Kim Possible Was All That—and Still Is, 15 Years Later!
Before Star took on The Forces of Evil. Before Rapunzel took her first swing of a frying pan. Before Elena of Avalor broke out of that amulet. There was a “basic average girl… here to save the world.” When Kim Possible premiered on Disney Channel—15 years ago today, on June 7, 2002—she was a very different kind of hero, especially compared to most other animated series—including those from Disney Television Animation, which at the time was producing a number of shows based on films like Hercules and Lilo and Stitch or on classic characters, like Goofy. In fact, Kim Possible creators Mark McCorkle and Bob Schooley came to Disney as writers for the Goof Troop series in 1992.
The basic premise came together quickly. How quickly? “We usually hate puns. We’re the most anti-pun people in the world,” McCorkle remembers. “But one day, we were coming back from lunch and stepping into the elevator and I said, ‘Kim Possible. She can do anything.’”
Schooley says he barely missed a beat: “I said, ‘Ron Stoppable. He can’t.’”
“That was the fastest development of a series we’ve ever had,” McCorkle says.
Right from the beginning, McCorkle and Schooley were focused on the chemistry between Kim and Ron. “From the first episode, we knew that’s where it was going, and it was just a matter of how we could get there very slowly and teasingly,” Schooley says, and they assumed that the couple’s happily-ever-after would take place at the end of the 2005 Disney Channel Original Movie Kim Possible: So the Drama. But the show had such a strong following, it was renewed for a fourth season. McCorkle and Schooley were surprised, but appreciated the opportunity to continue Kim and Ron’s story as that of a power couple. The self-described “nerds” confess that they originally identified with Ron, but they changed their minds as time went on. “We came to realize that [with Ron] we just created a funny character. Drakken was us,” McCorkle laughs, referencing Kim’s most determined adversary, who was impatient and somewhat oblivious and always bested by youth.
“I think one of the reasons why Kim Possible endures is that kids just identify with those characters as real,” Schooley says. “I think part of Disney storytelling is those characters transcend in terms that make you forget they’re cartoons and you start engaging with them as if they’re real people. And I think a lot of people had somebody on that show that they identified with because of the way they were portrayed.”
Adds McCorkle, “There’s always heart.”
McCorkle and Schooley still hear from fans all around the world who would love to see more of Kim’s adventures, and they’re accustomed to running into cosplay “Kim Possibles” at conventions. Plus, there’s that theme song… “Call me, beep me, if you want reach me…” Schooley acknowledges, “Every now and then you’ll hear it somewhere. The ringtone lives on.”
And so does our love for Kim Possible—even 15 years later.
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