The good news is Kim Possible's World Showcase Adventure is doing great at Epcot. The bad news is, Kim and Ron are no longer hanging out at Disney Studios.
Not sure who made this decision, but when we were at Disney World a couple of weeks ago, while checking out our Kimmunicator at Epcot, we asked the Disney cast member about the Kim and Ron meet and greet characters. She told us that Kim and Ron were no longer at the Disney Studios park and if wanted them to come back we needed to talk to guest services. Apparently she'd had the question from a number of people.
Kim Possible World Showcase Adventure Epcot
So, if you'd like to see Kim and Ron return as face characters to Disney World you probably need to let the folks at Disney know. You might want to suggest since the Kim Adventure is at Epcot that they place the characters there. Makes sense to me.
Well, I just couldn't do it. There is just too much for me to write about, and after establishing this fun little corner of the world I can't give it up. So look forward to more complete and utter randomness, because some things, like it or not, never go away.
Note about this Ringtone. Because the iPhone will not allow you to play the tone only once, I padded the Kimmunicator ring with a buffer of 16 seconds. This keeps it from repeating over and over.
You will get the very quick tone, played once, just like Kim!
Thanks for stopping in for Kim's ringtone. We at The Adventurers Club are huge fans of a pop punk band, The Dollyrots, on Joan Jett's Blackheart Records. Here is a video for "Playing with Fire" from their new EP "Arrested Youth". Please take a minute, watch it, and let us know what you think. Kim, Ron and Rufus think The Dollyrots rule!
Steve Loter has created a blog to document the last days as they wrap the fourth (and final) season of Kim Possible.
Steve's Blog, So the Finale, is an entertaining, educational, and insightful look at one of the best animated series ever produced by Disney. There was an amazing amount of talent on this show, but it's clear when you read the blog how much Steve cared for the show and that says a lot about why Kim Possible turned out so well.
The following picture is from Steve's Blog and was taken at the final dialog recording session.
L-R Bob Schooley, Steve Loter, Mark McCorkle, Christy Carlson Romano, Will Friedle, Lisa Schaffer
Picture Key - Bob and Mark are of course the creators of Kim Possible. Steve is the director for seasons 2-4, Lisa is the dialog director and Will and Christy play Ron and Kim in the show.
Steve remarks in his blog that of all the shows he has ever worked on, this is the only one where he has received fan mail. The fans of KP are a pretty dedicated lot and not typical of an animated show that was aimed at kids. That is once again a tribute to the quality of Kim Possible.
The title of this post also comes from Steve's blog. In an entry about Mark and Bob's most memorable quips and quotes Steve posts this gem:
Executive (after reading a new script)- "So what are the children getting out of this?" Bob Schooley - "22 minutes closer to death."
Thanks Steve. We'll be looking for you on your next show.
As production of Kim Possible winds down, director Steve Loter has been offering a little more insight into the behind the scenes aspects of the series. Steve has always had a connection with the fan base, answering questions on message boards and even incorporating ideas from the fan community into the show.
The following shots are more photos from inside the Kim Possible offices. A couple of the shots are teasers. One of them is a stack of tapes of rough animation,with titles and sequences yet to appear on the air. Another shot features character outfit designs from season four.
One of the many bulletin boards featuring Kim Possible character designs
Season four outfits, including a couple of late season 4 outfits censored by Steve
Animation roughs. An example of some of the things Disney could offer IF they released Kim Possible season sets, an idea Disney seems unable to comprehend.
It's official, at the completion of the episodes for season four, Kim Possible is ceasing production. No miracle Save Kim Possible campaign is going to happen this time.
Bob Schooley and Mark McCorkle are already looking beyond the Disney studios for other creative opportunities and all of Team Possible, including director Steve Loter, are planning the wrap up for the show.
Kim Possible, Season Four Mission Outfit
Steve Loter hasn't turned out the lights yet. According to Loter at RonStoppable.net, "I'm hoping to make the finale a little bit of a fan event. I'm going to try and blog the last few days with photos and thoughts. I'll also try to do little 'making of' postings including descriptions about the alternate endings we had planned for the last episode."
Two photos from the Kim Possible Studio at Disney, by Steve Loter
I never expected the show to run forever, and both Bob and Mark expressed a desire to move on after the current batch of episodes, but the thing that amazes me is how Disney never saw the market for this character. Despite having a huge demographic, Disney never capitalized on Kim Possible. Try to find anything related to Kim Possible at Disney World. Sure, they finally added Kim and Ron as "face" characters at MGM studios, and tested the interactive Team Possible adventure at EPCOT, but there is no merchandise anywhere, with the exception of a couple of pins.
Kim Possible and Ron Stoppable at Disney's MGM Studios
It's almost as if Disney didn't want Kim Possible to succeed.
In closing we tip our fedora to everyone who made this a great show: Bob Schooley, Mark McCorkle, Steve Loter, Stephen Silver, Christy Carlson Romano, Will Freidle, Tahj Mowry, Nancy Cartwright, Nicole Sullivan, John Dimaggio, Gary Cole, Jean Smart and the remainder of the voice cast, writers, and animators.
P.S. Thanks for reading my articles on Kim, she remains consistently one of my most popular blog topics. While you're here check out a video from a band we're very fond of. The Dollyrots are signed to Joan Jett's Blackheart Records and their bubblegum punk is responsible for some of the most fun we've had with music in a long time. Give them a try, you'll like them too!
Have you ever wanted to be a character designer for a major animation studio? Well, I can't promise you that, but I can tell you that Stephen Silver is going to be offering online classes in character design.
For those of you that aren't toon geeks, Stephen Silver is the artist behind such characters as Danny Phantom and the ever-so-popular Kim Possible.
So, if you can't fly out to southern California to study under Stephen Silver in person, consider this the next best thing.
Stephen Silver's Hot Kim Possible
Here's the video announcement for the class. Stephen Silver sketches, Stephen Silver.
A week from today television's best animated series returns to the air for a fourth year with a marathon of four new episodes.
Kim Possible is back with new gadgets, a new boyfriend, a new car and a new villain (That would be the blonde at the end of the promo).
Thus far all the promos have been Disney Channel ads, I haven't seen anyone with blue skin skulking around placing any devices with blinking lights and loose wires on bridges.
The title of todays post came from Googlism. Googlism is another one of those addictive internet time wasters. Enter a name or a place and Googlism comes back with a list of phrases about the subject.
Last week I did an internet search on my name. Today I used Googlism to do a search on my last name.
My favorite from the list is: Calhoun is the most consistent and unsettling skeptic I have read.
It wasn't about me, but I'll take it.
Another tip of the hat to Gnumoon, who continues to inspire me to internet silliness.
It's interesting to check the blog stats and see what type of keywords lead people to this blog.
Some are interesting, some are odd, but one search dominates, day in and day out.
Kim Possible
Even though there aren't that many posts about Kim, she still gets the lions share of the searches. I have said in the past that I don't think Disney understands what they have with Kim, but more and more I am convinced of that.
When I replaced my cell phone I retired my two long-used ringtones. Midi versions of Rush's Limelight and Test for Echo. Both were outstanding and I like them a lot, but they really didn't work for me.
More than once I was in a meeting when the opening riff of Limelight would begin. Because my phone is usually jammed in my pocket, I would struggle to pull out the phone and silence the ringer while the song played and everyone around the table would snicker.
Let's face it. Long ring tones, no matter how cool, are annoying.
This brings us back to Kim Possible. She carries a "Kimmunicator" which is a video phone, pager, computer, analyzer, do anything kind of gizmo.
But the best part is, the Kimmunicator has a very cool, very short ringtone. Four quick notes and it's done. Most people don't even notice it. Though if you are in a crowd you may see some some kids looking around wondering where Kim is.
I couldn't find an official version anywhere, so I created one.
To save the sound file you can right click and save it to your computer. This is pretty standard for saving any file.
To move the file to your phone depends entirely on the type of phone that you have. If you have Bluetooth, and know how to transfer files, use the Bluetooth transfer program on your computer and copy the file to the ringtones folder on your phone. If you connect your phone to your computer via a cable, you can copy the file that way. If you have no way to connect your phone to your computer I can't help you.
One of my readers, Ari, had this suggestion:
"One thing I did was email it to my phone. To figure out the "email address" to your phone first send yourself an email from your phone, it works just like a regular text message.(In the "TO:" field put your email address.) then send yourself a message.Go to your inbox and you should have received a message. NEXT (I'm assuming you have already downloaded the MP3 file to your computer... no? Right click > Save Target As > then save it to somewhere you'll remember it.) OK, NEXT step is EMAIL it to your phone, just hit "reply" make sure to take out all text, and do not put a subject to your message, then ATTACH the MP3 file to your message. If all went well, it should have sent to your phone. On my phone I was able to save it as a ring tone. Other phones you'll have to save it as a sound, or you can apply it as a ring tone other ways. If this doesn't work or your confused, I apologize, but this is what worked for me. Thanks again for the super sweet ring tone... oh and you're NEVER too old for cartoons."
Thanks for stopping in for Kim's ringtone. We at The Adventurers Club are huge fans of a pop punk band, The Dollyrots, on Joan Jett's Blackheart Records. Here is a video for "Playing with Fire" from their new EP "Arrested Youth". Please take a minute, watch it, and let us know what you think. Kim, Ron and Rufus think The Dollyrots rule!
