Western Animation / Phineas and Ferb: Star Wars

Use the Ferb, Phineas.

Episode IVa
MAY THE FERB BE WITH YOU

On the Desert planet of Tatooine
lived two happy young moisture
farmers, who had absolutely
no plans of leaving or getting
involved in any kind of
intergalactic shenanigans.

Unbeknownst to them the Galactic
Empire had recently finished
constructing its ultimate weapon,
the DEATH STAR.

Meanwhile, having learned the
whereabouts of the Death Star's
plans, the rebels send their best
platypus agent to obtain them, in
hopes of finding a weakness.

And none of this is canon, so just relax.

A special crossover episode of Phineas and Ferb in its fourth season with the Star Wars universe. It first aired on Disney Channel on July 25, 2014, having premiered on the Watch Disney Channel online service and Disney XD On Demand on July 19, 2014.

The special is set a few summers ago in a galaxy far, far away, and a series of events leads Phineas and Ferb, cast here as two moisture farmers on Tatooine who are neighbors with Luke Skywalker, with the responsibility of saving the galaxy. It incorporates the plot from Star Wars Episode IV: A New Hope with the characters from the film interacting with the show's characters at certain points.

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Phineas and Ferb: Star Wars provides examples of:

• Actually Pretty Funny:
  • Dan Povenmire and Swampy Marsh laugh as Jim Cummings is allowed to improvise his voice cues for the Opening Narration.
  • When Phineas is scanning the horizon with his binoculars, a Sandperson jumps in front of him, startling him (echoing a scene from A New Hope where a Sandperson ambushes Luke). When he drops the binoculars, we see Ferb waving a Sandperson puppet in front of Phineas. Phineas admitted that Ferb got him that time.
• Adaptation Name Change: Dr. Doofenshmirtz is now Darthenshmirtz, Major Monogram is given the Punny Name Major Hologram, and the Fireside Girls are now the Firestar Girls. Downplayed with Perry, who is called "Platypus" and "Rebelpus" more-or-less interchangeably.
• Adaptational Nonsapience: The ship Centennial Chihuahua stands in for Pinky, Isabella's pet chihuahua (who's also a Deep Cover Agent Partially Civilized Animal) in the regular Phineas and Ferb cartoon.
• Adaptational Personality Change: Isabella, instead of being a Nice Girl, is now a Jerk with a Heart of Gold to make her act more like Han Solo, with the only thing she shares with any version of Isabella is that she develops romantic feelings for Phineas.
• Adaptation Species Change: Vanessa showed up as a Twi'lek. (Or maybe half-Twi'lek, if we assume that Darthenshmirtz is still her dad.)
• Adaptational Villainy:
  • Darthenshmirtz casually jokes about the destruction of Alderaan. Global destruction of that magnitude is a line that Dr. Doofenshmirtz refused to cross.
  • Darth Vader, despite how bad a boss he is in the canon, he doesn't go as far as executing an officer for something as trivial as a pair of socks.
• Always Someone Better: Isabella is bitter towards Han Solo ever since he cut her off in the Kessel Run.
  Isabella: Everybody loves Solo... Twelve parsecs...
• Alternate Catchphrase Inflection: Isabella angrily asks Phineas and Ferb, while tinkering in the Chihuahua, "Hey! Whatcha doin'?!"
• Anachronism Stew:
  • Pop culture references, such as The Three Musketeers, Groucho Marx, and Gangnam Style, are scattered throughout the special, despite the fact that this is set ostensibly in the past.
  • Lampshaded by Baljeet when Buford brings up Robin Hood as they and Candace begin their Heel Realization.
    Baljeet: (loud whisper) That has not happened yet!
• Answer Cut:
  • When Phineas and Ferb look at the Death Star plans, they notice that they can easily destroy it by shooting a proton torpedo in the exhaust port. Blatto compares it to a self-destruct button and asks "What kind of idiot would design that?". The scene then cuts to Doofenshmirtz, who is attempting to drink from a water fountain with his helmet getting in the way.
  • Later, when Buford shows Candace that they still have Darth Vader's socks:
    Candace: Buford, I'm going to ask you a question, and I want you to think very hard before you answer. (...) If we have Darth Vader's socks, what exactly did we give the commander?
    [cut to the commander getting choked to death by Darth Vader, for bringing him a sandwich]
• Armor-Piercing Question:
  • When Isabella claims to Han that she has "plenty of friends," she gets this response:
    Han: Yeah? Where are they now?
  • Of course, she quickly gives him as good she gets:
    Isabella: [beat] Well... where are yours?
• Background Music: It wouldn't be a Star Wars crossover without John Williams' iconic score, would it? But in addition to the familiar themes, some of Danny Jacob's regular themes from Phineas and Ferb are made to sound more orchestral to match. This is noticeable whenever Candace's "Busting Theme" plays and doesn't sound electronic.
• Being Evil Sucks: Actually inverted with Candace, but not Baljeet and Buford. The girl just wants to be in the frontlines, but her commanding officer won't let her. The inversion is that she thinks she's a good guy.
• Big "SHUT UP!": Phineas' reaction to Darth Ferb's invitation to join The Dark Side, although it's out of disbelief and amusement at what Phineas thinks is a joke.
• Black Comedy:
  • The destruction of Alderaan is Played for Laughs twice, as is a Stormtrooper falling out of the Death Star and floating hopelessly in space.
  • Buford found a great robe with one little gash laying around on the Death Star.
• Brainwashed:
  • Ferb is turned into Darth Ferb when he is hit by Darthenshmirtz' Sithinator by deflecting a shot that was meant for Perry. He plans to do the same to Phineas after making some modifications to the Sithinator.
  • The Empire also did this to their Stormtroopers, though Baljeet insists that it was just orientation.
    Buford: Potato, tomato.
• Break the Cutie: Phineas during his fight with Darth Ferb. He doesn't understand why his brother is trying to hurt him, and Darth Ferb is a more ruthless fighter. The latter disarms Phineas, destroys his lightsaber, and blocks his, Perry's, and Candace's attempts to fight back.
• Breaking the Fourth Wall:
  • Blatto gives a Spoiler alert to Phineas and Ferb after they explain the weakness of the Death Star.
  • At the end of his musical number, Darthenshmirtz tells his Stormtrooper backup dancers to stay on their comms for a potential victory song in Act IV. Then after he escapes, he declares he'll be back to fight in the sequel.
• Brick Joke:
  • One of the imperial Mooks talks about getting a saxophone. At the end, he does.
  • Buford's hoagie pops up no less than four times.
• Call-Back:
  • According to Phineas, his, Ferb's, and Perry's lives played out similarly to the events their primary counterparts went through in the Across the 2nd Dimension movie; like his canon counterpart, Perry lived with the boys as their pet before he was outed as a spy, and the boys felt hurt and betrayed by this revelation. Unlike in the movie, Perry was instead relocated off of Tatooine, and the boys still have full memory of him.
  • Also, just like in the movie, Isabella gives Phineas a Forceful Kiss at the end.
  • While trading with the Jawas, Phineas offers a Phinedroid from "I, Brobot".
  • The bar scene is accompanied by a jazz piano version of "Let's Take a Rocketship to Space".
• The Cameo:
  • As per the nature of this special, the Star Wars characters make brief appearances at various points.
  • Twi'lek!Vanessa has two songs, but no role in the narrative of the episode.
  • Jim Cummings as the narrator, Wayne Brady appears as an Imperial Officer (the saxophone guy), and Jamie and Adam of MythBusters voice a pair of Imperial office workers.
• Can Only Move the Eyes: When Perry and Darthenshmirtz are frozen in carbonite, they can still move their eyes. The latter is also able to talk.
• Canon Discontinuity: Lampshaded in the Opening Narration, which explicitly says "none of this is canon, so relax."
• Casual Danger Dialogue: Buford's reaction to seeing a huge stone tower about to fall and crush them:
  Buford: (to Baljeet) "And you thought we were gonna die in space!"
• Catchphrase: No matter what version of Isabella we see, she'll still ask Phineas "What'cha doin'?" In this case, however, she's far more irritated than cheerful.
• Chekhov's Gun: Candace uses the socks she got for Darth Vader as weapons to distract Darth Ferb. She laments not getting the larger pack when she runs out of socks.
• Child Soldiers: The Firestar Girls are allowed to fly out into the Death Star during the Battle of Yavin. That's how desperate the situation is for the Rebel Alliance. On the Empire side, Candace, Buford and Baljeet are fully armed Stormtroopers. They aren't actually allowed in front-line combat, but this seems to be mostly because the officers think they're dangerously incompetent.
• Chorus Girls: Darthenshmirtz, as always, is accompanied by rather curvy looking Stormtroopers during his Villain Song.
  'Darthenshmirtz: Alright, stay close to your comlinks, ladies, and, if all goes well, I'll have a victory number in the fourth act.
• Combat Pragmatist: Darth Ferb. Though he does give Phineas a few minutes to upgrade his lightsaber (using the time to do the same), he immediately trounces other attempts to get the edge on him.
• Comically Missing the Point:
  • How does Phineas react when he sees Ferb in a Darth Maul-esque appearance?
    Phineas: Cool face paint!
  • A very dark example occurs when Darthenshmirtz is angry because the value of the timeshare on Alderaan in which he had invested money suddenly drops to zero. In the background, you can see the Death Star ray go off.
• Conscience Makes You Go Back: Both Isabella and Han get this when the rebels head out to do their Death Star run.
• Creator Cameo: In addition to their regular characters in the series, Dan Povenmire and Swampy Marsh play several voices in the episode, including two Imperial officers who look like them, and themselves directing Jim Cummings reading the opening crawl.
• Crossover Power Acquisition: While trying to rescue Perry, Ferb is inadvertently blasted with Dr. Darthenshmirtz' Sithinator, and gains the power of the dark side of the force.
• Dance Party Ending: With the cast of both franchises getting down.
• Darker and Edgier: By the usual standards of Phineas and Ferb. With the upgraded TV-G rating, this special had darker humor, got more crap past the radar than usual, had a noticeably high Fanservice curve, and is the first and only Phineas and Ferb episode to have a body count.
• Data Drive MacGuffin: Phineas and Ferb are tasked with delivering a disc containing the schematics for the Death Star and information on its built-in self-destruct button to the Rebel Alliance so that they can destroy the machine for good.
• Death by Adaptation: Possibly Norm, given that he is not seen again after Perry disables him.
• Dialogue Reversal:
  • After Phineas saves Candace from a Literal Cliffhanger, this exchange occurs:
    Candace: Why would you save me? You're a rebel!
    Phineas: You were in trouble. I couldn't just leave you hanging...literally.
  • And when Candace is helping Phineas against Darth Ferb...
    Phineas: Wait! Why are you helping me? I'm a rebel!
    Candace: You were in trouble. I couldn't just leave you hanging.
• Doomed by Canon:
  • Alderaan, leading to a joke about timeshare values.
  • Greedo, leading to a joke about who shot first.
  • Obi-Wan is killed off-screen. Buford later finds his cloak.
  • Pretty much everyone on the Death Star, except for all the people the Firestar Girls saved.
• Dual Wielding: Phineas vs. Darth Ferb, with tricked-out lightsabers.
• Evil Brit: Guess which Flynn-Fletcher brother gets turned evil by the Sithinator.
• Evil Costume Switch: MY GOD Darth Ferb. Just, my GOD!!
• Exactly What I Aimed At: While Candace distracts Darth Ferb, Phineas throws his broken lightsaber in his general direction. It misses Ferb, but hits the Sithinator's Self-Destruct Mechanism.
• External Retcon: Turns out characters similar to certain Danville residents had important parts in the first great Rebel victory of the Galactic Civil War.
• Explain, Explain... Oh, Crap!:
  • Phineas has an understated version of this on the Death Star:
    Phineas: Hey, there's Luke! They must've gotten the plans. He should have no trouble hitting that exhaust port; it's practically the size of a womp rat! (Beat) We should probably get out of here.
  • Earlier on, Baljeet makes a failed attempt at invoking this to talk Candace out of disobeying orders and following the droids to Tatooine:
    Candace: Let's drift!
    Baljeet: Technically, we will not be drifting. More like violent ejection, plummeting through the atmosphere, and crashing onto the planet's surface.
• Fake Crossover: Invoked almost verbatim at the end of the opening crawl with the following disclaimer:
  "And none of this is canon, so just relax."
  • A necessary warning, as Disney owns Star Wars and therefore could have declared this canon.
    • Also comes under the categories of MST3K Mantra and Take That, Audience!.
• Fanservice: A pinup swimsuit sale ad, a dashboard hula dancer, and Twi'lek Vanessa wearing an outfit with a Cleavage Window.
• Females Are More Innocent: Candace is the only visible female low-ranking Stormtrooper during this special, and while she was determined to do her duty to bust the Rebels for the Galactic Empire, she also has a genuinely sympathetic side, as well, to which it gets its heaviest moment after Phineas saved her from her potential fall from the ledge when she was trying to chase after him and Isabella (as those two have the Death Star plans). After what he did to Candace, she decided to give up on serving for the Galactic Empire and side with the Rebels instead. This kind of trait has also been more present in her than on both of her fellow Stormtroopers Baljeet and Buford (who were more-or-less portrayed as being Comedic Relief Characters instead during this special).
• Fetch Quest: Candace, Buford and Baljeet spend the first half of the special in a search for new socks for Darth Vader.
• Fighting Your Friend: Stepsibling in this case; Phineas realizes Ferb really meant it when asking him to join the dark side and physically attacks him, causing Phineas to get nervous until it turns into an all-out battle between them.
• Forceful Kiss: Isabella gives one to Phineas at the end, after checking to make sure they aren't related.
• Freeze-Frame Bonus: The briefly seen Death Star directory shows that the station has its own credit union, water park, piano room, among other places.
• Friendless Background: Isabella is the pilot and sole crew member of the Centennial Chihuahua, and her demeanor suggests she's been on her own for a while and has developed into a Han Solo-esque self-interested jerk. Though like Han, she gets better.
  Isabella: This is not a friendship, it's a spaceship. So don't invade mine!
• Happy Birthday to You!: By the time this episode was made, the actual song once again entered public domain, so it is heard while Perry rebakes the birthday cake he destroyed for a Tusken Raider's birthday party.
• Hero of Another Story: The special take place co-current with the original Star Wars (or Episode IV if you want to be technical) movie and has the P&F cast running across characters from the film while having their own adventure. The writers were mainly inspired by Rosencrantz and Guildenstern Are Dead.
• Heel–Face Turn: Candace, Baljeet, and Buford join the rebels at the end.
• Heel Realization: Candace, after being rescued by Phineas, realizes that she, Buford and Baljeet are on the wrong side of the war. The destruction of Alderaan confirms this.
  Candace: Also, didn't we just blow up a planet?!
  Baljeet: Yes, that is a bit hard to justify, morally.
• Hoist by His Own Petard: Doofenshmirtz falls into his own carbon-freezer.
• Hold Your Hippogriffs: Never look a gift ^tauntaunhorse in the ^{oral cavity}mouth.
• "I Know You're in There Somewhere" Fight: Phineas vs. Darth Ferb. It doesn't work.
• Improvised Weapon: Candace uses Darth Vader's socks and rubble against Darth Ferb.
• Insane Troll Logic: When the Rebel troopers can't find the disc with the Death Star plans, one suggests blaming it on Jar Jar Binks with his partner pointing out the stupidity of that, noting that Jar Jar "retired 20 years ago."
• Insistent Terminology:
  • It's Darthensmirtz's lair, not an old recycling platform.
  • Stormtroopers aren't brainwashed, they go through "orientation."
    Buford: Potato, tomato.
• I Owe You My Life: After Phineas saves Candace, she goes back to save him from Darth Ferb.
• Is the Answer to This Question "Yes"?: At the Death Star, one worker asks if the other wants donuts and the other asks if Darth Vader wears a funny hat.
  Worker: [anxious] Dude!
• Jerk with a Heart of Gold: Isabella, of all people. It makes sense when you consider that she is supposed to be Han Solo's Distaff Counterpart.
• Killed Mid-Sentence: Or frozen in this case.
  Darthenshmirtz: Hey, you're too late! There's no stopping me no— [falls into the carbonite chamber, instantly freezing him]
• Location Song: Phineas and Ferb sing "Tatooine".
• Long-Lost Relative: Before the Death Star explodes, Phineas regrets not being reunited with his big sister who had left Tatooine when he was a baby. Only then Candace realizes that the young rebel is her brother, Phineas, and they embrace each other.
• Lower-Deck Episode: Serves as this for the original Star Wars.
• May the Farce Be with You
• MacGuffin: The Death Star schematics.
• Mirror Morality Machine: Darthshmirtz originally created the Sithinator to make himself more evil and powerful. He tried to do a test run of it on Perry (hoping to bring him to the Dark Side), but hits Ferb instead, turning the kid into a powerful Sith warrior.
• My God, You Are Serious!: Phineas gets this reaction when Darth Ferb offers him We Can Rule Together, and shows that he is not joking; Phineas had laughed and said that they needed to find Perry.
• Mythology Gag:
  • In addition to standard references and lampshade hangings for the movies, Perry's personal starship bears a conspicuous resemblance to The Outrider^note which has a cameo in the Special Edition version of A New Hope.
  • Luke sees the battle between Tantive IV and the Star Destroyer from the surface of Tatooine. This is based on a Deleted Scene from A New Hope.
• Nepotism: During "In The Empire", Candace complains about how "Gladys from Accounting" got promoted to Commander despite being a valedictorian of the Imperial Stormtrooper Marksmanship Academy, all because she's apparently the second cousin to a mid-level Darth.
• Never Split the Party: Ferb senses Perry is in trouble, and suggests they split up. Phineas is dubious, but Ferb insists. ^note Phineas is right.
• No Endor Holocaust: The Firestar Girls rescued all baristas, bank tellers, and bowling alley attendants of the Death Star, which may or may not be a Take That! to a certain conversation from Clerks.
• No Ontological Inertia: Once the Sithinator is destroyed, Ferb immediately becomes his old self again.
• Not in This for Your Revolution: Isabella has no interest in joining the Rebellion, only flying Phineas and Ferb to the Falcon for the chance to one-up Han Solo.
• Oh, Crap!:
  • Buford and Baljeet realizing that they still have Vader's socks and gave the commander the wrong bag. Goodbye, commander!
  • Phineas when he sees that Ferb isn't joking about turning to The Dark Side.
• "Oh, Crap!" Smile: Perry gives one to Major Hologram when he hears that the Death Star plans are safe with Ben Kenobi, because he knows they were actually accidentally left with Phineas and Ferb.
• O.O.C. Is Serious Business: After turning to The Dark Side, Ferb becomes noticeably more talkative, with four lines nearly back-to-back.
• Opening Shout-Out: One of the chores on Phineas and Ferb's to-do list is "Giving a bantha a shower".
• Orbital Shot: Phineas has one towards the end of the opening song.
• Pick on Someone Your Own Size: The preteen Isabella has a two-sided rivalry with Han Solo. With that said, the most they do onscreen is snipe at each other while eating family-friendly snacks.
• Post-Kiss Catatonia: Phineas swoons after Isabella kisses him. She just smiles to herself.
• Precision F-Strike: Not severe, but after Darth Ferb tells Phineas to join him, Phineas just laughs and tells him to "Shut up", a phrase rarely heard on the series.
• Psychic Strangle:
  • Used on Candace's commanding officer after he shows up with that hoagie instead of the socks, then comes up a few times later.
  • A tractor beam operator (voiced by Dan Povenmire) pretends to be in one of these after making fun of Darth Vader's hat, but it turns out he was just messing with his colleague (voiced by Swampy Marsh).
  • In Darthenshmirtz's song: And all those bureaucrats / That used to point and jeer and joke / If I put my fingers just like this / They're gonna start to choke.
• Robbing the Dead: Buford, though he doesn't realize it.
  Buford: Found this perfectly good robe lying around. Has one hole, right here.
• Satchel Switcheroo: Candace, Baljeet, and Buford leave Mos Eisley with two paper bags — one containing Darth Vader's socks and the other containing Buford's hoagie. They hand the wrong bag to the commander, who gets Force-choked for his trouble.
• Scary Flashlight Face: Darthenshmirtz attempts to produce his lightsaber, but it turns out to be a flashlight, figuring he left his lightsaber in the camping supplies, then invokes this trope.
  Darthenshmirtz: Oooooo, ooooo, look I'm scary... Ugh, whatever.
• Self-Destruct Mechanism: The Death Star's reactor core trench is suggested as one, given that Darthenshmirtz built the initial prototype as a nutcracker. Appropriately, the Sithinator has a self-destruct trench.
  Darthenshmirtz: Aww, man. I really should've ray-shielded that.
• Shout-Out:
  • Candace's stormtrooper number is TK-90210, which is the famous zip code of Beverly Hills, California.
  • One of the "exotic locations" shown during "In the Empire" is Burbank, which is the home of Walt Disney Television Animation.
  • During the "Sith-inator" song, Darthenshmirtz says Emperor Palpatine will say, "I'm blown away", then turns to the camera, waggles his eyebrows and pretends to hold a cigar saying, "Much like Alderaan".
• Shown Their Work: The scenes featuring the events of A New Hope are exactly like the ones in the movie. They were apparently rotoscoped. In addition, they show a knowledge of the movies' universe, making references to various planets and races from the prequels, and stormtroopers ^note with the exceptions of Buford and Baljeet are referred to by their designation number. Luke is also first depicted wearing a poncho costume that was shown in a deleted scene from the original film.
• Something Only They Would Say: Before Darth Ferb reveals himself, Phineas notices that the upgraded Sithinator looks a lot like the tricked-out vaporators he and Ferb built.
• Sound-Only Death: While Vanessa is singing onstage, Isabella fires a blaster shot at her, at which point she's heard to stop singing as the music stops. Subverted, though, as she's all right—only her bantha horn was destroyed.
  Vanessa: Well!
• Spared by the Adaptation:
  • The Firestar Girls rescue the Death Star's entire crew before it explodes.^note  Technically, it's implied that they saved all the innocent crew members; presumably, Tarkin and the other big-name military officers perished as per usual.
  • Porkins survives the Death Star run, although in the post-credits scene, he's crushed by a banner. To be fair, he may have survived though.
• Spoiler Cover: The DVD cover spoils the fact that Ferb turns to The Dark Side at some point in the special.
• Take That!: Lawrence points out that there aren't any girls on Tatooine. The original trilogy has been criticized for having few female characters.
• Tempting Fate: One Death Star worker cracks a joke about Darth Vader's helmet and says there's no way Vader could have heard. Then it seems Vader did hear him and has him in a Psychic Strangle, but it turns out the worker was just mocking his colleague.
• Theme Tune Cameo: Phineas and Ferb's landspeeder's horn plays "Building a rocket or fighting a mummy..."
• Tsundere: Isabella is more tsun than dere, but warms up to the others and develops feelings for Phineas.
• The Unreveal: Phineas is about to explain what happened to his and Candace's biological father before being interrupted by the Death Star blowing up.
• Villain Song: "In the Empire" from Candace, Buford, and Baljeet (who are still with Empire at the time) and "Sithinator" from Darthenshmirtz.
• Visual Pun: Turning off the tractor beam is represented with an image of a farm vehicle.
• We Can Rule Together: Darth Ferb offers this to Phineas, saying that they can join the Dark Side. Phineas laughs, up until Ferb shows he's not joking and will turn his brother by force.
• What Happened to the Mouse?:
  • Linda and Lawrence aren't seen again after Phineas and Ferb head to Mos Eisley, and after their adventure parallel to A New Hope, they aren't seen returning to Tatooine.
  • We never see Norm-3PO again after Perry disables him, raising the question of what happened to him during the destruction of the Death Star.
• Who Would Be Stupid Enough?: When Phineas discusses the fatal flaw of the Death Star, Blatto asks "What kind of idiot would design that?" Cut to Darthenshmirtz trying, and failing, to use a water fountain on the Death Star.
  Darthenshmirtz: (as his helmet blocks the water) Ugh, why can't I master this?
• Worst. Whatever. Ever!: After the Firestar Girls fail to persuade Isabella to join the Rebellion:
  Porkins: Worst rallying speech ever!
  Gretchen: Shut up, Porkins!
• You, Get Me Coffee: Candace hates being stuck on sock detail. Buford, on the other hand, admits that it's where his competence peaks.
• You Have Failed Me: Vader Force-chokes the officer who brings him a hoagie instead of socks.
  Vader: I find your lack of socks disturbing.

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