Polite Dissent

I first caught this show when my nephews were watching it at my in-law’s house. It caught my interest, and I’ve been watching it ever since. It’s shown daily on the Disney Channel, and Saturday mornings on ABC.

Kim Possible is a high schooler who is also what is best described as a freelance secret agent. With her best friend Ron Stoppable (and his pet naked mole-rat Rufus), they travel the world fighting crime. Her arch foe is mad scientist Dr. Drakken and his sidekick Shego. Other memorable villains include Señor Senior Sr. (voiced by Ricardo Montalban), his goofy son Señor Senior Jr, and Lord Monkey Fist.

The art is stylistic but well done. The voice work is also good, and includes such notable voices as Patrick Warburton (Seinfeld, The Tick), Jean Smart (Designing Women), Gary Cole (Brady Bunch the Movie, Office Space), and Will Friedle (Boy Meets World, Batman Beyond). The humor can be childish as times, but rarely immature. There are frequent bits of adult humor thrown in as well.

There are several connections to comic books. Will Friedle, who voices sidekick Ron Stoppable, was the voice of Terry McGinnis on Batman Beyond.

In the second season, the episode “The Fearless Ferret” is a clever homage to both Batman Beyond and the old 1960’s Batman TV show. There is also a parody of the infamous upside down kiss from Spiderman. Adam West supplies the voice of the Fearless Ferret.

The episode “Go Team Go“, also in the second season, is a deft parody of super-hero teams, super-villians, and secret origins (“A multi-colored meteorite fell from the sky…”).

A fun show that’s well worth the time to watch.