Phineas and Ferb has some serious problems with realism. And no, I'm not talking about secret agent platypuses, evil scientists with endless supplies of money, or the fact that two elementary-school-aged brothers have managed to travel to space with machines assembled from materials purchased at Home Depot! NO! I'm talking about the opening of the show! (Nostalgia Plays) ♫ There's a hundred and four days of summer vacation- A hundred and four days of summer vacation? On what planet? My elementary school only allowed 88 days of summer vacation! I checked the calendars of a bunch of other school districts, and the longest summer break I could find was 90! Not only do Phineas and Ferb have a slew of cool inventions, unlimited budget for their summer shenanigans, and a cool secret agent pet, but they get an extra 16 days of summer vacation?! THAT, my friends, is a bridge too far. "This summer just keeps going on and on, it feels like it's been going on for like, 4 years." *Film Theory intro* Hello internet! Welcome to Film Theory! The show where I put the summer vacations of fictional cartoon characters under the microscope. Because my own summer vacations were mostly spent watching fictional cartoon characters. And the Price Is Right! *The Price is Right audio* Today I'm talking about Phineas and Ferb, which just last week celebrated the 10th anniversary since their debut. Now I can already hear some of you saying, "Matpat, aren't you a little old to be watching a 10-year old Disney channel cartoon?" Yes... ... ... (Yes I am) On it's face, Phineas and Ferb may seem like a formulaic kids show but what's so brilliant about it is that's the whole point. Unlike some cartoons which slowly grow repetitive over years of syndication. Phineas and Ferb intentionally started out as a fomulaic show and it keeps things fresh by constantly finding was to subvert its own cliches. Most episodes follow the same basic formula So for those of you who aren't familiar with the show, I'll take you through a typical episode Two brothers, the chatty up-beat Phineas and the silent stoic Ferb are on summer vacation And they're looking for a fresh and exciting way to spend the day The neighbor girl Isabella walks by to ask Isabella: "Whatcha doin?" And something happens to give Phineas the inspiration to say Phineas: "I know what we're gonna do today!" Someone then takes notice of the fact that their pet Perry the platypus is gone missing and says. Phineas: "Hey, where's Perry?" The episode then splits onto and A story, which follows the boys and their inventive shenanigans. And a B story that follows the secret life of Perry the Platypus. Who dons a brown fedora as he goes to thwart the latest invention of the villainous Dr. Heinz Doofenshmirtz, a local mad scientist. Doofenshmirtz: "I'm an evil scientist not a mad scientist. T-There's a difference" Dr. Doofenshmirtz is always cooking up a new invention Like the Drill-inator The Ugly-inator Or the Gloom-inator 3000-inator Generally something with a name that ends in inator and has to be stopped. Figured you'd see the pattern... Several story beats later the boys have their fun, Perry the Platypus defeats Dr. Doofenshmirtz's latest scheme. And in the process of beating the evil scientist, something happens that destroys whatever the boys were working on all day Eliminating all evidence of their shenanigans before their parents come home, wiping the slate clean for them to come up with some new invention tomorrow. The defeated Dr. Doofenshmirtz yells into the wind Doofenshmirtz: "CURSE YOU PERRY THE PLATYPUS!!!!" Perry goes back home to the boys Phineas: "Oh, there you are Perry." And the boys check another day of summer vacation off the calendar Now, even though I'm talking about Phineas and Ferb the TV show, I'm not actually gonna be talking about Phineas and Ferb the brothers. Instead I wanna focus today's episode on the villain of the story Dr. Heniz Doofenshmirtz, creator and sole member of ♫ Doofenshmirtz Evil Incorporated! ♫ Specifically I'm interested in one very important question here Why hasn't this obviously evil villain ever been arrested? I mean, it's not like there aren't people and Animals trying to stop him. Perry the platypus is an agent of the Organization Without a Cool Acronym, or OWCA for short. Doofenshmirtz: "Man, these guys are really bad at acronyming." And most days, his sole purpose is to track down the despicable doc. And clearly Doofenshmirtz is guilty of breaking more then a few laws. Grand Larceny from time he stole all the city's Mr. Slushie Burger statues in "Does this duckbill make me look fat?" And the time he some how managed to steal all the steaks in the Tri-stake ar- sorry the Tri-state area in "Comet Kermillian." Not to mention his mistreatment of Animals like the time he enslaved monkeys to work in his volcano laundromat. Given the fact that the OWCA employs animals, I would think that they would be taking that one pretty personally We also know that the OWCA could arrest him if they wanted to In the episode "Oh there you are, Perry." We see Perry take on a more serious villain, the Regurgitatior.. You just can't keep him down.... At the end of the episode, we learn the the Regurgitator has been apprehended and put into prison. Major Francis Monogram: "You've defeated the Regurgitator, as a matter of fact, he just landed in our prison." Notice that Perry's boss, Major Monogram, says "Our prison." This is an OWCA holding facility, not some generic state prison. They don't even have the excuse of not being able to find him. He has an enormous building in the middle of the city with a giant freaking name on the front! In short, if the OWCA wanted to arrest Doofenshmirtz, they could... But they don't! They don't even try! Which means, something else has to be going on here... Something a bit more devious and under handed And that is what we're gonna expose today Our first clues lie in the Phineas and Ferb special: "The OWCA Files." Heinz Doofenshmirtz was once part of the agent training program at OWCA Which is a weird quirk of his past considering that the organization only allows animals to serve as agents. Major Francis Monogram: "Ya know Karl it's weird that he's not an animal. We should fire him." Karl: "I am already on it Sir." Doofenshmirtz though, found a loophole, he's legally considered an ocelot due to being raised by wild animals. Meaning that he was lucky enough to get into the program. Doofenshmirtz: "I would say that's probably the first time anyone has described my being abandoned by my parents and raised by central american wildcats as lucky." Why Doofenshmirtz left the agent training program though is a mystery. But it seems like he was fired due to incompetence. We see throughout the series that Doof is good at building things.... He's just not good at using the things he builds... Major Monogram even says it himself in episode "Agent Doof" Major Monogram: "You've done more harm inside the agency then ever you did outside." In short, OWCA doesn't want Doofenshmirtz as a member of their organization due to his distructive tendacies. Major Monogram: "Doofenshmirtz!" But thanks to a few select details in the Phineas and Ferb movie, We know that they weren't ready to get rid of him completely. In the movie Phineas and Ferb, Across the 2nd Dimension, Perry the Platypys has to break OWCA protocol and reveal his secret identity to the two brothers. Which, according to regulations means that he has to be relocated to a new host family. Major Monogram: "Now that Agent P's cover has been blown, you wont be allowed to see him anymore." However, Major Monogram comes up with an alternate solution However, Major Monogram comes up with an alternate solution. They can use the amnesia-inator to wipe Phineas and Ferbs memories, They can use the Amnesia-inator to wipe Phineas and Ferb's memories, Allowing Perry to continue to live with them as an undercover agent Allowing Perry to continue to live with them as an undercover agent Isabella: "So none of us will remember any of today?" Isabella: "So none of us will remember any of today?" Major Monogram: "That's right." Major Monogram: "That's right." The boys agree, and in the process the lose all the memories of the adventures that they has while visiting the second dimension with Perry But! Hold on for a second there, Amnesia-inator? That sounds like the sorta stupid name that Dr. Doofenshmirtz would give an invention. And indeed it is... Karl: "Dr. Doofenshmirtz's Amnesia-inator." We find out in the movie that Perry's brown isn't just for fashion.... Hidden in his hat is an auto-scan replication device. Which OWCA has been using to gather data on all of Doof's inventions, So that they can then replicate them of themselves Major Monogram: "Every operative is equipped with an auto-scan replication device, just like the one in your hat," Major Monogram (Cont.): "We've been using the information that you've gathered to replicate each and every one of Dr. Doofenshmirtz's inators." And this, is where OWCA's motives finally become clear.. Dr. Doofenshmirtz may have been a terrible secret agent and bad villain I mean bad as in incompetent of being a villain, not that he's a bad villain because, he's really kinda harm... But he's a brilliant inventor The fact that all his plans go sideways has less to do with the invention's themselves and more to do with the way he tries to use them Doofenshmirtz: "Hey all of my inators work, it's just that, ya know I don't use them properly. I have, poor planning skills.." The auto-scan replication device in Perry's hat allows OWCA to benifit from Dr. Doofenshmirtz inventions, without having to deal with the problems that he would cause them by being an agent And the best part is, Doofenshmirtz is the one paying to construction them all. Or, to be more accurate his ex wife is paying for it all. Doofenshmirtz: "I get a big alimony check every month so money is no object." Doofenshmirtz evil incorporated is unwittingly serving as OWCA's research and development department. True, the do have to employ Perry to swoop in once a day to scan Doofenshmirtz 's latest inevntion, And foil whatever evil plan he's trying to enact, But that's way cheaper then funding the cost of their own R&D They let him run free so that they can continue to profit off of his work And think about what Major Monogram said before Major Monogram: "You've done more harm inside the agency then you ever did outside If Doofenshmirtz is gonna be more of a hindrance then a help to whichever side he's on, Then having him on the side of evil is actually the best possible outcome for OWCA. We know that Doofenshmirtz is a member of the League Of Villainous Evildoers Maniacally United For Frightening Investments in Naughtiness (I don't know this guy's name, oops): "You want us to be called, love muffin?" And Love Muffin does have some members who re actually dangerous criminals... Like Reodenshtien. Reodenshtien: "I prefer you use my full name Aloyse Everheart Elizabeth Otto Wolfgang Hypatia Gunther Galen Gary Cooper von Roddenstein ." Who plans to destroy summer forever by moving the earth away from the sun. That's pretty evil. And notice that at the end of the episode, Reodenshtien gets arrested, but doof? He's allowed to run free! As we know form Major Monogram daily briefings with Perry, OWCA is always watching Doofenshmirtz's movements vigilantly. Which means that wherever he goes, Perry can follow. Discovering where the evil guys are headed and what their next plan is For so long, ten years now, we've been lead to believe that Doof is the bad guy Something that even he seems to believe when he brands his company "Doofenshmirtz Evil incorporated." Yet all of the evidence points to him actually being a tragic hero of Phineas and Ferb. A hero who's contributions will never be known or appreciated outside of the OWCA. Not even by Dr. Heniz Doofenshmirtz himself. He's so deep undercover that not even realizes that all of his schemes are ultimately helping the OWCA. Both by acting as their research and development department, And by inadvertently acting as the mole who lets them catch the more dangerous villains who actually pose a threat to the public. He may not have been the partner Perry the Platypus wanted, But he turns out to be the nemesis that Perry needs. But hey! That's just a theory! A Film Theory! ♫ *some boppin copyright free music* ♫ (definitely copyright free music)
Phineas and Ferb is in contention with Avatar tLA for my favorite childhood show.
SO, I ask you all, what did you think of this theory?
I for one always got the impression that Doofenshmirtz and Perry were friends and that their 'evil' and 'good' battles was purely business superseded by their relationship outside of work. (Think especially for the Peter the Panda episodes) I'd like to believe that there's more evidence of Doofenshmirtz would be in on whatever plot the OWCA has for his inventions. But I don't know.
What I'd love to see is a theory on who their parents are and where they come from though!
I love this theory. I've personally felt a some film theories cough cough Star Wars cough have been a bit lackluster, but this made perfect sense. I actually would love to see the writers confirm/deny this since the series is over now.
The TV Tropes Page for Matpat's mistakes has this entry:
"Phineas and Ferb's SECRET Hero!" The first step of logic in MatPat's theory states that Dr. Doofenshmirtz was once a member of O.W.C.A.'s training program, as shown in the episode "The OWCA Files," but left for some reason and turned to evil. But "The O.W.C.A. Files" takes place after the series proper, after Doofenshmirtz turns to good.
He also says that the O.W.C.A. has never attempted to arrest Doofenshmirtz, and concludes that there’s an ulterior motive behind this. They actually did try to arrest him in the special episode "Summer Belongs to You!"
http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/DanBrowned/GameTheoryWebShow?from=CriticalResearchFailure.GameTheoryWebShow