“Phineas and Ferb – Time Shift” hints at a fun new direction for this animated series

Jim Hill

13 years ago

Back during the Summer of 2008, I got the chance to chat
with Dan Povenmire & Jeff "Swampy" Marsh about their then-still new
animated series, "Phineas and Ferb." And as I was closing out our interview, before I turned off my digital recorder, I
asked these very funny & talented men two quick questions:

Dan Povenmire and Jeff "Swampy"
Marsh. Photo by
Rick Rowell. Copyright Disney Enterprises, Inc.
All rights
reserved

JIM: The "Phineas & Ferb" theme song says that " … there's 104 days of
summer vacation." So is that your long-term goal here? To get 104 episodes of
this show made?

DAN: Boy, that's be great if that actually happened. One
episode for every single day of summer vacation. But not many animated series actually
make it to a hundred episodes.

JIM: But what happens if "Phineas & Ferb" turns out to
be such a big hit that the Disney Channel then wants more than 104 episodes?

JEFF: (laughing) That would be a very nice problem to have.
But there's always Christmas vacation …

DAN: And Easter vacation …

JEFF: And three days weekends like Presidents Day …

DAN: And Martin Luther King Day …

Fans of "Phineas and Ferb" turned out in force back in
August of last year to meet the
cast of this Disney Channel & Disney XD
series at the first-ever PaleyFest Family at
The Paley Center for Media. Photo
by Rick Rowell. Copyright Disney
Enterprises, Inc. All rights reserved

So here we are, almost four years later. And as it turned
out, "Phineas and Ferb" did in fact become a monster hit. So much so that this Emmy
Award-winning TV is now the No. 1 animated series among kids 6 – 11 and tweens
9 – 14.

And given that there have been – to date – 143 episodes of "Phineas
and Ferb" produced, Povenmire & Marsh did have to do just what they
predicted back in 2008. Which was pad out this TV show's list of potential story
ideas by doing special holiday-themed episodes (EX: "Phineas and Ferb Christmas
Vacation" in December of 2009) and/or exploring other school-free times of year
(i.e. the family vacation that the stepbrothers went on during their July 2011
episode, "Roadtrip").

But since the Disney Channel & Disney XD recently
renewed "Phineas and Ferb" for a fourth season (not to mention that "Phineas
and Ferb" feature film which Walt Disney Pictures will be releasing to theaters
on July 26, 2013), Dan, Swampy and their
story team are going to have get even more creative when it comes to coming up
with additional story ideas for this on-going animated series.

Which brings us to
the "Phineas and Ferb – Time Shift Weekend" event, which is wrapping up tonight
on Disney XD. These four episodes put a fun new spin on the "Phineas and Ferb"
formula. In that they take these characters out of their familiar contemporary
Danville setting and then drop them in different eras of history.

Take – for example -"Doof Dynasty," an animated adventure
which is set in ancient feudal China. After Phineas and Ferb witness Princess
Isabella being kidnapped, the stepbrothers decide that they must climb the Unclimbable
Mountain of Unclimbableness in order to meet with Master Perry. With the hope
that this long retired Kung Fu master will then teach them the Ways of the Platypus.
Which holds the key to defeating the evil Doofus Khan.

Or – better yet – "Tri-Stone Area." Where in the
year 27,000 B.C., Phinebunk and Gerb (i.e. the caveman versions of Phineas and
Ferb) are going through their stone-age era blueprints in the backyard and
decide that it's time that they invented the wheel. Meanwhile Doofengung (i.e.
the Neanderthal version of Dr. Doofenshmirtz) is upset that his brother Roger
is far more evolved than he is. Which why this prehistoric villain decides to
invent his first intator, the stick-inator. Which is basically a sharp stick
that Doofengung has tied to another stick. Which this cranky caveman plans on
using to poke a mammoth, with the hope that this hairy beast will then go
trample Roger's village.

But perhaps the best of the "Phineas and Ferb – Time Shift
Weekend" episodes is "Excaliferb." Which is this epic fantasy
adventure set in medieval times, where would-be wizards Phineas and Ferb-a-lot must
band together with Bufavulous the Wind Lord & Baljeetalous of the Nerdling Realm in order to
defeat the evil sorcerer, Millifishmirtz, and his canned meat minions.

The fourth (and – according to some Disney Television
Animation insiders – perhaps not final) installment in this series of episodes,
"Phineas and Ferb and the Temple of Juatchadoon" airs tonight on Disney XD
beginning at 6:30 p.m. ET/PT. This time around, it's an "Indiana Jones"-inspired
adventure, as that daring archeologist duo Ohio (Phineas) Flynn and Rhode
Island (Ferb) Fletcher set off to Central America to help Isabella find her
missing mother. Meanwhile, the evil Dr. Doofenshmirtz plans on using the amulet
of Juatchadoon to awaken the corn colossus.

What's great about these "Phineas and Ferb – Time Shift" shows
is that they're loaded with characters and running gags that are lifted right
out of the contemporary Danville episodes. More to the point, they hint at a
fun new direction that this Disney Channel & Disney XD series may take as "Phineas
and Ferb" heads into its fourth season.

So if you want to check out the entertaining way that Dan
& Swampy found to get around that whole "104 days of summer vacation" concept
(without first resorting to a Martin Luther King Day weekend-themed episode),
be sure and check out the final part of the "Phineas and Ferb – Time Shift
Weekend" on Disney XD tonight.

And if you missed "Doofy Dynasty," "Tri-Stone Area" or "Excaliferb"
when they originally aired on the Disney Channel, just head on over to DisneyChannel.com.
Where these "Phineas and Ferb – Time Shift" episodes are available for viewing
right now.

So what do you "Phineas and Ferb" fan think of this "Time
Shift" shows? Would it be okay with you if Povenmire & Marsh did even more of
these sorts of shows, where the stepbrothers were taken out of the contemporary
time period but still had the same sort of witty adventures?

Your thoughts?