series had developed such a strong fan following, a fourth and final season hit the air in 2007. By then, Kim's dumber-than-a-bag-of-nachos partner, Ron Stoppable (Will Friedle, ex-Boy Meets World), was now her boyfriend as well, a development that fans had anticipated virtually from day one. If there was a flaw to the series, it was the excessive use of arch enemy Dr. Drakken (John DiMaggio, Futurama) and his sultry, sassy sidekick, Shego (Nicole Sullivan, ex-MadTV), which left little room for the rest of Kim's rogues gallery toward the end of the series. Series creators Bob Schooley & Mark MacCorkle also were responsible for the 2005 feature film, "Sky High" with Kurt Russell & Kelly Preston, which suggested that they were ready to move on, thinking they'd gone as far as they wanted with Kim. "Sky", however, was not a success at the box office, and the two creators have not tried a movie project since. Maybe the next one will work----if it means Kim & Ron getting married, that is.......

Rating: A-.

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