Finding Mary McGuffin

It's episodes like these that make me wonder why people think that cartoons are for children and children only. I loved all of the detective shout-outs as well as the revival of the Candace/Vanessa paralell; there's only so much of Candace dating Jermy and/or busting her brothers that I can take. Finally, all of the shipping took a rest for an episode, and Vanessa looks like she is finally growing up (to be quite evil).And it looks like Greevil is back on the scence! Way to save resources and reuse that inator, Doof!

Olivia Olson performs a beautiful song in this one. Did anybody catch the CSI-themed music and how it merged into DEI?

It wasn't a bad episode, especially with Phineas doing all the monologing. I found that to be funny. I am also reminded of detective shows that I use to watch back in the day.

The only thing was that I was like "what the heck.......?" at the end of the episode when Vanessa grabbed the doll from the little girl and then happily phoned Dr. Doofenshmirtz to tell him about it. I mean, what sort of message is that supposed to send?

Roy42 wrote:The kind of message that was plentiful about 15 years ago in the 90s when these sorts of TV shows were everywhere. Who cares if they play by the rules, it's a cartoon!

Well, the ending of the show has someone doing something nasty, in this case, rudely stealing a doll from a girl's hand. I dont think that is something likeable. Sure, it is a departure from the norm, which we need for the show, but that one really got me like "what?".

This episode would have been so awesome, if they hadn't resorted to the lost doll cliché...The detective parts were a nice shout out to all of those shows we know and love, full of references that we've come to love. Still, I think the plot of a lost/stolen doll could've been replaced with something else. It just seems like this episode, along with The Bully Code, are resorting to things we've already seen many more times than necessary. Archetypes can be good at times, but with a show like Phineas and Ferb, you have to switch them up in order to keep up the originality. I just hope the next huge batch of episodes is much better than this one, because this batch really just seemed to me like it could have been better.

...Why so much HATRED~?! Yes, I did see that they used that old "lost doll" thing and that was quite irritating, very useful for... useless complaining when you've ran out of things to whine about to your peers.

I enjoyed Phineas's shouting at people such as, "Where's the Doll!?" and then taking a big swig of his beloved apple juice. The "Trouble was my middle name... well, actually it's Tromble. Sounds like 'trouble'..." was kind of amusing. Confused detective tries to relate his middle name to the word 'trouble'. Not only did I enjoy those two parts but during the interrigation (I'm not just making up words, am I?) with the store manager, "I know that! No, I don't know anything about that guy."

It seemed as if Charlene's personality was slightly altered...? It just seemed as though she changed a slight. Not that I would really know, she's only showed up about two times and a quite short time slot; it doesn't provide enough clues to showcase her personality.

Me, being the immature and German befriender, I quite enjoyed Doofenshmirtz's expressing of the stupidity of this world and all the inamimate objects that have betrayed us all (I mean, who DOESN'T have problems with finding a suitable switch?). 'Dummkopf' translates to 'idiot', 'pinhead', and many more -- much more exciting -- words!

I found the "you said I'd be the bets Dad ever if I got this for you!!" line and then, after ten years of searching for it, he finds it and gives it to her rather... cute. I loved his enthusiasm about finally become "World's greatest Dad". Very ky-yoot!

All in all, I rate this episode a 7/10 (since when did we start critiqueing?). It just didn't have the originality 'Phineas and Ferb' is made of. Laughed at the jokes, loved the spoofs and refrences, relatable spaz moments by several of our favourites, and found a few new top 30 scenes. If only they hadn't stuck so closely with the archetype. I exprected they would switch it up just a tad... and that's a personal expectations, not media hype.

Our "complaining" is not useless, it is justfified. If YOU did not like something that you saw, then you would complain about it, or make some sort of comment about it, wouldn't you?

I know very well what a McGuffin is. And I'm fine with its use. But as ChatterBox said, this was a direct copy and paste from the standard archetype plot. It's just the same old song and dance by now. I said I liked the rest of the episode, and I just disliked them using the whole doll thing right out of the book. It was a good episode, but when you've seen the same plot device used so many times, it becomes very annoying when it pops up.

Roy.......I don't think Frag or I missed the point. We simply did not like the idea for the episode as a plot. There is nothing really hard to understand there.

However I believe that what you two are seeing is that the 'missing doll' was the idea, which it wasn't.

"The idea for the episode is Phineas and Ferb being detectives for the day."
"How do they become detectives?"
"Oh, why not put a McGuffin in there, like a missing doll or something?"
"No, but some people might see the doll as the concept, not the McGuffin."
"So why not name it a McGuffin?"
"No, that doesn't seem obvious enough…"
"There is no pleasing you."

The whole episode was detective themed via a missing McGuffin doll. We get that. But the point that you are missing is that we did not like the idea for the episode, and could have been better than it was.

I loved this episode! I do agree that the lost doll is kind of a cliche, but PaF tends to shake up things that have been used before. Both the PaF plots and the Perry/Doof plots were good, as well as the Candace/Vanessa interaction. Phineas narrating the whole thing just like an old detective movie was just plain awesome. The song was great as usual and extremely catchy. I'm usually more biased towards episodes that have 2 separate plots that have nothing to do with each other, but I have to say, Dan and Swampy did a fantastic job merging the 2 plots, as with Vannessesary Roughness.

This will be the last time I will repeat myself, since I feel like I am talking to a concrete block.

The detective idea is good anywhere else, but for an episode of "Phineas and Ferb", I was not so much impressed with it. Yes, I do love detective stories, but in this case, it did not jive. Sure, the doll was the catalyst for the detective-themed episode, with some funny moments in there, but I stand by what I said before.

Sorry, Roy, but if you are trying to convince us to say that the episode was good, it won't work. You have to understand that not everyone will "always" have the same opinion on something as you do.

I stand by what I said, which is that I can tell a good episode from a bad one. Simple as that, and THIS episode wasn't good because I did not like the plot from start to finish with the detective thing, as I already mentioned, which I think you FINALLY understood after al this trying. In fact, thi, in the latest series of episodes, was just awful.......one can hope that the creators of the show don't go any lower than this in terms of episode quality.

Neerav, just give up. You're going from intelligent speaking to somewhat inintelligible. Seriously, I can't understand what kind of point you're trying to make anymore. My point was that I didn't like the use of the very strictly used doll archetype to start up the plot. Even then, it's pretty minor in my opinion now. You're basically saying so many different negative things right now I can't tell what the hell you're saying besides "This episode sucks even though I like detective stories.", which really doesn't even make much sense either, considering you're basically saying that you don't like something that is basically a bunch of child-friendly homages to something you like.

The point I was making was why I did not like this episode, which I made clear, as well as the reasons why, and won't repeat myself.

And Frag......if you read through my posts, you would better understand where I was coming from, which I made ABUNDANTLY clear in my last two posts with regards to the episode, since I was more elaborate as to my reasons for not liking this episode, more than the reaon that you mentioned, with hopes that the creators do a better job in making episodes that people would WANT to turn on the televsion and watch.

There.......we can now start disussing other important points with regards to this episode.