Spoiler Warning: There are spoilers ahead for Phineas and Ferb Seasons 1-5.
Disney split up Phineas and Ferb’s fifth season kinda strangely, huh? After we got the entire first half of the season in June, the series took a bit of a break, then premiered two more batches of episodes through the autumn… leaving only three episodes left. Those remaining stories – one of which was double-length – aired a couple of days ago. Having reviewed the rest of the season already (in two parts), I’d be remiss not to finish things off! But Disney… next time, try to schedule things a little more uniformly, eh?
Last time, I spoke about the batch of episodes as a whole, then went over each of them individually. There are only three this time, so we’re going to do things the other way around! I’ll briefly talk about each of the three stories in turn, then I’ll turn my thoughts to the *entirety* of Season 5 as a whole, hopefully wrapping up this review with my final thoughts on the entire thirty-seven stories.
As always, my usual caveat applies: everything we’re going to discuss is *subjective, not objective* – so if I criticise an episode you adore, praise an episode you hate, or our views don’t align… that’s okay. There’s plenty of room in the fan community for differences of opinion and respectful disagreement, and there’s no need to get into an argument!
With all of that out of the way, let’s quickly run through these final three episodes.
Elevator Irritator:
I quite liked this one. It was cool to see Candace getting the chance to drive in a way that wasn’t connected to the main story, it was fun to see the boys and Candace in a totally different setting, and without any of their friends, and I liked how Perry and Doof’s story tied into it, too. Doofenshmirtz’s scheme seemed particularly silly, even by his standards, and I suspect if it had to carry the A-story on its own it would’ve struggled. But as a minor plot device to set up the “stuck in a lift” storyline, it was fine.
The song wasn’t much on its own, but I did enjoy the visual montage that went with it, as the boys made the best of their situation. Candace eventually ended up giving a very emotional speech, which reminded me a lot of Candace Against the Universe – the big twist being that the boys had already left the lift and weren’t there to hear it. This was also the episode where Jeremy – who’s been a little too absent this season, IMHO – said “I love you” to Candace, which was cute to see. I wonder where Season 6 will take Candace and Jeremy’s relationship after that.
Master of Fate:
Master of Fate was kind of forgettable for me, at least on the side of the story with the kids. The Large Hadron Collider being in next door’s garden was maybe a bit too far, and the unexplained Baljeet doppelganger added onto a mystery that the story had no intention of solving. It ended up feeling like a non sequitur, even within the confines of Phineas and Ferb’s very loose worldbuilding, and when no attempt at an explanation was made for where the Master of Fate came from… it just left me scratching my head as much as anything.
The Perry side of the story had a bit more interest, though. I like the idea of Perry potentially having a rival at OWCA, though I wish this Agent O had a bit more screen time. And I like the idea of Doof wanting to team up with Perry for his own selfish pride. Unfortunately, neither of those ideas got enough time in the spotlight to really shine, though. The way the episode ended, with a bit of an explanation of sorts as to why Perry gets so easily trapped was fine, but I don’t think it’s necessarily something that needed to be said aloud. Sometimes acknowledging something – like the contradiction between Perry’s supposed superstar status at the agency and the ease with which Doof can trap him – draws too much attention to it. A nitpick? Yes! But this side of the episode was by far my favourite.
Vendpocalypse: The Musical:
To be blunt, I went into this one with *zero* expectations! After a couple of misfires earlier in the season (The Candace Suit and Croquet Y-8), which took throwaway lines from past seasons and spun them out into full-blown stories, I was kind of nervous for a repeat of that. Luckily, however, Vendpocalypse: The Musical was far better than I expected, a great way to bring the show’s fifth season to an end, and surprisingly emotional story to boot. Most of the main characters got something to do, with sub-plots that actually got fleshed out enough to matter. Isabella turning to Candace for advice was sweet, Candace using her driving skills to help save the day was fantastic, and the kids raiding Doof’s old coin collection made for an incredibly fun sequence.
But this episode will be remembered, I have no doubt, for the genuinely emotional story between Norm and Doof. I will caveat this by saying I think it could’ve been set up just a little better; Norm hasn’t been a huge presence this season, and having a couple of moments in earlier episodes which led into this would’ve added a lot. But… I actually teared up. Twice. The relationship between Doof and Norm has always been strained, with Norm viewing Doof as a father figure, but not really having a role in the family dynamic. This episode took that a stage further, with a (Star Trek: First Contact’s Borg Queen-inspired) villain “assimilating” Norm, and Norm having to make the ultimate sacrifice after Doof confessed his feelings. The flashback at the end was adorable, too, and seeing Doof so determined to reconstruct Norm probably means we don’t have to say goodbye to the character. But it was a heck of an ending to the season – explosive in every sense of the word.
(The Final Final) Conclusion:
Phineas and Ferb has been one of my “comfort shows” for a long time. It shouldn’t have been, I guess: this was a show I first encountered when I was way older than its target demographic. But there’s always been something special about it, something unique… something that, even on dark days, I’ve been able to reach for and distract myself with, if nothing else. So I was both anxious and excited when the show’s revival was announced. I was pleased that we were gonna get more episodes… and concerned, based on both Disney’s recent output *and* the quality of a lot of other reboots, sequels, and revivals.
For my money, Phineas and Ferb is a better revival than most of the others I’ve seen. It recaptured the look, sound, tone, and feel of the original show – not always perfectly, but almost always competently. There were a few odd choices across these thirty-seven stories – episodes I’d probably not have chosen to greenlight, were I in charge. But some of the genuinely *different* ideas that the show’s writing team put together worked exceptionally well. The season premiere, which brought the kids together to save their mom, was incredibly tense and engaging, and a story concept the show hasn’t really done before. Baljeet and Irving made a genuinely good pair in their story together. The Star Trek and sci-fi parody of Space Adventure was incredibly good fun. And those are just three examples.
In terms of doing what it set out to do, I’d rank Phineas and Ferb Season 5 quite a way ahead of what was probably my most-anticipated revival/sequel of the last few years: Star Trek: Picard. Picard was tonally inconsistent, jumpy, with season-long story arcs that either felt poorly paced or that totally abandoned key characters and storylines. Its creative teams – which changed mid-production – couldn’t decide whether they wanted to make a sequel or a revival, leading to them trying to do both but ending up with a satisfactory version of neither. Phineas and Ferb’s production team knew what they were doing: creating more Phineas and Ferb. And they pulled it off.
I still stand by what I said last time, and in my review of the first batch of episodes: Phineas and Ferb Season 5 is closer in overall quality to Season 4 than to Seasons 1-3. If you know me, you’ll know that Season 4 was generally my least-favourite part of the show’s original run; I just felt the quality starting to dip as ideas seemed to be running out, new things were being tried, and perhaps a degree of tiredness was setting in for creatives who wanted a new challenge. But that doesn’t mean I didn’t like Season 4 – some of my favourite episodes, like Happy New Year, the Halloween specials, and the Star Wars special – all come from Season 4. There’s a lot to enjoy there – as there is in Season 5, too.
Phineas and Ferb is a bit of a tricky thing to review, at least for me. Usually, when I’m reviewing a film or TV programme, I’ve watched it once, then gone back to it a second time to make notes, but after I hit the “publish” button, that’s me done. I may return to it one day if it was especially fantastic, but I don’t generally re-watch the same things over and over again. But Phineas and Ferb is the kind of thing that I return to. Maybe I’ll be having a quiet moment and I’ll watch a couple of episodes to fill the time. Maybe it was an off day and I need a pick-me-up. Or maybe I get into the groove and decide to binge half the series over a few days! But almost every time I watch it, I find something new or different to think about; a background character I hadn’t noticed before, a throwaway line that suddenly seems important, a weird quirk of the animation… it could be anything.
My point is that my opinions on this show – and on this batch of episodes, too – can and will shift. Stories I hated on first viewing can grow on me over time. Songs I didn’t like when I first heard them become perennial favourites. Characters I felt were weak or unexceptional turn into guests I happily welcome back. And sometimes, a story I liked a lot at first seems weaker or less entertaining the fifth or eighth or seventeenth time around!
So unlike most of my reviews… this isn’t definitive! Come back to me in five years’ time, when I’ve incorporated all of these new stories into my regular Phineas and Ferb re-watch sessions, and ask me again. I bet I’ll have changed my mind on some of them. I might even start to like Bread Bowl Hot Tub. I mean, you never know… right?
But for now, what I’ll say is this: roll on Season 6! I hope the creative team can keep the stories flowing, and I hope they can keep finding both new ideas and classic tales for Phineas, Ferb, Candace, Perry, Doof, and the rest of the gang to get stuck into. While I may not have adored every single one of Season 5’s stories, there were more hits than misses, and with really only one or two exceptions, there was *something* to enjoy in basically all of them.
In 2025, I shared my opinions on the first half of Season 5, and then later on the second batch of episodes, so I’ll direct you to those pieces to read more of my thoughts on those episodes in particular. You can find the first part by clicking or tapping here, and the second part by clicking or tapping here. I go into a bit more detail in those pieces on things like the animation style, music, and more, so be sure to check them out if you haven’t already.
At this point in time, I don’t know when Season 6 might premiere – I don’t even know how far into production it is. Season 5 very consciously targeted a summer broadcast date, but I highly doubt Season 6 will be arriving this summer. I’d like to think we’ll see it sometime in 2026 or the first half of 2027, though. And if you missed it, a new film has just been announced, which will presumably follow on from Season 6 sometime in 2027 or 2028. So there’s a lot more Phineas and Ferb coming our way over the next few years – and so long as I’m able to do so, I’ll cover and review all of it!
I hope this has been interesting. I know that three episodes isn’t much to base a review on, but having already reviewed the rest of the season, it’d feel weird to leave these three un-reviewed! I don’t think these three episodes on their own transformed my view of Season 5 as a whole – but that would’ve been a tough ask! I had fun with them, though, and to my surprise, I must admit, Vendpocalypse: The Musical was a great way to end the season.
Thanks for checking out my review, and be sure to tune in when we get trailers and teasers for Season 6 and/or the upcoming movie, as I’m sure I’ll have a lot to say about that! And when Season 6 arrives, I’ll do my best to review those episodes, too.
Have fun out there!
Phineas and Ferb Seasons 1-5 is available to stream now on Disney+. Episodes also regularly air on the Disney Channel. Phineas and Ferb remains the copyright of Disney Television Animation and the Walt Disney Company. This review contains the thoughts and opinions of one person only and is not intended to cause any offence.
Trekking with Dennis 