Kim Possible: Season 4 (Final)

    

Created & Produced by: Bob Schooley & Mark McCorkle

Written by: 

Kyle Menke, Tom Bernardo, Alan Wan, Kalvin Lee, James Yang, Eugene Salandra, Dave Knott, Doug Murphy, Larry Scholl, Louie del Carmen, Adam Van Wyk, Troy Adomitis, Dave Bullock, Lyndon Ruddy, Ken Laramay, and Nicholas Filippi

Starring: Christy Carlson Romano (Kim Possible), Will Friedle (Ron Stoppable), Nancy Cartwright (Rufus), Tahj Mowry (Wade), John DiMaggio (Dr. Drakken), Nicole Sullivan (Shego)

I try to include season trailers, but with shows this old, it's pretty much impossible to find an official one. So instead, I'm including the series theme song: 

For what this animated series was (and was allowed to be) at this time on Disney's network, it still holds up excellently. 

I phrase it that way because I usually expect any truly great series to grow up over its seasons, for characters to develop significantly, for plots to change, motivations to shift, and for backgrounds or other aspects to stay fresh. But that's a very modern, stream video on demand ("SVOD")-era thing to expect, and doesn't hold true of anything around or before the early 2000s or even 2010s. It can perhaps hold true of some long-running adult sitcoms or dramas that knew to expect a steady audience of adults to tune in consistently, but that was rare, and certainly can't be expected of the kid-oriented animation. 

Yet, Kim Possible still holds up in many ways. Many kids' animated series remained fully stagnant for their entire, multi-year run; some of my favorites like Samurai Jack, Dexter's Laboratory, and Powerpuff Girls come to mind. These were all fantastic in their own ways, but nothing ever changed (to my memory, and with the exception of Samurai Jack's final season). But Disney/the writers allowed Kim Possible to stretch in small but important ways: the characters moved progressively through high school over its run; each of its four seasons represented the next year of high school. Some characters grew in prominence, like Monique (Raven-Symoné), Jim & Tim (Shaun Fleming and Spencer Fox), and Wade. But the most significant thing about season 4 was that Kim and Ron became an official couple, and the series didn't hesitate to acknowledge how new and different this was. Witty one-liners from Monique, Jim, Tim, Shego, Drakken, and even Ron himself reminded us how new and unexpected this was, with Kim being the only one to take it in stride. 

Another significant change was Kim's battle suit, which debuted in the season 3 finale and made a comeback in season 4. It's a bit less significant than the relationship because it wasn't given much explanation, background, kind of served to make Kim overpowered, and then disappeared from the series also without explanation. 

Kim's short-lived and little-explained battle armor was still a lot of fun!! Definitely deserved more spotlight and more of a story

Kim's friendship with Monique was a highlight of the series

One thing I've had in mind about this whole series, but especially during season 4 and the episode "Car Alarm" involving Kim's twin brothers, Jim and Tim, is that the whole Possible family is fascinating and hilarious. "Car Alarm" involved Jim and Tim offering (not volunteering) their services to trick out and upgrade Kim's new car. It brings into view the whole concept that creators Bob and Mark had in mind: a brain surgeon (Dr. Ann Possible, v. by Jean Smart) and a rocket engineer (Dr. James Possible, v. by Gary Cole) are bound to have gifted kids. They took it to the next level for the sake of a fun TV show concept: Kim's a battle strategy and combat expertise with her brothers being robotics and computer science experts. Kim's hobby is saving the world whereas Jim and Tim create satellites for fun. Kim Possible as a series takes its claim to fame from reversing superhero gender norms with its smart, kick-butt female lead and dorky male side-kick (and its great, on-point humor), and the show is right to focus on that.  But I think that the entire Possible family makes for a great series concept, with Kim's dad dealing with a former co-worker who turned evil and both parents taking the family's extraordinary shenanigans in stride. My point being, I think it would only serve to strengthen the series quality and entertainment value if Kim shared spotlight with her whole immediate family, and plots were written that were dedicated to Jim and Tim and separate plots for their parents, also. In fact, I think it would be awesome if the whole family teamed up to go on one of Kim's missions. Though I might want this show concept to move off Disney channel in order to introduce and tackle more mature concepts and plots. 

Kim chauffeurs Jim and Tim around town in exchange for their car upgrades

A few other episodes that stand out to me are "The Cupid Effect," which places Wade and Monique in a guest-star spotlight. I found the actual plot to be a bit awkward--with Wade trying to pursue Monique romantically--but it was still a lot of fun to see both the characters get a larger roles. "Stop Team Go" gives a very pleasant, three-dimensional look at Shego, asking the question, 'What if she were good?' It ends up being a great concept and gives fun depth to her character, and left me wanting more when she and Kim get along super well, and their closeness brings Shego near to admitting tender truths that add even more to her character. 

It wasn't hard to make Shego's temporary "goodness" feel weird!

Overall, I feel like Kim Possible was really onto something in its whole series concept. It was fantastic, wholesome, entertaining, and probably a little before its time. I've heard rumors of a reboot being possible, but not from any reliable sources so not worth putting real hope into--but we are in an era of reboots, so it would make sense for Disney to want more. I know a lot of people spurn the idea of reboots, but not me--I enjoy having more of a franchise I love and the possibility of expanding the world and characters is exciting. And if it doesn't turn out well, then we can just ignore it, and the original series is still there.