47. Phineas and Ferb

Phineas and Ferb created by Dan Povenmire and Jeff "Swampy" Marsh (Walt Disney Studios Home Entertainment) 2007

Genre

Television program/Streaming Video (Note: while I watched an episode on Netflix; my library did have some copies on DVD, but many discs were checked out and I wanted to start from the beginning; it's also not clear to me if the full seasons have been released on DVD or merely collections of selected episodes).

Review

Phineas and Ferb follows the exploits of the titular step brothers.  The theme song indicates that the actions take place during summer break.  The episode I watched was split into two separate 11 minute stories.  The first involved the stepbrothers building a massive and insane roller-coaster while their mother (stepmother for Ferb) was grocery shopping.  Phineas' sister Candace spends the episode trying to get her mother to see what the boys are doing.  But at every attempt, the evidence Candace tries to show her mother disappears (children tear down a poster at one point, and powerful magnet on a helicopter lifts the entire roller-coaster out of sight before the mother sees it).  While the boys build, then ride their coaster, their pet platypus slinks off to his job as a secret agent.  He's sent to stop his nemesis (who's covered the Eastern seaboard in tin foil and hopes to use a powerful magnet to change the direction of the earth's rotation, though he's not sure what this will accomplish).  Eventually the disparate threads come together when the platypus rigs his nemesis' magnet to a helicopter.  The path the roller coaster takes after the helicopter lifts it up is too insane to describe in words.  Here are some pictures: 

Opinion

The show is frenetically paced with lots of guitar driven rock music in the background.  The first episode seems to set the formula for every subsequent episode.  The step brothers are inventive, their sister goes crazy trying to get their mom to see what they are doing, the platypus has to foil his evil nemesis and in so doing covers the boys' tracks, Candace is in love with the boy who works at slushy burger, a little girl named Isabella is in love with Phineas, and Ferb only speaks once per episode punctuating the story with a punchline.  It's funny and inventive, but also highly overstimulating (almost painfully so).  Some tweens would absolutely love it.

Ideas

I think it would be fun to tie crafts to the episodes.  So, for instance, the first story deals with the building of a roller-coaster.  It would be fun to watch that story with some tweens and then have a miniature roller-coaster building event or competition.  In the second story, the boys sculpt Candace's face on Mount Rushmore; this story could be coupled with a sculpting program.