Light spoilers for seasons 1-5 of “Phineas and Ferb” ahead.
How do you say goodbye to summer?
That’s what “Phineas and Ferb” was asking as it rapidly approached its series finale in 2015. The show had premiered on Disney Channel eight years prior, in 2007, with a significant bit of fanfare. The first episode aired directly after “High School Musical 2,” the most-watched cable broadcast ever— plus, Ashley Tisdale, famous at that point for playing Sharpay in the “High School Musical” movies, would play Phineas and Ferb’s sister, Candace.
The premise was simple(ish)— brothers Phineas and Ferb, in their quest to make the most of their summer, create a unique new invention every day that Candace tries futilely to bust them for. Meanwhile, their pet platypus, moonlighting as a secret agent, faces off against the evil Dr. Doofenshmirtz and the new “inator” he’s made in his quest to take over the city.
The first episode garnered a viewership of 10.8 million people. Over the next four seasons, the show became a cultural phenomenon— merchandise, spinoffs, a feature film, board games, theme park experiences, mobile games and— perhaps most importantly, memes.
In the Disney Channel film event “Phineas and Ferb: Across the Second Dimension,” Doofenshmirtz says, “If I had a nickel for every time I was doomed by a puppet, I’d have two nickels. Which isn’t a lot, but it’s weird that it happened twice, right?” This line became almost as famous as the show itself.
Every journey must end, though, and this seemingly endless summer had reached it. Season four’s final episode, “Last Day of Summer,” saw all of the characters reminisce on the adventures they’d had, before heading inside for some pie. With a quick wave toward the camera, Phineas closed the door— and they were gone.
Now they’re back. In 2023, Disney announced that they had ordered two additional seasons of the show— not a reboot, but a revival, according to a ‘90s-rap inspired promo video the team put out. The show would premiere weekly on Disney Channel, but Disney+ would get the entire fifth season at once.
For having a decade of distance between “Last Day of Summer” and this season’s start, the return is remarkably consistent. The cast, entirely returning from the original run, is still on the top of their game and the writing is as sharp as ever— and somehow still fresh, even after 137 episodes.
This season certainly jumps the shark (or, as Doofenshmirtz cries out when it literally happens, “the shark has jumped us!”), but it works. This is partially because, while the revival is willing to get zanier more frequently, it’s not trying to— can’t?— top how zany things will get. It still stays grounded as often as it doesn’t, balancing the completely ridiculous with the genuinely moving. In one episode, Candace tries to pass her driving test. In another, an oversized zoetrope falls in love with a ferris wheel.
Perhaps a bigger reason it works, though, is because this show never loses its heart. In the first episode, a special two-part premiere, the kids’ mom is vaporized— yes, vaporized, turned into a cloud— and the only way to turn her back is to get her to cry (read: rain) with family pictures, because of how much she loves her kids.
The episodes consistently maintain the right distance from the material to let the viewers experience it, but to also throw in the occasional irreverent joke.
This season introduced “Acquaintances,” the show’s “Friends” parody— “they’re really not that close,” goes the intro. While building the day’s invention in one episode, overachiever Baljeet suggests, “maybe my spring is wound a little too tight,” to which his tough-guy frenemy Buford quips back, “I’ve been saying that for years.” In a highlight, Buford spends nearly every episode advocating for the group to make a bread bowl hot tub— amusingly, he never gets one. But, oh boy, does he want it.
The revival also brings with it a healthy meta “we all know we’re back” energy that keeps it from feeling too cash-grabey. The first episode starts with the tail end of Phineas and Ferb recapping the first four seasons to their class— a recap that allegedly took all school year— and the first song of the season says “last year, we set the bar real high and we deserve to take a bow. But I’m confident we can top ourselves somehow… I think we all know what this is regarding.”
Even the theme song has traded its first lyric, “There’s a hundred and four days of summer vacation,” for a revised, “There’s another hundred and four days”— a choice only slightly dampened by the fact that they drop the change after six episodes.
Plus, the writers finally get a chance to comment on their “If I had a nickel” meme. In the wake of Candace telling her about another of Phineas and Ferb’s escapades, their mom says, “If I had a nickel for every time Candace promised to show me something and nothing was there, I’d have five dollars and twenty cents. Which isn’t a lot, but it’s weird that it happened a hundred and four times, right?”
This season’s music, the work of a returning team led by Dan Povenmire and Jeff “Swampy” Marsh— also the series’ creators— along with Olivia Olson, and produced by the ever-talented Danny Jacob, is upbeat and always catchy. It blends in with the older catalogue well, in a good way. “Licence to Bust” and “When the Tri-State Aurora Comes Around,” in particular, stand out. The songs are, however, noticeably shorter than they used to be. Most “Phineas and Ferb” songs come in at around a minute, and these are no exception. But, while older songs would often creep up to a minute and a half or even two minutes, the newer set (aside from the opener to the season) only has one that even approaches a minute and a half. Those lost seconds add up and ever so slightly throw the show off its carefully constructed rhythm. The instrumental score, though never flashy, also delivers, as a consistent underlying metronome.
Visually, too, the show manages to find opportunities to elevate its stories. Clearly embracing the leaps in art style created during the production of 2020’s Disney+ feature film, “Candace Against the Universe,” the lighting is very cinematic and the cinematography is surprisingly dynamic for a show that requires neither.
At the end of the day, this new season isn’t perfect. But it’s everything “Phineas and Ferb” should be— wildly ambitious, a ton of fun and genuinely high-quality.
“Phineas and Ferb” is streaming on Disney+.
