Kim & Ron are volunteering at the Middleton Medical Center as "sunshine spreaders" and Ron is given the task of attempting to cheer up Timothy North, a reclusive cranky old man. Eagerly taking on the challenge, Ron visits North's mansion, where, in the course off helping him, stumbles upon a hidden underground cave and learns North was once a hero named the Fearless Ferret. Ron offers to take on the Ferret mantle for himself and a reluctant North agrees. With Rufus as his sidekick, "Wonder Weasel", Ron manages to stop a pair of carjackers and attract the attention of several bystanders one of which appears to know and hate him.
Kim, meanwhile, worries about Ron and follows him to an old warehouse, where he is set upon by the aforementioned bystander, a skunk themed villain named White Stripe. With Kim's help, Ron overcomes the villain, but his attempts to preserve his identity fail, as she easily recognizes him. Following him back to the Ferret Hole, Kim is soon forced takes him along to investigate a series of robberies of smelly items. While Ron is out on patrol, Kim sits down to watch a new cable channel, TV Trash Heap and learns that "the Fearless Ferret" was just an old TV show and that North really believed it happened. Fearing for Ron's safety, Kim rushes to North's mansion and reveals the truth to him, only to learn Ron was captured while helping an old woman (actually White Stripe in disguise).
Ron & Rufus find themselves tied up atop the Tri-City Convention Center where the smelly villain plans to unleash a stink bomb on the "Ferret Fest" celebration that's going on. Kim & North soon arrive, the actor amazed to see all the tributes to his show, while Kim attempts to stop White Stripe. Unfortunately, she falls prey to the villain's "stink spray" so Ron, using her grappling gun, retrieves the balloon and send it out of the center. After seeing North, Stripe, actually actor Rupert Farnsworth, regains his sanity and they enjoy the appreciative crowd. Kim hugs Ron for saving the day, while the balloon floats away harmlessly, only to explode on a pair of TV Trash Heap execs.
This episode contains examples of:
- Adam Westing: With the man himself.
- Added Alliterative Appeal: A number of examples, most notably "'Fearless Ferret foils fiendish foe'" That's a lot of F's" and The Middleton High sign which reads "Sunshine Spreaders, Super Special Students."
- All Just a Dream: The Batman Cold Open where Ron imagines saving Kim from "brain frost" by performing brain surgery.
- All Up to You: With Kim unconscious, it's up to Ron to save the day, and he does, in Ferret style.
- Batman Parody: The "Fearless Ferret" series is one big Affectionate Parody of Batman, including a faithful reproduction of the opening sequence, the button under the bust activating the poles and many more. Another parallel is that Will Friedle voices both Ron Stoppable (who takes up the Fearless Ferret mantle in this episode) and Terry McGinnis (who takes up the mantle of Batman in Batman Beyond).
- Character Catchphrase: "It's time to ferret out evil!
- Cannot Tell Fiction from Reality: Both Timothy North and Rupert Farnsworth are actors who got so lost in character that they genuinely believed themselves to be a hero and a villain respectively even after their show got cancelled. It takes Kim showing evidence to Mr. North to wake him up from his delusion while Farnworth comes to his senses upon meeting with Mr. North being himself.
- Comically Missing the Point:Ron: Can't I just sit around and, you know, listen to you reminisce about the good old days?North: Eat snowballs.Ron: (to Rufus) Was that something he did in the good old days, or wanted me to do now?
- Dramatic Unmask: Parodied, when Kim just unceremoniously rips Ron's mask off.Ron: That is so not cool to do to a superhero!
- Dumbass Has a Point: Ron comments that he and Kim really shouldn't need community service hours considering how often they save the world.
- Faceship: Like his namesake, Batman, Fearless Ferret has a flying vehicle...which Ron promptly crashes.
- Foreshadowing:
- This is where Ron's crush on Kim is first hinted at with the opening dream sequence of him saving her life and him starring at her after waking up from his dream.
- There were some subtle hints that the Fearless Ferret isn't a real superhero.
- Ron sees a newspaper about the Fearless Ferret, which would give some hint of a superhero having been in Middleton, but the fact that Kim and the people Ron encounters on his first night not recognizing him, save for one certain older gentleman, hints that it's not really the case and that newspaper was a prop.
- The fact that White Stripe owned a collection of Fearless Ferret memorabilia, and that he still has his suit in such a rundown looking apartment, hints that he might have bought them legally and he might not be an actual supervillain.
- The constant acknowledgement of old television shows via TV Trash, while the Fearless Ferret is clearly based on the 60's Batman, suggests a connection.
- The Glomp: Kim gives one to Ron at the end after he saves the day.Kim: Way to go hero!
- Insistent Terminology: The Ferret Hole isn't a cave, it's a hole.
- Over-the-Shoulder Carry: After Kim is knocked out by White Stripe, Ron loades her onto his shoulder and uses her grappling hook to swing to the ground while carrying her over his shoulder.
- Shout-Out:
- Ron paraphrases a quote from the Spider-Man movie with Tobey Maguire: "If somebody told you I was just an ordinary teenage sidekick, somebody lied." Earlier in the episode they reenact the "upside down unmasking" from said film, only without the kissing part.
- Some of the other shows on TV Trash Heap include Laugh Riot & The Mod Quad.
- The scene in the opening, where Ron unscrews people's heads to perform surgery is supposedly taken from The Man with Two Brains.
- At one point, White Stripe smashes a bust of Fearless Ferret with a mallet.
- Thememobile: The Ferret Mobile, natch.
- Wham Shot: Kim Possible learns the true nature of "The Fealess Ferret" when she sees it on a television show revolving around old television shows as an old television show.
- When She Smiles: North has spent the better part of the episode scowling out of bitterness for his lost glory days as the Fearless Ferret (or rather the actor who played him). At some point, Ron gets captured, indirectly leading to North attending a Fearless Ferret convention. After the climax, North is rather elated for the first time as he is surrounded by fans who show their appreciation for the show. Kim comments that Ron sure knows how to cheer people up.
