I greatly enjoyed Phineas and Ferb. I think it is an excellent cartoon and have very few things to say about it as a whole that aren't praise. I also enjoyed Milo Murphy's Law. And I greatly appreciate the effort Povenmire and Marsh put in since the beginning to make Milo's world "we're all living in it" to be the same one inhabited by Phineas Flynn and Ferb Fletcher. Melissa yelling "Great Googly Moogly" (a reference to Major Monogram's catchphrase), Milo comparing the football game to "football X-7", Milo having Perry the platypus pyjamas. Brigette being a fan of Lindana and Love Handël. The show being set in Danville. The Rollercoaster having destroyed Melissa's project on the first day of Summer et cetera. So it was only natural that a crossover was coming.
So let's discuss the good, the bad and the ugly about this crossover episode.
The good. Dr. Doofenshmirtz was well-integrated into the episode and was hilarious in it. Doofenshmirtz and Orton singing "It's a lot of pressure" was great. I love how they built on The Island of Lost Dakotas episode. And how the revelation leads to Cavendish having a much more positive assessment of Dakota than he had previously to the point of actually placing himself in front of Dakota to save him. Derek was an impressive villain in this episode.
And I liked the whole dynamic between Candace and Milo wherein she tells him he's not the one who messes things up for everyone, she is. And Baljeet and Buford being fans of the Lumberzacks. And I like how it resolved the cliffhanger of Fungus Among Us and how it sets up the integration of Dr. Doofenshmirtz into the regular cast.
What's a mixed bag is the Phineas and Ferb part of the episode. While they are likeable characters and them getting along with Milo was a highlight of the episode the "Phineas and Ferb Effect" is problematic.
The idea that around Milo "anything that can go wrong will go wrong" is due to him having a disproportionately high concentration of "Negative Probability Ions" is something I'm entirely fine with. But the idea that Phineas and Ferb have a disproportionately high concentration of "Positive Probability Ions" such that nothing can ever go wrong for them and that's why Candace can never bust them (hence them replying to Melissa asking what they do when things don't go their way by commenting "we have no frame of reference for that") is grating.
On the one hand, it means Candace was right about the Mysterious Force in the first movie. On the other, it would require ignoring several episodes of Phineas and Ferb including some of their best.
In the Season One finale, Phineas nearly fell off a roof and needed Candace to save him. In the Season Two episode Phineas and Ferb's Quantum Boogaloo things actually go quite badly for them until the climax when Candace fixes things. In the episode, Phineas and Ferb's Christmas Vacation, Dr. Doofenshmirtz destroys Christmas for everyone in Danville and Candace convinces Phineas that it's his fault. In Summer Belongs to You, they're stranded on an island in the middle of nowhere and Phineas has a complete nervous breakdown. In the Season 3 episode Escape from Phineas Tower, they're trapped in an escape room that threatens to kill them to detain them indefinitely and eventually envelops the entire galaxy. In Night of the Living Pharmacists, they're assimilated by Doofenshmirtz clones. In the series finale, they were temporarily erased from existence.
It's true that as a general rule, circumstances contrive in a manner that benefits Phineas and Ferb at the expense of Candace but that's not always the case. I get what they were going for in this episode which was the idea that they were in a sense, the anti-Milo Murphy, which is true, and it actually works within the context of Milo Murphy's Law but it doesn't jive well with Phineas and Ferb. Also, Bradley retaining the vine arm was pointless.
Still, all in all, it's a pretty good episode.
So let's discuss the good, the bad and the ugly about this crossover episode.
The good. Dr. Doofenshmirtz was well-integrated into the episode and was hilarious in it. Doofenshmirtz and Orton singing "It's a lot of pressure" was great. I love how they built on The Island of Lost Dakotas episode. And how the revelation leads to Cavendish having a much more positive assessment of Dakota than he had previously to the point of actually placing himself in front of Dakota to save him. Derek was an impressive villain in this episode.
And I liked the whole dynamic between Candace and Milo wherein she tells him he's not the one who messes things up for everyone, she is. And Baljeet and Buford being fans of the Lumberzacks. And I like how it resolved the cliffhanger of Fungus Among Us and how it sets up the integration of Dr. Doofenshmirtz into the regular cast.
What's a mixed bag is the Phineas and Ferb part of the episode. While they are likeable characters and them getting along with Milo was a highlight of the episode the "Phineas and Ferb Effect" is problematic.
The idea that around Milo "anything that can go wrong will go wrong" is due to him having a disproportionately high concentration of "Negative Probability Ions" is something I'm entirely fine with. But the idea that Phineas and Ferb have a disproportionately high concentration of "Positive Probability Ions" such that nothing can ever go wrong for them and that's why Candace can never bust them (hence them replying to Melissa asking what they do when things don't go their way by commenting "we have no frame of reference for that") is grating.
On the one hand, it means Candace was right about the Mysterious Force in the first movie. On the other, it would require ignoring several episodes of Phineas and Ferb including some of their best.
In the Season One finale, Phineas nearly fell off a roof and needed Candace to save him. In the Season Two episode Phineas and Ferb's Quantum Boogaloo things actually go quite badly for them until the climax when Candace fixes things. In the episode, Phineas and Ferb's Christmas Vacation, Dr. Doofenshmirtz destroys Christmas for everyone in Danville and Candace convinces Phineas that it's his fault. In Summer Belongs to You, they're stranded on an island in the middle of nowhere and Phineas has a complete nervous breakdown. In the Season 3 episode Escape from Phineas Tower, they're trapped in an escape room that threatens to kill them to detain them indefinitely and eventually envelops the entire galaxy. In Night of the Living Pharmacists, they're assimilated by Doofenshmirtz clones. In the series finale, they were temporarily erased from existence.
It's true that as a general rule, circumstances contrive in a manner that benefits Phineas and Ferb at the expense of Candace but that's not always the case. I get what they were going for in this episode which was the idea that they were in a sense, the anti-Milo Murphy, which is true, and it actually works within the context of Milo Murphy's Law but it doesn't jive well with Phineas and Ferb. Also, Bradley retaining the vine arm was pointless.
Still, all in all, it's a pretty good episode.