I don’t know if anyone in my age group can relate to this. I don’t think anyone in my age group even watches this. Phineas and Ferb (P&F for short) is the best cartoon for kids that I have ever seen! Why you ask? 1) It’s never missed a single beat in its seven years and ten months of broadcasting unlike Spongebob Squarepants (how the mighty have fallen.) 2) Although P&F’s art direction was simple compared to the extremely colourful and creative cartoons like Adventure Time and The Amazing World of Gumball, P&F’s idea of “attacking” the viewer’s mind was through active imagination. P&F makes kids ask, “What CAN I do today?” 3) I know that P&F doesn’t exactly have one solid plotline like Gravity Falls (each episode is different yet the overlaying plot is obvious) but P&F depicts the everyday lives of kids, so random is good. 4) Sooooo much musical numbers! And of course, 5) P&F is the ONLY cartoon that has made me stop what I was doing, sit down, and watch it till the end even if they were reruns. I don’t know how many times I’ve seen them build a rollercoaster in the backyard.
When Disney released that Act Your Age was gonna be set ten years into the future, I was sooooo giddy! Then I read that it was the second-to-last episode before the series “finale” (there’s still The O.W.C.A. Files coming later this year.) IT DESTROYED ME. “Phineas and Ferb is going end. They won’t be making more.” I told my mother the terrible news. “What! Why?! It’s so good!” She replied. I thought the series would continue forever like The Simpsons.
I got myself a copy of Last Day of Summer, took a deep breath, braced myself, controlled my emotions, and pressed play. When it ended, when it was starting to sink in that I would never see the gang again, I stared at my screen for a good 30 minutes. It was all over.
P&F is probably the only cartoon that I religiously watched through my different “life” stages: 2007 when my family was still whole but crumbling; 2008 when I had enough of life but then rekindled through a certain person; 2009 when my father left leaving my mother in depression and me in rage; 2010 when I finally sorted my life after I got accepted in DLSU; 2011 when I realised that Buddhism was my key to finding the right questions to happiness; 2012 when I dated an amazing girl; 2013 when I started making friends in my degree program; 2014 when I had the best summer in a long time; now when I’m thinking of what comes next.
I may have changed a lot in the past almost 8 years but P&F was consistently giving me happiness. You may not have a cult fandom like Adventure Time and Gravity Falls or unique animation techniques like The Amazing World of Gumball or be a channel mascot like Spongebob Squarepants, but you definitely know how to awaken my inner kid. That kid will always be there.
I’ll miss you Phineas and Ferb!
Patrick Alix 