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Phineas and Ferb


Karen

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I thought that that college episode was where this show'd end. If felt like the perfect way to finish it. 

 

While I did love the show as a kid, I'm glad it's ending officially. I think that with the formulaic nature of it, it relied a lot on it's creativity and sparking your imagination with it's inventions so it wouldn't be another Dora the Explorer, but the later seasons seem to be bringing back a lot of these even if they have no importance, and sometimes they make these epic specials that come out as weak because, really, the show wasn't designed for that. It was designed to be a fun yet mundane adventure in summer. 

 

I actually agree with most of this, but...

 

...Dora the Explorer?

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I watched it on YouTube since it was leaked before. I thought it was a good finale. While the show lasted way longer than it should have, I thought that was a proper way to send off the series. And that last song was just a perfect way to wrap things up. But yeah, as a series, Phineas and Ferb isn't one of my favorite cartoons of the past ten years or anything. It's formulaic plot wore thin on me two seasons in. I do wish more cartoons will learn a thing or two from Phineas and Ferb on it's clever jokes.

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I've probably said this stuff before, but regardless of what it became, Phineas and Ferb is a deeply important show to me. It was the reason I started drawing in the first place, I believe. My love of it introduced me to a lot of different people in 6th Grade, and it's writing was sharp and quite honestly probably formed my sense of humor today. It was such a wholesome show, and being built on the basis of most of the characters not being stupid or jerks (except, y'know, Buford) really did wonders for it, because while it did get to the point where it was too self-aware for it's own good, it never got to the level of poor characterization that features the main characters just being jerks to each other that many other shows engage in when they go too long. 

 

I've also said this before, but the first two or three seasons of P&F are some serious animated genius, and I stand by that. Yeah, "herp it was the same plot over and over again", but that was the genius. Povenmire and Swampy purposely gave themselves a formula and a limit, and they managed to subvert that over and over again every single time in the best of ways because they were blessed with a team of witty writers and great artists. The first good chunk of episodes managed to establish such a great and consistent tone and quality, because they did so much that worked. Those catchy, earwormy songs that just don't leave your head (you're lying if you can't recite at least one verse of "Go Phineas", "Gitchee Gitchee Goo" or "Squirrels In My Pants" from memory alone), characters that were maniacal and crazy, but still down to Earth (Doofenschmirtz is the example I'm speaking about, but Candace, once you learn her justifications for being such an insane chick), the choreography, and that recurring formula and those running gags all made for a really great, funny, and heartwarming show.

 

As that formula hardened into a set of rules each episode needed to follow, the show became more self-aware, but this was a good thing, because the show knew when to subvert it when necessary. "Phineas and Ferb Get Busted" is literally "hey how do we take what we have established and then totally destroy it", and episodes like this were great. But the show was also deeply strong when it followed the formula deeply. In fact, Summer Belongs To You lowkey proooooobably works as a better finale than what we actually got, but more on that later. The show was just deeply inventive, deeply sweet (that song Candace made for her mom man), and as the main cast expanded to include characters like Buford, Baljeet, Jeremy, Vanessa (and for a while, Irving *shudder*), it only got better. Characters got explored, things got deeper, continuity became a major focal point, and everything culminated in that wonderful, wonderful movie (and to an extent, Rollercoaster: The Musical and Boys Interrupted, but again, more on that later). Continuity flourished, the songs were fantastic, the plot was great and put the main characters against walls that pushed them to new places, the morals were incredibly strong, it was hilarious, the action was intense, and the animation was even great. Everything about that movie could be an entirely different essay, so I won't go into that, but believe me when I say that is great animated TV. It is musical, witty, goofy, visual, zany, yet insanely logical and smart. It was just balance, bliss.

 

The movie kind of represents a height that the show would never reach again, though. Near the tail end of Season 3, or perhaps early on in Season 4, the show started to taper off or peter out, I guess. That formula finally started wearing thin, and the characters just weren't strong to save it. We started getting hints at network mandate sell-out stuff, like the Marvel episode, that Africa 2-parter, the Star Wars episode, and the "Summer All Over The World" episode which I never really liked. It just started getting weaker and weaker, and so when i heard that the fourth season would be the last, I was kind of relieved. There wouldn't be a chance for the show to dip any further. I think this was mostly due to the fact that Povenmire and Swampy started having less to do with the series in the last season, for whatever reason. They stopped writing episodes, and later on, songs too (and those suffered too, trust me), and I feel like that had a lot to do with the slight decline.

 

I feel like that slight decline is evident in the finale. It's of course, not bad, but it isn't genius. It's just slightly above average, with a plot I feel should have been done before. Like I said, I personally feel like the show peaked with a handful of episodes: The Christmas Special, Rollercoaster: The Musical, Boys Interrupted, Escape From Phineas Tower, and the movie (that counts right). Those episodes, along with P&F Get Busted and SBTY, represent Phineas and Ferb at it's most creative, it's funniest, most inventive, and sweetest. Last Day of Summer doesn't really have a moral, it's sweet to an extent, and it's not as funny as most of the show's previous output, although it is better than most of the Season 4 episodes I saw. It's inventive, I guess? It's basically Groundhog Day with some quantum theory involved, and it's cool, but it doesn't resonate like any of the previous episodes I mentioned. 

 

Until that final song. "Thank You For Coming Along", while not perfect, is a pretty good summation of the series. Its catchy, it's clever, and it's very sweet. It leans on the fourth wall a little bit, and that actually made me laugh. I still feel that an altered version of the movie or just Summer Belongs To You works as a better finale, and this would've been a better episode to do back in Season 2 or 3, but for what it was, I appreciate it for going out on a rather good note. Phineas and Ferb I feel is why I like music (that Phineas and Ferb album was actually the first physical album I remember every buying), drawing and animation in general, strong writing, character-based stuff, witty jokes and puns, and instilled in me from an early age why it's important to sieze the day, and it has just shaped so much of what I enjoy creatively and I cannot thank it enough for that.

 

Call it vanilla, repetitive, formulaic, annoying, whatever- For a really long time, it was great, and I loved it. And it's gone, now, but it's not about that, it's about the time that it was here, and for what it was, it was a pretty sweet eight years. Half of my life, now that I think about it, but it's made such an impact that I think it'll live on for a lot longer. And that's great. The whole show was like a rollercoaster (for the sake of that metaphor) and I feel like a lot of people would ask if a ride that spent so many times going around the same loop in a slightly different way each time was even a good ride.

 

And, y'know, yes. Yes it was. 

 

the last episode was fr a 7/10 tho

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Hey look at that, someone else who thinks Summer Belongs to You should've been the finale.

 

My problem with the finale was that the show hit such a creative high so early on that this had such a huge hype around to be super extra ultra epic and it... wasn't. It clearly tried but I don't think it worked, and because it tried and didn't work it felt like a letdown. It knew what it needed to be but didn't deliver.

I would've liked it to have ended with everyone being blasted back to the beginning of summer so they could relive it all again however they wanted, but oh well. Glad the songs were good, at least.

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Late here but I don't keep tract of this show anyways anymore so I didn't know this even existed until tonight.

The O.W.C.A. Files ep was good, though it kinda felt it went on and on until the big reveal of the villain. (I agree that the formula with Phineas and Ferb got old towards the end, but in general I've always thought this show had fresh humor.) and I liked how it showed Doof's life as a good guy now. Though it won't be a show anyways, I couldn't really see much fun with Perry's team. Besides of course Doof, Carl, Major Monogram and maybe Perry. Guess I've never been a fan of the animal agents much. The bugs were decent though.

And Bill Dauterive's voice actor. <3

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Holy shit this show is ten years old?

 

I remember for like a 2 month period when I was I want to say 8 I was obsessed with his episode. I had constant recordings of it, watched new episodes on premiere, etc, and I just lost all interest, and before I knew it I just started blindly hating this show. I'm not a fan of it, it's too formulaic to it, but in the beginning I do see the appeal of an older audience. It's a show that has a child-like charm to it, yet it's smartly written. I've heard the show dipped in quality which I think was inevitable because of it's formula, but yeah, it was a smart show, at least in it's earlier episodes.

 

I still need to watch Milo Murphy's Law because I feel like I'd like that a lot better. I love Weird Al, and the show seems less formulaic, which is my biggest criticism for Phineas and Ferb. 

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