| “ | Far be it to cast aspersions on jumping and/or ducking, but I think you can improve this. | ” |
— Phineas Flynn | ||
Phineas and Ferb accidentally trap Candace in a video game and have to help her out. Meanwhile, Perry has to stop Doofenshmirtz from zapping men into wearing ballgowns.
Episode Summary[]
Phineas tries out Jump N' Duck.
Phineas and Ferb are hanging out with Buford, Baljeet, and Isabella outside their house. Buford is playing a game called "Jump N' Duck", where all you have to do to beat the game is to jump and duck. Phineas thinks the game is cool, and sees Buford's head on the main character in the game. Buford takes a picture of Phineas on the console and his head appears inside the game.
Candace comes over and, seeing Phineas playing a game, she comments about how they could possibly get sucked into a video game. He decides that they're going to create their very own video game in which you can program yourself into it and have to beat the game to get back out.
Meanwhile, Candace gets a call from Jeremy and he asks her to go on a date with him to the summer cotillion. She is blow-drying her hair while having a perm when the power goes out from Phineas and Ferb's gaming system. Candace goes downstairs to interfere but accidentally walks in front of the scanner and programs herself into the game. Phineas and Ferb watch her for a few minutes and figure out that she can't beat the game by herself, so they program themselves into the game to help her beat it.
Perry gets zapped by Doofenshmirtz's ballgowninator.
Perry receives his mission briefing from Major Monogram, who tells him that Dr. Doofenshmirtz is researching fabrics, such as velour, which greatly disturbs him.
Perry arrives at the Doofenshmirtz Evil Incorporated building, where Doofenshmirtz explains his Ballgown-inator, which can dress men in gowns, without consent. He plans to seem more manly by causing the men to appear girly.
Doofenshmirtz explains that back in Drusselstein, his mother was hoping for her child to be a daughter. She had knitted dresses, but the baby turned out to be a boy. When he was born, she coerced Heinz to wear the dresses for a whole year due to being out of material. When his classmates ridiculed him for being different, he felt humiliated. He zaps Perry causing a gown to dress him.
Phineas and Ferb in front of the game's final boss - Giant Buford.
Phineas and Ferb program themselves into the game. Candace gets chased by mad fruits and uses her blowdryer to defeat them.
When she gets to the final level, she sees a gigantic Buford that is the final level's boss. Candace shouts at Buford and he knocks her blowdryer down the cliff. She then grabs her health bar and hits him upside the head, knocking him backwards and crushing Phineas and Ferb as he falls off the cliff. Candace rushes to Phineas and Ferb's side and breaks down, thinking that they are dead. They disappear and reappear behind her, stating that they have four lives left. Candace gets mad because she thought they had died, but she has defeated the final level and they return to the real world.
However, the game is not over yet. The last level is in the real world, and Buford is back and twice as strong. When Buford is about to defeat Phineas, Ferb, and Candace, Isabella approaches behind him and orders him to leave her friends alone. She takes out a camera and zaps him back into the game.
Phineas, Ferb, and Candace have defeated the game, but Candace hears a knock on the gate--figuring that it must be Jeremy to pick her up for their date, Candace is worried because she's not even close to ready.
Perry and Doofenshmirtz fight and a ray hits Doofenshmirtz, making him wear a dress as well. After breaking the inator, Agent P jumps from the balloon after deflating it with a needle and the gown he is wearing falls onto Candace, just in time to prepare her for her date.
Transcript[]
Read the transcript of Gaming the System.
Songs[]
End Credits[]
Doofenshmirtz lands in the Summer Cotillion and the host accidentally crowns him queen.
Gallery[]
|
| View the image gallery for "Gaming the System". |
Running Gags[]
The "Too Young" Line[]
None.
Ferb's Line[]
Candace: Oh no! Jeremy's here! How am I going to get ready in three seconds? Phineas, Ferb, and Isabella suddenly get zapped by Doofenshmirtz's Ballgown-inator ray and are instantly clothed in ballgowns. |
What'cha doin'?[]
None.
I know what we're gonna do today!/Hey, where's Perry?[]
Candace: Okay. What are you guys up to?
Phineas: Playing a video game. Candace: That's it? That's all you're doing today? Huh. How normal. I guess my night's safe after all. Who would have guessed you two would get sucked into a video game? I'm going to go get ready. Phineas: "Sucked into a video game". Brilliant! Ferb! I know what we're gonna do today! Hey, where's Perry? |
Oh, there you are, Perry[]
Phineas: I don't remember changing. Is this part of the gam -- oh, there you are Perry. |
Perry's entrance to his lair[]
None.
Memorable Quotes[]
Buford: And then you do this... and this... and this and this and this and this and this... and this, and this, and this and this... and then this and this... and then that! |
Baljeet: I can see no educational value in this game.
Buford: (swings at Baljeet) Duck! Baljeet does so, while narrowly escaping Buford's punch, that was coming towards his head Buford: (Laughing) Consider yourself educated. Baljeet: I stand corrected. |
Candace: Wait, I just thought of something, two somethings actually. And one of them is pointy. |
Major Monogram: Good morning, Agent P. I've been monitoring Doofenshmirtz's internet activity. First, we know what you're getting for Christmas. Don't ask. Our lips are sealed. It's a vase. |
Doofenshmirtz: Ah, Perry the Platypus, you are too late. Wait, is it eleven o'clock yet? (Pauses for a beat) Now! Now you are too late! |
Doofenshmirtz: You see, it's hard to fight when you're in a ballgown. |
Phineas: Oh, you want cheat codes? No, we don't roll like that. |
Phineas: Just jump and Duck. (Candace got hit by fruits) Okay not necessarily in that order. Just choose the appropriate action that corresponds to the approaching fruit. Candace: What does that even mean? |
Candace: Hmmm, maybe they should call it Jump, Duck and Blow! |
Phineas: Whoa, what happened here? Oh, that's right, Candace has her hairdryer. We'll just follow the carnage. |
Phineas: I forgot that we made Buford the boss. It's kind of disturbing having him try to obliterate us, but it made him so happy. |
Baljeet: Oh, now I see the educational value. Buford: Y'know, eventually, I'm gettin' outta here. |
Isabella: You know what they say, the bigger they are the harder they de-pixelate. |
Doofenshmirtz: Seafoam green? I'm actually more of an autumn. |
Jeremy: Wow, you look beautiful. I guess you... all look beautiful. Heh. Phineas: Thanks. We think it's part of the game. |
Jeremy: Why did they call it a cotillion anyway? Candace: Oh don't get me started. |
Doofenshmirtz: (After falling in front of a girl in a beauty pageant and getting crowned the most beautiful): Oh I am honored. And at the same time humiliated, so thank you and curse you. |
Background Information[]
- Major Monogram says that "the most ominous of all" is velour and the molecular structure of the velour [shown on monitor] is in the form of a sad face.
- Heinz Doofenshmirtz wears his watch on his right hand, thus making him left handed. He also holds his weapon in his left hand. In other episodes he has his watch on his left hand.
Production Information[]
- This is the first episode of Season 2 where Linda does not appear in.
International Premieres[]
- April 16, 2009 (Disney Channel Brazil)
- August 3, 2009 (Disney Channel Latin America)
- June 2, 2011 (Disney XD Canada)
Errors[]
- When Phineas is explaining the game to the gang, Isabella's shoes are the same color as her belt.
- On the boss level, Candace tucks her towel into itself. However, throughout the episode, there are times where she raises her arms. (It was probably tucked in the whole time. She just re-tucked it in that scene.)
- When Candace shoots the spiders with her hair dryer, it's a continuous blast. So the spiders' holes would go out to the edge. Also, in Phineas and Ferb Save Summer, it is revealed that she was afraid of spiders, but in the spider level, she, doesn't seem to be terrified at all. (This might be an exception if she didn't get scared of them as they were virtual)
|
| |
Isabella instantly shows up.
| ||
- At the start, Phineas, Ferb, Buford, and Baljeet are the only ones there but then Isabella appears out of nowhere. (She might have just been off camera or wasn't at Flynn-Fletcher house yet.)
- When Candace leaves with Jeremy she is just wearing the dress, without shoes, underwear, or anything else.
- Candace's hair dryer appears to be battery powered, therefore it should not have turned off when the power went out (Although, Candace might have turned the hair dryer off when she noticed the lights go out, but this is most likely not the case as there was a wire running from the hair dryer while Candace was using it)
- At first, there were four colored buttons on the game console. But when Phineas said "Ferb, I know what we're gonna do today!", there were only three buttons.
- When Candace first shoots the fruits with her hairdryer, the orange was worth 30 points, but when she next shoots an orange, it is worth 10 points. (Although, it is possible that the fruits give a random score each time. The more likely reason was because she shot multiple fruits, she gained a combo score.)
- When Isabella is going to zap Giant Buford back into the game, her tongue turns to the same color as her skin.
- In Let's Go Digital, look closely and the background is cutoff.
- In some scenes with Isabella, the outline of her mouth is black, similar to her first design from Season 1.
- When Candace starts falling down the stairs, she loses a bit of health, but when she is falling as Phineas decides that he and Ferb should help her, she doesn't lose health. (Though this could be justified as a glitch in the game.)
- In addition, given how much health she loses with each stair and how many stairs there are, if she did lose health with all of the stairs, she would have lost a life when she hit the ground, so the boys may have designed it that way to prevent that from happening.
Continuity[]
- When Candace is blow drying her hair, there are several beauty products on her counter marked with an "FG" logo, referring to the Flawless Girl products in the episode "Attack of the 50 Foot Sister".
- The dress worn by Perry and later Candace is later worn in "Happy New Year!", but in purple. Also, the dress worn by Doofenshmirtz is later worn by the Gimmelschtump mayor in "One Good Turn".
Allusions[]
- Super Mario Bros. - The coin-grab sound effect plays when the characters generate in the video game, and the clothes the character wears in the normal version of jump and duck looks just like Mario's clothes (save for the lack of overall straps).
The Game Character's clothes (on the left) and Mario's Clothes (on the Right)
- Virtual Boy - The new-improved version of Jump and Duck is similar to the Nintendo Virtual Boy.
- Nintendo DSi - At the very beginning Buford has a video game that allows him to take his picture and insert it into the game. Timely, as the Nintendo DSi just released in North America on April 5, its biggest new capability being an added built-in camera.
- Beauty and the Beast - When Perry gets zapped by the Ballgowninator, the music that briefly plays sounds like the opening notes to the lyric, "Tale as old as time" from that film's title song, but with the first two notes switched around. It plays again when Doofenshmirtz gets zapped by the ray, and then again when Perry's ballgown lands on Candace.
- MC Escher's Relativity - The structure in the video game visited by Candace, Phineas, and Ferb during the song "Let's Go Digital" is similar to this painting.
- Jack and the Giant Beanstalk - Candace jumps on top of a pineapple and it grows into a giant beanstalk.
- Star Trek: The Next Generation - The visor Baljeet wears during the song is very similar to Geordi La Forge's one.
- Tron - Candace is "digitized" into the game world kind of like how Kevin Flynn was digitized. (They also have the same last name.)
- Devo - "Let's Go Digital" is similar to some of Devo's electronic musical styles; Baljeet's sunglasses are similar to those worn by the band in early days. Devo were an early adopter of new types of instruments such as Isabella's keyboard and Buford's electronic drums. Devo front-man Mark Mothersbaugh has done the music for Rugrats, the 1987 Hawaiian Punch commercial, and the movie Cloudy With a Chance of Meatballs.
- Pac-Man - The sound effect when the ghosts eyes float when Pac-Man eats them plays when Candace zaps the bad guys with her hair blower in the video game.
- World of Warcraft - The flying snakes from the last verse of "Let's Go Digital" closely resemble the Wind Serpents from this popular MMORPG.
- Yoshi's Island - The birds that Candace rides on to reach the top of a cliff can be compared to the Storks from Yoshi's Island that can be ridden on.
- The Simpsons - When Candace beats Buford with her life bar, it's reminiscent of the episode "Marge Gamer" with an online game where a Moe-troll states that the Shadow Knight once beat him to death with his own life bar.
- The Fairly OddParents - The plot of the episode is a bit similar to "Power Mad!".
- Kung Fu Panda - When Doofenshmirtz crashes into the Summer Cotillion, it's similar to the scene where Po crashes in front of Master Shifu, becoming the Dragon Warrior by accident.
- Nintendo Entertainment System - The scene where Buford is showing Phineas, Ferb, and Baljeet a picture of his head in a pixel body, and the video game world is based off the NES graphics. Also, the code Buford puts in to show Phineas' head in the videogame might be a reference to the overly long passwords or cheat codes (like the Konami Code) in some NES games.
- The Rugrats Movie - The Pickles family and the Doofenshmirtz family were both inspecting a baby girl but Tommy's brother Dil and Heinz's brother Roger were both boys and not girls, which is a nod to this movie.
Trivia[]
Doofenshmirtz waiting until 11:00 to start his scheme (below) was taken from the Original Pitch (above)
- This is the second time someone appears nude, although it's censored via Candace's towel (First was Ferb in "Run Away Runway").
- The gag with Doofenshmirtz checking his watch to make sure Perry is too late is recycled from a joke originally used in the Original Pitch.
- The song "Let's Go Digital" sounds very similar to one that appeared in "Out of Toon" when Phineas tells Candace about the creation of the cartoon film of Team Improbable.
- This is the first time Phineas gives any indication of feelings for Isabella. The next is in The Chronicles of Meap.
- Monogram tells Perry what he's getting for Christmas from Doofenshmirtz (a vase), and this is in fact true. Doofenshmirtz gives Perry a vase in "Phineas and Ferb Christmas Vacation!".
- Candace's new hairdo from the end of "Got Game?" reappears when she slips into the ballgown.
- What happens to the outfit of a man who gets zapped with the Ballgown-inator is unknown. It may either be destroyed, or teleported somewhere else.
- Isabella's line "The bigger they are, the harder they depixelate" is a reference to the expression "The bigger they are, the harder they fall".
Cast[]
- Main article: Credits
- Vincent Martella as Phineas
- Ashley Tisdale as Candace
- Thomas Sangster as Ferb
- Caroline Rhea as Mom ♦
- Alyson Stoner as Isabella
- Dan Povenmire as Dr. Doofenshmirtz
- Jeff "Swampy" Marsh as Major Monogram
- Dee Bradley Baker as Perry
- Mitchel Musso as Jeremy
- Maulik Pancholy as Baljeet
- Bobby Gaylor as Buford
- Tyler Mann as Carl
- Additional Voices: Corey Burton, Bobby Gaylor, Jeff "Swampy" Marsh, Kari Wahlgren
- ♦ designates a character that did not appear in this episode
| Previous: "Perry Lays an Egg" |
Episodes | Next: "The Chronicles of Meap" |