As a grown-up well into his 20s, it is without reservation that I say I’m going to miss the hell out of Disney’s animated musical comedy Phineas and Ferb. The Mickey Mouse company made it official that a mid-June installment of P&F–titled “Last Day of Summer”–will serve as the series finale. After 126 episodes, five one-hour specials, and the fantastic Disney Channel Original Movie Across the 2nd Dimension, the end of an era is upon us.
To celebrate our time spent with the inventive step brothers, Disney XD will air a massive 73-hour marathon showcasing every Phineas and Ferb episode to date, leading up to the super-sized one hour series finale. Mark your calendars: the binge begins Tuesday, June 9 at 8pm, and “Last Day of Summer” airs Friday, June 12 at 9pm on Disney Channel and Disney XD.
There’s 104 days of summer vacation then school comes along just to end it… Is it the education system that will help Candace finally catch her siblings in the act and expose their oftentimes dangerous creations to their mom? That’s my theory, anyway. The official logline goes like this:
In the one-hour Phineas and Ferb episode titled “Last Day of Summer,” the summer season is coming to a close and it’s Candace’s last chance to bust her brothers. She is quickly foiled, but is presented with an opportunity to redo the day when she sets off Dr. Doofenshmirtz’s Do-Over-Inator, which results in other consequences like rips in the space-time continuum, the shortening of days and the disappearance of her brothers.
Now that sounds like a good time! No doubt P&F creators Dan Povenmire and Jeff “Swampy” Marsh are going to bow out on a creatively high note. So what’s next for the talented force behind the ‘toon? In tandem with marking the end for P&F, Disney formally announced Povenmire and Swampy’s next creation, Mikey Murphy’s Law. The new series will follow the fictional great-great-great-great-grandson of the Murphy’s Law namesake. The duo is taking a bunch of P&F contributors with them to their new show including Robert F. Hughes, story editor Scott Peterson, and staff writers Joshua Pruett, Dani Vetere, and Martin Olson. Mikey Murphy’s Law is set to debut on Disney XD in 2017.
“Dan and Swampy are two of the most respected and proven show creators in the animation series business,” said Disney XD exec Marc Buhaj in a statement. “They are incredibly gifted storytellers who have a track record of creating smart, original and relatable characters that are universally appealing to both kids and families. It’s a coup for Disney XD to continue working with this talented duo on their latest creation ‘Mikey Murphy’s Law.’ We’re looking forward to another great creative partnership.”
It’s true: with Phineas and Ferb they, in fact, imagined Danville’s greatest invention of all–a universal comedy jam-packed with humor for children and grown-ups alike. The slick animation style, the vibrant color palate, the fun voices, the catchy tunes, the diabolical scheming (going to miss you, Doof!) weaved into playfully engaging stories. P&F took the simple idea of two tinkering brothers in their backyard and transformed it into one of the wittiest, smartest, hilarious, and heartfelt comedies of our generation. This all might sound a bit grandiose–it’s a Disney Channel animation sitcom, after all–but if you haven’t watched it before, I dare you to queue it up on Netflix and not get sucked in immediately.
Following the P&F series finale is a stand-alone one-hour special called The O.W.C.A. Files which follows Agent P and his angency animal pals. After that, the future is free of new brotherly adventures unless, of course, that long gestating movie comes to fruition! Fingers crossed.
