Rufus (Kim Possible)

The Series creators

The character has been called a

Writers Bob Schooley and Mark McCorkle conceived Kim Possible as an animated television series about a teenage girl who can seemingly do anything, and her best friend who struggles to do the same, into which Rufus was incorporated once the show's "basic foundation" was written.^[13] Rufus was conceived at the behest of Disney Channel executives,^[14] who insisted that all children's animated series could benefit from at least one animal sidekick.^[15] The addition of a pet character was among the earliest notes the creators received from the network.^[16] Although Schooley and McCorkle did not mind the note themselves, some staff writers were dismissive towards the suggestion.^[16]

Deciding the show's resident pet should be as unique as possible, Schooley was inspired by his children's fascination with the naked mole-rat exhibit at the Philadelphia Zoo, describing the animals as "ugly, gross, but somehow still cute creatures".^[16] Already weary of constant network edits and suggestions,^[14] the creators allegedly tricked the executives by conceiving Rufus as a naked mole-rat, which in turn forces everyone to say the word "naked" whenever the character's species is mentioned throughout the children's program.^[14][15] The reason for the character's existence being that Ron's father is allergic to animal fur was not conceived until much after Rufus' introduction into the show.^[16] Despite the character's eventual popularity, the writers maintained using him sparingly throughout the series,^[17] in which he is "only peppered in there occasionally" apart from occasional brief gag-orientated episodes focusing on the character.^[18]

Rufus is voiced by American actress

Before deciding on CGI, the filmmakers had also considered depicting Rufus using puppets before ultimately determining that computer animation was "the only way to capture his expressiveness ... We really worked hard with the animators to make him feel real, because we didn’t want a Roger Rabbit situation going on where the world is live-action and then you have this cartoon character. We wanted Rufus to be part of their world and grounded, even though he is expressive, cute and fun."^[30] The visual effects studio Pixomondo was responsible for animating Rufus, a task they found challenging because, according to director Zach Lipovsky, the animals "are pretty disgusting creatures", finding it "hilarious to have one of the grossest animals be the [show and film's] comedic relief."^[30] Because the computer-animated character needed to be more realistic than his cuter, stylized traditionally animated counterpart, the Pixomondo artists worked for several months to determine a suitable "balance between cute and real".^[30]

The character's origins and his relationship with Ron are altered for the film, in which Ron discovers Rufus in a science lab.^[9] Giambrone explained, "Ron knew that that [Rufus] was like a missing part of him ... Then we get to see how they help each other out for the rest of the movie".^[9] The actors did not see Rufus's final design until the character's visual effects were completely rendered, instead looking at either Giambrone's shoulder or a figurine that they found hardly resembled Rufus while filming.^[12] Giambrone was pleased with the character's design upon seeing it for the first time, expounding, "I knew that was exactly what he should look like and it just felt like I was reunited with a buddy, seeing the movie with Rufus in it.”^[12]

Reception and impact