Return to 50 Webs
Disclaimer#1: All images, characters and material is (C) 1990/1991 Walt Disney Company and is being used without permission. The webmaster has made sure that no money was made in the creation of this web page and that all material used here is used with the up most affection and respect to the Walt Disney Company and the Tale Spin Team.
Disclaimer#2: The views expressed here are solely the views of the webmaster and no one else. The webmaster has no intentions to change anyone's minds about a particular subject and respects the views of the viewers. Comments about this and other editorial can be E-Mail at gweagle@eastlink.ca or signing the Cloudkicker guest book.
Phineas & Ferb: Journey To The Center Of Candace/Traffic Cam Caper
Reviewed: 02/22/2014
Journey To The Center Of Candace's Traffic Cam Caper!
Well; we are going backwards in this show as The Animal Files actually cover a few more season one episodes as well as season two and three! Yippeee! So to start The Animal Files; it's episode #20 (1-11b) and #32 (1-21a) on the animation paper as Candace now has proof of Phineas's big ideas; but it also shows Agent P's whereabout thus OWCA wants Perry to destroy said tape and do it by visiting someone familiar. Huh. Also; Isabella's dog Pinky has eaten Isabella's sash and Phineas builds a mini submarine (Germinator anyone?) to get inside Pinky; but somehow gets into Candace. Perry also gets in the act as Doofensmirtz latest evil scheme actually threaten Phineas & Ferb this time. Let's rant on shall we...?!
Journey To The Center Of Candace is written and storyboarded by Bobby Gaylor, Robert F. Hughes, Zac Moncrief, Martin Olsen, Kim Roberson and Kent Osborne. Traffic Cam Caper is written and storyboarded by Kim Roberson and Marc Ceccareli. Story editing for both episode are done by Martin Olson. Marc has only a few known credits besides Phineas & Ferb: The Drinky Crow Show, Spongebob Squarepants, Uncle Grandpa and The Haunted World of El Superbeasto. Direction is done by Dan Povenmire and/or Zac Moncrief. Animation is done by Wang Films and Rough Draft.
Journey To The Center of Candace: We begin this one with the STOCK FOOTAGE OF DOOM and then head into the kitchen as Candace, Phineas & Ferb are at the table. Candace is eating cereal with apple juice; while Phineas & Ferb are reading blueprints. Linda asks if they have anything exciting planned today as Phineas claims that they are doing either a nuclear submarine or a shrinking ray; thus combining Cash As Catch Can Part 2 and The Incredible Shrinking Mol...Oops; I almost gave the entire plot away again. What was I thinking? Perry is sitting on the seat of a chair doing nothing as usual. Linda proclaims that she has made up her mind and embraces them both for having such wonderful imaginations. I love real comments that aren't supposed to be real comments. Candace points out that they are doing it for real and are really going to build this stuff. Okay; I can get building a shrinking ray is kind of outside the realm of safety; but a submarine? Get out of town Candace! Really Candace; get out of town now! So Candace does her usual whining about things magically disappearing as Phineas tries to point out that they haven't decided yet, but Candace uses the spoon to push Phineas and his triangle nose away. Linda calls her imagination astounding. No, it's not Linda. Linda leaves as Candace is eating and acting like a snicker; then her cellphone rings. Candace answers it and would you be shocked if the person on the other end is Gil Nex...ERRR....I mean Jeremy? Jeremy asks if she wants to go on a walk today with him and Candace basically channels Fanboy & Chum Chum and does the hose spot where she spits about 100 times more liquid (milk this time) than she took in. Candace uses a cloth to pat her cheeks and asks Jeremy where he is going and Jeremy proclaims that he wants to do to his uncle's restaurant; which Candace claims it's doable. So Candace hangs up and apparently; Stacey somehow was left on hold forever because Candace is now talking to her about the date and they literally screech like two little girls. You cannot get more stereotypical than that folks as Phineas & Ferb are wondering what the hell is going on. Join the club boys!
Then to make things even more stereotypical; we somehow have a threesome with Jenny Brown (you know; the sister of Django Brown, the one who Buford did wrestling moves on earlier in this season?) squealing for their fun and my misery. So Phineas, Ferb and Perry decides to go to the backyard and they look at the blueprints for a long while and still cannot decide. Ferb has this look on his face that reads "What the hell was that scream fest with Candace?"; and then Isabella comes in and sadly, this is season one, so Isabella has not perfected the "What'ca doing?" catchphrase yet. She also brings in her dog on a leash who is one of those ankle biting type dogs; only it's really, really shaky for some reason. The dog's name is Pinky by the way as Isabella shows off her Fireside Girls' sash of doom containing all of her Fireside Girls badges that she sewed onto said sash. Phineas claims that it looks totally irreplacable. Which is usually codeword for "too expensive to replace". Then Pinky jumps up; grabs the sash and eats it; which Isabella is concerned because she has a Fireside Girls ceremony this afternoon. Phineas tells her not to worry about the sash as Ferb shows him both blueprints of both inventions that they cannot decide on doing and Phineas proclaims that Ferb is a genius. Phineas asks where Perry is and we see Perry behind the fence changing to Agent P and there is a security key panel on the fence with nine white button. He uses his feet to push the combination and then they do a flip flop spot with the fence as the trapdoor opens and Perry falls into it. Down the tube slide he goes and lands on the chair in front of the computer at OWCA headquarters. We see Monogram looking meaner than usual as we discover that Doofensmirtz is hiding in the abandoned vacuum cleaner factory (which somehow still has the giant ass sized model on top of the building for no reason) Monogram cannot believe that the place closed down and he blames the internet for that. It's always the internet to blame for everything now; it used to be video games, but that was netuered with Wii. So Agent P must find him and stop him; as Perry bails stage right.
So we head back to the garage as Isabella would like to know how the boys are going to get her sash back. Phineas brings out a black iPad claiming that Ferb made this multimedia presentation. We get a How It's Made the short version showing how they will get the sash back. It's really quite simple: Shrink ray shrinks the submarine; put it in the dog food, Pinky eats said dog food; they travel to his stomach, grab the sash (with the sub's mech arms) and then travel up the dog's throat and come out with him drooling. Isabella is cool with it even if she thinks it's gross. Well; it's no more gross than most toilet humor, so that's a plus. Isabella then points out the obvious problem with this plan: Pinky will eat anything but dog food and Pinky is shaking like a leaf. Phineas tells Isabella to make grilled cheese sandwiches (Isabella mentions this as Pinky's favorite food) while they build the submarine. Yeah because; apparently, only girls can make sandwiches properly. Sexist twits! So Ferb pants like a maniac for no reason; but the way he does it is still funny though. So we head outside the garage as three moving men from some shipping company called Sur something. So we get the usual sign on the clipboard as Phineas asks the man (it's basically the same three guys we see in every episode of this show; so forgive me if I'm glossing over this now) if they want to know if they are a little young to be getting stuff like AA batteries. The men claims that he is and Phineas claims that he gets this a lot. No?! Really?! So we head inside the garage as Isabella walks in with Pinky and a plate of grilled cheese sandwiches. I'm shocked Pinky hasn't eaten the sandwich already; which indicates that this is not Pinky's favorite food. Anyhow; we see the shrinking ray and the green submarine which I realize is the best one that was slam dunked in Take 2 With Phineas & Ferb. Isabella calls this amazing as Phineas & Ferb hop into the sub and push the button inside to turn on the shrinkage. Okay; that was more disturbing than the boy had intended. So the submarine shrinks due to the ray and falls into the grilled cheese sandwich. What can go wrong here? Well; let me tell you....
Isabella puts the plate down on the floor and gets all mushy with Pinky. Then we see that there is a black cat in front of the garage out of nowhere. Pinky turns around and then runs off chasing the cat. Isabella chases after her proclaiming that Pinky fell to the chasing cat cliche and Pinky is better than this. Okay; this setup is contrived; but at least they are admitting that this is so cliche. Besides; we have to do it because it's all about Candace's stomach, not Pinky's. So Candace comes into the garage proclaiming that he is about to bust her brothers or something. She sees the grilled cheese sandwich plate on the ground and picks up the sandwich as she doesn't want to be a pig on her first date. Don't worry Candace; there's no chance in hell of you looking like one, so have that sandwich you stole from Isabella with pride! So we head to the abandoned vacuum factory which has a jingle which is too contrived to be taken seriously. We head inside as Doofensmirtz is polishing yet another laser device and it might be the same as the shrink ray for all I know. This abandoned factory is pretty run down with cobwebs and cracked walls as Perry breaks through the broaded up windows within seconds after the jingle. So we get no build up to this at all. Doofensmirtz suddenly points out the entire formula for these things which means the writers are self-aware of how repetitive this show is. Is it any different than the Roadrunner cartoons of yesteryear? I don't think so. Doofensmirtz wants to mix it up a little and suggests that he tell the evil scheme first and then trap him. Perry has his chop chop skills on; but decides to play along because you have to pad the running time of this short somehow. Doofensmirtz twirls the device to the opposite direction and his new invention is called the Make Up Your Mind-inator. See Doofensmirtz hates people who cannot make up their minds and wants to destroy them; as in kill them somehow. Man; Doof is pissed off today as this echoes into Agent P's mind as we flashback to the beginning of the episode where Phineas & Ferb are in the kitchen looking over blueprints and couldn't make up their minds.
This somehow enrages Perry as Doofensmirtz is realizing the irony of not being able to make up his mind over weither to keep the name of his inator the same or not. So Perry runs in and smacks Doofensmirtz onto his ass; then handcuffs him. He then stomps on his face again and drags him to some proturding pipes and cuffs Doofensmirtz to the pipe. Doofensmirtz proclaims that he didn't see that one coming at all; even though he was the one who wanted to mix it up a little. So Doofensmirtz has no one but himself to blame for that one as he whines about being denied the chance to trap him in a giant ass Christmas snow globe which is shown in plain view out of nowhere. Damn you Agent P for denying us a Jolly Molly Christmas moment. So Agent P has his version of the Kim Possible's communcator device and calls Monogram as even he is surprised that Agent P won this one easily. Doofensmirtz blows him off as apparently; Monogram wants to send backup to him; but he has none and will have to make some phone calls before signing off. So we head back to the garage as Candace is eating the grilled cheese sandwich as she eats for a bit and then we see Phineas & Ferb are already in Candace's mouth. Phineas wants the swallowing to commence and then the doorbell rings and Candace gulps as the chewed up food and the submarine go down the throat of Candace. Phineas comments that Pinky has a long neck; which we know is not true. So Candace answers the door and it's Jeremy as Candace belches on cue after the submarine hits the stomach with ease. Candace excuses herself and looks insecure as usual. Ferb is driving the submarine inside the stomach as we are literally inside Candace's body. Phineas wants a road trip song and we invoke the TEDDY RUXPIN SONG OF DOOM to waste time. It's called Hemoglobin Highway and we get a lot of internal organ promos cut in this one. They go through the bloodstream for awhile as the spotlights are turned on. So Phineas notices two half eaten tacos in the stomach; and remembers that Linda makes the best tacos. Then remembers that they had tacos last dinner and Pinky didn't have dinner with them. UH OH!
So we see Candace's favorite cereal pops in the stomach as Phineas' cell phone rings which is cheese colored today. Phineas answers it and it's Isabella informing them that the sandwich is gone and her dog ran away chasing a cat. Phineas tells her that he'll get back to her in a moment. Phineas hangs up and tells Ferb that they are inside Candace's stomach; and their expressions read as if they are repulsed and sarcastic all at the same time. Ferb proclaims that this is creepy on so many levels. I love real comments that aren't supposed to be real comments. So we head back to the abandoned vacuum cleaner factory as Perry is sitting down with Doofensmirtz handcuffed to the pipe. Doofensmirtz is whining about the backup and points to the left claiming that he has a doctor bag containing his chess set. Perry goes to the right to the other doctor bag and opens it. A metal ring comes out and sticks around Perry's body and it flies up; sticking to the wall. Doofensmirtz taunts Perry and then does something really beyond the pale idiotic: Doofensmirtz uses a hair pick to unlock the cuffs. Doofensmirtz taunts Perry explaining that his metal ring sticks to the wall. He goes to the doctor bag he was pointing to; opens it up and a metal ring comes out and sticks to Doofensmirtz's body and he goes and sticks to the wall. Oy vey! Doofensmirtz realizes that he screwed himself and asks about the backup. So we head back into the bloodstream as the sub's mech arms are being used to clamp onto the nerve endings inside Candace's nervous system which show up on the monitor as the ears and eyes. So we go to the submarine monitor as we see Jeremy and Candace are in the park together on a date. Ferb calls this creepy on so many levels; which I say, sod off! Yes; Jeremy is this show's answer to Gil Nexdor; but come on! Just because Candace is an asshole; doesn't mean she is an asshole with Jeremy. So Phineas gets on his cellphone and we discover that he is calling Candace on the phone. Phineas informs her of what is happening which Candace blows off because she's on a date see. Yeah; so stop bugging her Phineas!
Phineas claims that he can prove it and then asks Ferb how. So convincing Candace on that one Phineas. NOT! So Ferb brings out the feather duster and tickles the inside nerves which is creepy on so many levels. I have to admit; I had an idea for a TaleSpin fanfic finish in that Kit and the other kids breathe in this whacky substance which literally tickles them from the inside from the ribs to the toes; and they act like someone is tickle torturing them. So thank me for that one and Disney can have that one for free. Candace oversells it and tries to tell Jeremy that she's fine. Sure you are Candace. Candace protests this on her cellphone as Phineas asks if she hangs upside down; could she be sick. Candace claims that she might be and Phineas tells Ferb to control the arms and legs as Ferb grabs the nerve endings for the arms and legs while somehow maintaining control of the eyes on the monitor screen. He must have four arms or more; otherwise, that is a logic break if I ever saw one. Okay; so Candace reverses field like a robot. Candace walks stage left like a robot. There is a sign that is pointing to the left that there is a conveniently placed playground. Candace walks to monkey bars like a robot. Candace hangs upside down like Upside Down Kid in Recess...like a robot version of it. Candace is green to the gills like a robot. Phineas thinks this is working like a robot. The government is working like a robot...that is broken. Coroprations are working like a robot...that is evil. Media is working like a robot...that is a zombie of itself. POW! OUCH! Ummmm...Okay; I'm done, let's move on. The contents and the submarine are coming up to Candace's mouth; but it stops in midstream because Candace is now right side up on the sand holding it all in. Somehow; the contents all go down her stomach; but not the submarine. Jeremy asks if she is all right and Candace claims she is and so they walk away to the sidewalk. They make it to Jeremy uncle's restaurant as Ferb invokes the arm of tickles onto Candace's throat. Candace gags for a second claiming she has a tickle in her throat. No?! Really?!
Jeremy bails stage left to get a glass of water as Candace burps violently and out comes the green submarine as it lands on some pile of stuff covered with a white cloth. Then it somehow zaps back to normal with no explaination as to how it could be achieved. Candace hates this logic break as much as I do and proclaims that the boys are so busted; and gets on her cellphone to call Linda. Linda tells her that she'll see her later because she is going to Jeremy uncle's restaurant to pick up sandwiches for Lawerence. Candace calls this perfect and hangs up; as we return to inside the vacuum cleaner factory. Doofensmirtz struggles and manages to get the metal ring to move enough to go from the ceiling to the wall. Wait; wasn't the metal ring already attached to the wall? Then he goes through the boarded up window and onto the brick walls outside waving goodbye to Perry. Perry struggles and breaks through the boarded up window on his side and they roll like logs up to the "model" big ass vacuum cleaner. Doofensmirtz manages to unclip the metal ring around him by using the large red switch on the "model" big ass vacuum cleaner and he freefalls and lands right into the green submarine as Phineas & Ferb have already exited. Plus; they don't care if Candace drags Linda into this anyway as we see Candace run in; just as Linda gets out of her car near the restaurant. Candace is all jumpy as she drags Linda in by the way. So Perry (complete with Perry chant) unclips his metal ring from the red switch and that flips the switch to the on poisition. Did I mention that the model vacuum cleaner is a real vacuum cleaner. Now this episode really sucks! HAHA!
Ron Sparks: It sucks more than Shuan Desmond.
So the vacuum cleaner moves forward and the under carriage is exposed which sucks up the green submarine with Doofensmirtz on it and it attaches to the bottom. So Candace drags Linda in and the thing that was under the cover is a submarine sandwich model which I discover that Jeremy's uncle is Uncle Joe. Linda is stunned about this imagination and Candace is flustered; as Isabella runs in with Pinky who is still shaking like a leaf as she informs us that she got the sash back because Pinky threw up for no reason at all. Yeah; the boys did all this for nothing and it only served to make Candace as paranoid as Pinky. So Jeremy comes in and gives Candace a surprise which is their latest sandwich menu which is pretty generic for the most part; but there is a sandwich called the Candace Special. Geez; wonder what strings Jeremy had to pull to get his uncle to just give Candace the time of day on that menu? Jeremy shows Candace a plate as the Candace special is a grilled sandwich because it's her favorite. That is lame. Candace is so happy as we see Doofensmirtz inside the submarine push the blue square button on the control panel while trying to get up. This somehow causes it to shrink as I discover that the submarine has a built in shrinking device. That is a real neat invention methinks. The submarine drops and lands right into the plate containing the Candace special as Candace is so giddy to eat this. So we head inside Uncle Joe's restaurant as it's a pinkified island side cafe as the babyfaces are sitting at the counter eating their sandwiches. Candace is about to eat her grilled cheese sandwich; but suddenly Pinky runs in and steals the sandwich from Candace.
He chomps it all in one shot and lands on the ground. We hear Doofensmirtz cursing Perry again even though Perry had nothing to do with Doofensmirtz getting into this mess in the first place. We then fade to black and head to a living room floor as we see Pinky lying down asleep on a red pillow covered basket which is on a cheesy colored rug. Doofensmirtz is inside the submarine in the bloodstream wondering what is going on. So he uses the clamp arms to attach to the dog's nerves and he manages to gain control of Pinky's brain. Doofensmirtz then proclaims that this is perfect because he can now get his revenge by peeing all over the Tri-State Area. BWHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA! Hey; if cannot control it, then deface it! That's a heelish thing to do; but it is so gross to Doofensmirtz that he is wondering what the hell is he doing with his life. HAHA! That ends the episode at 11:05. Eh; Magic School Bus did a much more exciting version of this on PBS; and even got to say "anus" on childrens' television! So yeah; color me unimpressed. Solid otherwise; and the ending did make me laugh at how creepy and heelish Doofensmirtz can be sometimes; even when he's failing like crazy. So call it ** 3/4 (55%).
Traffic Cam Caper: We begin this one with the STOCK FOOTAGE OF DOOM AFTER HAPPY HOUR (After dark. Wow; this is turning into Fish Hooks now; only Fish Hooks had the signs and Bud which can be amusing half of the time at least.) as we head to the kitchen with the Flynn-Fletcher family eating. Well; only Candace is talking as she claims that Phineas & Ferb built an elevator to the moon in the backyard earlier today. Isn't that kind of pointless since Ferb already built a rocket to the moon earlier in the season? Linda claims that she checked and it was moon-elevator free. Was it free of rockets? Please tell me it wasn't. Yeah; she's treating it like Monty's BS stories should be treated: with contempt and sarcasm. Candace protests this; so Phineas & Ferb claim that it's all true and brought in moon rocks and a small American flag; which probably has fewer stars than it should have. If you are not going to draw all those stars because of costs; then stop booking your shows in the real world then. It's not like the kids care where the setting is as long as they can relate to the characters. Anyhow; Candace points out that this is proof; but Linda and Lawerence calls it adorable, because you see as I noted many times before: Lawerence is in on the gig and Linda is implying that she knows Phineas & Ferb are doing these things and they don't care. Kind of like Damon and Jason from Twinsanity actually. Candace proclaims that they don't believe her and she's over it. Ummm; no you aren't Candace. Linda tells her to revel in Phineas & Ferb's imagination and enjoy it for what it is. Again; implying that they are onto Phineas' inventions and just don't care. Personally; I'm fine with it as long as Phineas & Ferb don't cause injuries nor deaths to anyone. Except for Candace; since most of it is brought on herself. Phineas & Ferb excuse themselves and leave for bed as Candace slowly mopes away with them. Linda calls her mopey for fun as Lawerence checks the mail and he's upset because one of the letters is a traffic ticket because they installed a video camera on the city block for 24 hours of spying on Lawerence's driving skills.
Linda then points out that Lawerence has forgotten to remember to drive on the right side of the road instead of the left. A trait which demonstrated in Road Trip; he has yet to grow out of. Candace is listening from the stairs and starts to get giddy as Linda asks if they run out of tape. Lawerence claims that they are CD's and compression techs to store months of digital video. It must be those secret compression routines Nintendo was claiming when the Ultra 64 was still in developement; and tried to convince everyone that carts were better than CD's due to speed and compression. They were only half right since they still use carts on 3DS. only they are a version of the SD cards you see today. So we head inside Phineas & Ferb's bedroom as the boys are snoring; Perry is lying on Ferb's bed which has purple covers. Again; why did Disney change the purple covers in the Disney Channel tv movie version of Plunder and Lightning to navy blue in syndication? So we zoom to Perry sleeping as he's vibrating. Perry wakes up as we discover that it's his watch. He looks at it; and then changes to Agent P and jumps into the top hat. We head to OWCA headquarters as Monogram is on screen already. So we see a purple cloth covered table with another top hat as Perry pops from it and lands on the floor perfectly. We get a "TADA" sound as a blue dressed female with black hair and blue high heels, white earrings and white long gloves introduces Perry to us. Thanks madam; but I know who Agent P is already. This spot would have been better served in the pilot episode Rollercoaster than this episode. Then I see Monogram and Karl at the monitor clapping in unison and calling it impressive. BOR-ING! Perry bows and then walks over to the computer. He sits down as Monogram apologizes for distrubing him at such a late hour; but this is the most important mission of his career. So much so that Perry needs to get a notepad and a pen to write it down. Heh.
So Monogram explains that Danville's police force has installed a traffic camera near his civilian home which contains footage of him in the backyard as Agent P. So he must get that camera and the disc back so it can be disposed of in a special matter. I wonder what this special disposal will involve? Anyhow; I find it really interesting that Monogram is totally for stealing government property; but then again, he probably has more justification (slightly more I might add) than a certain beanpole shaped teenage girl does in stealing it, so what do I know. So we head outside as we see the video camera is perched on a pole near the bushes in the foreground in front of the street. Agent P pops up and then pops down right on cue as Candace runs in on the street with a ladder. Geez Kick; what makes you think being on the street would make you a rebel, you literally moral midget?! She is so giddy that she needs help right now as she props the ladder against the steel pole on the side. Candace climbs up and opens the video camera; and she steals the disc; and then proclaims that she is just borrowing it to no one. Oh yeah; that's somehow going to help you stay off charges of stealing government property. Who is going to believe that a platypus has stolen a disc? Other than police officers who think furries are real and dangerous hooligans? So Candace runs into her bedroom which contains a poster on the wall that reads "Me, Myself And I Love". Who exactly? There's no sign of who "me, myself and I" loves? Candace goes to the window which is where the laptop is and places the disc into the laptop's cd cradle. So we watch the monitor and indeed there is footage of the space elevator to the moon and not only is this proof on the disc; there is footage from Rollercoaster, Lawn Gnome Beach Party of Terror and the roller rink from Crack That Whip; all from the perspective of the video camera. We also see Perry driving his white rocket car which Candace missed anyway. Candace is so giddy as she covers her mouth with the purple pillow with red hearts on it. Perry tries to grab the disc; but Candace looks over forcing Perry to be a pet and Candace hugs Perry like a teddy bear. Awwww!
So Phineas & Ferb walk in with Phineas wearing brown pjs and Ferb wearing a mozzarella cheese full pj suit ala Molly Cunningham. They ask what Candace is watching amist the muffled emotions and Candace claims that she is doing a mini-summer project called "evidence" as she shows the footage of the moon elevator which is strange considering that if she was watching the stuff in order; the roller rink and rollercoaster and beach would come before the moon elevator. Also; the sandbox came after Rollercoaster; but it was built during the episode here. Also; when Candace goes over the actual proof; the camera angle is to the tree; but not at the pole where it would be. So yeah; this was really sloppy and Phineas doesn't care because he wants to show Linda the moon elevator. Also; the flag they showed shouldn't wave at all since the Apollo 11 one was stiffen with wires to prevent from drooping. Then we get a sequence of Candace proclaiming victory and looking at the laptop everytime prompting Perry to change from animal to agent P to animal and repeat about eight times. This goes on for a while as we hear and see Linda at the door blowing off Candace. Candace wants to show her the evidence now; but Linda really blows her off and wants to see it in the morning instead. She also blows Phineas & Ferb off too. Damn; what's her problem tonight? Linda's outfit for evening wear suggests that she is in a fool mood tonight. So much so; that she refuses to see the evidence at 9:00 am despite Phineas penciling it for 7:30 am. And yes; Perry hopped out of the window and is standing in a tree on the next shot after Linda storms out from the hallways. Perry is not amused; but then starts to smile and his eyes light up. He hops down the tree and we head to Doofensmirtz Evil Incorporated after hours as we head to the hallway outside Doofensmirtz's room which has a brown welcome mat which reads leave. That made me laugh and so Perry knocks on the door which has Doofensmirtz written in red letter inside a red border.
Doofensmirtz opens the door demanding answers to this outrage. Doof is wearing a white undershirt as we discover that Doofen has a teeth grinding issue since he takes a grind guard from his mouth and puts it in a container. He sounds funnier with it on though as Doofen wants to know why he is here since Perry is supposed to be stopping his evil scheme tomorrow. Again; is this a shoot or not? Perry runs in anyway as Doof decides to let him in. Perry runs over to a garage door which is some how inside Doofensmirtz's purple walled bedroom. Perry pushes the button on the console and the garage door opens to reveal Norm from Greece Lightning. This is the third time I have ranted on this robot; second as the original. So Norm has somehow been spared the sad reality of exploding in this cartoon. So far anyway. Norm greets him with this sheepish grin teeth look; which is semi creepy; along with the Family Guy announcer voice. Doofen is stunned that Perry just wants to borrow Norm; and decides that he can because he is going back to bed. Only in this show can the heel not care about the babyface borrowing his property. Doofen goes to bed and tells Perry not to scratch up Norm at all; and he's a little low on oil. Oooookkkkaaaayyyyy; he sounds not so funny with the grinding guard on. So Perry opens the top and hops into the robot as I realize that Norm can be manually controlled from the inside. Perry starts working the controls on the panel and the garage door closes and then we get an outside shot of DEI as we pan down to ground level to another garage door. The door opens and out comes Norm greeting us again. Whatever turns you on Norm. So we head back to Candace's bedroom as Phineas and Ferb are talking to Candace as if nothing has happened to the fact that Candace is going to bust them. So Phineas proclaims that Ferb wants to start on the multimedia presentation; and wants to grab the CD to borrow it. Candace smacks Phineas' hand away because nothing is going to stop her from busting them; and she is not letting the CD out of her sight.
Here's what happens next: Norm is behind the window. He lifts the roofs clear off the house and then steals the CD. Norm perfectly places the roof of the house back on as if nothing had happened and walks off thanking her for the CD. Candace is stunned asking what happened; which Phineas claims that he doesn't know but it looked cool anyway. Norm breaks through the fence as Linda blows them off again for yelling. Candace asks about the robot and Phineas is certain that they didn't build it; but they want one. Candace whines about the evidence and Phineas agrees to get the CD back so she can bust them because...and I could never say this in a million years...To make Candace happy. In other words; they have no problem enabling her to bust them because they know that it turns her on. Horrible message; but no one cares about Candace anyway. So we head to the sidewalk with them on bicycles and wearing their helmets. Yes; they managed to get outside without Linda and Lawerence noticing it. And how funny is it when Candace was running on the road with a ladder earlier; but now must bicycle on the sidewalk? So we get the SCOOBY DOO CHASE SEQUENCE THE NORM ROBOT EDITION~ to waste time. Norm twists his head backwards and notices the kids riding after them; and even he doesn't want to be spotted; so he turns his feet into rocket skates and rockets into the city of Danville complete with flaming tracks. Whatever Norm. The kids stop and Phineas proclaims that they need a little faster bike now. So we head to a war room and the blue round table with purple chair as Karl is the only one standing up beside Monogram sitting down with the animal agents. We have Agent D (known as Arf, he's a dog.), Agent C (known as Cluck, he's a chicken literally), Agent K (known as Meow. He's a cat), Agent O (Owl), Agent F (Frog), and Agent R (Raccoon).
So Monogram asks about Agent P and Karl tells him Perry hasn't arrived yet. So Karl and Monogram do this really silly vaudeville routine which doesn't catch at all because Karl is a dork and cannot do it properly. So Monogram asks for songs and Agent D barks and Agent C cluck and pecks at the table. Monogram asks Karl why the agents are animals again which is evidence that none of these agents have any personality whatsoever. So we head back to the road and inside Norm as the control panel is blinking a route like a GPS counter. The automated female voice tells us that they will arrive in 3 minutes five seconds; which Norm responds that they'll be there in no time. So then the screen flashes the stats of the engine and apparently; Norm is running out of oil literally. So Norm rockets into a gas station and stops in front of the tanks. Perry pops out of the head and what happens next is one of those moments where the writers simply do not care about logic nor reason: Perry walks over to the entrance and drops cash into the letter drop chute in the glass wall. Normally; this would be fine except there is a gas station attendent in the store looking directly at Perry. Not only that; but the attendent is wearing the same green outfit that all the delivery men in this show; who deliver stuff to Phineas & Ferb in almost every episode. Not only that; but the attendent does nothing after this. Yeah; as if he always sees a platypus in a fedora hat needing gas. None of this makes any sense! Then; to make matters worse, we head back to the war room and somehow Agent Kangeroo has sat down despite not seeing him in the previous war room segment. That alone wouldn't be a problem, except now Monogram is playing guitar in his chair and singing a knock off version of "Old Macdonald Had A Farm". Yes. This is...I don't know. I'm trying to figure out the point of this. Anyhow; this sets up the fact that the turkey is supposed to make a sound; but doesn't. Why?
Because Karl walks in and informs us that Agent T was gone last November and Monogram clears his throat and realizes that this is right. In other words; Agent T was murdered on Thanksgiving. Poor Agent T; his death has been mocked. I thought this would end the scene; but we continue on with the TEDDY RUXPIN SONG OF DOOM on the sky shot. So Monogram stops and wants one more with feeling as Agent C clucks like a rooster which indicates that Agent C is not a chicken; but a rooster. So this is the show where Disney Captions thought saying "Cock Crowing" was allowed on a DVD set! So we head back to the gas station as Perry has a can of oil and the back panel is opened. Perry pours the oil into the cone of the oil tank. He has poured about four cans of oil already; but then hears noises and here comes Phineas & Ferb rocketing towards them. Did I mention that Phineas & Ferb are riding a jet rocket engine ala Baloo and Wildcat in Mach One For The Gipper. This is the perfect time for Candace to yell: "MOM! Phineas & Ferb are watching TaleSpin again!"; but I know that will not happen. So Perry hops into Norm and we are off again. We rocket for a while and then Norm gets all upset because someone forgot to replace the oil cap in the back because the back is leaking. And somehow; the oil doesn't leak on the rocket flames on the bottom causing the robot to explode. No; what happens is: the rocket shoes are destroyed and Norm then proclaims that he's walking. So Norm is power walking (and I do mean earthquake power walking) towards a cantilever bridge and the bridge sides go up causing Norm to do the splits. Ferb rockets in on the rocket bicycle as Candace screams. Ferb jumps off and tries to grab the disk; but he overshoots and gets oil on him and slides down the other side of the bridge. So Norm is doing the splits and goes upside down which allows Phineas to run in and show more caution than Ferb. He grabs the disk and Candace is happy.
Norm slides down (because he is not wearing cleets; and has oil on his feet) as Phineas leaps and the CD lands on the side of the bridge to Candace's right. Phineas is hanging on for dear life on the left side covered in oil and what happens next is absolute crappy booking. Here's a question: How do you book this finish if you were writing this? Well; I would have Candace grab the CD first right away, and tease turning on Phineas before Candace suddenly grabs Phineas and saves him. As she would pull him up; the disc slips out of her hands and falls into the river. That would be a sensible finish and Candace retains her heat as a tweener because Candace needs Phineas alive to bust him; otherwise, she looks like a bad person. That's how I would book this finish. NOT THESE WRITERS! Here's what really happened: Candace goes over to Phineas and then stops and looks at the CD. Then Phineas. Then CD. Then Phineas again. Rinse, lather repeat for a minute; and then the CD falls into the river, Candace groans, saves Phineas for real and Phineas breaks logic because he has no oil on him anymore when he's saved despite having it all over him before he was saved. In other words; Candace hesistated. Candace could have teased a heel turn before doing the right thing; and then losing it because the oil made her butter fingers or something. But she didn't do anything but hesistate before saving Phineas; and allowed the disc to fall on it's own. That kills off all her heat as a tweener right there. Even when she was an asshole; even when she was acting like an idiot, at least she had heat as a tweener who busts Phineas & Ferb because it turns her on. Thanks to this; now it is gone. I mean; the "You might be a pain; but you are still my brother" is a fine line on it's own, but it means nothing now. That is BS booking at it's worst and kills off a otherwise decent episode. Then this episode gets sillier: Candace admits that they have the rocket as evidence and apparently we discover that it's off the bicycle and flying into the air; and then it explodes into the sky. Wait, what?!
Then we see "Ferb" rising up into the air on his helicopter glider with the disc in his hand. Phineas is so happy as he goes over to "Ferb" and "Ferb" flies away stage right with disc in hand. The bridge finally resets back to normal and Ferb slides right back to Phineas. Phineas calls this weirder than the giant robot as we head back to "Ferb" in the helicopter glider and we discover where Clamantha gets her disguise ideas from. Yeap; it's Agent P which makes sense now at least. So we head back to the war room as Agent P arrives from the elevator with disc in hand as Monogram is pleased to see him and wants the disc. So Perry slides the disc over to Monogram and wants Karl to dispose of it in that special way. So Karl brings out a large pair of tongs and grabs the disc with them. Then he simply drops them into a white garbage bag covered trash bin. HAHA! Perry is not amused by this; but I am at least. Monogram proclaims that Perry saved OWCA from itself and wants him not to hesistate to ask for a reward. Perry has something in mind as we return to Phineas' house and inside the living room with Lawerence looking so happy because he has been cleared of the charges of driving on the wrong side of the road. Ferb shrugs his shoulders in confusion as Lawerence proclaims that there really is someone looking out of him as he points up to Perry and he chitters. So we head back to the war room; only on the floor as Monogram continues his guitar playing and singing with Karl, Arf, Cluck and Agent W. Why yes; there is an earthworm in the organization; why did you ask? And also; this explains one of the empty seats in the OWCA room. Doesn't explain the kangeroo though. So we zoom out and see that Norm is sitting with them wearing a fedora hat. Monogram calls this weird and orders Karl to fire him and Karl has his clipboard and walking papers ready for Norm to sign. I guess he doesn't like talking robots. Fade to black and we go to the ED as we are at the same fair as the one in Attack of The 50 Foot Sister as some carnival barker male with a black mustache is introducing us to Manugin which is half man half penguin. Ummm; Bygones, the Squadron of Seven headed by Rick Skye; I'm just saying new Disney. This penguin is wearing a white shirt and I realize that he looks awfully familiar to someone. So we go inside the tent wand we see Doofensmirtz wearing a mech robot penguin for a head as he sulks about having goals which are evil; but still are goals. I just realized that this ending is not for this episode; but for Bowl-R-Drama. Very sloppy work there Disney DVD! That ends the episode at 10:40 approx. The episode was fine until the climax; and then it turned into a mess of bad logic and really put the brakes on Candace's heat like nothing else could. ** (40%).
THE REVIEW LINE
Not a good set of shorts to start the fourth DVD set of Phineas & Ferb and Perry's Animal Agents. Journey To The Center of Candace was a solid episode; but it was nothing I haven't seen before and done better. I hate to defend PBS; but Magic School Bus' version of this was a lot more compelling than this one and more risque than this episode too. Throw up? That's nothing. Saying anus? That's risque! The story was solid enough and I did laugh at Doofensmirtz at the end with the peeing reference because really, that would be hilarious revenge if he did it. Not much more to say about this one. Traffic Cam Caper was an interesting story of Perry against Candace instead of Doofensmirtz since the security camera came in to threaten their lives; so it was a nice idea. However; it was bogged down by really bad logic breaks and some really silly continuity errors that should have been easily caught. Also; the climax and finish was a case of bad booking: Candace could have grabbed the CD; saved Phineas and lost the disk without hesistating and have her heat still on her. But the writers made her hesistate like a complete cartoon villain making a choice between money or life and it only killed Candace's heat as a buster who gets unlucky. Norm was fine, Doofensmirtz was fine, but Linda needs to tone down the attitude tonight since she sounded very cranky for some reason. To Lawerence: You still need to stop driving on the left side of the road. Plus; the ending doesn't match the episode at all; since it's swiped from Bowl-R-Drama! Overall; not a good set of episodes and this needs to improve. So next up is another Vanessa episode and Isabella's first focus episode. So....
Thumbs in the middle for Journey To The Center of Candace and thumbs down for Traffic Cam Caper and I'll see you all next time.