Phineas and Ferb is one of the most successful cartoons to ever air on the Disney Channel. Running from 2007 to 2015, it not only lasted four seasons, it also produced some movies, spin-offs, and tons of merchandise. Like all things, it came to an end. But like all things profitable, it came back. Disney Channel is airing new Phineas and Ferb episodes weekly, and for binge-watchers, Disney+ dropped ten episodes at once. Given the repetitive nature of Phineas and Ferb’s plots and jokes, binge-watching might be the way to go. Unless you want it as a companion to the summer, in which case you can have pace yourself throughout the season.
Movies aside, it’s been ten years since we’ve gotten regular adventures from the boys. The question is, is this returned show much different than it was before? Not really. This is a true season 5 that picks up pretty seamlessly from where it ended. Sure, we get Phineas and Ferb in school finishing up telling their class what they did the previous summer (which apparently was told in installments that took over nine months), but one song later, and it’s summer again. So things are pretty much back to status quo. Even Dr. Doofenshmirtz, who not only became an O.W.C.A. agent at the end of the previous show, but also became a supporting character on Milo Murphy’s Law, decided to go back to evil again. Naturally, Perry the Platypus was called back from assignment to constantly thwart his schemes.
It’s hard to argue with the idea of setting the show back to square one. Phineas and Ferb has a proven formula that just works. The boys are struck with inspiration for the day’s project while Perry is called away to handle Doofenshmirtz. Candace tries to bust the boys, but before she can show her mother what they have built, Perry’s act of stopping Doof’s latest Inator manages to get rid of whatever Phineas and Ferb were doing. A song happens somewhere, half the characters get to say their catchphrases, Ferb gets a line or two, and there’s tons of jokes in all the absurdity. The show thrives in either giving the audience what they want to see coming or subverting their expectations. When the show was winding down, season 4 got a little experimental. Some episodes had a different setting or time period, there were Star Wars and Marvel episodes, and they even did an episode set ten years in the future. For these new episodes, we are back to basics.
But do we want to get back to basics? Phineas and Ferb was never about changing the status quo. Candace was never going to bust the boys, Isabella was never doing to confess her feelings to Phineas, and the life of their pet platypus and his evil scientist arch enemy was always going to remain secret. Even when the movies had something major happen, they would always undo those events by the end. Since it’s been so long since we’ve had standard episodes of Phineas and Ferb, we accept it. All the old stuff feels familiar but new, and it’s fun again. We can laugh at the returning running gags, and we get to hear Perry’s secret agent theme once more.
Not everything is back, however. The theme song is the same, but we get a new recording 
of it. Nearly everyone from the old cast is back. Ferb, who was originally played by Thomas Brodie-Sangster, is voiced by David Errigo, Jr. (and has been since his appearance on Milo Murphy’s Law). The more new episodes I watched, the more I found myself missing some classic elements that didn’t appear. I was happy to see the talking Zebra manifest for Candace, but I was disappointed with the brief cameo from the giant floating baby head. I realize Irving wasn’t the most popular character, but I liked seeing him briefly and was disappointed he didn’t get any lines. There were a couple moments I expected to see Isabella’s chihuahua, Pinky, show up at some point with O.W.C.A, but he was nowhere to be seen. This new batch of episodes, at least, is new viewer friendly. The only real bit of continuity you’d need to know going into it is that Stacy knows about Perry’s double life and protects his secret when she needs to and they briefly revisit the romance between Doof’s daughter, Vanessa, and Monogram’s son, Monty. Also, there’s a sequel to the Meap episode, which is built on callbacks.
With two two-part episodes, that makes 18 in this batch, and each episode is good. I’d say the ones that stick to the formula are still the strongest. They’re more engaging because they invite the audience to guess how things will progress and how they’ll wrap up. The highlights for me were “Dry Another Day”, which had an endless ice luge and “Tropey McTropeface”, where a giant zoetrope goes on an adventure in Danville. That episode also featured Michael Bublé participating in the episode’s song. The songs are all catchy, and I particularly enjoyed “Summer Is Starting Right Now”, the song that kicks everything off, Buford’s “Today I Get to Be Candace”, where he wears a Candace suit and sings about his day, and “No Sleepin’ at a Slumber Party”, which gives lines to a bunch of characters.
Having said that, the episodes where they break from the formula were fun too. Phineas and Ferb are only in one scene in the Fireside Girls-focused “Lord of the Firesides” and Stacy’s spotlight in “Agent T (for Teen)”. My favorite of these was “Deconstructing Doof”. It turns out that Candace and Doofenshmirtz have the same psychologist, who pieces their stories together and starts to see how everything is connected. He’s the one who tries to bust the boys, and the conclusion is one of the happiest we’ve ever seen Candace.
I’m sure the upcoming episodes will feature a mix of both traditional and outside the box episodes. I welcome switching things up, or at the very least, giving us some new recurring gags. One of the new ones I appreciated was Buford constantly wishing to build a bread bowl hot tub and always being disappointed when it doesn’t happen. For the most part, they lean on the classics. The random couple who always reap the benefits of the destruction of Doof’s Inators show up often. Doof’s famous “If I had a nickel” line is said by Linda in a funny variation. It would’ve been nice to get a new theme song with new activities. Sure, it’s a classic and well known song, but the previous four seasons were able to sneak in everything (from painting a continent to locating Frankenstein’s brain) in the actual show in one form or another. A new theme song would provide new things to look out for. So is it disappointing that there are more recurring old gags than new ones? Yes. Yes it is.
Phineas and Ferb has always played with self awareness, and that’s part of its charm. 
There’s a jump the shark joke where the shark actually jumps them. The episode that does this beautifully is “The Chronicles of Meap: Meap Me in St. Louis”, which is the closest to something of a finale of these episodes. Meap (who was originally played by Lorenzo Lamas but is now voiced by John Stamos), has appeared in two previous episodes where he became friends with Candace. The end of his first episode, “The Chronicles of Meap”, teased clips for his next appearance, which were just random moments nobody expected to see happen. His next episode, “Meapless in Seattle”, paid off those clips and promised more clips in a future Meap episode. Once again, this Meap episode worked those previous clips into the story. Plus, all the double references to a “glorious fifth season” (which you knew were coming) happened in this one. All those callbacks prove this show hasn’t lost what made it special. These new episodes won’t disappoint longtime Phineas and Ferb fans, and they’re sure to hook new viewers just like the original run of the show did.
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