Deep Dive Disney: Wes Looks at Kim Possible: A Sitch in Time

Welcome back everyone, to a very special edition of Deep Dive Disney. Because I need a buffer between Brother Bear and Home on the Range and because I love this show and would love an excuse to talk about it, today, we’re looking at the first of the two Disney Channel Kim Possible movies, Kim Possible: A Sitch in Time. For those of you unfamiliar with Kim Possible, you’re in for a treat as this show, despite being aimed at young children, was one of the funniest and most clever animated shows ever to hit the Disney Channel. The show centered around a High School girl named Kim Possible who is incredibly skilled at well… pretty much everything, and uses these exceptional skills to fight crime, go on super cool adventures and fight a wide array of colorful supervillains. Accompanying Kim on her many adventures is her best friend and faithful sidekick, Ron Stoppable, Ron’s lovable pet naked mole rat, Rufus, her tech savvy friend Wade, and many others. By the time the second season rolled around, the show was immensely popular and as a result, a TV movie was made for the Disney Channel. Oh, and by the way, if you’re looking to watch this bad boy on Disney+ but find yourself unable to find it, fear not. While it initially aired as a TV Movie, it was later split up into a three-part episode for syndication and can be found in the latter half of season 2. So, what’s the sitch this time around? Well, Kim and Ron find themselves both deeply saddened to learn that Ron’s mother has gotten a new job and the Stoppable family is moving to Norway. Incidentally, fuck both of Ron’s parents for waiting to spring this life-altering information on their son until after the house has already been sold. While both Kim and Ron want to keep their crime fighting team together, with Ron on another continent, things get a bit tricky. Ron soon starts showing up late to missions a Kim finds that saving the day is a lot tougher than she thought on her own. The timing of all this could not be worse as many of Kim’s worst enemies have banded together to steal an ancient artifact said to contain the power of time travel. The villains get away, and before Kim realizes what’s up, a hyper-evolved descendent of Rufus voiced by Michael Dorn emerges through a portal into her bedroom to inform you that in twenty years, the villains have used the artifact to conquer the globe. Now both Kim and Ron must fight their foes in both the past and the future in order to save the world and restore time to its natural order. So not the drama. Let’s take a closer look at Kim Possible: A Sitch in Time.

Main Character:

Even though the show bares Kim’s name, ultimately, Kim and Ron (and Rufus to a lesser extent) are a package deal and you can’t really have one without the other, something that’s kind of an underlying theme of the movie and, one could argue, the entire series. As we often do, we’ll start with the title character. Kim is voiced by Christy Carlson Romano, who was in pretty much everything else for the Disney channel at the time, so why not this. Honestly, there’s not a whole lot to Kim as a character. She’s a typical teenage girl as well as, if I’m being completely honest, a total Mary Sue. That’s not a complaint by means as I feel that that’s totally the point. There are many characters who struggle to overcome great odds and while many of those characters are great, that’s just not who Kim is. I mean when your motto is “I Can Do Anything” you’re not exactly an underdog. Hell, Kim’s entire family is a bunch of Mary Sues themselves. Her father is a rocket scientist, her mother is a brain surgeon, and her twin younger brothers are a pair of child geniuses. Kim is basically this badass girl power fantasy that young women watching the show can imagine themselves as. This is not to say that Kim is completely devoid of personality, she’s sweet and helpful by nature, but still not immune to the wants and needs of the typical high school girl, even if her skill set puts her way ahead of the bell curve.

Ron on the other hand is very different from Kim, but before we get too deep into Ron, we have to shout out his voice actor, Will Friedle, best known for his roles as Eric Matthews from Boy Meets World and Terry McGuinness from Batman Beyond. Friedle is also quite possibly, and I say this with zero hyperbole, the nicest wan in the world, like, almost unsettlingly so. Don’t believe me? Six years ago at Rhode Island Comic Con I literally bashed heads with him in a crowded hallway when I wasn’t looking where I was going. Instead of saying “Watch where you’re going asshole” like a normal person, he instead extended his hand and with jovial tone in his voice said “Hi, I’m Will, it’s a pleasure to meet you.” Anywho, where was I, oh yeah Ron. Ron at first glance is Kim’s complete opposite. He’s afraid of everything, completely uncoordinated, a total slob and a bit of an idiot. However, Ron still has a fun personality and cares deeply for Kim. He may be afraid most of the time, but he always steps up when the people he cares about are in danger. It’s interesting to note that when our heroes go back in time, it shows that Kim and Ron first met when Ron saved Kim from some bullies (who were actually the villains disguised as toddlers) when anyone who knows the show would think it would be the other way around, which it eventually becomes. Ultimately, Ron may have his foibles but one can't ask for a more loyal friend and ally.

One of the driving forces of the movie is reinforcing the fact that Kim and Ron are best as a team. Afterall, the fact that they were separated was what allowed Shego to take over the world, and it is ultimately Ron, not Kim, who ends up saving the day. As Kim says right at the beginning, I can't save the world without you. Sure, Kim is highly skilled, but on her own she can only do so much. When Kim and Ron have each other, they can do pretty much anything.

Villain:

Before we get to the actual villain of the piece, let’s talk about the villains who we actually think are going to be the big bads before the big reveal. Our villains are all classic members of Kim’s rogue’s gallery. First up is Monkey Fist, a British Kung Fu master who’s had his genes spliced with that of a monkey. Next there’s Duff Killigan, the self-proclaimed “World’s Deadliest Golfer” who has a penchant for exploding golf balls and is the only person in existence who both Scrooge McDuck and Groundskeeper Willie would see as an offensive Scottish stereotype. Finally, there’s Kim Possible’s most recurring foe, voiced by Bender himself, John DiMaggio, it’s Dr. Drakken, the dumbest, and funniest, mad scientist of all time. And yeah, I know what you all are thinking, and to that I say, eat a dick Doofenshmirtz, Drakken was here first. I don’t want to go into these guys in too much detail since they’re ultimately not the main villains, but man are they hilarious together. I love that these guys are meant to be badasses bent on world domination but are actually a bunch of losers who spend most of their time bickering with one another. It’s like if the three stooges were also supervillains.

However, let’s talk about the real main villain here, fan favorite character, Shego. In the show proper, Shego, voiced by Nicole Sullivan, is Dr. Drakken’s right hand woman and super-powered enforcer. As far as many of the fans, myself included, are concerned, Shego is one of the best villains in the show and it’s awesome to finally see her get a turn to be the big bad, especially after Drakken spends the first two thirds of the film being more dickish to her than usual. It’s actually a pretty clever bait and switch since for those first two thirds, we’re led to believe that it’s Drakken who took over the world and after it’s revealed that it was Shego, the movie actually admits that she’s the only villain in the show who’s actually smart enough to take over the world, something the fans had been saying for a while now. Given the fact that there’s one episode that clearly demonstrates that Drakken can’t even open a pickle jar without And to her credit, Shego’s plot to take over the world is pretty ingenious. She went back in time and made a ton of money in the early days of the internet, started her own bank, formed an evil think tank and the piece de resistance, became the owner of the company that Ron’s mother works for and arranged the transfer to Norway in order to split up the team. See, Shego was smart enough to realized that Kim and Ron are at their best when they’re together and that Kim could never stop her evil plan on her own. That might actually be one of the most foolproof evil plans we see in the entire show, and I love the fact that the only reason Shego actually fails is because she decides to listen to Drakken. Speaking of, I’m pleased to report that my favorite aspect of the show, the dynamic between Drakken and Shego, remains intact throughout this film. I’ve always loved the back and forth between the show’s two principal villains, namely how Shego is always giving Drakken shit. She’ll work for him since that’s her job and he allegedly pays well, but that doesn’t mean she respects Drakken and will indeed take every opportunity to remind him what a pathetic loser he is. Even once we get to the future and Drakken has been turned into Shego’s genetically enhanced muscle-bound beefcake bodyguard, the back and forth between the two is still pretty great. I love Drakken being grumpy at the fact that he’s not the one who got to take over the world and Shego taking a perverse delight in Drakken’s misfortune.

Side Characters:

While Kim Possible has a great supporting cast, few of them play a particularly significant role in the film. I will say that it is cool to see Jim and Tim, Kim’s younger brothers, and Wade, Kim’s Child genius friend who briefs her on her upcoming missions, as badass freedom fighters in the future but beyond the novelty of everyone in the future being ridiculously buff, it doesn’t add too much to the film. The only character I really want to talk about is Monique, Kim’s best friend after Ron. Honestly, everyone needs a friend like Monique. After Ron moves away, Monique is immediately able to tell that Kim misses him dearly and tries to fill the void by doing Ron type things with Kim. She may not be able to fill that void as well as Ron, but she does try very hard. I also love that later on she becomes another badass member of the resistance and joins Kim for the final battle. Great stuff.

Songs:

A couple pop songs here and there but nothing to really write home about. However, we do get to hear the always awesome Kim Possible theme song, so that’s something.

Memorable Scenes:

I already talked about the scenes where the villains are bickering with each other which are a real highlight of the film. I also like the stuff in the future where the resistance fighters are battling upgraded versions of the villains. However, the scene that resonated with me the most was Kim and Ron saying their goodbyes before Ron moves away. In one brief scene, this film managed to illicit a stronger emotional response than all eighty-five minutes of Brother Bear. Mind you, this film has the advantage of Kim and Ron being characters we’ve gotten to know over the course of two seasons so it is easy to get emotional seeing these two great friends separated in this manner if you’ve been watching the show up to this point and especially if you’ve seen the entire series and know how things turn out for these two. It’s a good scene.

Story:

This film really doesn’t have too much in the way of deeper meaning or important lessons, and it’s really not trying to. At the end of the day, it’s just trying to be a fun time travel story featuring these characters. As a result, it feels like a longer episode of the show with slightly higher stakes than usual, though not at all in a bad way. The show was great and it naturally follows that a longer episode of the show would be great as well. Plus, the time travel stuff was a lot of fun and allowed for a lot of interesting moments. I liked the stuff in the past where we got to see Kim and Ron first meeting and later Kim’s first mission, but the stuff in the future where Shego is the supreme ruler of the world is equally fun. It’s not that deep, but it doesn’t have to be to be a great movie. The Dark Disney Factor:

This one is a pretty lighthearted affair, but I’d be lying if some aspects of Shego’s 1984 style future, particularly the erasure of individual thought and the idea of obedience collars is more than a little unsettling. It’s nothing we haven’t seen before but it’s still pretty dark.

Final Thoughts: Man am I glad I decided to include this film as part of the retrospective. It was an absolute treat getting to relive this film and by extension, this show. The characters are all just as likable as I remember them and the plot allowed us to see them in some creative situations. I can honestly say that this was some of the most fun I've had since starting this project. Check out this film and see for yourself. As for next time, I'm still not ready to tackle the dreaded Home on the Range so we're actually going to stay with Kim Possible for a little while, and maybe even bring some other old friends along for the ride. Until next time everyone!