‘Phineas and Ferb’ creators Dan Povenmire and Jeff ‘Swampy’ Marsh reveal the ultimatum that made the show fans love

Looking at the frantic success of Phineas and FerbIt is difficult to imagine an era when creators Dan Povenmire and Jeff “Swampy” Marsh had to fight for its existence and its integrity.

The Disney Channel series, which was created in 2007, lasted 137 episodes through Four Seasons and sparked two films made for television, as well as video games. The characters have become emblematic at their own pace, and again in the same years later as the fans of the child of the show became adults Tiktokking. When Disney + was launched in 2019, the show quickly became a favorite of the streaming service, years after the final of season 4. So the studio asked Povenmire and Marsh to return for a fifth season, 10 years after the end of season 4!

To celebrate the launch of season 5 of Phineas and FerbThe animated creators of the show (or the creators of the animated program) came by the Mashable Studio for our Say more Interview series. You can look at the whole interview on YouTube. Below, we dive into some of the wildest stories of the success of the series.

Phineas and Ferb was a dream project for 16 years before its creation.

Perry the ornithorynque has a rocket attached behind his back in “Phineas and Ferb”.
Credit: Disney +

On Say more Couch, Povenmire and Marsh told how they launched the series for 13 years while working on other animated series like Family guy And Modern Rocko life. It took three years of development before the first of the program on the Disney channel.

During all this time, the couple engaged in their concept. Today, they are still proud to say that the pilot was “exactly the same show” that they had launched during all these years. But do it Phineas and Ferb They dreamed of not having come without a few battles – including one on the signature look of their triangle head hero.

Dan Povenmire’s ultimatum saved Phineas’s face.

Phineas is held on a school desk in “Phineas and Ferb”.
Credit: Disney +

“One of my friends told me once,” said Povenmire, “that the greatest power you can have in Hollywood as a creative – as a person who does not hold the bags – is to maintain the ability to be ok to move away from something. Know where this line is in the sand and simply say:” OK, no, thank you. “”

Sharing a moment when he almost moved away, he continued: “We did not have to use it very often. But there was a time when the pilot tested very well.” And yet, the Disney leaders still made changes, including the redesign of the characters to make them “more attractive”. After three meetings with such notes, Povenmire was enough.

He recalled: “I finally withdrew one of the leaders aside and I said:” You know, you can make the show you want, because you bought it. It belongs to you. But if you want me to come and work on it, it should be the show I have launched to you. Otherwise, I’m just going to stay in Fox this year [working on Family Guy]And you can make the show.

“I was not bad about it,” noted Povenmire, “I said to myself, this is the show I want to do. I don’t want to make another version. [After that]They have somehow started to give us back to everything. “”

Due to the reason they felt capable of saying no in the face of such studio pressure, Marsh thought about it: “Probably because we had already launched it for 13 years. The urgency had disappeared. We had waited so long.”

However, there were other upcoming battles. Marsh explained: “The things we fought for were things that we really believed in. And most was – I think that for us – it was confident that the public of children was intelligent – more intelligent than most people did not grant them.

He added that fans appreciated this confidence, saying: “It’s good that [for] Almost each of these things, we brought in several people and say to ourselves: “I want to thank you for that.” »»

Povenmire and Marsh fought for divorce and alimony to be part of Phineas and Ferb.

Candace and her mother speak in front of a wall of family photos.
Credit: Disney +

In the show, Phineas and Ferb are half-brothers, with Candace and Phineas’ mother after marrying Ferb’s father. This mixed family was not a problem for Disney leaders. However, the use of the word “divorce” in the show was.

“We did not know that the word” divorce “had never been used on the Disney channel [shows] Before, said Marsh. “Someone said,” You know, we can’t say that. “And my personal situation, my mother is currently on the number seven … it did that [note] Really personal for me. And I say to myself: ‘Listen, half of your audience lives in a situation you say is so horrible that the word is not absolutely. You can’t do that. ‘”

Povenmire added: “They said to themselves:” What happens if one of our public members, their parents divorce? “I said:” I’m sure it is. “They said:” Well, what’s going on then? “I said to myself:” So they will feel seen, they will feel represented. “”

Marsh continued, “and we had some very great executives working with us, really defending the series, who really listened to us, listened to the arguments and returns to say:” You made very good points. Go for it. “”

However, Povenmire noted: “Then, the very next episode, we meant Daofenshmirtz obtained Charlene alimony because she was independently rich. And then we had to go through three or four additional meetings to see if we could say the word pension in the show.”

In the end, they could and did it.

Phineas and Ferb has never been fair for children.

Phineas and his friends sing in their class on the last day of school.
Credit: Disney +

Marsh noted a recurring concern for Disney was that the humor of Phineas and Ferb could “review the target audience’s target public. He explained: “We had to say, it is ok. We also recognize that there are parents in the room, or aunts and uncles or grandparents, or anyone, and it is OK that there are also things for them.”

Povenmire added: “Then 40% of our audience became an adult, and they stopped giving us this note.”

Looking back on these battles to do Phineas and Ferb The success that it is, reflects Marsh: “With hindsight, I am really grateful that it took us 13 years to sell the show, because at that time, I think that we have changed. We grew up. Our reputation was much more effective, and we also knew how we believe for what we believed better if we did not know if we did not know at the time.”

To find out more about Phineas and Ferb From Povenmire and Marsh, discover Say moreComplete interview on Youtube.

How to look: Phineas and Ferb Season 5 is now in trouble on Disney +.