We Call it Maze

Mazes should be big, fun and exciting.

Phineas and Ferb create a life sized maze filled with fun obstacles. Melissa, the leader of the Little Sparks, a younger branch of the Fireside Girls, is immediately captivated when she meets Candace and finds out that she was a Fireside Girl who earned 50 patches in one day. When the girls try out the maze, Candace takes charge, but things don't go as planned. Meanwhile, Dr. Doofenshmirtz reasons that if the Leaning Tower of Pisa can generate souvenir revenue, then surely he can use his latest invention, the "Tilt-inator," to tilt buildings so he can sell souvenir replicas.

Episode Summary
Phineas and Ferb are eating cereal in the kitchen. He notices the easy maze on the back on the cereal box for Corny to get out of. He said if he was corny, he'd want a bigger challenge. Phineas sighs and is slightly unhappy about making good puzzles or mazes anymore. He thinks they should big, fun, and exciting. Phineas was about to say his catchphrase, "I know What we're gonna do today", but Ferb interrupts him, because he doesn't need to say it.

Phineas says "What'cha Doin'?" to Candace, who is on rollerskates and is struggling to stay on them. Candace says that she could use some practice, but she crashes off-screen and says that she is ok. Phineas then wants to get started on the maze, but notices Perry is missing.

Perry is in the kitchen and puts his fedora on, and goes to his lair from an exhaust, but he is very dirty afterward. Major Monogram says good morning to him, and then he notices the very dirty Perry. He is sorry about not cleaning the entrance in a while. A robot gives a towelette to clean him up. Mongram then gives Perry his mission: Heinz has gone missing and they used their global location scout to try to find him, but can't find anywhere in the world. The answering machine also yields no results, with Heinz saying "Hello! You've reached Dr. Heinz Doofenshmirtz! I'm not here right now. or am I", then does an evil laugh then says "If you're calling about the piano, it's already been sold." Monogram wants Perry to find him, then gives good luck and salutes him as Perry has finished cleaning himself up, and Monogram had finished his briefing. Perry runs to go find Heinz.

Phineas and Ferb have finished their maze and ready to test it out. Just then, Baljeet quickly enters and wonders if it is a test, but Phineas says it isn't a test, but it is more like lab rats going after cheese. Buford comes by, and wonders who said cheese, but Phineas said it was a metaphor. Buford then talks about cheese and crackers and gets in the elevator to go to the maze.

Isabella and the Lil' Spark, Melissa comes by while Melissa is talking about getting her Zookeeping Patch, Cooking patch, and Astronomy patch. Isabella tells she that she is just like herself when she was a Lil' Spark. Melissa wonders if she can get as many patches as Isabella when she becomes a Fireside Girl. Isabella thinks with her positve ideas, she will probably earn even more in the future. Melissa wonders if this is possible, since she wants to be the best Fireside Girl ever and just be like Isabella.

Isabella and Melissa come to Phineas, Ferb, Baljeet, and Buford and Isabella introduces Melissa to the others. Melissa says that Isabella is her mentor for the day. She also says she is the best Fireside Girl ever, but Isabella doesn't think they want to know about it.

Candace comes by and Phineas says hi to her. Candace sees the maze in the backyard and knows what she has to do, but she slips on her roller skates and pulls the lever to make the elevator go up to the maze. Candace wonders what it is and Phineas says that it is the elevator to the top of the maze. Candace wants it to go down, but Phineas says that it can't go down, as it only goes up. Candace says that they will go down.

Perry arrives to Doofenshmirtz Evil Incorporated by his hover jet and notices a smaller version of Heinz Doofenshmirtz with a pullstring. The fake Doof says, "Hello Perry the Platypus. Sorry I'm not here to greet you myself, but this is...a trap." After it finished speaking, Perry was trapped in a very small rocket to Heinz which is somewhere in space.

Candace wonders why there isn't an elevator that doesn't go down. Phineas says they might go down instead of going through the maze. Candace wonders what he means by that. The camera pans out to show the size of the maze. Phineas had put in a computer to have random puzzles and brainteasers to have it be more of a challenge. Phineas says that the first one out is the smartest rat in the lab.

Isabella wonders if Melissa wants to go through the maze with her, of which she agrees with. The Fireside Girl leader wonders if Candace wants to go with her and Melissa, of which Candace declines, saying she can find her own way out. Melissa realizes that Candace got 50 patches in one day and runs to her. She shows a cover of the Lil' Sparks magazine, of which Candace is on. Melissa wonders how she did it, of which Candace responded that it wasn't easy, but the "Forestfire Girls" really needed her, but Isabella corrected her and said that is was Fireside Girls, but Candace sarcastically said it right. Candace and Melissa go off, leaving Isabella behind, and Melissa is happy for having Candace leading them to safety. Isabella shrugs on being mad, and takes off with them.

Buford tells Baljeet that he'll do the puzzles on teasing, and Baljeet will do the ones on brains. Baljeet doesn't think Buford got the concept. He then pushed Baljeet to a screen with buttons, then the song Not Knowing Where You're Going starts.

Everyone then tries to find a way to get out of the maze. Candace thinks to go one direction with Melissa and Isabella watching - only to come out where she came from. While Phineas and Ferb are running, Melissa finds a key to let her, Isabella, and Candace go to somewhere else. Phineas, Ferb, and Baljeet are then seen bouncing on springs. The girls try to blow a boat to the other side so they can go to a new place. Ferb then plays a game of chess - which then lets the four boys go in the maze. Melissa tried, but missed getting a basketball shot with Isabella, but she does gets it with Candace with a slam dunk. Ferb tries to get a key while dressed as Indiana Jones, and quickly places a bag in the key's place, which then opens a new door. Candace tries the same way she went earlier again - only to be back where she was. Phineas and Ferb are seen putting a puzzle together to open a door. The girls then play skee-ball and hit the center opening, making them slide downward. Phineas and Ferb move panels to get another door open for them. Candace tries for a 3rd time in exactly the same place as the first two times - only again to find herself back at her first position - with the Giant floating baby head going past.

Perry seen is transported to a space version of Doofenshmirtz Evil Incorporated, and sees Heinz Doofenshmirtz in a space suit. He welcomes Perry to his space station, which he echos - but one of them is broke. Heinz thinks his echo is broken and really does thinks so. Perry gets on a chair that can from under him for Heinz to do a presentation. 10 years ago, Heinz had been backpacking around Europe, when he came across some Canadian college students. Dillion was the most popular one of them, but Heinz was the oldest.

Back to the maze, Buford notices a jar full on jellybeans. Baljeet says he is really goos at that type of problems. All the boys (except Buford) start making calculations. Baljeet wonders why Phineas is measuring in centimeters. Phineas, though is working in fractions, and says that Pi is 22/7. Baljeet wonders why he isn't using 3.14 for Pi. Buford then gets angry and eats the entire jar of jellybeans. He puts it back and presses 0 on the keypad, which opens a door. Baljeet says that is technically correct, but he forgot to show his work. Buford, talking off-screen, says he will in about 20 minutes.

In space, Heinz finishes his story, and says he is never welcome in Albania ever again. He had ended up in Italy and went to the Leaning Tower of Pisa, but they didn't make pizza there. he complains that it had pizza in the name. Since they were out of it, he didn't get any pizza. Then he got his idea: He'd lean his building to be a tourist attraction, and he'd make millions, which would finance part two of his plan: Tilting every building in the world and would make the Leaning Tower of Pisa no longer special and he'd make his building straight and it would be the only straight building in the world, of which he had just thought of it. He shows Perry the Tilt-Inator to he would use from space. Once again, his second to last echo gets broken and he says he will need to have that checked.

With the girls, Isabella notices a high-wire challenge ahead, and mentioned that she got a patch for it two times. Candace, acting angry, wants to know if she had got 50 in one day. Isabella then gets mad about it. Candace tries to tell Melissa about a high wire, but Candace is rollerskating onto it, and Isabella tells her to be careful. Candace gets unstable, does a few bounces, then lands safely on the other side, saying it is that simple. Melissa then tries to go on the wire, but she slips and hangs on by a hand, which scares Candace. She tells Isabella to do something. Isabella quickly, but carefully, grabs Melissa's hand just in time and throws her to Candace. Melissa then hugs Candace for telling Isabella to save her. Candace told her that Isabella could let her fall. Isabella, unhappy, is glad that she could help.

With Heinz and Perry, the Tilt-Inator is set to a time of 3:15. Once it was activated, even he said that he can't stop it. He then opened the doors for the machine to do its job. He says it may take a while.

Melissa wonders how far down is the hole they are at inside the maze, but Isabella can't see the bottom, because it is too dark. She says it doesn't matter as long as they get across it. Candace, however says they need to know how deep it is, so they know how scared they should be. She then throws a grappling hook and rope down the floor, of which it is 3 seconds deep.

Heinz has finished opening the doors of the space station. In 15 seconds, his building will be leaning into the Leaning Tower of Doofenshmirtz. There was no self-destruct button, reverse levers, or abort switches on the Tilt-Inator, which meant it was completely Perry the Platy-proof. Perry removed the metal stick that was holding the doors open for the Tilt-Inator to work, and the doors close. Heinz, after seeing that the doors were closed, frantically tries to stop the maching by pressing buttons, but to no avail. The laser shoots onto the doors, but does nothing. He quickly reopens the doors and resets the time so it can fire again.

In the maze, Isabella says it would be nice to have a grappling hook and some rope. Candace knows where it is - but she already used it by throwing it down the edge of the level they were at. The platform beneath the girls starts to close to a the wall. Candace panics, and wonders what should they do. Isabella reminds her that she was the Fireside Girl who earned 50 patches in one day. Melissa agrees, and she says that Candace will get them out of trouble. Candace says it was a fake, since she wanted to get to a concert, and if it wasn't for Isabella and her bothers, she wouldn't have done it. Melissa gasps when she hears that. Candace then talked to one of the girls, saying that she wants to be saved.

Isabella tells Candace to giver her one of Candace's rollerskates. She twirls it around, then hooks it on a nearby pipe. Candace and Melissa grab onto Isabella and they fly off to a platform, which then goes back inside. Candace, irritated, says that Isabella was the perfect Firefighter Girl and was supposed to save them. Isabella corrects her again and says that she is a Fireside Girl, of which Candace said that is what she said. Isabella notices a lever in the middle, but she nor Candace can't reach it. She thinks that the rope was longer than Candace's shoelace, of which made Candace think it was her fault. Melissa realized that Candace still had another shoelace. She falls safely to where the shoelace was, untied it for an extension, pulls the lever, and the three land safely in the backyard.

Candace, who fell down, still had time to bust the boys before her skate date, so she goes to get mom. Isabella and Melissa then walk off so the Lil' Spark can get home.

Heinz had just finished opening the doors on his space station and now can fire at his own building. Perry though places a snowglobe that he had from earlier into the laser fire thing and makes it unstable and the laser hits the maze, causing it to lean and go away from the backyard - just before Candace can show Linda what was in the backyard. Linda wonders, "What maze?" Candace said it was right there. Linda drags Candace into the house, and closes the door.

Perry gets back inside the small rocket just before the space station flys off in space.

Meanwhile, the maze is still rolling with the boys inside. Baljeet thought Phineas and Ferb had thought of everything - except running on the maze's inside on its side. They find a hole in the maze and stop there at Cliffside Park, with no time to spare as the maze rolls down a steep hill and gets destroyed when it hits the ground, causing the ground to shake. Buford mentions that the hill was 3 seconds deep.

Phineas thinks it's a good thing the girls beat them out of the maze. They see Isabella loading Melissa onto a Lil' Sparks bus, waving bye and saying that she will see her next week. Phineas is glad everything worked out just fine. Buford echos that he never got his metaphor of cheese. The episode ends when Buford notices that his echo is broken.

Songs

 * Not Knowing Where You're Going

The "Too Young" Line
None.

Perry's entrance to his lair
He enters through the exhaust in the kitchen, and is covered in soot as he lands in his chair.

Evil Jingle
Doofenshmirtz Evil Incorporated!

Background Information

 * This episode reveals that the Fireside Girls has a sub-organization called "Lil' Sparks" that helps young girls to become Fireside Girls, and Isabella was once a Lil' Spark. This is similar to Camp Fire USA's program that trains you to be a Camp Fire Boy/Girl; "Little Stars."
 * A member of the Lil' Sparks makes an appearance and is named Melissa. She has blond hair with pig-tails, and freckles. Her uniform has a red belt, pleats on her skirt, and black shoes.
 * When Ferb hangs up his Indiana Jones outfit, what appears to be a stone figure of Abraham Lincoln can be seen
 * For the first time, Doofenshmirtz shows knowledge of other languages to causes him troubles during his trip around the world a few years ago.
 * It takes about 3 seconds for the rope to fall to the ground, about $$d = -4.9(3)^2$$ equal to -44.1 meters.
 * At the end of the episode, Buford says there was no cheese, though in the maze, there was what looks like cheese on springs.
 * As shown in this episode, Ferb can play chess.
 * When Phineas tells Buford that the cheese is a metaphor, he then makes an analogy.
 * This is the 104th episode ran in the US, matching the number of days Phineas and Ferb have of summer vacation.
 * This is the last episode of Season 2 in which Isabella wears her Fireside Girl uniform. She won't wear it again until "The Great Indoors" in Season 3.
 * There is a running gag in which someone of something interrupts Ferb. In this episode, it is reversed and Ferb interrupts someone, in this case, Phineas.
 * Doofenshmirtz built a spaceship and wore his spacesuit ("Out to Launch").
 * The Giant floating baby head makes another appearance.
 * Ferb isn't given a chance to speak again ("Get That Bigfoot Outa My Face!", Ready for the Bettys", "Undercover Carl", "Nerds of a Feather").
 * Once again Isabella is jealous, but this time it is not about Phineas ("That Sinking Feeling", "The Chronicles of Meap").
 * Once again, a ball pit is seen. ("Vanessassary Roughness", "No More Bunny Business").
 * Candace's line to Melissa about "letting Isabella let her fall" is similar to her line in Traffic Cam Caper, "What, and let you fall?".
 * This is the fifth time Phineas says 'What'cha doin'?'. The previous ones were ("I Scream, You Scream", "At the Car Wash", "Phineas and Ferb's Quantum Boogaloo" and "That Sinking Feeling")
 * Third time Perry goes into space ("Out to Launch", "Undercover Carl").
 * Second time Doofenshmirtz calls 'The Leaning Tower of Pisa' The Leaning Tower of Pizza. ("Not Phineas and Ferb")
 * Fifth episode to use live-action effects. ("Rollercoaster", "Candace Loses Her Head", "Lights, Candace, Action!", "Out to Launch").
 * Ferb plays chess ("The Lake Nose Monster"). The game is also mentioned ("It's About Time!", "Journey to the Center of Candace").
 * The Cliffside Park is a reference to the Cliffside Water Park ("The Magnificent Few").

Production Information

 * Premiered on Disney Channel on Demand on September 17, 2010.
 * This episode first aired on Disney Channel Latin America on July 22, 2010 entitled "El Laberinto" ("The Labyrinth"), also in Disney Channel Taiwan on August 8, 2010, in English in Disney Channel Hong Kong on August 8, 2010 and in Disney Channel Asia on August 22, 2010, and in Disney Channel Brazil on August 20, 2010 entitled "O Nome Disso É Labirinto".
 * On Disney Channel Brazil, this episode was paired with "The Doof Side of the Moon."

International Premieres

 * July 22, 2010 (Disney Channel Latin America)
 * August 8, 2010 (Disney Channel Taiwan)
 * August 20, 2010 (Disney Channel Brazil)
 * August 22, 2010 (Disney Channel Asia)
 * September 6, 2010 (Disney XD Poland)
 * November 5, 2010 (Disney Channel Netherlands/Flanders)
 * November, 14, 2010 (Disney XD France)
 * December 5, 2010 (Disney XD Spain)
 * December 16, 2010 (Disney Channel Spain)
 * February 7, 2011 (Disney XD UK)
 * February 11, 2011 (Disney Channel Scandinavia)
 * March 18, 2011 (Disney XD Scandinavia)

Errors

 * When Melissa shows Candace the photo with her in it when she was a Fireside Girl, the shirt is all white instead of orange and white.
 * During most of the episode, Perry's eyes are blue when they should be brown. The only times they are brown is during his mission briefing and when he is pulling the string on the Doofenshmirtz toy/trap.
 * During Not Knowing Where You're Going, when Phineas, Ferb, and Baljeet are hopping on cheese springs, Buford is not with them
 * When one of the doors Candace, Isabella, and Melissa were trying to get to was seen the first time, it was closed. But when it was seen the second time, it appears to be opened.
 * When Isabella loads Melissa on to the Lil' Sparks bus, her beret isn't on. Instead, her red bow is on her head. This was the exact case in Flop Starz where she didn't wear a beret, but had her red bow on.
 * As Candace, Isabella, and Melissa are swinging on the rope attempting to reach the lever, the middle square of Candace's belt continuously switches colors from maroon to white and back again, and at one point, the white shoelace looks like a rope.
 * When Doofenshmirtz first sets the timer on the Tilt-Inator, it appears to start from 3:15, but when he has to reset it again, the timer seems to start from 3:00.
 * Technically, since Doofenshmirtz and Perry were in space, there should have been no echo, because sound requires air to move (which would be required to make an echo), and there is no air in space.
 * "We're like lab rats going after cheese" is actually a simile, not a metaphor as metaphors don't use the word "like". A metaphor version of that sentence would be "We are lab rats going after cheese."
 * Perry takes out the screwdriver to close the door, but in space there shouldn't be enough gravity to close the door.
 * When Perry puts the snowglobe at the hole of the Tilt-Inator, it is set at almost 3 minutes, but when Doofenshmirtz tries to remove the snow globe, it changes to about 3 seconds.
 * In the song Not Knowing Where You're Going, when Ferb has beaten the mechanical knight, one of the chess pieces turned digitalized for a second then later it went back to normal.
 * Perry wore a spacesuit when the rocket that has trapped him landed in Doofenshmirtz's space station, but when Perry got trapped in the rocket, he didn't have the spacesuit on.
 * When Phineas says "It's a good thing the girls beat us out", Ferb's big eye is facing the audience.
 * Candace does not skate well in this episode, but in "Vanessassary Roughness" she was skating very well. However, this may have taken place before that episode.
 * When Linda grabs Candace's arm and turns to pull her inside, the space between her legs turn white for a single frame.

Continuity

 * Candace shows that she can barely skate. ("Crack That Whip")
 * Candace's record of 50 patches was mentioned and seen in a magazine ("Fireside Girl Jamboree").

Allusions

 * The title is a parody of a famous Mazola Margarine commercial in which a Native American states, "You call it corn, we call it maize."
 * Indiana Jones - When Ferb switches the key with a bag of sand, it is similar to the famous scene from Raiders of the Lost Ark. Also, when Candace, Isabella, and Melissa are swinging by the shoelace, the music is based on the Raiders march.
 * Star Wars - Candace, Isabella, and Melissa swinging from one platform to another is similar to the scene where Luke and Princess Leia swing across a pit in the Death Star.
 * The Legend of Zelda - When Baljeet is talking right before the song starts, the triangle behind him looks very similar to the Triforce in the Legend of Zelda series, which is usually maze or puzzle themed.
 * Seinfeld - Doofenshmirtz claims that the people at the Leaning Tower of Pisa were adamant about saying "No Pizza For You." This is very similar to a line frequently spoken by the "Soup Nazi" from Seinfeld.
 * Scooby Doo - When Candace, Isabella and Melissa running through maze in a hallway, it is similar to a Scooby Doo-style chase.
 * Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone - Ferb winning at chess in order to progress is similar to one of the task Harry Potter and his friends must pass to find the philosopher's stone.
 * Banjo-Kazooie - When the boys make a door out of puzzle pieces, it is similar to how jigsaw puzzle pieces are used to unlock new levels in Banjo-Kazooie.
 * Girl Guides of Canada - The Girl Guides' (similar to the Girl Scouts of America) youngest level, which is comprised of girls ages 5 and 6, is called the Sparks.

Cast

 * Vincent Martella as Phineas
 * Ashley Tisdale as Candace
 * Thomas Sangster as Ferb
 * Caroline Rhea as Mom
 * Richard O'Brien as Dad
 * Dan Povenmire as Dr. Doofenshmirtz
 * Jeff "Swampy" Marsh as Major Monogram
 * Dee Bradley Baker as Perry
 * Alyson Stoner as Isabella
 * Maulik Pancholy as Baljeet
 * Bobby Gaylor as Buford
 * Meira Blinkoff as Melissa


 * designates a character that did not appear in this episode