‘Phineas and Ferb’ Celebrates "Platypus Day"

Read the entire article HERE

The Evolution of PHINEAS FLYNN

As a fan of the Disney hit animated show "Phineas & Ferb", and having a curious mind, I couldn't help but wonder just HOW Dan Povenmire was inspired to create the 'look' of Phineas. I know the legend of the "Restaurant-Butcher Paper-Epiphany" (you can read the account on Wikipedia 'Phineas & Ferb' entry), but how did he do it? What were his inspirations?

Let's start at the beginning: As a child of the 60's and 70's, I'm sure you will realize that Mr. Povenmire watched a lot of cartoons. Since he is MY age, 45-ish, his early childhood animation viewing was probably limited to Saturday mornings and the occasional classic Disney short on Sunday night's "Wonderful World of Disney".
Add to that the occasional early-morning or afternoon runs of the Tex Avery classics and the endless Warner Brothers 'Looney Toons' & 'Merry Melodies'. The annual eagerly-anticipated Christmas specials. The trips up to TG&Y or the local drugstore to read comics. Could he possibly have been influenced by the numerous pointy heads in the many manic shorts watched over the years? Most likely.

You will note that the early Woody Woodpecker started with a long, pointed head as noted in the above drawing. He was clever. Feisty. His beak was long, straight and rigid. He was invincible. He later evolved into the cutesy, rounded character we see today.

Heckle and Jeckle were two magpies of questionable gender, with heads (including beaks) that resembled footballs or fat ears of corn. They, too were clever and invincible.

"MAD Magazine" featured a long-running gag comic called "Spy vs. Spy", in which two secret-agent types engaged in a symphony of booby traps and explosions while each was trying to eliminate the other. Sometimes subtle, sometimes frantic. Always ending in a good come-uppance or explosion, they were also -say it with me- clever and invincible.

Like Phineas.

This, of course, brings me to my next question: WHO is Phineas Flynn's REAL father? Could he be the offspring of one of the 'SPIES'...?

I know this is a bit far-fetched, but stay with me: He's inventive. He's wiley. He ALWAYS escapes injury. He ALWAYS manages to elude discovery. His pet platypus, Perry, IS A SPY!

Coincidence...?

Ferb Trek

Here, as promised, is another Phineas & Ferb parody that I had sent a couple of years ago to Dan Povenmire, one of the show's creators, back when the show was in development.
Perry the Platypus is doing a fine job, of course, manning the controls of the transporter...

Phineas and Ferb Parodies

A few weeks back, I had posted some Phineas & Ferb parody drawings over on my website, http://www.brentoons.com/ . I will be periodically posting some here, for exposure's sake. Enjoy!

The photo above is Perry the Platypus on the cover of Love Handel's "MARSUPIALS" album. This is a take-off of Pink Floyd's "ANIMALS" album cover, featuring Perry in the 'floating pig' pose.

PHINEAS & FERB Nominated for EMMY!

From Animation Magazine:
Phineas and Ferb Creators Talk About Emmy Nom!

Thursday, July 16, 2009By: Ramin Zahed
Since Disney’s popular Phineas and Ferb series was nominated for an Emmy in the Special Class category (for the episode titled “The Monster Of Phineas-N-Ferbenstein”) we contacted the show’s creators Dan Povenmire and Jeff “Swampy” Marsh to hear what they had to say about the good news.
“We’re thrilled and feel like we’re back in grade school,” says Povenmire, who was also nominated last year for Best Title Theme and Best Music and Lyrics. “It really helps that the Academy created this Special Class category for animated half-hour shows that have two 11-minute episodes. It used to be that the Emmys would always go to shows like The Simpsons and Family Guy and just one slot saved for shows made for kids. But this year, it’s great because we share the category with SpongeBob SquarePants.”

You can read the rest of the article by clicking on the title of this post.