Perhaps the problem is not that the house is too small, but that we are too big.
”
— Ferb Fletcher
When Phineas and Ferb play a game of indoor "hide and seek", the boys shrink down their friends including their extreme fan, Irving. Meanwhile, Dr. Doofenshmirtz attaches a nanobot to Perry in an attempt to discover where he lives.
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, which excites Irving. Buford wonders if their house is too small for the game but Ferb corrects that the problem is not that the house is too small, but that they are too big. This gives Phineas the idea of using the shrinking technology from their submarine invention.
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.
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.
As the kids prepare for their game, they feel a rumble and see Candace going down the stairs. Phineas declares her as 'it', and they all scatter and hide. Candace, meanwhile, is talking to Stacy on the phone and doesn't notice the gang since she wasn't aware that they had shrunk themselves to play hide and seek. 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, the sky stops raining. She knocks on the Garcia-Shapiro front door, but accidentally activates the shrinking machine on herself. Vivian answers the door immediately afterwards, seeing only the device and takes it inside. Candace then faces the horrors of the front lawn, under the assumption that this is what she gets for being ahead of her brothers.
The bot 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 kids. 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 the cold 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 invention.
Doofenshmirtz regains video feed, and Perry spies the camera watching him. He crushes it, which prompts Doofenshmirtz to activate the self-destruct 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 there upon not seeing it, but Linda and Vivian don't believe her, thinking it's teenage hormones.
The episode ends with Doofenshmirtz saying that he got no comeuppance, though he feels empty a while later.
Buford: Isn't this house is a little small to play hide and seek? Ferb: Perhaps the problem is not that the house is too small, but that we are too big.
What'cha doin'?[]
None.
Perry's entrance to his lair[]
None.
I know what we're gonna do today[]
Phineas: Ferb, I know what we're gonna do today! Irving: *squeals* You said the words!
Hey, where's Perry?[]
Irving: Hey, can I say the Perry thing?
Phineas: What? Irving: You know, when you say, "Where's Perry?" Phineas: ...Okay... Irving: Where's Perry? Wait! Wait! I can do better! Where's Perry? Where is Perry? Wherefore art thou Perry? I wonder where that Perry went. Ooh! Where is that platypus? Where the P-man at?
Buford: What kind of fun can we have when it's rainin'?
Isabella: We could talk about our feelings. (pause) Buford: OK, I'll rephrase it. What kind of fun can we have when it's rainin'? Baljeet: I would not mind talking about my feelings. (Buford punches Baljeet) Buford: How do you feel now? Baljeet: In pain? Buford: There. We're done.
Baljeet: Pfft, what a nerd. said of Irving's obsession
Baljeet: Hey, somebody take a picture of me next to this dust bunny!
Doofenshmirtz: From now on, I'll be green! I'll be all the shades of green. They'll... they will call me el verde and tell my tale in Greenland.
Irving: Hey, I don't have to digitally insert myself! Buford: Go tell it to your blog.
Baljeet: Earthquake!
Phineas: It's Candace! Hey everyone, Candace is it! Everybody hide!
Irving: You guys always have a plan! Phineas: We don't have a plan.
Doofenshmirtz: It will be so delicious to know where Perry lives! I can ring his doorbell, and run away!
Buford: C'mon, fan boy, do you want to live forever? Irving: Is that an option?
Phineas (to Candace): How you doing, short stuff?
Candace: Who smells like fly guts? Baljeet: I had to survive, Okay?!
Major Monogram: Good morning Agent P. We've received some disturbing calls from Doofenshmirtz.
(Recording of Doofenshmirtz's call) Doofenshmirtz: Hello? Monogram...are you home? If you're home, please pick it up. Pick it up. Hello? Oh, I hate these machines. Okay, listen. I'm being evil and I need Perry the Platypus to come over and stop me. (Beep) Wait-- wait, did I hear a beep? Did the machine just cut me off? Oh-ah-oh I don't know what to do. You know what, I'm just going to call back.
Major Monogram: I want you to find out what he's up to and--
(Beeps; recording starts again)
{ Doofenshmirtz: Hello? I-- I think your machine cut me off before, what I was saying. Ok, I'm going to call and leave the same message on your cellphone just in case.
Major Monogram: Find out what he's up to and stop him. (Groans)
Doofenshmirtz: Well, that's done. And no comeuppance! (beat) Why do I feel so empty?
Background Information[]
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".
Production Information[]
to be added
International Premieres[]
November 28, 2009 (Disney Channel Spain)
January 22, 2010 (Seven Network Australia)
January 24, 2010 (Disney Channel Australia and New Zealand)
When we first meet Irving his eyebrows are thin, but in the rest of the episode, they are thick.
When Irving introduces himself to Phineas and Ferb, Baljeet's eyes become blank white sockets for a single frame.
What happened to Ferb's arms?
After Ferb says that they were too big to play Hide and Seek, The outline on Ferb's arms are green.
When Irving was excited and says the phrase "Where's Perry?", Buford's shorts turn black.
When Irving was trying to say "Where's Perry?", Isabella's skin color was darker.
The phrase "Wherefore art thou, Perry?", technically means "Why are you, Perry?". The correct phrase for "Where are you, Perry?" is "Whither art thou, Perry?"
During the entire episode, but most obvious 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, Phineas, Ferb and their friends are in a bowl of warm water relaxing, but their swimming suits never shrunk with them.
When Baljeet lands on top of the sealing lamp and is just about able to stop himself from falling, Candace disappears, but after he pulls himself back on the lamp before responding "I'm okay!", Candace reappears before closing the door to leave to Isabella's house with the shrinking machine.
When Irving responses to Isabella, "Yeah, but guys, we're still small," his head is over his shirt collar. In the next shot, it's behind again.
Every time the modified robot fly is shown next to the shrinking machine, it somehow moves closer to it: When the kids first land on the table, the shrinking machine is halfway across the table; by the time Doofenshmirtz blows it up, the shrinking machine is right next to the robot fly.
This is the third time that Candace is relatively perceived as a giant. The first was in "Lights, Candace, Action!" where they zoomed out and revealed it was a miniature set of Danville. The second was in "Attack of the 50 Foot Sister" when Candace actually grew to 50 feet tall.
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".
Community (TV series) - Irving describes himself as have been always there but never noticed for being a background type, the same happens with Buddy Austin (Jack Black) in Community who has, in theory, been in the same class as the main characters since episode one but didn't appear until episode 15, and explains that he has never been noticed for been a "background type", then its shown flashbacks from previous episodes prooving that he "has always been" in the show. This episode and the Phineas and Ferb one are both from 2009 so it may be only a coincidence.
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.
Honey, I Shrunk the Kids - When Candace was in the grass, she experiences similar hardships and attacks that the children faced in the film Honey, I Shrunk the Kids. Later, they fly on a bee, like in the movie.
The Fifth Element - Doofenshmirtz controlling a robot bug inside the Flynn-Fletcher house from his building is similar to Right Arm controlling a remote-controlled cockroach inside President Lindberg's office in the movie.
2001: A Space Odyssey - The glowing red eye in a black orb resembles HAL from the sci-fi thriller.
Indiana Jones - Phineas saves Isabella swinging on a "whip", with music similar to "Raiders' March" by John Williams.
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").
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.
Starship Troopers - Buford utters to the "fanboy" (Irving) as they prepare to join the battle against the robot bug "Come on, fanboy! You wanna live forever?", 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.
