Out of Toon

If you could have one superpower, what would it be?

Phineas and Ferb are inspired by their dad's favorite kids show to create a cartoon with super-powered versions of themselves and their friends. Doofenshmirtz creates a machine that causes people to dance uncontrollably.

Episode Summary
Phineas and Ferb are watching their dad's favorite childhood television show with him, The Pinhead Pierre Show! One of the cartoons shown on Pinhead Pierre is "Captain Implausible", about a superhero who has "all the super powers." After the cartoon is over, Pinhead Pierre asks the audience, "If you could have one super power, what would it be?" Phineas knows what they're going to do today!

Perry disappears into the backyard and a hole opens in the ground and takes him down a chute into his lair. Major Monogram shows Agent P a copy of Evil Beat! magazine, explaining that good and evil have been locked in a desperate race to harness the limitless power of dance for the last century. Doofenshmirtz has created a ray that causes people to dance uncontrollably. Major Monogram goes on to warn him that no one has ever defeated evil while dancing and wishes him luck.

Meanwhile in the their backyard, Phineas and Ferb are showing Candace their new animation studio, called Phineas & Ferb Studios. The big building outside is just for show, and that everything is done by computer inside the smaller building already built.

Candace follows the boys inside and Phineas shows her the PF 5000 Animatron, where the magic happens. With the Animatron, all you have to do is tell the machine what you want. Phineas says that he wants to have the power to be everywhere at once and be called Multi Man. He grabs Ferb and holds him up to be scanned, saying that Ferb wants to have a utility belt and use lots of gadgets; his name is Ferb Guy. Inadvertently, Candace tells the machine she wants super mind control, telepathy, and telekinesis and that she wants to be a villain. Phineas names her Control Freak.

The PF 5000 Animatron then sends the specifications through a series of other machinery that mimics the typical work done by production personnel on a cartoon series. Candace gets fed up and leaves, but Isabella, Buford and Baljeet come by to see what Phineas and Ferb are up to.

The friends go inside the studio, and Ferb demonstrates to them how sounds in cartoons used to be made by balloons. On Baljeet's suggestion, Phineas asks them what super powers they want. Isabella chooses to harness the power of rainbows, unicorns, and sweetness to defend all that is good and just. Her name will be The Rainbow. Buford takes some time to ponder it existentially and comes up with Belch Man, who fights crime with different types of burps. Since Isabella took his, Baljeet chooses Hanuman Man, a flying blue monkey that can grow as big as it wants and crush its enemies.

At Doofenshmirtz Evil Incorporated, Doofenshmirtz is working out 80's style. Perry the Platypus lowers himself down through a skylight into Doofenshmirtz's workout room and the evil scientist traps him using one of his leg warmers. Doofenshmirtz realizes Agent P must have seen this month's Evil Beat! magazine and begins revealing his plan.

It turns out harnessing the power of dance was an accident. His dryer had broken, so he was trying to create a ray that would instantly dry his clothes. He then opens his closet to reveal a dancing set of clothes (still sopping wet) and a dryer repairman—both dancing uncontrollably. Turns out, anything he hits with the ray starts dancing

Abruptly, Perry escapes from his bonds and strikes Doofenshmirtz. They both crash through the giant magazine cover facsimile Doofenshmirtz had printed up and inadvertently fire the dance ray. It zaps both of them and they begin to dance with each other

Meanwhile, back in Phineas and Ferb's backyard, people are lined up outside the fence and sitting on benches getting ready for the premiere of Team Improbable. Phineas and Ferb come on stage to introduce their cartoon creation in a Pinhead Pierre lookalike costume

After the theme song and title sequence, Candace calls her mom. It goes to voice-mail. The outgoing message asks for Candace to "leave [her] psychotic rant after the beep." Candace begins explaining all about what's happening when she realizes what the outgoing message says and get a little irritated. Just then, a boy in the audience recognizes her as the Control Freak from the cartoon.

Heartbroken that they made her the villain in their show, Candace complains to Phineas that everybody hates her. He tries to explain that she's the star of the show and that the crowd loves her. Even Ferb agrees with him. Feeling a little better, Candace sticks her head out the curtain to look back out at the crowd, only to have tomatoes thrown at her again.

Back at Doofenshmirtz Evil Incorporated, Doofenshmirtz and Perry the Platypus are still dancing together. Doofenshmirtz kicks Agent P into the dance ray and sets it off again. Perry turns it so that it hits a mirror and the ray bounces back towards the ray projector, making it start to dance as well.

In the backyard, the cartoon is almost over. Buford announces that they've made a killing on admission. Phineas is confused because they weren't charging admission. Buford becomes a bit sheepish and hides the money box behind his back. They all head out on stage to take a bow.

At Doofenshmirtz Evil Incorporated, Doofenshmirtz is dancing the Macarena, but Perry and the dance ray are doing a conga line. He congas the dance ray right off the side of the building, thus defeating evil by dancing. It hurtles to the ground below and fires off one last shot towards Phineas and Ferb Studios and the crowd assembled to watch the premiere. The studio and screen get up and start dancing away, along with the crowd, making Candace stare at it in horror. And when her mom comes back and asks "so what is it you wanted to show me?" Candace replies "it got up and it danced away" in a forlorn voice "It what?" asks Mom again "it got up and it danced away" said Candace rather angrily "it got up and it danced away" said her mother still not believing her "see it sounds impossible even when you say it" says Candace as she walks away sadly.

Songs

 * Pinhead Pierre Theme
 * Last verse of Ready for the Bettys

The "Too Young" Line
None.

Perry's entrance to his lair
Perry goes through a hole that opens in the ground and takes him down a chute into his lair, putting on his secret agent hat on the way down.

Background Information

 * This is a very "meta" episode.
 * The sequence with the PF 5000 Animatron describes what production personnel have to go through to get a cartoon on the air. Much of the imagery is very sharply satirical.
 * The introduction sequence for Team Improbable is similar to other animated super-team introductions; the reveal of Isabella's character, The Rainbow, is quite blatantly like the iconic transformation sequence of Sailor Moon.
 * The Doofenshmirtz Evil Incorporated jingle is not sung during this episode as we hear a song from The Bettys instead.
 * When Doofenshmirtz was exercising, he had a green shirt. When he put his lab coat on, the shirt was black, to match his usual clothing.
 * Django Brown has a cameo in this episode (he is sitting in the audience during the "Team Improbable" cartoon).

Production Information

 * In some countries this episode is titled "The Re-Animators". Australia is amongst them, according to the listings provided at YourTV.com.au.

Errors

 * When the cartoon was playing in this episode, it was night time, though when it to Doofenshmirtz Evil, Inc., the sun was still out until the cartoon ended.
 * At the end of the cartoon when Control Freak/Candace is defeated, Multi-Man/Phineas's anime-style eye has turned into a traditional Phineas and Ferb eye.
 * Oddly, Dr. Doofenshmirtz and Perry the Platypus stop dancing after the dance ray tumbles over the side of the building and before it hits the cement below.
 * When Doofenshmirtz was exercising, his sleeveless shirt was green. The sleeveless shirt turned black when Doofenshmirtz was put on his lab coat.

Continuity

 * When Lawrence is talking to Phineas about his favorite show, there is a picture of Reginald Fletcher when he was young of the Flying Fishmonger attached to the wall ("The Flying Fishmonger").
 * The aliens in the Captain Implausible cartoon are speaking some of the nonsense lyrics from Gitchee Gitchee Goo ("Bow chicka bow wow", "chicka chicka choo wop") ("Flop Starz").
 * The giant baby head makes another appearance in the background while Phineas and Ferb are showing Candace their animation studio ("One Good Scare Ought to Do It!", "It's a Mud, Mud, Mud, Mud World").
 * The "Groucho glasses" appear again, this time in giant form ("Flop Starz").
 * Second time Isabella is interested in horses ("The Magnificent Few").
 * The song played while Phineas talks about the creation of the cartoon is later heard in "Gaming the System".
 * The fish shown writing the episode's story looks similar to Buford's goldfish, Biff ("Voyage to the Bottom of Buford").
 * Part of the Team Improbable theme is the same background music as Phineas and the gang start going after Candace in "Bowl-R-Ama Drama".
 * Doofenshmirtz is listening to the Bettys while working out, 80's style ("Ready for the Bettys").
 * One of the bystanders from S.I.M.P. (Squirrels In My Pants) appears in the crowd ("Comet Kermillian").
 * Control Freak's line, "You're going down, down, down" mimics a line that Candace had in "Rollercoaster".

Allusions

 * The title is a play on the term "out of tune".
 * The Bible - During the intro to "Pinhead Pierre", the children laughing at him are suddenly attacked by bears. This is in reference to a much-ridiculed passage of the bible, II Kings 2:23-24, when a similar scene is depicted involving the prophet Elisha.
 * Hinduism - Team Improbable's Hanuman Man is named after the hanuman, which is one of the most popular concepts of servants of God in Hinduism and one of the most important personalities in the Indian epic, the Ramayana.
 * Sally Field - Candace's line, "They like me. They really like me," is borrowed from Field's 1984 Academy Awards acceptance speech.
 * Macarena - This song by Los Del Rio was a one-hit wonder popular in 1996 and early 1997.
 * Computer Animation - Candace's line "I thought that cartoons were done by computer" is a reference to the computer animation boom of the past 20 years. Even much of the two-dimensional animation done today is aided by computers.
 * Japanese animation, or Anime - The style of Phineas and Ferb's cartoon has elements that can be commonly seen in Anime.
 * Sailor Moon - Candace's super villain character "Control Freak" looks very similar to Queen Beryl. The Rainbow's intro also resembles Sailor Moon's transformations.
 * Rock &amp; Rule - Phineas' superhero character Multiman has a similar facial look to the film's character Omar.
 * The Little Mermaid - When Perry destroys the ray, the tune of the music is similar to "Under the Sea" from The Little Mermaid.
 * The Impossibles - "Captain Implausible" and "Team Improbable" may be allusions to the name. Also, "The Impossibles" has a character named Multi Man, who has almost the exact same powers as the one from Team Improbable.
 * DC Comics - Multi Man may be a reference to the DC superhero/supervillain of the same name. However, the DC character has a different ability: When he dies, he rejuvenates with different powers.
 * Bedknobs And Broomsticks - When Doofenshmirtz shows his dancing clothes and shoes, it may be a reference to the movie when the clothes, armor, and shoes start to come alive and dance.
 * Naruto - Multiman may also be a reference to Naruto. Multiman has the ability to create clones of himself; Naruto has a similar power called Multi-Shadow Clone Jutsu. Additionally, Multiman's orange striped T-shirt looks similar to Naruto's orange jumpsuit, especially when there are multiple clones of each character onscreen.
 * Teen Titans - Candace's villain name, Control Freak, is similar to a villain's name in the animated series.
 * Zippy the Pinhead - Pinhead Pierre bears a strong resemblance to the title character of this comic strip.
 * Teen Beat magazine - Evil Beat magazine is a play on the famous teen title.

Cast

 * Vincent Martella as Phineas
 * Ashley Tisdale as Candace
 * Thomas Sangster as Ferb
 * Caroline Rhea as Mom
 * Alyson Stoner as Isabella
 * Alec Holden as Django
 * Richard O'Brien as Dad
 * Dan Povenmire as Dr. Doofenshmirtz
 * Jeff "Swampy" Marsh as Major Monogram
 * Dee Bradley Baker as Perry
 * Mitchel Musso as Jeremy
 * Kelly Hu as Stacy
 * Bobby Gaylor as Buford
 * Maulik Pancholy as Baljeet
 * Tyler Alexander Mann as Carl
 * Allison Janney as Charlene
 * Olivia Olson as Vanessa
 * John Viener as Norm
 * John DiMaggio as Pinhead Pierre (credited as "Additional voices")
 * Additional Voices: Dee Bradley Baker, Tyler Mann, Jeff "Swampy" Marsh, Mitchel Musso, Maulik Pancholy, John Viener


 * designates a character that did not appear in this episode