Advance Review: Phineas and Ferb: Star Wars

In 2009, when The Walt Disney Company bought Marvel, it wasn’t long before the two worlds collided with the very popular Phineas and Ferb: Mission Marvel special, where after Dr. Doofenshmirtz’s “Power Draininator” depowered Spider-Man, Iron Man, Thor, and Hulk, Disney’s cartoon step-brothers Phineas and Ferb helped the superheroes get their powers back and save the world. So when Disney acquired Lucasfilm Limited, anyone paying attention knew that it wouldn’t be too long before Phineas and Ferb crossed over with Star Wars.

Phineas and Ferb: Star Wars is easily the better of the two, thanks mainly to the source material. Rather than put together a random adventure with a forced reason for Star Wars characters to appear, Disney took the Rosencrantz and Guildenstern Are Dead approach (minus the existential absurdism), and worked their characters into the story of Star Wars Episode IV: A New Hope, and it’s a match made in cartoon heaven.

In the special, Perry Platypus (Dee Bradley Baker) is the rebels’ best secret agent, has stolen the Death Star plans, and is tasked with getting R2-D2 safely to the Rebel Alliance. When those plans go south, he ends up on Tattooine trying to get the plans to Obi-Wan Kenobi. Meanwhile, Phineas (Vincent Martella) and his step-brother Ferb (Thomas Brodie-Sangster) live on Tattooine and are friends with Luke Skywalker (Christopher Corey Smith). After a string of coincidences, they end up with the plans, but miss the handoff in Mos Eisley. In order to catch up with the Star Wars characters, Phineas and Ferb hire Isabella (Alyson Stoner) to pilot them in pursuit of her rivals, Han Solo (Ross Marquand) and Chewbacca.

While all of this is going on, Stormtroopers in training, Candace (Ashley Tisdale), Baljeet (Maulik Pancholy), and Buford (Bobby Gaylor) pursue the rebels — despite being ordered to purchase new socks for Darth Vader. Oh yeah, and it turns out the Death Star plans were originally a super-effective walnut cracker designed by Darthenshmirtz (Dan Povenmire), but hijacked by Vader and turned into a planet-killing weapon. But Darthenshmirtz has a new device ready — the Sith-inator — which will enhance the Sith power of whomever it blasts. And it’s powered with the Force energy he extracts from Vader’s garbage.

The writers of this special do an amazing job weaving the trademark Phineas and Ferb elements (the tinkering and upgrading things, Candace trying to bust them, Doofenshmirtz’s -ator machines, and musical numbers) into the plot of the original Star Wars in a way that makes sense and works throughout the entire show. Then they even went the extra mile and got Simon Pegg to do a double-duty guest-spot as Candace’s C.O. and C-3PO (Mythbusters Adam Savage and Jamie Hyneman are in there, too).

It was a little odd that they worked in a reference Darth Maul, but I guess Maul is just too cool of a character to leave out.

Musically, every single number in the special is darn-near perfect and there really wasn’t a single misstep in the entire hour. If you’re a fan of Star Wars, this is one of the strongest animated tie-ins you’re going to find (that isn’t produced by Lucasfilms directly); and if you’re a fan of Phineas and Ferb, this is probably the best thing they’ve done so far.

In addition to the Star Wars crossover special, the disc also includes five half-hour episodes from Season Four of the show:

• “For Your Ice Only / Happy New Year!”
• “Steampunx / It’s No Picnic”
• “Terrifying Tri-State Trilogy of Terror (Parts 1 and 2)”
• “Doof 101 / Father’s Day”
• “Tales from the Resistance (Parts 1 and 2)”

All of the episodes are cute and entertaining, with no worries for parents who want to make sure their kids are watching good, wholesome cartoons. Even the “Trilogy of Terror” episode doesn’t really try too hard to be spooky. Although it’s kind of spooky that Ferb’s dad and Phineas’ step-dad is voiced by Rocky Horror‘s Richard O’Brien, and his dad is played by Malcolm McDowell.

“Tales from the Resistance,” however, was a stand-out for me as it returns to the world of the Phineas and Ferb TV movie, Across the 2nd Dimension, which introduced the concept of an alternate world where Dr. Doofenshmirtz isn’t just evil, he’s successfully evil and has the Tri-State area under his thumb. When our heroes cross over to the 2nd Dimension they help their doppelgangers with the overthrow and capture of Doofenshmirtz. In this sequel, set entirely in the other dimension, Mrs. Doofenshmirtz (Allison Janney) returns to cause trouble — and of course, sing a duet with her husband.

I have a love for alternate reality stories, so like a sucker I fell for this one immediately (despite not having any idea what was happening when it started). It actually made me want to go back and check out the movie, so it did its job.

All in all, if you have kids, this is pretty much a no-brainer. It’s fun, the songs are catchy, and you don’t have to worry about anything untoward happening. Plus, Perry the Platypus’ spy adventures are always a hoot, recalling some of the fun of Secret Squirrel (both the original 60s cartoon and the 90s revival).

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