[[quoteright:269:http://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/Diffy_family.jpg]]

->''"He's a 22nd century man!"''

The Diffy family -- Barbara, Lloyd, Phil, and Pim -- are your average 22nd century family. Which is a lot like your normal NuclearFamily, except with aliens. During their vacation through time, their time machine breaks down in the present day. The family must rough it out in the 21st century while trying to get back home -- all the while not telling anyone that they're from the future. (Well, anyone [[SecretKeeper except]] Keely Teslow, Phil's 21st century love interest.)

This is a Disney Channel show, which of course means one of the girls sings for the Disney Records label. (In this case, AlysonMichalka, who plays Keely, teams with her younger sister A.J. to form the pop group Aly & AJ (Now known as 78violet.)

This is the last Disney Channel Original Series to date ''not'' to be produced by It's A Laugh Productions, which almost certainly explains why it was ScrewedByTheNetwork (in the form of premature cancellation - it didn't even make 65 episodes) in favor of all the other shows that were. It lasted from June, 2004 to August, 2006.
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!!This series provides examples of:
* ActingForTwo: J.P. Manoux as the Vice Principal and [[TeamPet Curtis The Caveman]].
* AllWomenLoveShoes: This is how Keely and Via become friends.
* AllGirlsWantBadBoys: Pim finds her soul mate in a classmate who shares her penchant for pranks and loses all interest when he saves her from a humiliating scene instead of making fun of her.
* AlphaBitch: Candida.
* AnnoyingYoungerSibling: Pim.
* ArtisticLicensePhysics: In "Good Phil Hunting", Pim can (apparently without the use of any gadgets) build up enough of a static charge to go all [[StarWars Emperor Palpatine]] on anyone who touches her. Pim being Pim, she ends up using it to get revenge on Candida.
* BadAssBeard: Phil in “Ill of the Future”.
* BadassTeacher: Mr. Joel Messerschmit.
* BecauseDestinySaysSo: Keely implies in "Christmas Break" that maybe the reason the Diffy's time machine broke down is because it was meant to be.
* BittersweetEnding: Series ends on cliffhanger.
** To add to that, Doug Tuber (one of the creators) confirms that he and his writing partner Tim Maile (The other creator) were hired by Disney to write the Phil of the Future finale movie. Doug say's it was a very detailed and funny and romantic outline. Disney decided not to produce it.
* BigManOnCampus: Phil Diffy in “It’s a Wonder-Phil Life”.
* BlackBestFriend: Danny Dawkins is Pim's.
* ChristmasEpisode: "Christmas Break".
* ComedicSociopathy: Pim displays this. A ''lot'' of this:
--> '''Pim (trying to sell the Diffys' house)''': Notice the staircase, which doubles as a toddler-friendly double black diamond toboggan run.
* TheDanza: Joel Brooks guest stars occasionally as Joel Messerschmitt. This is probably due to his first name being pretty much irrelevant, what with him being a teacher who we only see around his students.
* DanceOfRomance: Once in "Neander-Phil" and again in "Get Ready to Go-Go"
* DawsonCasting: Averted with Alyson Michalka (16 or 17 by the season finale) and borderline with Ricky Ullman (19 or 20 at the end of the series). A definite example is Ashley Drane, who was 24 when she played Grace in "Stuck in the Meddle With You."
* DeadpanSnarker: Pim. Occasionally Phil.
* DidIJustSayThatOutLoud: A conversation in which Keely calls herself Phil's girlfriend, and Phil says he wants to be her boyfriend.
* DisappearedDad: Keely's father
* DoggedNiceGuy: Lil Danny Dawkins. He's not always nice though.
* EmbarrassingFirstName: In the episode "Christmas Break" Pim asks Phil "What kind of name is Keely" and Phil responds [[HypocriticalHumor "Asks Pim"]].
* EverybodyHatesMathematics: Keely in the episode "Good Phil Hunting". At least at the beginning of the episode.
* EveryoneCanSeeIt: Phil and Keely, to the point that they get mistakenly named Cutest Couple by the ''whole school''.
* EvilLaugh: Pim.
* ExpositoryThemeTune: "Meet a boy named Phil and his family, on vacation from the 22nd century...". [[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8xVp9jldb0Q Here it is,]] [[EarWorm but beware.]]
* FailureIsTheOnlyOption: Lloyd [[spoiler:purposefully procrastinated/sabotaged the systems because the family enjoyed the 21st century so much. He really could've just fixed it at any time.]]
* FateDrivesUsTogether: Implied with Phil and Keely at several points, including Keely placing her childhood music box into the school's time capsule that is later found by Phil's mother and used when he was a baby.
* FirstKiss: Phil Diffy is Keely's first kiss.
* FlowerInHerHair: Keely loves wearing flowers in her hair, as the viewer can see and as Phil mentions in "Happy Nirday".
* ForgottenFirstMeeting: Keely doesn't remember meeting Phil in "Christmas Break."
* FreakyFridayFlip: One of the Wizard's powers;
** One ep, it switches Curtis and Phil's personalities when it malfunctions.
** Lloyd makes Phil and Pim switch bodies to give them a "Versa Day".
* FreudianSlip: Keely in the episode “Dinner Time” when she said “See you at lunch, Sweetie Pie” to Phil.
* GirlNextDoor: Keely.
* TheGlomp: Phil and Keely share many hug's of this variety during the series. Sometimes even two in one episode "Good Phil Hunting".
* GrandRomanticGesture: Phil creates a picnic of things that remind him of Keely in "Happy Nird-Day".
* GreenEyedMonster: Keely in the episode "Neander-Phil".
** Phil in "Ill of the Future".
* GreenLanternRing: The Wizard.
* GreenRocks: Diffy's gadgets.
* HappyDance: Phil and Keely each do one of these after they make plans to go to the dance together in "Get Ready To Go Go".
* HappilyEverAfter: Phil Diffy and Keely get together in the finale episode "Back To The Future (Not The Movie)". WordOfGod also makes this such.
* HappilyMarried: Barb and Lloyd.
* HalloweenEpisode: "Halloween"
* HellBentForLeather: Phil Diffy in "Dinner Time".
* HighSchoolDance: "Get Ready To Go Go", "Raging Bull", and "Halloween".
* HighSchoolSweethearts: Phil Diffy and Keely.
* HilariousOuttakes: At the end of the episode “Halloween” and “Broadcast Blues”.
* HoldingHands: Phil Diffy and Keely in the finale episode "Back To The Future (Not The Movie)". The irony is that they've probably held hands a million times before as friends, but once they decide to become a couple, they can't get the logistics right.
* IdolSinger: Aly & AJ (Now known as 78violet), one half of which is the show's female lead, Alyson Michalka.
* JerkWithAHeartOfGold: Owen
* JustFriends: Phil and Keely till the season 2 finale (which ended up being series finale).
* KilledOffForReal: [[spoiler: Debbie.]] No seriously. [[spoiler: It helps that she was actually an evil cyborg. No, this is never really explained.]]
** [[spoiler: Of course, afterwards it's implied she's somehow lurking within Pim, but nothing ever comes out of it.]]
* TheLadysFavour: The salt and pepper shakers from "Back to the Future (Not the Movie)"
* LadyInRed: Keely in “Get Ready To Go-Go”.
* LaughTrack: Notably averted.
* LargeHam: The guy who plays Messerschmitt quite obviously has way too much fun with every single line he says, especially in "The Giggle" when discussing the Omicron Gambit, his legendarily hard...make-up test. It's all PlayedForLaughs, of course.
* LeftHanging: So. Many. Things.
* LastMinuteHookup: Phil and Keely get together in "Back To The Future (Not The Movie)".
* LoveBeforeFirstSight: Phil and Keely in "Christmas Break"
* {{Masquerade}}
* MayDecemberRomance: Accidentally and played for laughs in "Age Before Beauty". When Keely ages herself with a future device and catches the romantic attention of Vice Principal Hackett, Phil must step in and pretend to be her boyfriend to deter him. Unfortunately, he accidentally ages himself to about 80, to Keely's 20-something.
* MeetCute: Phil and Keely, though Keely didn't know. The entire episode "Christmas Break" is devoted to how they met. Keely was the Pickford Yuletide Star Princess in charge of the town's yule star (obviously) to be used in a tree lighting ceremony. Pim breaks the glass Yule star, and Phil, feeling badly about it, goes back in time to fix it. Through a series of unfortunate events, he ends up going back in time several times to save the star, eventually succeeding. Keely finds this sweet, Pim...not so much:
-->'''Keely (about the Christmas tree star)''': Ooh, that's my favorite part.
-->'''Phil''': I know, you were the Pickford Yuletide Star Princess, after all.
-->'''Keely''': That's right! Wait...we didn't even know each other then. How did you know about that?
-->'''Phil''': Well...you see...I actually met you before you met me.
-->'''Pim''': Met her? You followed her around like a pathetic puppy.
-->'''Keely''': Really?
-->'''Pim''': He was like 'Oh, we have to help the pretty crying girl!'
* MilitaryBrat: Via
* MuggleBestFriend: Keely to Phil
* NewJobEpisode: Lloyd and Curtis both get jobs at the local hardware store in the episode "Versa Day".
* NosyNeighbor: Vice Principle Neil Hackett.
* NowOrNeverKiss: Phil and Keely's first kiss in "Back to the Future (Not the Movie)".
* OfficialCouple: Phil Diffy and Keely.
* OutOfOrder: The episodes where Phil met Keely and told her his secret were the 10th and 11th episodes that aired, respectively.
* PluckyGirl: Keely.
* PlotSensitiveItems: Diffy's gadgets about once every 1 1/2 episodes
* ThePowerOfFriendship: Phil and Keely In "Almost. Every. Single. Episode.''
* ThePowerOfLove: Phil and Keely. From two different centuries. Yet they end up together. That's ThePowerOfLove.
* PuppyDogEyes: Keely gives these to Phil in episode “Age Before Beauty”, "The Giggle" and "Dinner Time".
* PutOnABus: Tia, Bradley Benjamin Farmer, and Seth Wassmer.
* RaceForYourLove: Phil ''and'' Keely end up doing this in the final episode, though with far different results. Keely suddenly changes her mind about seeing Phil and his family back to the future and runs to catch their time machine before it leaves. She's unsuccessful. The second time is Phil, who has his father return their time machine to about five minutes before Keely does ''her'' race and he catches her at school to say goodbye (cue TheBigDamnKiss)
* RedStringofFate: Played with with Phil and Keely. In "Time Release Capsule", Keely puts her own childhood music box in the school's time capsule; Phils mom finds it a century later and plays it for him as a baby. It's revealed in "Christmas Break" that Phil was the one who broke the time machine, but that if he hadn't stopped to help Keely, the family would have been caught in a massive time-storm and gotten lost forever.
* ReedRichardsIsUseless / PlotTechnology: Justified, since they have to maintain the masquerade and minimize their impact on the outcome of history, they can only use the future tech to solve the day's problems.
* RelationshipUpgrade: Phil and Keely in the season 2 finale which ended up being the series finale "Back To the Future (Not The Movie)".
* TheRival: Bradley Benjamin Farmer and Candida are rivals of Pim.
* ScienceFair: Phil and Keely in the episode “Milkin’ It”.
* ScrewedByTheNetwork (Disney...grr)
* SecretChaser: Vice Principle Neil Hackett
* SecretKeeper: Keely's the only one (other than the Diffys themselves, of course) who knows the truth about where they come from.
* ShipTease: ''In. Every. Single. Episode.''
* SickEpisode: The Diffy's in "Ill of the Future". Vice Principle Neil Hackett in "Mummy's Boy".
* SiblingYinYang: Phil and Pim, who are polar opposites.
* ShipperOnDeck: Pretty much everyone for Phil and Keely, but Phil's mom is the most obvious.
* ShowWithinAShow: "Who Wants To Marry A Dentist?" in the episode "Future Jock". "The Lost and the Lonely" in the episode "Double Trouble".
* {{Shout Out}}: Quite a few.
** Phil's present-day High School is named after HGWells. That is, the author of TheTimeMachine.
** There are also various examples in episode titles, like "[[GoodWillHunting Good Phil Hunting]]" and "[[ItsAWonderfulLife It's a Wonder-Phil Life]]".
** As well, in "Good Phil Hunting", Hackett is briefly shown writing equations on a clear, glassy surface, mimicking similar memorable moments from Film/ABeautifulMind and GoodWillHunting.
*** In the same episode, Hackett asks Phil what the first rule of AV club is. Naturally, it's [[Film/FightClub "Don't talk about AV club."]] There's also a reference to Fermat's Last Theorem; apparently a problem known as Foucalt's Last Conundrum is highly difficult in the present day, but is basic material in 2121's third grade.
*** When Mr. Hackett wakes up from the shock of Keeley "solving" said Conundrum:
--->'''Mr. Hackett:''' I had such a... ''strange'' dream... [[ButYouWereThereAndYouAndYou You were there, you were there, you, and you...]] ''(to [[Film/TheWizardOfOz scarecrow]])'' you I don't recognise.
** In "Dinner Time", Barb's trying to prepare a typical American dinner party. Her research leads her to believe that it should be 50's style, right down to the clothes. Phil ends up looking like [[HappyDays Fonzie]], right down to flashing the classic double thumbs up right after being zapped with the Wizard and immediately [[LampshadeHanging lampshading]] it.
** "Dinner Time" also slips in a reference to TheWizardOfOz, when a pair of prospective buyers for the Diffy house ask if it has suffered a twister of "Oz or greater magnitude".
* SickeninglySweethearts: Phil and Keely in the final episode. Given that they were pretty darn cute to begin with, the RelationshipUpgrade jacks it UpToEleven.
* SleepCute: Phil and Keely fall asleep next to each other on the sofa while studying in the episode "The Giggle"
* {{Squee}}: When Phil and Keely kiss in "Back To The Future (Not The Movie)".
* StalkerWithACrush: Lil Danny Dawkins has one on Pim.
** Hackett's behavior toward Veronica veered into stalker territory when he camped out on her front lawn and was awoken by the sprinklers.
* SweetieGraffiti: Phil + Keely written on the tree in "Time Release Capsule".
* TakeOverTheWorld: Pim.
* TheBigDamnKiss: Phil and Keely's kiss in "Back to the Future." They kiss on the school's CCTV and get a standing ovation from the entire student body.
* TheMatchmaker: Keely in "Stuck in the Meddle with You".
* ThisLoserIsYou: Phil. A lot.
* TimeTravel: Duh.
* TimeyWimeyBall: They play with the concept of TemporalMutability a lot, most notably in "Time Release Capsule" and "My Not-So-Great Great-Great-Grampa".
* TokenEvilTeammate: Pim is this for the Diffy family.
* TrappedInThePast: The Diffy's.
* TrainingMontage: Phil and Keely have one in "The Giggle", to prepare for the Omicron Gambit, Messerschmitt's painfully difficult make-up test.
* TyrantTakesTheHelm: Pim, in the aptly-named "Pim-cipal" episode.
* UncannyValleyGirl: Debbie Berwick. We learn later that [[spoiler: she's actually an evil robot bent on world domination via cupcakes.]]
* UndercoverAsLovers: At one point, Phil and Keely use the Wizard to masquerade as his parents to fool their snooping neighbor, Mr. Hackett.
* ValleyGirl: This is how Keely and Tia are first introduced. Tia stays this way until she leaves the show, though Keely moves away from it a bit as the show goes on.
* {{Unobtainium}}:
* WhatNowEnding: Diffys went back for Curtis.....then?
* [[WeWillNotHaveAppendixesInTheFuture We Will Not Have Pinky Toes In The Future]]: In the episode "You Say Toe-Mato"
* WorthlessYellowRocks: Diamonds are a waste product in the future, but aluminum foil is apparently invaluable.
** [[JustifiedTrope Very much justified.]] Aluminum is valuable even today (which is the motive behind pop tab collections), while diamonds are easily manufactured from common carbon.
* WordOfGod: Doug Tuber stated that after seeing Ricky Ullman & Alyson Michalka's chemistry on screen he knew Phil and Keely were destined from the start of the series to become more than friends.
* WrongGenreSavvy: Principal Hackett thinks the Diffy's are aliens.
* XtremeKoolLetterz: In "Broadcast Blues", Keely's news segment as designed by Pim is called "Keely's Korner".
* YouAreGrounded: Phil at the end of "Maybe Sitting".
* YouAreTheNewTrend: In the episode "Broadcast Blues" everything Keely wears on her news reports becomes a new trend.
* YouNoTakeCandle: Curtis, the Diffy's [[UnfortunateImplications pet caveman]].
* YoungFutureFamousPeople: Though the youthful famous person is fictional, Phil runs into the inventor of the Wizard in his high school during a career placement test.
* YourCheatingHeart: The name and premise of a season one episode.
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