The creators of Phineas and Ferb – Dan Povenmire and Jeff “Swampy” Marsh – are dishing on the show’s return!
Disney Channel has brought the hit, fan-favorite series back for a fifth season, ten years after the first run ended.
Just Jared Jr recently caught up with Dan and Swampy, and got the scoop on what it’s been like returning to this world, writing music for the show, if they ever run out of ideas and more.
Keep reading to learn more…
If you missed it, there are new episodes of Phineas and Ferb airing weekly on Thursday nights on Disney Channel and Disney XD. There are also currently ten new episodes streaming on Disney+ right now.
Just Jared Jr: What made you wanna come back and revisit all these characters in the show, after so many years away?
Dan Povenmire: Disney came and asked us if we wanted to do it. [laughs]
Jeff “Swampy” Marsh: I said yes.
Dan Povenmire: Yeah, but they asked us when both of us were working on other shows for their network, for their channel. So, we’re like, ‘Okay, we’re both occupied ’cause you’re occupying us. But if you wanna do that, we will find the time,’ ’cause we’ve always loved these characters.
Just Jared Jr: How do you come up with all the different ideas and things that the boys do and that they get into each day of every summer?
Dan Povenmire: We have a team of writers that pitch us things and we see. But, you know, when we get that question, I sort of feel like some people think that there’s a certain number of ideas in a bucket or in a barrel, and you know, your like, ‘Why don’t you run out of ideas?’ Ideas are not a resource. It’s really more like flexing a muscle. The more you’re writing, the more you’re coming up with new ideas, the easier it is for your brain to access that part of your brain, where there’s just a Rolodex of things that flip through there and you just grab one and put it to use. So, it’s really sort of ideas are a self-generating thing, and the more you come up with, the more those ideas suggest.
Just Jared Jr: Have there ever been any ideas for them that you just think is too ridiculous that you thought it was a good idea at first, but then you’re like, ah, on second thought maybe not?
Jeff “Swampy” Marsh: We talk about this. The one thing where Dan and I always draw the line is when it feels like somebody is having Phineas and Ferb do magic. And it’s a really weird thing because here we are in a world where they can build a rocket in their backyard and go to Mars. We understand there’s not a huge amount of reality there, but there’s a moment where it becomes them doing magic, and those always feel like they’re just outside of our world.
Dan Povenmire: Yeah. Like for instance, we just recently had a thing where they’re building something and in the animation they had the tracks for this ride they’re building just sort of snaking up, growing like flowers. And I said, you can’t do that because they, that’s just magic tracks building themselves.
You could have a robot going and putting, [imitates building] like that, but it has to have some sort of basis in at least the cartoon reality that Phineas and Ferb live in. And magic doesn’t exist in their reality.
Just Jared Jr: More of a practical effect.
Dan Povenmire: Yes, exactly. Now, if they had said Nanobot, if they’d done a cloud of Nanobots building it, I’d have probably been okay with it if they had shown how they made the nanobots. Yeah. It just, it just has to look and feel like there’s some kind of cartoon technology behind it.
Just Jared Jr: What has been your favorite part about revisiting these characters?
Dan Povenmire: I think just putting together a new writer’s room with a lot of our old friends and a bunch of new friends, and getting to go in there and just, you know, make stuff funny every day. That’s my favorite.
Jeff “Swampy” Marsh: I love going back and, and getting to write more songs. That’s just so much fun to do.
Dan Povenmire: That’s probably the part of the process that feels the least, like work. Even though it’s, you know, sometimes it’s like you have one hour scheduled between this meeting and this meeting to write the song for this episode. So better get the guitars tuned up.
Just Jared Jr: When writing the songs, do they just come to you at this point? Have you tapped into being able to just pump out a song?
Jeff “Swampy” Marsh: Sometimes the writers put where they think the song should go and what they think the song should be. Sometimes they have no idea and it’s just, you know, a blank canvas and we get to figure it out. And sometimes where we thought the song was gonna go, or what we thought the song was gonna be, isn’t the right one at all. And that’s kind of, to me, tends to be the most fun when you’re suddenly writing a song that’s just about the stupidest thing in the whole world.
Dan Povenmire: Yeah, but the song is often just suggested by the story. And you know, it’s like, oh, Candace has got squirrels in her pants. We should write a song about squirrels in my pants.
Jeff “Swampy” Marsh: We could call it “Squirrels In My Pants.”
Dan Povenmire: And then, who knows, maybe 10 years in the future, it’ll become a huge trend on TikTok, which is what happened. There was like months where every time I picked up my phone, there was like Jimmy Fallon and Reese Witherspoon doing the squirrels in my pants dance, or Lizzo doing it in front of a huge sold out show, or Michael Buble and Darren Criss, and it was like every morning there was a new celebrity doing that trend, which was hilarious.
Interview conducted by JJJ lead editor AJ Pitts.
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