So The Drama

April 9th, 2005

Filed under: TV

This weekend, the Disney Channel premiered its second Kim Possible movie, Kim Possible: So the Drama (yes, I know they’re claiming it’s the first Disney Channel animated movie, but they’re forgetting last year’s Kim Possible: A Sitch in Time).

Kim Possible is a great animated cartoon series on the Disney Channel. Its star is Kim Possible, your average run-of-the-mill high school cheerleader who just happens to save the world on a weekly basis. Her father: a rocket scientist. Her mother: a brain surgeon. She has younger twin brothers (the “Tweebs”) who are the bane of her existence.

Her best friend and partner is Ron Stoppable, your basic lovable sidekick oaf. Her high school nemesis is Bonnie, the cheerleading team captain. Her arch foe is Dr. Drakken, a blue skinned megalomaniac (and his more formidable sidekick She-Go). She has other great villains including Lord Monkeyfist (and his Monkey Ninjas), Señor Senior Sr (and his son Señor Senior Jr), Duff Killagin (”The World’s Most Dangerous Golfer”) and, of course, DNAmy.

The first Kim Possible movie, A Sitch in Time, was great because of four words (well two words, if you count hyphenated words as one): Super-villian Team-Up. Kim’s arch-villains Dr. Drakken, She-Go, Lord Monkeyfist and Duff Killagin join forces to steal a sacred monkey idol. This is not just a religious gewgaw, but the key to time travel. The team of villains decide to use the idol to travel back in time to stop Kim Possible at her most vulnerable moments. Thus we are treated to Kim’s first day of pre-school (where she meets Ron for the first time) and the day she inadvertently starts her save-the-world business. The current Kim and Ron also travel back in time and are able to defeat the villains each time. She-go, sick of being second fiddle to Dr. Drakken, steals the idol, travels to the future and becomes absolute dictator of Earth. Kim and Ron travel to the future, join up with the Resistance (led by the now-grown up Tweebs) and defeat She-Go once and for all.

The second Kim Possible movie, So the Drama, deals with a common high school fear: the Prom. Kim is stunned to learn that the other cheerleaders have snapped up all the good dates at the “top of the High School food chain.” Will she have to go to Prom alone, or worse, with Ron? Meanwhile, Dr. Drakken and She-go are up to something, and this time his secret plan actually seems to be working. Ther’s lots more to tell, but I don’t want to spoil it. I’m sure the Disney Channel will be playing it ad infinitum for the next few months, so there’s plenty of time to catch it.

Both movies are good, but I think I prefer the first one because of the glimpses back into Kim’s past. Plus it has that alternate history theme I like so much. My wife, the romantic, prefers the second one.

If these two movies aren’t enough, there are forty or so episodes shown daily (more or less) on the Disney Channel. For comic aficionados, make sure to catch “The Fearless Ferret” and “Team Go”

7 Responses to “ So The Drama ”

  1. Johnny Bacardi
    April 9th, 2005 at 11:16 pm

    I’ve been watching KP since day one, and totally agree with your assessment. It’s always lively, fun, smartly written and entertaining. Saw this movie tonight, and liked it a lot. But.

    That said, I’m not so sure that I’m too crazy about Ron and Kim dating- will this prove to be KP’s Moonlighting moment? Guess we will see…!

  2. Scott
    April 9th, 2005 at 11:35 pm
    Official Comment

    I agree, I liked the “best friends” angle better

  3. Your Obedient Serpent
    April 10th, 2005 at 12:43 am

    I kinda wondered about the “first original animated movie” thing myself, then realized that “A Sitch In Time” was released to video first, while “So The Drama” premiered on Disney.

  4. shadz
    April 11th, 2005 at 1:48 am

    Johnny Bacardi — You don’t have to worry about Kim & Ron getting together ruining the show, because “So the Drama” is the end of the show. 3 or 4 episodes remain to be aired, but they were all made before “So the Drama”. Kim is not being canceled because of low ratings, but because Disney Channel never makes more than 65 episodes of their shows.

    Your Obedient Serpent — “A Sitch in Time” was on DVD very soon after its TV premier, but not before. I think (my guess) they are not counting it because it was really produced as three episodes of the series, and has been shown that way too. Think about the plot of “A Sitch in Time”, and you will see right where the joins are. I didn’t see any similar 3-part structure in “So the Drama”, and it seemed to have a slightly bigger animation budget than three regular episodes too (and even though it was the same length as “A Sitch in Time”/3 episodes, it will supposedly be longer on DVD).

  5. Johnny B
    April 11th, 2005 at 8:13 am

    Wow, it’s been 64 episodes already? Time flies. Thanks for the info, but that didn’t make me feel better at all! :)

  6. tomthedog
    April 12th, 2005 at 9:47 am

    Uh, yeah. All that stuff above. I was going to chime in about the “first movie” thing, and about Ron & Kim dating probably signifying the end of the show, but I guess I’m late (I only watched the movie last night).

    Didn’t know Disney only makes 65 episodes. What’s the point of that? Why that exact number?

    I liked “So the Drama” a lot, but probably still like “Sitch in Time” better — had more of an “epic” feel to it.

  7. ShadZ
    April 14th, 2005 at 7:42 pm

    tomthedog –

    65 episodes is 13 weeks, when you are showing an episode every weekday (a “strip”). That lets you rerun each episode 4 times a year. Disney (and other kids TV producers) have discovered that rerun-tolerant kids don’t mind seeing the same episode 4 times a year, but more often is pushing it (unless the episode is “new”). So if you are going to run a kids show in reruns for years and years and years, you need at least 65 episodes.

    Now, that doesn’t mean you should stop at 65. If a show is still popular in a regular once-a-week timeslot (like Saturday morning) where new episodes are expected, or if you want to use the show to drive new toy sales, or if you have another market for extra shows besides reruns (like DVD), keep making more. But Disney Channel has made a business decision that the main reason they make tv shows is to eventually strip them for years and years. So they stop at 65, because more would be a waste of money & resources.

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