the greatest cartoon of this generation

there's 104 days of summer vacation,
then school comes along just to end it!
so the annual problem for our generation
is finding a good way to spend it.

so begins the greatest cartoon of my kids generation, phineas & ferb.


phineas and ferb are stepbrothers.



ferb is british; phineas is not.
ferb rarely speaks; phineas talks non-stop.
both brothers are geniuses.
phineas is that guy--the one everyone wants to be friends with.
he's super nice to everybody (even bullies)
and especially isabella, his neighbor who is in love with him.



they can do anything, and everyone wants to hang out with them.
phineas & ferb spend their summer days doing crazy-inventive things,
while their sister candace tries to get them in trouble.



it's worth mentioning that the brothers are also always nice to candace,
despite her intentions to get them busted every chance she gets.

phineas & ferb have done some crazy stuff. for example: building a beach in their backyard; turning their car into a remote-controlled race car; building a roller coaster; building a haunted house; becoming one-hit wonders; creating a fashion frenzy for their own personal style; building a submarine, then miniaturizing it (which candace then swallows in her grilled cheese sandwich); building a portal to mars...the list goes on and on.

just as candace is about to bust her brothers for doing something dangerous (or not dangerous...she just wants them in trouble), something always happens to make whatever they've built disappear, so that they don't get busted.



their mom, i will admit, is sort of oblivious, but it makes it that much more exciting when she's just about to see what they did that day and it disappears at the last minute.

candace is in love with jeremy jordan, a boy in her school who is super cute and surprisingly nice.



he clearly likes her too, but she's such a spaz she doesn't even notice. she's so worried about busting her brothers she doesn't pay attention to his sweet overtures (one of which is having his uncle, who owns a sandwich shop, name a sandwich after her. "the candace" is a grilled cheese sandwich, her favorite).

then there's perry the platypus, the family pet.



he also happens to be a secret agent (agent P) out to thwart the evil dr. doofenshmirtz, of doofenshmirtz evil incorporated.



dr. doofenshmirtz is trying to take over the tri-state area, and is continually thwarted by perry the platypus. you kinda feel bad for dr. doofenshmirtz because his evil plans are always so reasonable. it's kind of disappointing that he never succeeds. for example, he made a deflatinator that would deflate all of the tires in the tri-state area, and if anyone wanted anything "flated", they would have to come to him. the best part about dr. doofenshmirtz is that he funds all of "inator's" on alimony from his ex-wife.

then there's mrs. garcia-shapiro:



a hispanic woman who married a jew, she's constantly combining spanglish with jewish terms (like "oy vey") in her spanish accent. that in itself is comedy gold.

the songs are catchy and funny, the dialogue witty. it's funny for kids and parents alike, and this is one cartoon that i don't mind my kids watching at all. maybe it'll inspire them to play a little more creatively!

and for your viewing pleasure, here is a clip of the "squirrels in my pants" music video, demanded by emilie ahern. jeremy's sister hates candace and is trying to thwart her wooing ways...and thus, the squirrels in the pants.
(watch all the way to the end. the last 3 seconds are the best part.)