First Think, THEN Ink.

The story is out that Disney is planning to do a live action motion picture version of their animated television series "Kim Possible" The Hollywood Reporter.

I listed "Kim Possible" as Disney's greatest episodic television series when I wrote my IMDb review of it in 2011. T suppose that was faint praise at the time, considering the alternatives they had offered, programs like "Bug Juice," "The Suite Life of Zack and Cody," or "Dave the Barbarian" really presented nothing new, innovative or even all that interesting when it came to kids' entertainment.

Since then, the reboot of "Boy meets World" - titled "Girl Meets World" offered some brilliant commentary on family, school and relationships before it got canceled a year ago, and the current series "Andi Mack" has pushed the envelope in some surprising ways and likely will go even farther (if they have the chance) in future seasons. It didn't hurt that both "Girl" and "Andi" had and have strong, intelligent women characters, both as leads and as supporting players on those shows.

Still, for an animated series, "Kim Possible" was different from most of what The Mouse offered, certainly at the turn of the millennium, when it first aired. Even though it still used a standard trope for television: the high school setting, somehow, when it was combined with this heroine, scholastic standout and cheerleader by day, superhero the rest of the time, it seemed fresh and new! And the villains she battled were reminiscent of the rogue's gallery from Adam West's "Batman" with a nice and similar dose of camp included! It was a fun show for anyone of any age to watch.

To boot, they released a companion soundtrack with some really great tracks both inspired by and used in the show. Probably the most memorable track from the disc is this one:



The timing seems perfect to revive the concept, as women are coming to the fore and as we look to have better representation in all areas, Kim Possible would be especially good because she is one of the few Disney female leads who is not a Princess from a fairy tale.

The question seems to be in the setting and in the casting. Will this Kim Possible adventure still be set in high school, a kind of throwback to Kim's circumstances when the show aired, or will they advance the time line and it all happens as they are adults?

And who would play the role? Of course the choice of casting relies on the choice of how old the character would be.

I'm guessing they retain the high school setting. It's too good not to use at least once. So that leaves the difficult choice of who to play the crucial roles of Kim, her sidekick Ron Stoppable, Wade, her point man and Rufus, that famed naked mole rat.

It could be that they would animate Rufus, as the filmmakers did with the live action version of "Scooby-Doo" when that happened. But who would would both have the star power and the ability to pull off the concept of being this dynamic character?

My suggestion is one word: Zendaya



I think this works...

But then again, Zendaya may already be too big a star to take the role... her appearance as Mary Jane in "Spiderman: Homecoming" was a box office bonanza, at nearly 900 million. And her latest movie "The Greatest Showman" is pushing 300M and is still playing in theaters.

No matter who lands the role, it should be an interesting project!

I am the first person to have shown a completed film from New York Film Academy. In essence, that makes me the first graduate of that school. The year was 1992, when I wrote, storyboarded, cast, shot, edited and screened my film, "Somebody's Fool," at Robert De Niro's Tribeca Film Center, the location that NYFA occupied in its first couple of years, before moving to their own building, the former Tammany Hall on Union Square in 1994.

Since my class was the very first class, concessions were made. Tuition was a fraction of what it is today, but so was the curriculum: we had thirteen weeks from start to finish. Neither faculty nor students knew exactly how things were going to progress. And we all understood that going in. But the positive was that everyone in that inaugural class was offered the basics of how a film comes together and we all worked collectively as each other's support, from gaffers to actors. Why we didn't try to team up and create a production house of our own is one of many sad questions I will never be able to answer.

( Of course, we were shooting on... )