In what may be the best idea since peanut butter met chocolate, Marvel and the producers of Phineas and Ferb announced an hour long crossover episode between everyone’s favorite comic book heroes and the boy geniuses Phineas and Ferb.
Just watch the video:
“>httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wNVW7G4tnTA
Now, I know a ton of fanboys’ heads are currently exploding, and to them I say an emphatic, “CHILL OUT!” Oh no! your precious characters are going to be marketed to children?!?!!? How dare they?!?! And in a CARTOON?! For kids?!?! You knew this was going to happen when Disney merged with Marvel, and the characters would get all cutesified and so on. . .
To which I have to say:
1- Did you ever see the Superhero Squad Show? It’s on Netflix Instant Watch right now if you haven’t (I can’t escape it, as my son watches 3 or 4 episodes a day probably). That was happending loooooong before the Disney merger, so don’t blame this on corporate greed.
2- Have you ever watched Phineas and Ferb? That show is great. Jon Stewart even likes it and makes references to it on The Daily Show.
You know Family Guy? And how they went on that long hiatus/cancellation? Well guess what? During that time, those animators and writers had to go get other jobs. And two of them were Dan Povenmire and Jeff “Swampy” Marsh. And they went and made Phineas and Ferb.
Yes, it’s a kids show. But a show that also has a lot to offer adults. Simply some of the best writing on TV, and, in my opinion, the best animated show on right now. Yes, Clone Wars wins in the technical department, and Metalocalypse rocks my socks off, but Phineas and Ferb is an awesome show. There’s a reason I put them in my top 10 of last year.
So, before you start bitching, go watch some Phineas and Ferb and then tell me of all the cartoons out there, this one isn’t the most worthy of all of them.
3- Since when can’t we market comic book characters to children? Why is this dismissed as a cynical money grab? I showed this trailer to my kids and they went off the handle with excitement. They’re sad they have to wait an entire year to see The Beak team up with Iron Man. (truth be told, so am I!)
I know that if I worked on a show like Phineas and Ferb, I’d be busting down Jeff Loeb’s door every week with a new idea of how to bring the Marvel characters onto my show. And seeing the video of Marsh and Povenmire, they don’t seem any less excited than I would be in their position. Because nothing says summer to me like comic books, and to kids trying to suck the marrow out of every single day, I doubt they would say any different.
I would trade in an entire set of Existentialist Trading Cards to see this right now. Or a month’s supply of victory gum. I am incredibly excited.
But I’m ready to be roasted by fanboy hate. Bring on the hate and let’s do battle in the comments section like the warriors of old!