Hide and Seek

Maybe the problem is not that the house is too small, but that we're too big.

When Phineas and Ferb play a game of indoor "hide and seek", the boys shrink down their friends including their extreme fan, Irving. Then Candace tries to bring the shrinking machine to Linda to bust them. Meanwhile, Dr. Doofenshmirtz attaches a nanobot to Perry in an attempt to discover where he lives, and sees Phineas, Ferb, Isabella, Buford, Baljeet and Irving while doing so.

Episode Summary
Linda tells Phineas, Ferb, Isabella, Baljeet and Buford that she will be going over to Vivian's house for a while. Buford asks what sort of fun they could have while it's raining, and the gang seems stumped. Irving suggests Hide and Seek, which surprises everyone. Irving then proceeds to say that he is their biggest fan and shows off his photo album of their Big Ideas. Phineas agrees that this is a good idea, but Buford states that the house is too small for a good game of hide and seek. Ferb suggests that instead of the house being too small, they are too big. This gives Phineas an idea and says, "I know what we're going to do today!" This excites Irving and then asks if he can say, "Where's Perry?" This confuses Phineas, and later frightens him a little as Irving tries to say the line in dramatic fashions.

Meanwhile, in Perry's underground hideout, Major Monogram informs Perry about a series of disturbing messages Doofenshmirtz has left on his answering machine, asking for Perry to come over to stop him from being evil. Monogram tells Perry to stop him while other messages continue to play in the background.

Phineas and Ferb finish their shrinking machine and has everyone touch the red ball on the top of it. Everyone starts examining the world from their new size, starting a montage to the tune When You're Small.

Perry barges in on Doofenshmirtz, whose evil deed for the day is throwing recyclables out in the regular garbage. He says he has seen the evil of his ways and starts to pat Perry on his back to shoo him home. In doing so, he plants a minibot on Perry's back, without him knowing about it.

Phineas declares Candace as it, and everyone hides. Candace, meanwhile, is talking to Stacy on the phone and doesn't notice the gang. She does, however, spot the shrinking machine and rushes to take it to Linda across the street. She picks up an umbrella, which Baljeet is hiding on, and flings him up onto the light fixture. Phineas tries to think of a way to get the shrinker back, and Irving is disappointed when he learns that his heroes are just improvising the whole time. Baljeet feels the chill of the air conditioner blowing down on him.

Perry returns home and goes to sleep on his pet bed. The minibot comes alive and Dr. Doofenshmirtz steers it in the hopes of finding Perry's address somewhere.

As Candace crosses the street, it stops raining. She knocks on the Garcia-Shapiro front door, but accidentally activates the shrinking machine on herself. Vivian answers the door immediately afterward, seeing only the device and takes it inside. Candace then faces the horrors of the front lawn.

The minibot spots the children, but Doofenshmirtz thinks the signals got crossed since they look regular sized. He loses control of the robot, and it chases after the children. They use a sewing basket to tie threads over it and pull it down onto the ground. Ferb reprograms the remains of the bot to be a mini-fly, and Irving takes the opportunity to get a photo of himself with the gang. They go to rescue Baljeet, who survived by hiding in a dead fly's corpse.

Candace is saved from Pinky by Isabella and helped on board the mechanical fly. They soar over to the machine and return to their normal sizes. Candace then runs off to show Linda the inventions.

Doofenshmirtz regains video feed, and Perry spies the camera watching him. He crushes it, which prompts Doofenshmirtz to activate the self-distruct button on his bot. It destroys the shrinker with it, somehow leaving the table and the rest of the kitchen unharmed. Candace swears it was here upon not seeing it, but Linda and Vivian don't believe her, thinking it's teenage hormones.

Doofenshmirtz comments on feeling empty that he has no come-uppance after destroying his robot.

Songs

 * When You're Small

The "Too Young" Line
None.

What'cha doin'?
None.

Perry's entrance to his lair
None.

Evil Jingle
Doofenshmirtz Evil Inco- (It was cut when Perry breaks in the door.)

Background Information

 * This is Irving's first appearance.
 * This is the only episode where Dr. Doofenshmirtz is not really defeated.
 * Even though Dr. Doofenshmirtz sees Phineas, Ferb, Buford, and Isabella in "Chez Platypus", he thinks it is a kiddie show. This could be because "Chez Platypus" happened after this, or does not remember it,or maybe he thinks they are actualy actors.
 * They have a larger TV than in other episodes, such as "Does This Duckbill Make Me Look Fat?" and "The Doof Side of the Moon".
 * This is the first time that Phineas saves Isabella.
 * A clip from the movie that Phineas and Ferb watched in "Does This Duckbill Make Me Look Fat?" was shown in this episode, during the song "When You're Small".
 * A line from "When You're Small" talks about a Great Orange Whale. In Swiss Family Phineas, Phineas asks Ferb if he's spotted the Great White Whale. Both lines also draw from the theme of the book "Moby Dick".
 * When Perry returns home, his theme song plays the same way it did in "Put That Putter Away". In this episode, however, it is a semitone higher.
 * When Perry comes home, his food dish is silver, rather than orange as in "Oh, There You Are, Perry".
 * This is the third time Phineas, Ferb, and Isabella are seen in their swimsuits: the first being in "Lawn Gnome Beach Party of Terror", the second is in "The Lake Nose Monster" for Phineas and Ferb, although Isabella's second time is in "Ready for the Bettys".
 * 2nd time Phineas and Ferb shrink ("Journey to the Center of Candace") and the 2nd time Candace changes her size. ("Attack of the 50 Foot Sister"), except in that one, Candace used the growing stuff on herself so that she can become a Flawless Girl, and in this one, she shrunk herself by accident.

Production Information

 * to be added

Errors

 * During the entire episode, but most obviously during the song sequence, the kids constantly change size. Sometimes they are a little smaller than a mouse, sometimes they are the size of a fly and sometimes they are microscopic.
 * At the end of the song, When You're Small, Phineas, Ferb and their friends are in a cup of tea relaxing, but their swimming suits never shrunk with them.
 * The phrase "Wherefore art thou Perry?" technically means "Why are you Perry?" The correct phrase is "Whither art thou, Perry?"
 * After Ferb says that were too big to play Hide and Seek, The outline on Ferb's arms are green.
 * Near the end of the song, Baljeet is nowhere to be seen in the microscope shot and during the scene of everyone in the teacup.
 * When Vivian saw the shrinking device and brought it inside, she should've just brought it to Linda so she can see it.
 * When Irving was excited and says the phrase "Where's Perry?", Buford's shorts turn black.
 * When in response to Isabella, Irving says that, "Yeah, but guys, we're still small," His head is over his shirt collar. In the next shot it's behind again.
 * When Irving was trying to say "Where's Perry?", Isabella's skin color was darker.

Continuity

 * Irving's scrapbook on Phineas and Ferb's adventures contains pictures from "Rollercoaster", "Greece Lightning", and "Chez Platypus".
 * Phineas mentions the shrinking technology they used for their submarine adventure. ("Journey to the Center of Candace")

Allusions

 * Honey, I Shrunk the Kids: When Candace was in the grass, she experiences similar hardships and attacks that the children did in the film Honey I Shrunk the Kids. Later, they fly on a bee, like in the movie.
 * Gulliver's Travels - Jonathan Swift's eighteenth century story of an ordinary man visiting an island of tiny inhabitants is the inspiration for most tiny people stories. Lemuel Gulliver is captured by threads in the same way as the kids restrain Doofenshmirtz's spider camera.
 * Star Wars Episode V: The Empire Strikes Back: Baljeet survives frigid conditions by cutting open a fly and stashing away inside of it, the way that Luke Skywalker did in the film inside a tauntaun on Hoth. Also, the kids conquer Doofeshmirtz's robot by harpooning string around it, the same way Imperial AT-AT Walkers were destroyed by the rebel forces.
 * Romeo and Juliet: The line "Wherefore art thou, Perry?" is an allusion to the famous Romeo and Juliet balcony scene.
 * Moby Dick: During the song "When You're Small" one line says that when you're small "your goldfish is a great orange whale." The "Great White Whale" was the name used for the whale in Moby Dick. Also, while this line is sung, Ferb is shown dressed as Captain Ahab.
 * Pirates of the Caribbean: The music that plays while the gang are tying down the robot bug is reminiscent of the main theme from the movie ("He's a Pirate").
 * Indiana Jones: Phineas saves Isabella swinging on a "whip", with similar music.
 * 2001: A Space Odyssey: The glowing red eye in a black orb resembles HAL from the sci-fi thriller.
 * Starship Troopers: Buford utters to the "fanboy" (Irving) as they prepare to battle the robot bug, "You wanna live forever, fanboy?" an almost direct quote of a battle cry from the leader(s) of The Roughnecks. This in turn, is a reference to Daniel Daly's battle cry, which originally came from Frederick the Great.

Cast

 * Vincent Martella as Phineas
 * Ashley Tisdale as Candace
 * Thomas Sangster as Ferb
 * Alyson Stoner as Isabella
 * Bobby Gaylor as Buford
 * Caroline Rhea as Mom
 * Dan Povenmire as Dr. Doofenshmirtz
 * Jeff "Swampy" Marsh as Major Monogram
 * Dee Bradley Baker as Perry
 * Jack McBrayer as Irving
 * Maulik Pancholy as Baljeet