Phineas and Ferb: Glory Days Are Here Again

The show was developed by animation veterans Dan Povenmire and Jeff “Swampy” Marsh. The pair met while working on The Simpsons and continued that friendship while working on Joe Murray’s surreal, subversive Rocko’s Modern Life. Povenmire went on to direct numerous episodes of Family Guy and work on many of the most memorable songs in the series; Marsh spent several years in the UK where he worked on the revival of Postman Pat. The pair took roughly 15 years to flesh out the Phineas and Ferb universe, pitching the show to largely unreceptive networks, until Disney finally agreed to order a pilot.

The result hearkens back to the glory days of children’s entertainment when kid-friendly humor could exist side by side with the pranks, in-jokes, and references beloved by animators and storytellers. Phineas and Ferb is a richly textured, beautifully complex stew, probably the most healthy, educational thing a preteen child will see on any given day, and a treat for adult viewers as well.

The happily warped relationships are one of the best parts of the show. Perry’s conflict with Doofenschmirtz often carries the subtext of an actual romance. At one point, Perry walks in on Dr. Doofenschmirtz only to catch him in mid-conflict with another agent, Peter The Panda. Devastated, Perry spirals into despair, quitting his job, neglecting his hygiene, and wallowing in broken-hearted balladry. It all leads to an embarrassing public confrontation on a trash-TV talk show where Doofenschmirtz pleads for forgiveness. “If you take me back, I promise to hurt you in the right way,” he says, “with cartoonish physical violence and elaborate traps made out of strange things I bought over the Internet.” (For the moment let’s not discuss the episode where Doofenschmirtz declares to Perry “I’m just a top and you’re a bottom!”)

The relationship between Perry’s boss, Major Monogram, and Carl the Intern, is likewise fraught with delightfully odd subtext: Carl giving Monogram a massage as payment for losing a bet, as well as a seemingly endless amount of cross dressing and costume play (including an entire series of Village People outfits). Great dynamics abound: Buford the Bully and sweet, sensitive A-student Baljeet; Ferb and Doofenschmirtz’s estranged goth daughter Vanessa; love-struck Candace and her boyfriend Jeremy (and his malevolent four-year-old sister Little Suzy, who sabotages Candace’s romantic overtures and tells Jeremy in baby-talk that Candace’s “violent mood swings are probably a sign of a deeper emotional imbalance . . . Ehaha, bubbles!”).

Kids will love the boys’ adventures and Doofenschmirtz’s misadventures, and when they grow up they’ll get to laugh again at the adult-focused jokes. When the boys’ friend Isabella returns from a trip through history in the (faithfully rendered) George Pal/H. G. Wells time machine, she cheerfully announces, “I brought back a wooly mammoth tusk, a Viking helmet, and smallpox!” After a long, uncomfortable pause, she adds, “. . . and the smallpox vaccine.” Brief “tags” running under the credits are thick with adult humor, such as a bear in the woods deadpanning, “Yes, yes I do.”

Each episode features great pop songs and canny spoofs of artists and genres. Povenmire, Marsh, and their writing staff have a Brill-Building ability to churn out sparkling tunes at will, and to use those songs to heighten the story and give an added dimension to the characters. They’re also brutally funny, such as when Candace’s unfortunate encounter with a pack of squirrels inspires the hip hop classic “S-I-M-P (Squirrels In My Pants).” In one episode, Perry takes a job as a long-haul banana trucker in order to track down Doofenschmirtz, leading to a big rig country ballad worthy of Dave Dudley. The boys’ film-noir spoof of cop shows from many eras leads to a brilliant send up of The Who’s CSI theme music. And the show’s in-house hair-metal heroes “Love Händel” have cornered the market on ’80s ballads gone wonderfully wrong.

In many ways Phineas and Ferb feels like a sort of flip side to [adult swim]’s excellent Venture Bros. Both shows exist in complicated worlds with deep characterizations and pop-encyclopedia references. Both have protagonists pursuing the heights of creative science and adventure and a lot of hero versus villain, er, excuse me, “protagonist/antagonist conflict.” But while Rusty and Jonas and Hank and Dean exist in a decaying space-age world where technology and imagination have collapsed into a permanently-stunted adolescence, there’s nothing but blue sky ahead for Phineas and Ferb. And while Doofenschmirtz eerily recalls The Monarch in posture, voice, intent, and (lack of) competency, he seems positively sweet and innocent by comparison. Thankfully. One shudders to think of the effects of exposure to the Monarch on preteen kids, though Phineas and Ferb will doubtless be a gateway drug to The Venture Bros.‘ darker delights.

Perhaps the best thing of all is that the show is good-natured and totally devoid of cynicism or animosity. Phineas in particular is the show’s upbeat heart—positive without ever being treacly or grating. While Candace may aim to sabotage the boys’ plans, it’s never meanspirited, and when she threatens to “bust them” by revealing their inventions to their mother, Phineas agrees, saying “Yeah, she’d love this!” The underlying messages are simple: imagination and creativity are good. Music is a vital part of life. Great families come in all different kinds. And our differences are essential to making things work.

With Phineas and Ferb‘s ratings topping even Hannah Montana, Disney’s finally realized it has a juggernaut on its hands, unleashing a full-scale merchandising onslaught with everything from action figures to tie-in novels to fruit snacks. It’s a regular bandwagon, and my advice to you is to get on board, because like Pinky and the Brain, Animaniacs, Rocky and Bullwinkle, and the very best Looney Tunes cartoons, Phineas and Ferb is one for the ages.

Phineas and Ferb airs daily on the Disney Channel and Disney XD. Phineas and Ferb’s “Rollercoaster: The Musical” premiered Friday, January 28 on the Disney Channel.

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