"Dude, We're Getting the Band Back Together" is the fourteenth episode of Phineas and Ferb. It aired on March 8, 2008 on Disney Channel, April 10, 2008 on Toon Disney, and on February 13, 2009 on Disney XD.
Synopsis
Lawrence forgets his wedding anniversary, so Phineas and Ferb help him make it up to Linda by getting their favorite band together for a reunion concert. Meanwhile, Perry helps Doofenshmirtz to put together a party for his daughter's Sweet 16. Little does her father understand she's not that sweet anymore.
Plot
On June 15, Linda Flynn-Fletcher is questioning her husband Lawrence about what day it is. He has forgotten it's his and his wife's wedding anniversary. When Candace reminds him, he heads to the garage to find his cherished memories, which he keeps in his tool box. Pulling out a cassette tape of Love Händel, he tells the story of the night he first kissed Linda.
It was the night of Love Händel's farewell concert. Linda and Lawrence get chosen for Love Händel's flaming hot spotlight of love. They had not even held hands yet, but they kissed and fell in love right there at the concert. He fears that he can't recapture Linda's love, just like Love Händel could never recapture their magic on stage again since they broke up years ago. Phineas and Ferb know what they're going to do today!
After watching a documentary on their computer about Love Händel and its past, they recognize all of the members of the band live in Danville, coincidentally. Bass player Bobbi Fabulous now runs a trendy hair salon, drummer Swampy now works quietly at the public library, and lead singer Danny runs his own music store. All they have to do is keep their mother away from the house and get the members of Love Händel to agree to play together again and keep it a surprise. Meanwhile, Lawrence calls Love on the Run and orders the full package.
At Doofenshmirtz Abandoned Self Storage, Perry the Platypus flies in to see why Dr. Doofenshmirtz bought an air compressor, 20 tanks of helium oxide, and a bunch of fireworks. Turns out, he wasn't planning anything evil after all, just a birthday party for his daughter Vanessa's 16th birthday, and he asks Agent P to help him.
The boys find Danny's Music Shop and head inside to find Danny arguing with a teenager about how the young boy hasn't been called by the spirit of rock. Phineas asks him about Love Händel. He sings them History of Rock, covering a wide range of genres, all of which Danny has been a fan and have influenced his life. Afterward, Phineas informs Danny that their parents fell in love at one of Love Händel's concerts. Danny agrees to sing at their concert, but doubts that the rest of Love Händel will join him.
Doofenshmirtz and Perry have finished setting up Vanessa's birthday party. They are resting after a long day's work, and then Doofenshmirtz opens a curtain to reveal the grand finale of the party: the world's largest firecracker. All he needs is a victim to tie to it. Here's the awkward part: it's Perry.
At Bobbi's Hair Emporium, Candace is doing her part keeping Mom away from the house so that everything can get set up. She gets a phone call from Phineas telling her they have gotten Danny, and have moved on to Bobbi. She tells them as they're walking in the front door of Bobbi's salon that he is their mom's hair dresser and should stay away. Determined to get the band back together, Phineas persists and makes it Candace's job to distract Linda while they try to convince Bobbi.
Bobbi seems much less receptive to the idea than Danny did. Phineas explains to Bobbi why they're trying to get Love Händel back together. He assures them that they don't need him. He just played bass in the background; nobody remembers him. Phineas starts singing "Fabulous" to convince him otherwise by appealing to his ego. Over the course of the song, Bobbi agrees that he is indeed fabulous and that he will rejoin the band.
Phineas puts in a quick call to Isabella. He called to tell her about getting Love Händel back together, but she already knows about it since it was the lead story on the 5 o'clock news. Before he can ask, Isabella tells him she and the Fireside Girls are already working on a stage for the performance.
Discussing the irony of a rock and roll drummer working in a place so quiet, they arrive at the Tri-State Area Public Library. They find Swampy stamping books, oblivious to the rhythm that he is creating. Phineas asks him about rejoining the band for one night only. Swampy recounts how he fell asleep in a metronome factory and completely lost his sense of rhythm. He hasn't played drums since. Phineas breaks into Ain't Got Rhythm in order to show Swampy that he still has rhythm. Once again over the course of the song, the member of Love Händel realizes that he wants to rejoin the band, if only for one night.
Still keeping Linda away from the house, Candace has led them to Googolplex Mall. They are trying on dresses which Linda considers way too fancy for anything she ever does. She even seems to have the salesperson in on the act.
Back at the house, Lawrence has his Love on the Run package all set up in the backyard. However, while doing his dry run, the roses, too close to the candles, catch on fire. The Love-a-Gram lady puts the fire out with a hose but the hose knocks the whole table over. Everything is ruined, including the cake.
Lawrence finishes cleaning everything up and is sitting, feeling sorry for him in the garage. Phineas and Ferb burst in and open the garage door revealing the good news: They got all the members of Love Händel to agree to play a concert for his anniversary!
Meanwhile at Doofenshmirtz Abandoned Self Storage, Vanessa arrives. She is devastated to discover the schmaltzy, girly birthday decorations her father has put up for her birthday party. He then reveals his grand finale firecracker and Vanessa is unimpressed. He tells her that he wanted to launch their nemesis into the sky together, but Vanessa rebukes him by reminding him that Perry isn't her nemesis. Her father has also completely embarrassed her by calling all her friends from her address book and inviting them to the party. This includes a fellow named Johnny who had hearts doodled by his name.
At the house, the band reminisces a little bit and pulls Swampy's old outfit out of a box. Swampy, who has put on a bit of weight, assures them he is not going to be wearing that again anytime soon. After fighting a few old arguments, Danny no longer believes they have any fans and doesn't know why he should stay. They hear cheering outside and Ferb dramatically opens the garage door to reveal a huge crowd of fans in their driveway and front yard.
With Vanessa depressed by his ineptitude, Doofenshmirtz relishes in the fact that even though Vanessa isn't happy on her birthday, he can still watch Perry the Platypus explode. In a flash, Perry gets his arm free and uses his laser watch to cut the ribbon holding him to the firecracker. The evil scientist tries to shoot Agent P with his ray gun, but as he moves around to get a good shot, he gets his arm stuck in the rope tying the smaller fireworks onto the giant rocket.
Just then, Linda and Candace arrive at the house. The band begins to play their hit single, You Snuck Your Way Right Into My Heart. Simultaneously, the rocket ignites, propelling Doofenshmirtz through the roof and into the sky. With the spotlight on the car, Lawrence pushes his way through the crowd to get to his wife, but can't. Linda gets out of the car, the spotlight falls on her alone, and the crowd opens up a wide lane for Lawrence to walk down and recreate their first kiss.
Vanessa's friends arrive at her party, which thanks to the rocket is very appropriately grunge. Johnny compliments her on the cool party and Vanessa admits she had a little help from her dad. And Perry the Platypus.
The band finishes the song with a rocking guitar solo by Danny, followed by a nice shout-out, "GOOD NIGHT, TRI-STATE AREA!".
Cast
- 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
- Richard O'Brien as Dad
- Dee Bradley Baker as Perry the Platypus
- Steve Zahn as Swampy
- Jaret Reddick as Danny
- Carlos Alazraqui as Bobbi Fabulous (shown in the credits as "Bobby")
- Kelly Hu as Stacy
- Olivia Olson as Vanessa
- John DiMaggio as Johnny
Songs
Goofs
- When Linda asks Lawrence if he knows what day it is, Lawrence states that it's Thursday, and Linda leaves in a huff. When Candace pulls out the calendar, she points to June 15th, which is on a Tuesday (or Wednesday, if the calendar were starting on Mondays). However, Lawrence may have just been confused about which day of the week it was, or that wasn't that year's calendar.
- Swampy is stamping books that have been returned "Overdue."
- Phineas calls Isabella to ask her for help on putting up the stage. She and the Fireside Girls are "already on it," building a stage in front of the garage. Later, when Lawrence is commiserating over the failure of the "Love on the Run" plan, Phineas and Ferb come in to tell him they've got it covered. They open the garage to reveal the members of Love Händel, but there is no sign of a stage in front of the garage.
- Later, when the band walks out on the stage, it's elevated, but the garage is at ground level.
- The calendar that Candace holds near the beginning of the episode shows that June 15 for that year is on a Tuesday. That would place it in the year 1999, 2004, or 2010, which does not match with when this episode was made (2007). The calendar also contains the following misprints: the last day of the month ends at 31 instead of 30, and the Tuesday following Linda and Lawrence's anniversary is shown as June 23. June 21 appears to have been left out of the calendar since Saturday is shown as "19" and Sunday appears to be shown as "20". The box for Friday, June 11 is missing the 11 in the upper-left corner. When Candace turns the calendar back to May, it is the same page as for June, complete with the missing 11 and the missing date of May 21. This causes a miss-match between when May ends and when June begins. May 2007 began on a Tuesday, matching the calendar page shown in the episode. After the missing May 21 is added, the end of the month becomes a Wednesday. Linda's and Lawrence's anniversary in June 2007 should have been shown as taking place on a Friday. Since the anniversary occurs on a Thursday in the episode, this places the episode in 2006, and the calendar is wrong yet again. Also, presuming the days on the calendar start on Monday, June 15 should have been a Thursday if June on that calendar started on Wednesday.
- When Dr. Doofenshmirtz is trying to shoot Perry with his ray gun, his party hat changes from green to pink.
- Just after Danny sings "a ninja of love", the text spelling Love Händel on the drums disappears then comes back.
- The timer on the firecracker rocket changes from over 4 minutes remaining to less than 20 seconds and back again; also, when Dr. Doofenshmirtz is first caught on the rocket it reads 00:10:00 but when the rocket starts it reads 00:40:00.
- In "Fabulous" as they sing "We need you back on bass guitar", Phineas' mouth disappears for a brief second while he is turning.
- During "Fabulous", when Phineas tells Bobbi "Next to you their looks are a crime" his beard isn't there for that whole sentence.
- During the "Where are They Now" Special, Bobbi's eyes are closed as the picture zooms out, but are open when it zooms back in.
- During "You Snuck Your Way Right Into My Heart", before Lawrence kisses Linda, Phineas doesn't have the camera. After the kiss, Phineas and Candace raise their arms in the air like everyone in the crowd and Phineas doesn't have the video camera in his hand. In the next scene, they have their arms down, and Phineas has the video camera in his hand again. And in the scene after that, they all have their arms in the air again, and Phineas doesn't have the camera.
- Just before and during the beginning of "Ain't Got Rhythm," the "OVERDUE" stamp switches orientation while Swampy is continuously stamping.
- During History of Rock when Danny sings "Believe it or not, it's all the blues again", Danny's right eyebrow turns transparent a few times.
- At the end of the episode, Phineas and Candace have disappeared.
Trivia
- This episode reveals that Linda and Lawrence met in the 90s, and it was confirmed after this episode that baby Phineas, toddler Candace and baby Ferb were at their house with their respective babysitters.
- Phineas breaks the fourth wall by asking where the backgrounds are coming from during History of Rock.
- The glasses on Phineas' eyes on the first 7 or 8 seconds of History of Rock are the same ones Linda wears in the episode "The Beak" when she told Candace her eyes are a little blurred.
- The pony shown in the picture of Vanessa and Doofenshmirtz is the same one Isabella rode on in The Magnificent Few.
- When Bobbi Fabulous told Phineas and Ferb to talk to the hand, his hand said, "Secretly, I'm very lonely." This was also said by Norm as he chased Heinz Doofenshmirtz in Greece Lightning.
- Danny is named after co-creator Dan Povenmire, Swampy is named after co-creator Jeff "Swampy" Marsh, and Bobbi Fabulous is named after writer and voice of Buford, Bobby Gaylor.
- During the song Fabulous Phineas says, "Dude, we're getting the band back together!" which is the title of the episode.
- The "Funk Train" part of "History of Rock", possibly refers to George Clinton and his various bands, including Parliament-Funkadelic. Clinton was famous for outlandish outfits and hair on stage. "Funk Train" is also a reference to the long-running Soul Train program.
- During the Metal part of "History of Rock", Ferb looks like Slash, the guitarist for Guns N' Roses and Velvet Revolver.
- During the Boogie-Woogie part of "History of Rock", Ferb looks a lot like Danny Zuko from Grease.
- The title of the episode and storyline may be a reference to the Blues Brothers, in which Jake and Elwood reform their band, telling their former band members that "We're getting the band back together." Also, one of the band members Jake and Elwood needed to bring back was named Mr. Fabulous, like Bobbi Fabulous. There was a song in a music store to convince another band member to join again, like History of Rock.
- Bass player Bobbi Fabulous may be modeled on bass player Chris Squire, who is famous for his stylish costumes in concert.
- The phone tree started by Candace telling Stacy that Love Händel was reforming is similar to the one seen in the 1963 movie "Bye Bye Birdie".
- At the end credits, Perry's dance is similar to Michael Jackson's dance from his "Smooth Criminal" video.
- During the Metal part of "History of Rock", Phineas looks like Rob Halford, the singer of Judas Priest.
- This is the first thing that aired on Disney XD, when it was launched on February 13, 2009.
