Let’s face it, Phineas and Ferb was probably one of the last great animated series produced for Disney television. What it lacked in the animation department, it more than made up for with witty writing, charming characters, and impossibly absurd scenarios. It’s no wonder it became one of Disney’s most popular and long-running cartoon franchises, rivaling the likes of Adventure Time and The Regular Show over on Cartoon Network.
Starring the wise-cracking, inventive kid genius Phineas, and his equally precocious step-brother Ferb, the show followed a seemingly endless summer vacation. During this time, the duo would invariably embark on a series of whacky events that would coincide with the secret agent exploits of their pet, Perry the Platypus, and his arch-nemesis Dr. Doofenshmirtz.
Stepping away from the 1990s obsession with pushing boundaries, the series largely remained wholesome enough for all ages. However, it’s easy to find several jokes that the writers slipped under the censors’ radar. It’s no surprise, given that the two creators of the show, Dan Povenmire and Jeff “Swampy” Marsh, had both previously worked on the ever controversial Rocko’s Modern Life, and the most popular animated cartoon of all time, The Simpsons.
Here are 20 Controversial Things You Never Noticed on Phineas and Ferb.
20. Get away from him, Mitch
Science fiction fans had plenty to celebrate about when watching Phineas and Ferb. Though the various “-inators” built by Doofenshmirtz, and the contraptions built by the two brothers often contained elements of sci-fi. Season 2 began a series of space opera adventures for the show with the introduction of Meap, an alien who happens to be the cutest being in the universe.
In his first appearance, "The Chronicles of Meap" – a reference to The Chronicles of Riddick – Meap is on the run from the villainous Mitch, a poacher who captures and imprisons various species across the galaxies.
When the brothers’ sister, Candace, takes it upon herself to square up with Mitch, she echoes Ripley’s famous line from Aliens: “Get away from him… Mitch!” While not quite as vulgar, the rhyme makes the reference very obvious.
19. A boy with bigger fingers
The hilariously incompetent arch-villain of Perry the Platypus, Dr. Doofenshmirtz is known for his vaguely Germanic roots, terrible inventions, and an obsession with taking over the Tri-state area. Of course, no villain this over-the-top is complete without a tragic origin story, and Doofenshmirtz’s could fill a novel.
His shadow skills were garbage, but size matters when puppetry is concerned.
From both his parents being absent at his birth, to his tricky formative years being raised by ocelots, Heinz Doofenshmirtz was destined to become a miserable and pathetic supervillain. We can’t help but feel sorry for him. In "Out to Launch", Doofenshmirtz recounts a particularly crushing event, in which a girl he was out to impress with shadow puppetry left him for a boy with a larger… pair of hands.
18. Ouranos
No one made it out of their first astronomy lesson without cracking up at the name of the seventh planet from the sun, Uranus. Cartoon writers were clearly aware of the unfortunate name, as everything from The Fairly Odd Parents to Freakazoid has made a cheap gag out of the name's similarity to a certain body part.
Though the writers for Phineas and Ferb couldn’t help themselves either, they took a smarter approach. In the season four episode "The Inator Method", Phineas and Ferb construct a race course in the shape of the solar system, around which their friends Buford, Baljeet, and Isabella compete, piloting a planet of their own.
Buford, manning the cockpit of Uranus, opts for the more appropriate, alternative pronunciation Ouranos, in order to dodge the network’s censors.
17. Thwarty call
Taking a note from Batman and the Joker, the tempestuous rivalry between Dr. Doofenshmirtz and Perry the Platypus is frequently coded as a not-so-subtle suggestion of a gay relationship. Like many of the best evil villains, Heinz has an unhealthy relationship with Perry, and throughout the series, develops a dependency on their routine. He tries to take over/destroy/shrink the Tri-state area, Perry Platypus defeats him, and balance is restored until it starts all over again next week.
The joke becomes suggestive with the writers’ creative use of the word “thwart.”
When Perry is seemingly getting lazy with his heroic duties, Doofenshmirtz has been known to insist he “get back here and thwart me now!” The connotations become even clearer when the villain refers to Peter the Panda, another secret agent, as more of a “thwarty call” than his real nemesis, Perry.
16. Propagation of the species
Moving away from unhealthy obsessions, the innocent teenage crush between Candace and the cool, sensitive guitarist Jeremy is one of the shows sweetest elements, even if Candace takes her teen infatuation a little seriously at times. Though their relationship has more ups and downs than Jim and Pam, their eventual declaration of love is one of the show’s most satisfying moments.
Later, the pair sing a duet that seems to share some distinct similarities with The Little Mermaid’s "Kiss the Girl," called "Set the Record Straight". Floating down a jungle stream in a yellow umbrella, Jeremy sings about the history of love to woo Candace, and mentions “the scientific propagation of the species.”
While you’re looking up what the word “propagation” means, take a moment to translate the Spanish soccer phrase “Viene le pega, gol,” that interrupts Jeremy as he’s about to say what he likes about her.
15. Xavier Onassis
It’s not often that the phrase “I know what we’re gonna do today” is followed by two boys spending their summer vacation building a time machine, but that’s exactly what happens in the season one episode "It’s About Time". After noticing an incomplete time machine in a museum exhibition of "Gadgets Through the Ages". the brothers are curious.
The duo make some repairs to a time machine and accidentally find themselves stuck in the prehistoric era.
There’s already a bonus for older viewers, in that the time machine bears a striking resemblance to the machine used in the first adaptation of H.G. Wells’ The Time Machine, though this is hardly offensive. The dirty joke arrives as one of the show’s many uses of genius wordplay, with the creator of the machine being ludicrously named Xavier Onassis.
Don’t get it? Say it a little slower.
14. Moulin Rouge
Despite the romantic chemistry between Phineas and Isabella, the show takes its sweet time developing their relationship. Considering they can’t be much older than ten years old, it seems appropriate for a Disney show.
Although the special "Act Your Age" sees the pair eventually start dating, an earlier extended episode "Summer Belongs to You" sees Phineas and Isabella enjoy a romantic getaway in Paris during their trip around the world.
Frustrated by Phineas devoting all of his attention to the repair of their airplane, Isabella sings "City of Love", lamenting the fact that even the most romantic place on Earth can’t muster up any feelings in Phineas beyond his next adventure.
He clearly has eyes for something other than transportation however, as an artist’s depiction of Isabella also shows Phineas transfixed by the iconic red windmill of ’s most famous adult district. Cut back and Phineas is still peeking!
13. Yes, yes I do
Beating Marvel to the punch by a year, Phineas and Ferb popularised the Disney tradition of mid and post-credits sequences way before Nick Fury teased the Avengers Initiative.
Often featuring an extended version of one of the many brilliant original songs featured throughout the show, the post-credits stinger would occasionally call back to one of the fleeting jokes of the episode.
During the episode "Wizard of Odd," which sees Phineas, Ferb, and the gang transported to a fantasy world inspired by The Wizard of Oz, the song "Tree Related Wish" features a glimpse at a bear, squatting behind a tree and ostentatiously reading a newspaper.
If that wasn’t a glaring enough hint, he appears in the post-credits scene and remarks “yes, yes I do,” referring the sarcastic phrase about what bears do in the woods.
12. Party in Doofenshmirtz's pants
Doofenshmirtz hasn’t had the best of luck in romance. To be fair to him, he’s usually a little tied up with Perry the Platypus to pursue any serious romantic exploits. In the episode "Candace Gets Busted", the nefarious doctor eventually gets to experience a party in his pants, but in true Phineas and Ferb fashion, it’s not quite the party you’d expect.
Candace, taking advantage of her parents’ absence, pulls a classic teenage move and decides to throw a huge party while the house is empty. However, a noisy phone call leads her mother Linda to believe something wrong is going on back at the house.
Just as her parents are arriving home, Doofenshmirtz’s Go-Away-Inator zaps the party, transporting them inexplicably into his pants. It’s even more tragic, given that the Go-Away-Inator was built specifically to send people to a place no one would ever want to go.
11. I feel like number two
One of the series’ most iconic episodes, "Toy to the World", featured Phineas and Ferb taking a jab at the fickle nature of trends in the American toy industry. Rather than constructing a huge contraption, for a change the brothers kept it small, casually taking over the country with their "inaction figure," a wooden block modeled after their pet platypus Perry, that could do nothing, and therefore everything.
Unfortunately for Candace, she had just bagged a part time job working for the Har D Har Toy Company, which just so happens to be opposite the mall’s Mr. Slushy Dawg, where her crush Jeremy works. Candace is less than pleased when she is forced to the inaction figure dressed in a ridiculous Perry costume. Though her boss insists she looks like number one, she can’t help but feel like “number two.”