BACKGROUND
My childhood television watching can be split into three stages. The first was Cartoon Network; the second was Nickelodeon, where I watched mostly re-runs of Saved by the Bell (1989-93), and Sabrina the Teenage Witch (1996-2003); and the third was Disney Channel, which I started watching when I was about 11 or 12, and then watched pretty much exclusively from the age of 13.
I was there for some of Disney Channel’s best programming, like Lizzie McGuire (2001-04); That’s So Raven (2003-07); and The Suite Life of Zack & Cody (2005-08). From this point, I also found Disney Channel Original Movies. I know I watched a few in the early 2000s, but not many. I’m not actually convinced I watched them on their premiere either. The earliest one I’m fairly sure I watched “live” was Go Figure in 2005.
Go Figure was part of the pre-High School Musical era of Disney Channel. It’s a well-known fact that after High School Musical was released in 2006, Disney Channel began to really focus on their movies, making them higher budget, bigger productions, but that doesn’t mean that the ones that came before weren’t worth seeing.
I loved Go Figure, and I think I can credit it with my love of figure skating. Not actually skating myself, but watching it. Since Go Figure, I’ve seen many films all about figure skating, with Ice Princess (2005); I, Tonya (2017); and Blades of Glory (2007) being my favourites. In another life, I’d like to think I could’ve been a figure skater, or a ballet dancer, or a gymnast. But in this life, I’m too old, not flexible enough, and much too worried about breaking all the bones in my body, or breaking my face.
But Go Figure isn’t just about pretty, little figure skaters. It’s also about a girls’ ice hockey team. Disney had previously made movies like Miracle (2004) and The Mighty Ducks trilogy about hockey teams, but these were not solely for women, with ice hockey primarily being seen as a “man’s sport”. Go Figure explores sexism in sport, showing that just because you’re a girl doesn’t mean you have to “skate around in frilly dresses”. You can compete in a different kind of sport, that requires physical strength as well as intelligence.
I’m not a fan of ice hockey, and wasn’t a sporty person at school, however, I have always liked Go Figure, having seen it many times. Although I like the scenes of figure skating the most, I have always enjoyed the overall message, about teamwork, resilience, and determination in achieving your dreams, whatever they may be.
PLOT
Go Figure begins at a figure skating competition where Katelin Kingsford is competing. She tells the audience she has dreams of being one of the best, with a gold medal and her face on a cereal box. Although Katelin loves her current coaching team, Bob and Ginger, she knows they can’t make her a star. For that, she’ll need a Russian: Natasha Goberman.
In this competition, which Natasha happens to be watching, Katelin does not win and actually falls during her routine. Katelin had hoped for some karma points by giving her “lucky” scrunchie to a younger competitor, choosing to tie her hair up with a rubber band in place of the scrunchie, but the rubber band snaps during one of Katelin’s tricks and that is what caused her to lose balance. But it doesn’t matter, because Natasha saw enough potential in Katelin to talk to her, telling her she wants to train her, to make her a star.
To do that though, Katelin has to go to Buckston Academy, where Natasha trains figure skaters. This is an expensive boarding school, and despite Katelin’s begging and pleading, her parents tell her they cannot afford to send her there. Katelin then asks her brother, Bradley, for his signed hockey puck collection so she can sell them to pay for her tuition, but he angrily tells her to get out, having no respect for Katelin’s dream of being a professional “twirl girl”, the name ice hockey players apparently give to figure skaters.
Katelin tells Natasha she can’t afford to train at Buckston, which is disappointing to Natasha who really wants to coach Katelin, but without a scholarship, there is no chance – and Buckston doesn’t have a scholarship for figure skating. No problem, because Natasha has an idea. She goes to the girls’ hockey team coach, Coach Reynolds, and says if he lets Katelin take his final scholarship spot, then he can take Natasha out on a date. Coach Reynolds doesn’t think it’s a good idea since Katelin doesn’t have any experience of playing ice hockey, but he agrees anyway. The man is weak to Natasha’s charms…Katelin is ecstatic to be going to Buckston Academy, but Bradley, a real hockey player, is furious that Katelin can get a scholarship for “his” sport without even knowing how to play. Bradley then gives up hockey and instead starts building robots with one of his friends.
Meanwhile, at school, Katelin is immediately thrown into hockey training and it’s quite clear to the other coaching staff, and the rest of the team, that something is not right here. Katelin is small, weak, and lacks any balance or speed on the ice; she’ll make this team a disaster. Coach Reynolds tries to convince the others that Katelin is their “secret weapon”. Yeah, they’re not buying it! Katelin finds her new roommate is one of her fellow hockey players, Amy Henderson, but everyone calls her Hollywood. The team captain, Ronnie, and another player, Mojo, come in to their room, saying how the team is unlikely to be winning anything this season yet again. Katelin starts to unpack her stuff, but soon learns that the hockey girls hate “twirl girls”, so she hides her figure skating gear in the janitor’s closet and pretends to be somewhere else when she is out at figure skating training. Katelin finds her new school schedule of regular classes, hockey training, and figure skating coaching to be a difficult balance. She isn’t doing well in her classes; the hockey girls don’t like her; and the figure skating girls see her as major competition since it’s obvious to them she is Natasha’s new favourite, this season’s “Sputnik” as Natasha likes to call her.
During the first hockey game of the season, Katelin hopes she’ll remain on the bench because she’s not very good so there’s no point making her play, something Coach Reynolds agrees with. Natasha also doesn’t want her to get injured. However, one of the other coaches, Spencer, reminds Coach Reynolds that Katelin is a scholarship student so she has to play. Spencer does this in the hopes that Katelin will quit the team. Sure enough, Katelin does not do well on the ice, letting Captain Ronnie get pulled to the ground by the opposition team. Ronnie is fuming and goes to fight her. The rest of the team pull her off Katelin, however, Hollywood storms into their room later, telling Katelin she got off easy, considering what Ronnie should’ve done to her would’ve been a lot worse. Hollywood then knocks over a cup of juice on the floor and says she needs to get a mop. Knowing all her figure skating stuff is in the janitor’s closet, Katelin quickly says she’ll go instead. But she must’ve taken too long because Hollywood comes into the closet and sees all of Katelin’s figure skating gear. Hollywood says she knew it all along, but promises to keep it secret.
The hockey girls, apart from Hollywood, continue to view Katelin with scepticism. The only good thing to come from hockey is that Spencer has stopped bothering her after Katelin made a deal with him whilst doing solo training that if she can get the puck past him, he won’t talk to her again. She manages to do so by using one of figure skating tricks to jump over him. Spencer is impressed. However, the figure skating girls are still an issue. Pamela, seeing Katelin getting private coaching with Natasha, wants to ruin all Katelin’s chances of being better than her, so Pamela invites Katelin to a party. Katelin has training at 9pm on Saturday nights but she turns up for a little while. On her arrival, Katelin is asked to go to the supply closet to get more cups. When she gets in there, Katelin picks up the cups, only for purple paint to spill all over her. Pamela then locks her in the closet. At 9:45pm, the janitor opens up the closet, freeing Katelin. Knowing she’s late, Katelin rushes over to see Natasha and is devastated to find Pamela has taken her spot – and what’s worse is that gold medallist figure skater Kristi Yamaguchi is there. Natasha tells Katelin she brought Kristi here as a reward for Katelin’s hard work, but tells Katelin she obviously doesn’t care enough about skating to show up on time, and sends her away. Katelin sadly sits in the stands watching over Pamela’s session with Kristi as she tries to get the paint off her. Just before Kristi leaves, she has a conversation with Katelin, telling her that Natasha thinks she will go far, something that Natasha doesn’t just say about anyone, but that Katelin needs to decide if she wants to put the extra effort in to make it.
After all this, plus her failing school grades, and her struggles with hockey, one night Katelin gets on a bus and goes home, telling her parents she has quit. At home, Katelin is horrified to find that her mother expected her to quit and that her bed has even been moved out of her room while her mother starts up an online business. Katelin then sees a box with her plushies in there labelled as junk. Katelin carries the box outside and sits on a street bench. Inside, Katelin discovers old medals and photos of her mother, showing that her mother was a brilliant figure skater years ago. Katelin’s mother sits beside her and says how her weak ankles stopped her going far, and that she decided having a family was more important than figure skating. This gives Katelin a renewed energy to achieve the dream her mother couldn’t. She decides she’s going back to Buckston.
Back at school, Katelin puts all her effort in to every aspect of her school experience: classes, hockey, and figure skating. She starts to excel in all areas, and even manages to help the hockey team win their first game of the season. Apparently, the girls’ hockey team hadn’t won a game in three years… That’s a terrible statistic. Katelin motivates the others to aim for the championship win, and starts to help them, by giving them ballet lessons to improve their balance and agility; coming up with tactical ideas using geometry, something Bradley told her about before even getting to Buckston; and by using “colourology”, finding the girls’ power colours, to help them mentally. The team keep on winning.
Within figure skating, Katelin still struggles with competitive girls, but one of them, Shelby, is having a hard time trying to keep up with the younger girls. Katelin goes for a walk with Shelby and tells her that there’s more to life than figure skating, so if she no longer loves doing it, then perhaps it’s time to find something else.
The girls’ hockey team wins their next game and gets to the Championship game; however, Katelin finds that it is on the exact same day as the Senior Nationals for her skating. Hollywood and Natasha try to convince Katelin to choose the Nationals over the Championships, since the team could win without her, but it’s up to her and her alone to compete in Nationals. Katelin doesn’t know what to do, and her parents won’t decide for her. As she ponders what to do, Katelin sees one of her mother’s old skating costumes online and decides to buy it.
On the day of the Championships, Spencer, who has remained fascinated by Katelin’s skills on the ice, is shocked to find Katelin at the hockey game, having worked out that she is a figure skater a few weeks ago and wanting her to go to the Nationals competition instead, because that is where they select the Olympic Team. Katelin ignores everyone trying to tell her she shouldn’t be there and focuses on winning this game. It’s not looking good though as the team are already three goals behind. Katelin gives the team a pep talk during half-time and the team go back out with some motivation to win. They try their best but unfortunately, they do not win. Great, Katelin gave up Nationals for nothing.
Except Spencer answered Katelin’s phone during the game. It was a call from Bradley saying he was going to delay the competition. After hearing his mother say that both him and his sister can be good hockey players, he realises he was being silly giving up hockey and choosing robotics instead. So, Bradley uses his robot to delay the competition, letting the stewards run all over the ice trying to stop it. Eventually, the Zamboni is brought out and it crushes it. But the delay was enough, because Spencer has packed all Katelin’s figure skating belongings and told Katelin they can make it if they go right now.
The hockey girls discover Katelin is a “twirl girl” after her stuff spills out in the hurry to leave, but she rushes off without explaining. In the car, Katelin gets herself together, with Spencer telling her that Pamela destroyed all Katelin’s costumes so he had to grab the one that was in the box. This turns out to be a good move because that costume is her mother’s old one that she ordered. Disaster strikes soon after though as Katelin realises she only has one of her skates. Katelin tells Natasha, who plans to steal a pair from another girl, but Katelin tells her not to do that. Katelin chooses to skate in her hockey boots – which are apparently very different to figure skates, as hockey ones do not have a toe pick.
Katelin begins her routine – and promptly falls down since those skates were not suitable. The hockey girls rush to the ice at that point with her other skate, but it’s too late. The competition has ended and the judges are tallying their final scores. Natasha tries to convince the judges to let her skate again, but they will not. Ronnie then begins a chant of “Let her skate”, which is picked up by the hockey team, then Katelin’s parents, then Natasha, and then the crowd. The noise is overwhelming and the judges allow Katelin another try.
Katelin changes into her proper skates and begins. Her routine is amazing, almost flawless, and the girls rush onto the ice to lift her up in celebration. The judges then name the skaters who made it into the Olympic Team… Katelin’s name is there! All that hard work paid off. Katelin is on her way to getting her face on that cereal box. What a dream…
CHARACTERS & CAST
Katelin Kingsford is a hard worker, wanting to be the best figure skater in the world. She dreams of winning a gold medal. Thankfully, Katelin is spotted by a great coach who wants to get her to the Olympics and hopefully to winning that medal. But the only way to do that is to play ice hockey, something Katelin has never played and isn’t exactly a sport she’s built for. Although Katelin has her struggles at Buckston, finding it wasn’t as easy as she’d hoped, she pushes herself to be the best in all areas. In the end, Katelin finds that she likes the camaraderie of being in a team, whereas with her skating, Katelin has only herself to rely on and has to do that with all the bitchiness of the jealous competitors. Having friends is a new concept for Katelin. Katelin does get the opportunity to fight for that gold medal and the best part is she gets to have her team around her, supporting her all the way.
Jordan Hinson was cast as Katelin. Hinson went on to be cast as Zoe Carter in Eureka (2006-12) and appear as Roxy Daly in the ABC series Kevin from Work (2015). She also wrote and starred in Breaking & Exiting (2018). Apparently, Hinson could not skate prior to her casting in Go Figure, so she had to spend time training. However, Hinson did not do all the skating in the film herself and had skating doubles, which are very obvious at times. One of these was Stephanie Rosenthal, who went on to have a breakout competition at the 2006 Nationals. Another was BreAnn Brown who went on to portray Tinker Bell in Disney on Ice around 2010, with Brown crediting her performance in Go Figure as being a factor in getting her an audition with Disney on Ice[1].
Katelin is pushed hard by her coach, Natasha Goberman. Natasha comes across as being very strict and harsh, coaching Katelin late into that night because her schedule is so full with all that hockey training. Natasha is disappointed with Katelin after she doesn’t show up to her 9pm training because, you know, she was trapped in a closet, so missed the opportunity to train with Kristi Yamaguchi. Natasha did tell Kristi that Katelin was going to be one of the best though, so she has seen the drive and talent in Katelin to believe she’ll achieve. It’s clear from the moment when Katelin gets on to the Olympic team that Natasha is incredibly proud and glad to be on this journey with Katelin.
Natasha Goberman was played by Cristine Rose. Rose is perhaps best known for her role as Angela Petrelli in Heroes (2006-10) and its spin-offs, as well as for her recurring role as Virginia Mosby in How I Met Your Mother (2005-14).
Then, there is Katelin’s primary competition in the figure skating team at Buckston Academy, Pamela. She wants nothing more than to either get Katelin to leave the school, or get her to fall out of favour with Natasha. Pamela’s dirtiest trick is to lock Katelin in a closet and take her place at training with Natasha that evening. Pamela doesn’t actually do all that much after that. I guess she realises that Katelin’s newfound positive attitude after she almost quit is too difficult to try and break down. Pamela appears at the Nationals competition and tries to get the judges to not let Katelin skate, but she is thwarted by Katelin’s hockey teammate, Mojo, who spills marbles all over the floor, tripping Pamela and embarrassing her so much that she leaves. Pamela did not get a place on the Olympic team either, just to make it even worse for her.
Brittany Curran was cast as Pamela. Around the same time as Go Figure, Curran appeared in the recurring role of Chelsea in the Disney Channel series The Suite Life of Zack & Cody (2005-08). She went on to be cast as Lucy Tranelli in the series Men of a Certain Age (2009-11). Curran later was cast as Fen in the Syfy series The Magicians (2015-20), and as Katie Nolan in Chicago Fire (2012-present).
For Katelin’s hockey teammates, three of them are the most important to the story. One is Hollywood, Katelin’s roommate as well as teammate. Hollywood is the first one to discover that Katelin is a figure skater, and, although she finds it funny, she isn’t overly surprised and doesn’t decide to tell any of the other hockey players, who wouldn’t have been as understanding. Ronnie, for example, wouldn’t have been very understanding, at least not at the start of Katelin’s time on their team. Ronnie doesn’t think much of Katelin as a hockey player, and, when she tries to give Katelin a chance to prove herself during a game, Katelin doesn’t do what was asked of her and causes Ronnie to be blocked and fall on the ice. This makes Ronnie angry and it takes a while for Katelin to win her trust again. She eventually does so when Katelin helps the team get to the Championships and she thanks Katelin for all her hard work in getting them that far. Then, there is Mary Johnson, also known as Mojo, because she believes in magic, holistic treatments, that sort of thing, and thinks they can help the team win. I’m not sure Mojo’s lucky powder had much to do with it.
Whitney Sloan was cast as Hollywood. Sloan went on to star in stage musicals like West Side Story and Fiddler on the Roof. Ronnie was played by Amy Halloran, who went on to star as Heather Posen in the series Unleashed (2011). Mojo was played by Tania Gunadi, who was cast as Cindy in the DCOM Pixel Perfect (2004) prior to Go Figure. Gunadi went on to be cast as Emma Lau in Aaron Stone (2009-10) and voiced Miko Nakadai in the animated series Transformers: Prime (2010-13).
Then there is Spencer, a member of the hockey team’s coaching staff, but also a student at Buckston Academy. Spencer is very sceptical of Katelin’s scholarship to the hockey team and he suspects there is something not right there. Spencer learns that Coach Reynolds agreed to Katelin being on the team only because Natasha agreed to go to dinner with him if he did. Spencer then uses this to, surprisingly, blackmail Coach Reynolds in to letting Katelin play in one of their games. This is after Spencer has been impressed with Katelin’s dedication to the hockey team and seen her incredible improvement in the sport. Spencer seems to be obsessed with Katelin and how she is managing to balance her busy schedule because he follows her – not creepy at all – and sees her skating at one point, so he knows all about her figure skating. This means that Katelin has someone else on her side for when she has to make the quick exit from the Hockey Championships to the Nationals. There is also a blossoming romance between Katelin and Spencer, but it’s a bit awkward with their age gap and lack of chemistry, to be honest…
Jake Abel was cast as Spencer. He went on to be cast as Luke Castella in Percy Jackson & the Olympians: The Lightning Thief (2010), reprising the role in Percy Jackson: Sea of Monsters (2013). More recently, Abel appeared as Sasha Harrison in Season 1 of Netflix’s Another Life (2019-21), and as Kevin Golden in Season 3 of Walker (2021-24).
Finally, we have Katelin’s family. Her brother, Bradley, is having a difficult time adjusting to the fact that his sister is, all of a sudden, a brilliant hockey player, making his success in hockey pale in comparison. Because of that, he feels he has to quit hockey and find something else. His father, Ed, doesn’t seem to notice any of this, choosing to spend much of the movie either watching TV or betting on his daughter about whether she’ll quit school or go to the Hockey Championships, but his mother, Linda, does. She tells Bradley that he doesn’t need to give up hockey just because Katelin is playing it.
Katelyn’s parents, Ed and Linda, were played by Jodi Russell and Curt Doussett. Bradley was played by Ryan Malgarini who was cast as Harry Coleman in Disney’s Freaky Friday (2003) alongside Lindsey Lohan and Jamie Lee Curtis. He is set to reprise this role in the upcoming sequel Freakier Friday (2025). Malgarini also appeared in a couple of television series, including as Tom Brooks in the sitcom Gary Unmarried (2008-10), for which he won a Young Artist Award in the Supporting Young Actor category.
MUSIC
There is a mix of music within Go Figure, with these being mostly either pop music or classical music, with the classical music featuring during the figure skating scenes, and the pop numbers being used during montages or as background music.
I’ll start with the music that is used for the montages as these were the most obvious and recognisable. Two of these come during the “emotional peak” of Katelin’s journey at Buckston Academy. The first is “Crash Goes My World”, performed by Cadence Grace, which is played at the point that Katelin is feeling really low, failing her classes, still struggling with hockey, and trying to regain Natasha’s trust. Katelin quits school and goes home.
But whilst at home, she has a conversation with her mother which motivates her to be successful at Buckston Academy, so she does just that. Katelin focuses on her classes, figures out how to be a great hockey player, and proves to Natasha that she will be one of the best figure skaters she’s ever coached. During this montage, “I Want Everything”, written by Antonina Armato and Tim James, and performed by Hope 7, is played. This is my favourite song in the movie.
Just a little bit later, there is another montage of Katelin helping the hockey team do well and progress through their matches. Here, “Greatest Day”, written by Jaret Reddick and performed by Bowling for Soup, is used.
The only other piece of prominent pop music within Go Figure is the song “Go Figure”. It was written by Andy Dodd and Adam Watts, and is performed by Everlife. The song first appears as background music just before the first hockey game of the season, but it is used as the End Credits song and as the title song of the movie. This is the only piece of music that is credited.
Outside of that, the other songs to appear in Go Figure are mostly just used as background music. For example, you can hear “She Said” at the point that Katelin is in the school cafeteria and Pamela invites her to a party. This song was written by David Frank, Lindy Robbins, and Pam Sheyne, and performed by Brie Larson – yes, as in the Brie Larson who is Captain Marvel; I didn’t know she was a singer. The first and only song we hear at this party is “Anthem” by Superchick. Following on from that, there is the music playing at the hockey team’s victory party. A sort of techno instrumental piece is heard first, before “Life is Beautiful”, performed by Raven-Symoné, is requested by Ronnie as the next song.
Then, there are two songs that you probably wouldn’t be able to hear unless you were looking for them, because these are both played during conversations between the characters. When Katelin asks her brother to give her his signed hockey puck collection to sell for her school tuition, “Life is Good” by Junk can be heard. Later, as Hollywood confronts Katelin about her failure during the hockey match that day, where Ronnie ended up being tackled to the ground because Katelin didn’t do what was asked for her, “I Can Do Anything” is played. This song was written by Bridget Benenate and Matthew Gerrard, and was performed by Caleigh Peters.
All nine of these tracks appear on the Go Figure official soundtrack, which was released in June 2005.
Outside of this soundtrack, I am less confident about the rest of the music that is used in Go Figure. After the first training session for Katelin with the hockey team, Ronnie turns on the stereo and a rap song is playing. Despite numerous attempts to find this song, I can’t figure out what it is. As Katelin meets Hollywood and moves into her new room, some background music is playing, but I can’t hear any lyrics, and again, can’t work out if this is part of the score for Go Figure or is a specific track. I had a similar problem with the other song that I haven’t been able to place. This song comes as Katelin walks past Spencer and his band performing one night. I can hear the song and its lyrics clearly, but I haven’t been able to work out if this is a real track or whether this song was created for the film.
I had more success with the classical music pieces that are played during some of the figure skating scenes. For example, the music that is used for Katelin’s first Skate Club, as the group warm up, seems to be an extract from Mozart’s Symphony No. 40 in G Minor, K. 550. Then, during the scene of Kristi Yamaguchi coaching Pamela, Scherzo from Mendelssohn’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream seems to have been used. Finally, for Katelin’s final routine which she performs at the Senior Nationals, she begins her routine to a section of Summer from Vivaldi’s The Four Seasons. Her music then turns more contemporary but I don’t know what the other two pieces of music are, unfortunately, or whether they were part of the overall score.
The score for Go Figure was composed by Kenneth Burgomaster, who has composed the score for other Disney Channel projects, including the movies Halloweentown High (2004), Cow Belles (2006) and Return to Halloweentown (2006), and Season 2 of the series Phil of the Future (2004-06).
PRODUCTION
Disney Channel has always liked to make movies based on sports because it is a shared experience. Everyone has had to play sports at some point in their life. Even if they absolutely despised it. Schools seem to think it’s a good idea to enforce it as part of their curriculum. Mean.
Go Figure is just one in a list of sports-themed DCOMs, but here, they decided to showcase two sports, both of which were popular back in the 2000s. Ice hockey has continued to be listed in the Top 5 sports in the United States in terms of viewership, reportedly being the fourth most popular sport in the world too[2].
Figure skating used to be incredibly popular in the US, especially in the 1990s, but something changed in the early 2000s. Back in the day, the names Tonya Harding, Michelle Kwan, and Kristi Yamaguchi were easily recognised. Let’s also not forget the infamous “incident” between Tonya Harding and Nancy Kerrigan in January 1994 – further immortalised in the movie I, Tonya (2017) starring Margot Robbie – which led to many viewers worldwide tuning in to watch the two go head-to-head at the 1994 Winter Olympics in Lillehammer, Norway, to the point where it became one of the most-watched sports events of 1994, reaching 48.5 million viewers on just the one day of the women’s figure skating short program. Two decades later, the total 11 days of the Olympics figure skating competition in Sochi got less than half of that, reaching 21.4 million viewers[3].
Some speculate that the reason for this is that advancement in skates have led to even quadruple jumps, not just triples, being more common in competition, making nothing seem particularly difficult anymore. There was also the judging scandal of 2002 at the Olympics in Salt Lake City that led to a new, some say complicated, scoring system[4].
Scores used to be awarded in two categories: technical merit and artistic presentation, with both being given a maximum 6.0 score. However, when skaters are close in scores, the judges would rank these skaters against each other, with little to no criteria needing to be met to reach this decision, so it was very subjective. In the case of 2002, the competition was between the Russian pairs team and the Canadian pairs team. Although Russia is well-known for their figure skating history, winning numerous gold medals over the decades, the Canadian pairs team of Jamie Salé and David Pelletier were confident. It was almost a home Olympics for them, and they were going to be skating to the theme from the movie Love Story (1970), an American favourite.
During the free skate competition, the Russian team made a few errors, whereas the Canadians responded with a practically flawless routine, although it was less technically difficult than that of the Russians. Still, many in the Canadian camp believed they’d done enough to seal the gold medal. In actual fact, they had not, with the majority of the judges ranking Canada behind Russia, handing the gold to them, and the silver to Canada. This led to claims that the judging was rigged, specifically that one judge had been pressured to vote a certain way. An investigation into the judging panel was launched and a media frenzy erupted. There was a supposed quid pro quo between France and Russia, stating that if the French judge voted in favour of Russia in the pairs figure skating, then the Russian judge would do the same for France in the ice dancing competition. In the end, the French judge was suspended, and Salé and Pelletier were given the gold medal, shared with the Russian pairs team of Anton Sikharulidze and Elena Berezhnaya. Those at the centre of the scandal deny involvement in the fixing[5].
The claims of rigged voting are believed to have tarnished the sport of figure skating forever, in North America in particular. Even with the overhaul of the scoring system, figure skating’s popularity has not bounced back. This might explain why there are fewer screen stories about figure skating nowadays. There was that Netflix series Spinning Out (2020) but that was cancelled after only one series, and obviously we had I, Tonya (2017) but that was a fictionalised account of a well-known figure skating incident from the 1990s. Sadly, in the UK, figure skating has not been incredibly popular since the 1980s when we had Olympics success with Torvill and Dean. We have a competition show with celebrities called Dancing on Ice (2006-present), with Torvill and Dean as coaches and now judges, but that’s got very samey in the last few years. It’s not even close to figure skating either. You mostly just wonder how long it’ll be until someone gets injured, slices their partner’s skin with their blade, or smashes their face on the ice. Not exactly carefree Sunday night entertainment.
Anyway, back to Disney Channel’s Go Figure. The movie was written by Patrick J. Clifton and Beth Rigazio. They had initially tried to sell their Go Figure script to be made as a feature film, however, this was around the same time that Ice Princess was being developed by Disney, so Go Figure as it was didn’t go ahead. Instead, the writers turned it into a kids’ movie and met with Sheri Singer, the producer of Disney Channel’s Halloweentown movies. Singer said she wanted to produce Go Figure for Disney Channel. Francine McDougall came on as the director. McDougall went on to direct the DCOM Cow Belles (2006). Clifton and Rigazio had such a happy time working on Go Figure that when Singer approached them with the novel How My Private, Personal Journal Become A Bestseller, written by Julia DeVillers, they went ahead and adapted it to become the DCOM Read It and Weep (2006)[6].
Go Figure was filmed in Salt Lake City in Utah, as so many other DCOMs have been, such as Read It and Weep; Minutemen (2008); and the High School Musical trilogy. Much like these other DCOMs, a school was used as the filming location for the fictional school within these films. In the case of Go Figure, Westminster College is the real-life school that became Buckston Academy in the movie[7].
Go Figure is not an action-packed movie; however, it is not a normal school drama either, with shots of mostly sitting in class, walking through the halls, or going to a school dance. Here, although doubles were used in some instances, the actors did have to train in ice hockey and figure skating. I’ve already mentioned that Jordan Hinson, who played Katelin, didn’t know how to figure skate prior to her casting in the movie, and since Katelin spends much of her time on the ice in this movie, she had to train. But the hockey players also had train. Before filming, the actors spent two weeks practising with a real girls’ hockey team, being taught the basics of skating, shooting, and stopping to make the hockey matches seem as realistic as possible[8].
RECEPTION
In March 2005, Walt Disney Pictures theatrically released a new live-action movie, Ice Princess, which was about a physics whizz using figure skating to help her college application, before deciding to become a full-time, professional figure skater, going against the wishes of her mother. Ice Princess received mixed reviews and was a box-office flop, however, in the years since, it still has its fans.
So, it is curious that Disney Channel would be competing with the main Disney theatrical division by creating Go Figure, another movie about a young figure skater, and releasing it just three months later. Go Figure premiered on Disney Channel in the US on 10th June 2005. Like Ice Princess, Go Figure received mixed reviews, but it escaped financial scrutiny due to its television movie status.
However, it did not escape all criticism. In Go Figure, the biggest inaccuracy is around the fact that the audience is told Katelin Kingsford is one of few competitors her age who can successfully execute and land triple jumps. Viewers who have knowledge of figure skating claim there are no triple jumps in any of Katelin’s routines in the movie. I’m not one of these people with knowledge so I’ve had to take their word for it. I do know that a figure skating competition consists of a long program and a short program though. Go Figure instead tells us that the Nationals consist of a single program. Nationals would’ve been a multi-day event, not just the one day. But had it been more than one day, then the whole dilemma over whether Katelin should attend the Hockey Championships or the Nationals would not have as much jeopardy attached to it.
Go Figure might’ve gone some way in inspiring would-be figure skaters to come into the sport, however, it seems to have just annoyed any actual figure skaters. Further negative comments for Go Figure surround the character of Katelin. She isn’t the most likeable main character of a DCOM, being quite bratty and selfish at times, especially when it comes to conversations with her brother and her parents, wanting them to always go along with what she thinks is best for her life. Katelin is also quite pouty when she doesn’t get her way in the early parts of the movie. I should also mention that some of Katelin’s more dramatic moments in Go Figure are not well acted. If you’ve seen the movie, you’ll know what I’m talking about. But to give Katelin some credit, she becomes more likeable by the end of the film, as she realises that she has to work hard to get where she wants in life; she can’t just have it handed to her on a plate. There are also apparently incorrect portrayals of the rules of ice hockey in Go Figure, but I wouldn’t know anything about that either.
On the more positive side, other viewers said this was an enjoyable movie, especially for kids and fans of figure skating, probably more fans like me that enjoy watching the grace and elegance of figure skating rather than the skaters themselves who’d be able to pick out inaccuracies. Some also said they liked the fact Katelin had to make a choice between whether to go to her figure skating competition, or go to the hockey final. To further comment on this point, I think Go Figure goes some way in showing that women don’t have to just do the “girly” sports; they can be tough on the ice rink instead of dancing around it in dresses with sunshine smiles frozen on their faces.
Although Disney Channel Original Movies, in their most known form, have been developed since 1997, with the first “official” DCOM Under Wraps, they would not properly come into their own until High School Musical premiered in January 2006. The DCOMs that came before have struggled to become part of mainstream popularity, with few exceptions. Go Figure was not one of these exceptions, reportedly reaching around 3.5 million viewers on its premiere date. This is fairly standard for the DCOMs of this decade. DCOMs were not as high budget, or high value, productions at this time, so needed something big to really market them, like an established actor fronting the project. That did not happen with Go Figure, so it has mostly faded into the background.
One accolade Go Figure does have, though, is that it was nominated in the Best Family Television Movie or Special category at the Young Artist Awards in 2006. It did, however, lose out to Hallmark’s Christmas movie Silver Bells (2005).
LEGACY
What happened next for Go Figure? It was set up for us to see how Katelin got on at the Olympics. I for one would’ve quite liked to see this as a sequel.
And yet, no sequel was ever made. Although Disney Channel have made a few sequels to certain movies, these are normally sequels to already popular movies. Go Figure didn’t have extraordinary viewing figures, so spending further time and money on a sequel wouldn’t have made good business sense. I just would’ve quite liked to see it.
However, Go Figure has since been included on lists of good skating movies to watch[9]. Although the heyday of figure skating seems to have been and gone – at least for now – ice hockey continues to be a popular sport in North America, making this a feature within other Disney Channel movies. Two of these include Den Brother (2010) and The Swap (2016). But these are both male characters playing ice hockey, not girls, so Go Figure has them beat in that respect.
FINAL THOUGHTS
Go Figure is a sports-themed DCOM that managed to showcase two entirely different sports: figure skating and ice hockey, with the first primarily being seen as more fitting for girls, and the latter only for boys. Go Figure tries to change all that, in the same way that Eddie’s Million Dollar Cook-Off (2003) told viewers that girls can play baseball and boys can cook. Go Figure shows girls there are no limitations on what you can or should do.
Although I have always liked Go Figure, I should admit that if I could only ever watch one figure skating movie ever again, I’ll choose Blades of Glory (2007) every time. Both have their merits, but only one can make me laugh out loud.
REFERENCES
[1] Credit: Amanda Mears, ‘Fairy tale: Utahn BreAnn Brown portrays Tinker Bell in Disney on Ice’, Deseret.com, 9th March 2010.
[2] Credit: Rowan Bissett, ‘The puck drops on the 2025 NHL hockey season on October 8’, AthensOracle.com, 17th October 2024.
[3] Credit: Ahiza Garcia, ‘U.S. figure skating used to be wildly popular. What happened?’, Money.CNN.com, 13th February 2018.
[4] Credit: Gitanjali Poonia, ‘America were obsessed with figure skating in the ‘90s. Why aren’t we as enthralled anymore?’, Deseret.com, 4th February 2022.
[5] Credit: Netflix, Bad Sport (2021) Episode 4: “Gold War”.
[6] Credit: Jean Bentley, ‘What’s It Like to Write a Disney Channel Original Movie? The Duo Behind Read It and Weep Reveals All’, EOnline.com, 23rd June 2016.
[7] Credit: Jennifer Guzman, ‘Got Disney+? Keep an eye out for these movies filmed in Utah’, KSL.com, 12th November 2019.
[8] Credit: Disney, ‘Go Figure DCOM Extras Commercial’, Promo Central YouTube Channel, 5th June 2020.
[9] Credit: Amanda Bruce & Danielle Bruncati, ’10 Best Skating Movies’, ScreenRant.com, 13th January 2024.
The Disney Purist 