Phineas & Ferb

Has anyone ever watched a Disney TV show called Phineas and Ferb? I’ve got a seven and a four year old who love it. Ive now watched a bunch of episodes with them and I was struck by how much SF content that it has.

The boys planning their newest invention - a backyard rollercoaster

Its about a couple of half-brothers (or maybe step-brothers) who are trying to wile away the 104 days of their summer vacation. Each day they invent something new, usually built in a large engineering project. The show is about what happens once they have built it, or are building it.

So far I have seen episodes that deal with time-travel and paradox, ray-guns, dinosaurs, wondrous medical cures, flying cars, aliens, spaceships, cyberpunk, sea and space monsters, even a dystopic future. The show is also full of different scientists. Their enemy is an evil scientist named Doofenschmurtz (CEO of Doofenschmurtz Evil, Inc.), and they have an intelligent platypus named Perry as a silent ally. When they need technical help they go to their best friend, a young Indian boy named Baljit who seems to know just about everything.

It’s really a charming show. I told my kids today that Disney is helping to get them ready for adult SF. At first they denied it, but now they call it SF too. Its also got an addictive bubble-bum pop soundtrack that I really like. More importantly, it presents really positive views of sibling relations, parental relations, innocent/young teen infatuations with the other sex, and positive views of minorities, all while being rollicking good fun. Good for Disney! Wow. Never thought I’d say that.