“ | 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 so that she can get ready for the cotillion. Meanwhile, Perry has to stop Doofenshmirtz from zapping men into wearing ball gowns with the Ballgowninator.
Episode Summary
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.
Soon Candace comes over and ask what they're doing is bust worthy enough. Seeing Phineas playing a game, she then 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, which as Candace later explains to Stacey, is bascially just a fancy word for "dance." 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 receives his mission briefing from Major Monogram, who tells him that he is researching fabrics, such as Velour, which greatly disturbs him.
Perry goes over to the Doofenshmirtz Evil Incorporated building and finds out that Doofenshmirtz has created a ballgowninator to turn everyone in the Tri-state area girly so that he could look the manliest of them all (In Doofenshmirtz's childhood, his mother was expecting a daughter and was knitting a bunch of dresses, but a son was born instead and young Doofenshmirtz was forced to wear dresses, making himself humiliated in front of his classmates). He tests out his invention on Perry and Perry is immediately dressed in a blue ball gown. Perry and Doofenshmirtz fight and the ray hits Doofenshmirtz, making him wear a dress as well. He feels humiliated because his invention was supposed to be for the whole Tri-state area and not himself.
Phineas and Ferb program themselves into the game. Candace gets chased by mad fruits and uses her blowdryer to defeat them and tells them they should've named it "Jump, Duck and Blow."
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.
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 creates a diversion by waving her arms and yelling. Phineas yells at Isabella to stop and to leave them and save herself, but when Buford walks over to Isabella, she takes a picture of him and zaps him back into the game.
Phineas, Ferb, and Candace have defeated their 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.
Doofenshmirtz shoots his ballgowninator at Phineas, Ferb, and Isabella, giving them all ball gowns. Perry drops down and his dress slips off, landing directly on Candace. Jeremy states that he thinks Candace is beautiful, and that everyone else looks beautiful too despite being obviously weirded out by Phineas and Ferb in gowns. They then go off to the cotillion.
Transcript
Read the transcript of Gaming the System.
Songs
End Credits
Doofenshmirtz lands in the Summer Cotillion and the host accidentally crowns him queen. Doofenshmirtz is both honored and humiliated so he says "Thank you and curse you."
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 we made Buford the boss. Its 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 on top of a girl in a beauty pageant and geting 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)
- 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.
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).
- 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.
- Tron - Candace is "digitized" into the game world kind of like Kevin Flynn was digitized. (And 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 was 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 is reminiscent of the episode "Marge Gamer" with an online game where a Moe-trol l 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 is 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.
Trivia
- 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
- Vincent Martella as Phineas Flynn
- Ashley Tisdale as Candace Flynn
- Thomas Sangster as Ferb Fletcher
- Alyson Stoner as Isabella Garcia-Shapiro
- Dan Povenmire as Dr. Doofenshmirtz
- Jeff "Swampy" Marsh as Major Monogram, Additional Voices
- Dee Bradley Baker as Perry the Platypus
- Bobby Gaylor as Buford Van Stomm, Additional Voices
- Maulik Pancholy as Baljeet
- Mitchel Musso as Jeremy Johnson
- Additional voices: Corey Burton, Kari Wahlgren
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