Tony here. Time to review the latest episode of Disney’s Phineas and Ferb. The new episodes, “Candace Disconnected” and “Magic Carpet Ride”, aired Saturday morning, June 18, 2011, at 9am EST on Disney Channel. This was apart of a new (and horribly named) Disney Channel has created for this show and Fish Hooks entitled “Toonin'”. (I’d review both, but since this was too early I didn’t watch this live so only watched this show online; maybe next time). Also, it’s here where I’ll be trying out a new grading system, so leave feedback in the comment section if you like this better than the usual A-B-C-D-F grades I usually give. Some spoilers below. Let’s get started.
First up is “Candace Disconnected”. In this episode, Linda tells Candace that if she loses another cell phone she refuses to buy her a new one. Naturally, Candace proceeds to accidentally break it, but Phineas and Ferb jump in to create a new one for her. Meanwhile, Doofenshmirtz invents a device to pick up his daughter Vanessa for him. This episode was phenomenal, definitely the best of the season so far and one of the show’s best installments in general. The main plot featured a funny recurring gag where the boys’ main scheme (described as being their biggest and tallest) is only shown off screen. Lots of lampshades were hung and subversions, well, were subverted throughout. I especially loved the twist on Doof’s jingle (“Doofenshmirtz’s [*deep voice*] basement”). One of the best parts of the episode was Norm’s prototype head, voiced brilliantly by guest star Joel McHale, whose stark deadpan and malicious verbal beating of Doofenshmirtz was hysterical. 
The gag about Monogram being severely technologically impaired was funny, as really any Monogram-and-Carl joke is. Definitely the crowning moment of the episode was the completely random and non sequitur moment where Doofenshmirtz and Perry dance to an exercise video for a minute straight. Yes it served no purpose, and yes it wasted time, but that’s what made it so hilarious. I give this episode a 9.5/10.
After that was “Magic Carpet Ride”. In this episode, the boys are inspired by Lawrence’s favorite childhood program The Pinhead Pierre (previously seen in the “Out of Toon” episode from season one) to make a flying carpet. Meanwhile, Candace decides to use fortune cookies to lead her to busting her brothers; and Doofenshmirtz once again tries to sabotage a ceremony for his brother Roger, this time as retribution for Roger ruining his magnum opus back in art school. Another great episode–though not quite as funny as “Candace Disconnected”, it still delivered. The boys’ flying carpet plot was actually rather brief, devoted mostly to a montage set to “Aerial Area Rug”, which was co-written by Book of Mormon co-helm Robert Lopez; the song was a great parody of “A Whole New World” from Aladdin (of which this a-plot is a loose homage to), while the montage itself was well animated and actually rather beautiful. Candace’s subplot was actually really good, despite the usual Candace-looks-for-new-way-to-bust-brothers schtick which Stacy herself even rolls her eyes at. The new locations like the Chinese restaurant and the fish market showed more of the town and allowed for diverse set pieces. Doofenshmirtz’s plot had a good back story, this time showing more of Doofenshmirtz at college (he apparently went to an art school, which explains his poetry days in “Unfair Science Fair”). 
And might I note how simply brilliant the bits where Doofenshmirtz’s Stain-inator fires globs of staining substances at people, all of which were amazingly well timed and–as Doofenshmirtz noted himself–showed that his machine had a “sense for irony”. The episode didn’t feel quite as funny as the previous episode (mostly because of the lack of laughs in the a-plot) but was still well done. I give it a 9.2/10.
Unless Disney changes the schedule for this show for what would be like the 15th time, you can catch new episodes of Phineas and Ferb every Saturday at 8am EST as part of the Toonin’ block. And be sure to continue reading Toons with Tony for animation updates and opinions.
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