Should Kim Possible fight for a fifth season?

*Originally published on 5/2/2008




Kim Possible can do anything, the question is can her fans bring her back on the air after the show has been cancelled? Last year the possible Disney cartoon concluded its fourth and final season, since then fans have put forth a campaign to bring the show back. I'm a fan of the show. It's very well written, has a wide array of characters who possess various quirks and eccentricities that many of us can relate to and does a very good job of parodying and poking fun at spy and action movie standards.

At first glance, bringing the show back after being cancelled seems like an excellent idea. If the show's great then more of it would be great right? I'm not so sure. It's true that fans have more power then ever. Family Guy and Futurama have both been brought back from cancellation due to fan following. What we have to remember is that Kim Possible already got another season as a result of this. The show was supposed to originally end after the third season finale, "So the Drama", it was because the fans clamored for more that we got a fourth season.

Maybe it's just me, but asking for another season after they gave us one more seems a bit greedy. In addition, the show has already had two finales that wrapped the show up. So the Drama did a decent job of it and had a "happily ever after" feel to it. Graduation did an even better job of bringing everything to a close. If the show were brought back, the writers would have to find a way to wrap it up yet again.

Frankly, I'm OK with leaving the show with Graduation. Remember the second season finale to Justice League Unlimited? Divided We Fall and Epilogue did a superb job of closing the book on the DCAU, CN went ahead and signed on for another season that was rather hit or miss. While Destroyer was an ok closing point it paled compared to the finale we saw before. It's better for a show to go out at its height rather then drag on too long. Especially after the writers drop the curtain and say "The End".

The fourth season of Kim Possible had its fair share of misses. There were some great episodes in there, to be sure, but it was clear the writers were running out of story ideas. They themselves even said that stories or fan ideas that were too bizarre before were fair game this time around. The show managed to get through the season without officially jumping the shark and I would rather it stay that way.

If a fifth season were to be made, major overhauls would be needed. The main suggestion made is to show them in college. The thing is that it was pretty clear Ron and Kim weren't attending the same college. Yes, they were going to make their relationship work, but having Ron loiter around campus for no reason is not something that would garner fan approval.

Most of the supporting cast would disappear as well, Bonnie would be at another school, Mr. Barkin is still going to be teaching high school, Drakken and Shego are reformed and Monkey Fist was turned into stone. They could try and introduce new villains but I doubt that they would be as fun to watch as Kim's original Rogue's Gallery. Heck, even Camille Leon was a pretty dull villain.

Buffy was able to continue after she graduated high school, but mostly because she dropped out of college. It hammered in the recurring theme of doom and gloom that slayers endure. The fact that the one season she was in college was kind of blah also may have had something to do with it. Such a thing would not only go against Kim's can do attitude and be completely out of character, but it would cause parents everywhere to become irate. Showing a hero who leaves college and still manages to be successful is not the message that parents want their kids to see.

I don't think that the crusaders should give up, simply reroute their focus. I think it would be a much better endeavor to fight for full season DVD box sets. This way, Kim Possible fans can get their Kim Possible fix in whenever they like. The reruns Disney Channel shows are pretty much just season 4. There are 3 other seasons of great material and I think we are entitled to see that as well.