On the Study of Kimology

[Imipk]

The idea of this thread is to discuss things like the science of the KP universe, the psychology of the characters and anything else you can pass off as a scientific study - at sufficient distance in a dark alley. Writer's intent, the cartoon nature of the show and other real-world considerations are unimportant. What matters here is the experience of the characters, not the experience of the viewers.

The idea is to build a common understanding of the world's mechanics, just as fans have done for other shows (Star Trek, Doctor Who and Star Wars being the most notorious.)

[jeriddian]

An interesting idea, imipk. Of course, my first consideration is how you define the science of the KPverse, considering the fact that its first major law of physics is the "rule of cool". It does play a major part in defining the reality of Kim's world.

[TransWarpDrive]

Well, let me kick off the discussion by mentioning the fact that, considering Kim & Ron graduated high school back in June 2007 (as shown in "Graduation,") and assuming that they both started college that fall, this past month marked the beginning of their senior year. (Already!??) Yes, Kim and Ron are members of the collegiate graduating Class of 2011!
I realized this as I was driving home from a friend's house tonight, and I couldn't help but wonder what courses they would be taking in college. Ron, I think, would probably take some classes in the culinary arts, given his cooking prowess as demonstrated in "Two to Tutor." Not to mention some business-related courses, what with his enthusiasm about working at Smarty-Mart, and perhaps even some math classes considering his enthusiasm about his dad's job as an actuary.
Kim's a little harder to theorize about. I know she once expressed interest in a career in international diplomacy ("Job Unfair"), but I'm not sure what courses she'd need to take to prepare for such a job. Perhaps courses in psychology and human behavior, as well as studying politics and government? (International law would also be a good idea here.)
Or would she opt for a career in law enforcement, continuing the crime-fighting work she started as a teen-ager?
Of course, she might also just want to continue helping people, so a career as a paramedic or pararescue worker might be her goal - she could certainly find courses to prepare her for any of those jobs in college.
These are just my theories, folks. I welcome any comments, thoughts, and suggestions you might have - who knows? You might come up with some better suggestions than mine!
Let the debate begin....

[Imipk]

An interesting idea, imipk. Of course, my first consideration is how you define the science of the KPverse, considering the fact that its first major law of physics is the "rule of cool". It does play a major part in defining the reality of Kim's world.

Some things (the psychology of the characters, for example) are largely immune to Cartoon Physics and the rule of cool. That would be entirely fair game.

For the hard science, I'll abuse the standard definition a little. If you can watch a selection of episodes, produce a model of how things work, make a prediction based on that model and test it against a different selection of episodes, you have all the ingredients needed for a scientific theory. But how to produce such a model?

Well, one option is to use a real-world phenomenon that is similar to what happens in the KP Universe. For example, there are circumstances where one physical object can pass through another in the real world. It's called "tunneling". Could mystical monkey powers lead to Ron's pants tunneling through him?

It is also possible to examine the implications of the powers of Team Go. Others will have seen the comet, but only the people with heroic personalities got heroic powers from it. Does this imply that Go City is filled with latent mutations that could be triggered at any time? What will happen with the next generation?

Speaking of mutations and genetics, the Possibles have relatively rare recessive genes as the dominant trait. It may be possible to deduce, from choice of first names, inheritable traits, etc, where the family likely came from originally.

The rockets are another interesting area. It can't be liquid fuel for a rocket that small reaching orbit, so what sort of fuel might they be using?

[Imipk]

Kim's a little harder to theorize about. I know she once expressed interest in a career in international diplomacy ("Job Unfair"), but I'm not sure what courses she'd need to take to prepare for such a job. Perhaps courses in psychology and human behavior, as well as studying politics and government? (International law would also be a good idea here.)

Chartered Diplomacy course

Intelligence Agency course

This should be a good start on the international diplomacy side of things. As for Ron, I agree his skills lie in the culinary arts. As, I suspect, do Drakken's. With Drakken considering the possibility of being good, would they become rival chefs or work together to create the perfect world-dominating fast-food experience?

[Muzzlehatch]

And I thought that only Kim could do this: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sOOlUR9Cg1Q

[TransWarpDrive]

And I thought that only Kim could do this: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sOOlUR9Cg1Q

They taught Jake Gyllenhall, the star of that Disney pic, "The Prince of Persia," a variation of that skill so he could do seemingly impossible (no pun intended) leaps and bounds.
Actually, what those guys were doing in that video is harder than it appears, because in many instances they were hanging on by only their fingertips, and had to pull their body weight up and over roof edges using only their arms if they didn't want to fall and hurt themselves (or worse). One has to be in good physical shape and have a fair amount of coordination to be able to pull off most of those stunts. Plus, if their aim was even the slightest bit off on some of those leaps, they risked serious injury or even death.
Plus - how many times did they rehearse those stunts before putting them on video?

[jeriddian]

They taught Jake Gyllenhall, the star of that Disney pic, "The Prince of Persia," a variation of that skill so he could do seemingly impossible (no pun intended) leaps and bounds.
Actually, what those guys were doing in that video is harder than it appears, because in many instances they were hanging on by only their fingertips, and had to pull their body weight up and over roof edges using only their arms if they didn't want to fall and hurt themselves (or worse). One has to be in good physical shape and have a fair amount of coordination to be able to pull off most of those stunts. Plus, if their aim was even the slightest bit off on some of those leaps, they risked serious injury or even death.
Plus - how many times did they rehearse those stunts before putting them on video?

This was something that was invented in France about ten years ago or so. It's called Parkour. You can also see a very good example of it in the first Danial Craig/James Bond film "Casino Royale" in the first part of the movie.

[TransWarpDrive]

They taught Jake Gyllenhall, the star of that Disney pic, "The Prince of Persia," a variation of that skill so he could do seemingly impossible (no pun intended) leaps and bounds.
Actually, what those guys were doing in that video is harder than it appears, because in many instances they were hanging on by only their fingertips, and had to pull their body weight up and over roof edges using only their arms if they didn't want to fall and hurt themselves (or worse). One has to be in good physical shape and have a fair amount of coordination to be able to pull off most of those stunts. Plus, if their aim was even the slightest bit off on some of those leaps, they risked serious injury or even death.
Plus - how many times did they rehearse those stunts before putting them on video?

This was something that was invented in France about ten years ago or so. It's called Parkour. You can also see a very good example of it in the first Danial Craig/James Bond film "Casino Royale" in the first part of the movie.

"Parkour" - That's what it's called! They mentioned that name during the blurbs on Disney Channel for the "Prince of Persia" movie, but I forgot it. Thanks for reminding us, jeriddian!

[TransWarpDrive]

It is also possible to examine the implications of the powers of Team Go. Others will have seen the comet, but only the people with heroic personalities got heroic powers from it. Does this imply that Go City is filled with latent mutations that could be triggered at any time? What will happen with the next generation?

IIRC, the comet that gave Shego and her siblings their powers actually hit their treehouse - at least that's the impression I got from watching that scene in Go Team Go. So perhaps having a "heroic personality" had nothing to do with it. It's sort of like Superman being exposed to radiation from different colors of kryptonite - each color has its own specific frequency of radiation, which affects him differently from any of the others. But one has to be close enough to the meteorite/comet/rock in order to be affected, and Shego and her sibs were definitely close enough when that comet slammed into the treehouse.