[Comic-Con@Home Panel Recap] PHINEAS AND FERB THE MOVIE

[Comic-Con@Home Panel Recap] PHINEAS AND FERB THE MOVIE
SDCC@Home Panel “Phineas and Ferb the Movie: Candace Against the Universe”
Disney+ premiered a clip from its upcoming movie, PHINEAS AND FERB THE MOVIE: CANDACE AGAINST THE UNIVERSE, at the film’s Comic-Con@Home Panel on July 25. Based on the Disney Channel animated series and directed by Bob Bowen, the movie will follow stepbrothers Phineas and Ferb across space as they attempt to save their older sister Candace, who finds solace in a planet without younger brothers.

The clip showcases the opening song from the movie, “Such a Beautiful Day,” which features Candace trying to relax, but leads to her getting inevitably worked up about her brothers. The show’s co-creator Dan Povenmire noted that the movie differs from the series in that Candace is at the center of the story, as opposed to being a foil for her brothers.

“We did 222 episodes and seven hour-long specials and another movie and we’re trying to think of what story have we not told, and we never really had Candace be the hero of any of these stories,” Povenmire said. “She’s almost always the antagonist.”

Ashley Tisdale, who voices Candace, agreed that antagonism had always been the default for her character. “For Candance, obviously she’s always felt like the world was against her,” Tisdale said. “It’s just nice to really kind of take that journey where the universe is really against her.”

Show co-creator Jeff ‘Swampy’ Marsh said the movie sets new ground for the characters by placing them in real danger. “It’s really hard to get Phineas and Ferb, as characters, to a place where they’re really upset or really worried,” Marsh said. “It’s not in their nature and I think that’s one of the things I loved about this story, is it really emphasized that relationship that they had and gave them a chance to experience that…love for their sister that we don’t get to see all the time.”

Since the show premiered in 2007 and ended in 2015, returning to these characters was a nostalgic trip for many of the cast members.

“[Phineas and Ferb] just has always been a part of my life in such an amazing way, so it just feels so nice to be back with everybody,” Tisdale said. “When we got back into the studio, it was just so easy to pick up Candace again and it felt just so good to see everybody again.”

Vincent Martella, who voices Phineas, agreed and expressed his appreciation for fans of the show. “Literally my entire teenage years were [spent] recording this show and getting to know this character,” Martella said. “Being able to go to the theme parks and see [that] there’s a large presence there…That was the coolest thing in the world, not just as a kid, but as a person, to be a part of something that you care about a lot and that you put a lot of energy into, to see that it resonates that deeply with a lot of people of different ages.”

Maulik Pancholy, who voices Phineas and Ferb’s friend Baljeet, said the love for the show continues today, even for kids who weren’t around when the episodes first premiered. Pancholy spent last fall on a middle-grade book tour and said he was surprised by how many kids recognized him when using his “Baljeet” voice. “There are kids who are 12 now…I don’t even know if they were born when we started recording [the show],” Pancholy said. “To get to play a character that you get to see the impact, you get to see the happiness that it brings to young people and also to like 30-year-olds who watched it when it first came out and to adults who watched it with their kids has just been so fun.”

Marsh also emphasized the amount of love from fans that have come back to the creators. “The amount of people that will come to you and tell you how important moments from the show were for their life, for their family, is so humbling and so overwhelming, but the coolest thing in the world,” Marsh said. “There’s always somebody who’s got one story that just rips your heart out: some silly thing that meant so much, or caused a relationship to be repaired, or get somebody through an extra day. That’s a cool thing.”

PHINEAS AND FERB THE MOVIE: CANDACE AGAINST THE UNIVERSE will be available to stream on Disney+ beginning August. 28, 2020.

Events

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *