The Phineas and Ferb Star Wars Special

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chimericoncogene
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The Phineas and Ferb Star Wars Special

Post by chimericoncogene »

Phineas and Ferb: Star Wars follows the adventures of Phineas and Ferb, highly successful and technically-adept moisture farmers from the beautiful, sun-kissed sandbox of Tatooine, where spare parts are plentiful, the canyons majestic, and Jedi lessons are twenty credits an hour (Hey, Ben Kenobi has to make a living somehow). Thrust into the Galactic Civil War when the Death Star plans fall into their laps, they must enlist the aid of unlikely allies, evade overzealous stormtroopers, and stop an evil side-plot by the nefarious Darthenshmirtz, bumbling Imperial scientist and self-styled Sith wannabee, even as the events of A New Hope unfold around them.

And none of this is canon, so just relax. The show takes great care to emphasize this point in the opening crawl.

Funny, engaging, and well-written (if the dialog a bit rushed and expositional at times - particularly Phineas's interactions), the 1-hour special extensively parodies and pokes fun at tropes in Star Wars (and logical extensions thereof), in the tradition of Spaceballs, Family Guy and Robot Chicken, while still retaining the spirit of the Star Wars setting - one of unlimited potential, filled with normal people doing normal people things in an exotic, infinite, space-operatic setting.

Like the creators of Rogue One and Robot Chicken, the writers of the episode had a good working understanding of their material and the Star Wars setting, and it shows from the way they weave the setting into dialog and song lyrics (It's a musical!).

Perhaps the primary issue with the special is how, in its attempts to parody ANH, it falls into the trap of being rather too similar to it in terms of themes and story characteristics, giving it a purely-parodic flavor, which sometimes overwhelms the "Rosencrantz and Guildenstern Are Dead" side-story flow of the episode.

Nonetheless, the show is still roaring buckets of fun, and I highly recommend it to anyone who likes Star Wars, or who has ever enjoyed Phineas and Ferb.
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