I am newly interested in a show called Phineas and Ferb. It follows the summer vacation of two brothers who enjoy inventing complex devices and achieving implausible goals- goals like finding Atlantis and making ice cream on the moon. Their sister Candace often tries to reveal their exploits to their mother, always failing to get her attention before the resulting machinery is swept away by a random event. Other characters include the boys’ friends Baljeet, Buford, and Isabella. Sometimes Isabella is followed around by a group similar to a scout troop. Phineas and Ferb have a pet platypus named Perry who leads a secret double life as Agent P. Agent P belongs to an organization whose purpose is unclear, however, each episode sees Perry checking up on the activities of Dr Doofenshmirtz, who claims to be an evil scientist/inventor. The boys constitute the A story, while Perry and Dr D follow a separate B line.
There are several things I like about this series. The story is often formulaic, but at the same time it takes advantage of that fact with call backs to their repeated actions (boy if I had a nickel for every time THAT happened!) and jokes when someone steps out of pattern (Candace why aren’t you out trying to bust your brothers?). I’m impressed by the fact that even with the formula and the fact that it’s a cartoon, there are no flat characters. Candace is constantly trying to get the boys ‘busted’ but she isn’t simply a mean older sister. She has her own life, a love interest, is community minded (she volunteers at a built site) and actually cares about the well being of her younger brothers when you get right down to it. There is a complex love-hate relationship between Buford and Baljeet; although Buford is more the bully-type and Baljeet the nerd, they often collaborate without complaint to help Phineas and Ferb with projects. Isabella is sweet and helpful, but also spunky and inventive when the need arises. Of the two brothers, Ferb is the strong silent type. Outwardly he often appears stoic, but his actions prove that he enjoys all his adventures with his step-brother Phineas and I suspect there’s a lot more going on in his mind than he expresses out loud. Phineas is happy, optimistic, adventurous- there’s just no stopping him. He’s the one at the very center of all the schemes. I liken him to Jim Henson. He, almost magically, is able to gather a group of the most talented and diverse friends and bring out the best in all of them.
Without a doubt my favorite relationship is that of Perry and Dr Doofenshmirtz. On the surface they are good vs. evil, with Dr D playing the bumbling bad guy and Perry getting the upper hand in the end. But they are well-matched. And Doofenshmirtz has a complex character with a long backstory of childhood woes leading to his deciding to become evil and trying to rule the tri-state area. He seems to struggle with this at times and it can be difficult for him to be as evil as he’d like. He constantly expects Perry to show up and thwart him and even seems to miss it when Perry is detained or late. There are hints that he actually considers Perry his closest friend. Perry is concerned mainly with his mission to check up on Doofenshmirtz and stop any negative consequences he sets in motion, however Perry also seems concerned with Dr D himself, particularly when he imperils his own life/well-being. Perry gets Dr Doofenshmirtz out of danger on occasion and has even helped with situations in which Dr D was merely sick, incapacitated, or short of money. I consider the treatment of the Dr Doofenshmirtz and Perry the Platypus characters extremely well-done and congratulate the creators. I often find myself rebelling at the concept of pure good vs. pure evil, when reality is so much more complicated than that. It’s nice to find something that reflects this, and especially nice to find it in a medium that is usually so shallow.