Day Twenty-four - Phineas and Ferb: Season 2, Episode 31. or "Caramelldansen!!"

It should be no secret now that I love Phineas and Ferb.

It's a great show that features tons of whimsy, fun songs, and an entirely awesome outlook on life. The fact of the matter is, P&F is one of my regrets concerning dropping my cable/satellite subscriptions. My mainstay programs like The Daily Show, Community, and Castle can all be seen on their respective streams (well, I'm crossing my fingers for Community), but P&F? Pretty much, I have to rely on Netflix for them as they don't stream and their DVD releases are few, far between, and aren't full season sets.

Still... what we get on Netflix is quite a lot and, now that Disney is licensing out a larger portion of their catalog, I have little doubt I'll be getting more.

After the last few Doctor Who epis, I've felt the need for comfort television. Last night, it was Me & Orson. Today, it's P&F... and I chose one of my favorite episodes to do it with: Summer Belongs To You!

A special double episode, Summer Belongs To You stretches beyond the regular two parters to fill 45 minutes of world traveling fun with several awesome music skits. The first song features the epis' two guest stars, Clay Aiken and Chaka Khan. Even though it's the weakest song in the epi, it's not that bad, really.

The side story involves Doof and Vanessa nominally on vacation in Tokyo, though Doof is shown to have kidnapped Major Monogram and is going to frame him for being naughty at a Good Guys Convention. This causes drama for Vanessa who just wanted to spend time with her dad.

From there we get to one of my favorite sequences on the show... EVER.

J-Pop Welcome to Tokyo!

I'll just leave this here. Credit to dOrea-SaN for the gif.

It's a helluva short sequence, only around a minute long, but I can't help but laugh out loud every time it zooms by, a huge smile on my face the entire time.

Normally, horrid spoofs on anime infuriated me, but even though the mashup of P&F's and general anime stylings is an assault on the eyes, the references are just too cute not to enjoy. From Caramelldansen to Leekspin to Ganguro... they are all points of actual memes and real life style instead of just Americans making fun like South Park, Simpsons, or Clerks. It just feels like it was done by actual fans instead of folks looking for a quick snark.

After the boys get vegetable oil from Stacey's Baa-san (Grandmother), who looks exactly like her, just older and gray, the boys manage to save Vanessa from falling off Tokyo Tower and it's off to the Himalayas where there's time for a Bollywood music sequence courtesy of one of Baljeet's relatives.

This one I'm not too sure about as I'm not familiar with Bollywood too well. I still thought it was fun, though. Especially when it got to the mini-fridge. It really reminded me of the Mexican-Jewish Cultural Festival from Picture This.

The Himalayas section also features the first appearance of the Klimpaloon. Yeah, you'll just have to see it for yourself. I'm not even going to link it.

After another brief musical sequence, where they're all bouncing across the world (sometimes further back than they should if they were keeping to their schedule), it's off to Paris where Candace goes to look for Jeremy, Bufford and Baljeet search for fuel, Phineas and Isabella look for parts (which gives Izzy a chance to lament that Phineas doesn't see her in a romantic way), and Ferb and Vanessa... well, they go to the Eiffel Tower.

I really wanted this to be a key moment to advance the Ferb and Vanessa shippage storyline. At the very least, I was expecting another peck on the cheek like he got in Vanessassary Roughness, but no dice. Instead he is left on the Tower holding a rose as she is whisked away by Doof, Monogram, and Perry who have showed up to "save" her.

Poor Ferb.

I have to wonder if this is the way it's going to eventually end for this particular shippage. Especially since Seth Green is the voice of Major Monogram's son in later episodes and both he and Vanessa are closer in age and have already had an actual date.

Paris is also where we get more hints of Bufford's hidden depths... he speaks fluent French and reads Voltaire? 

Anyways, onwards and upwards... it's another crash landing and time for a moment of existential fugue for Phineas. He loses hope and it's up to the disgruntled Isabella to build him back up. Poignant, self-sacrificing (as she'd rather just stare at the sunset with him), and a perfect mood. Well done, writers.

Another redesign of the vehicle and another physics defying save later... and it's time to party. The Fireside Girls have put one together and the episode ends on a longish song that sums up the entire summer that P&F have adventured through.

I really, really love this episode. It has everything you want from P&F (well, almost... "Poor Ferb," indeed) and more (mostly).

For the longest time, I was afraid that this was going to be the series finale as it was just too epic in time and scope. It led me to believe that P&F hadn't been renewed (or whatever they do at the Disney Channel, since it's got a weird numbering and season schedule to begin with) and that freaked me out, but when more episodes showed up afterwards, I easily calmed down.

Once again, P&F is completely worth the watch... especially for folks who like music and whimsy. It's NOT just a kids show, people. Go out there and get hooked!

Until tomorrow, Potatoes~