So the Finale
In the summer of 2000, I was sitting in a classroom at Universal Studios CityWalk. I was taking a class in writing for animation – yes, doing scripts for cartoons. Well, we had a couple of guests this particular night, Mark McCorkle and Bob Schooley.
They were the producers of Buzz Lightyear of Star Command, which hadn’t even aired at that time. After they talked about Buzz, Mark mentioned that they had an original show they had just started working on. Mark kind of looked at Bob and asked, “Should we tell them?” Bob shrugged, “Sure.”
Mark said, “Well, we’re not really supposed to be talking about it since it’ll be a long time before it airs. But we’re just so excited that we can’t not talk about it.”
That show was Kim Possible. They explained that it was a kind of cross between a female James Bond and a high school comedy. That Kim and her inept friend Ron Stoppable would take down super-villains but still have the same problems as anyone in high school. And their eyes lit up and they got excited. It sounded really cool, even if we didn’t fully get it yet.
And, Mark added, “There’s something that I’m proud about, which is that we made the decision right from the start that Kim would never pick up a gun.” She wouldn’t even point something like a gun at anyone. I was really impressed by the resolve with which he said it, and they of course made good on that promise (with a little help, in the first season, from a grappling hook launcher which cleverly let Kim strike a secret-agent profile).
Well, more than six years and eighty episodes later, Kim Possible has become something really great. But I have to tell you, I could tell that it was going to be something special, not because I have any sixth sense for good TV shows or can pick a winner. It’s because I saw the intensity and excitement in Mark and Bob as they were telling a classroom of strangers about this show they’d thought up. The premise sounded interesting, the characters sounded fun, but most of all, the creators, who had just been through the grind of a 65-episode series, were bursting at the seams with excitement. Anyone could tell something great was coming.
So now the fourth (and final) season of KP is coming to a close. Mark and Bob are moving on to things beyond the Wells building, the cast met for the last voice session last week, and things are being put in their place to wrap up everything on the series. I’ve been following along by reading director Steve Loter’s blog which counts down to the series end with some behind-the-scenes access. Check it out here: