After checking out the Danville Museum's exhibit on Ancient Greece, Phineas and Ferb decide to build their own, motorized chariots and host a chariot race through the streets of Danville.
Meanwhile, Dr. Doofenshmirtz, misunderstanding a documentary, decides to create a robot to destroy Perry the Platypus.
First appearance of Norm.
Tropes
- Ancient Grome: The event held was a Greek chariot race, but the kids dress like gladiators, which are actually from Rome. Lampshaded in the next episode.
- Arson, Murder, and Jaywalking:Announcer in movie: Historically, the enemies of the platypus were well-known. The poisonous swamp viper, the snaggle-tooth badger, and duplicating imitatible stunts seen on television.
- Breather Episode: After the Darker and Edgier "Phineas and Ferb Get Busted", we get an episode about Phineas and Ferb building their own motorized chariots and more Dr. Doofenshmirtz antics.
- Chariot Race: A rather epic one that the boys organized.
- Coincidental Accidental Disguise: After Norm gets a bull head stuck on his face from one of the statues outside Paul Bunyan's, the kids mistake him for the Minotaur.
- Complexity Addiction: Doofenshmirtz's plan to kill Perry. He traps him in an abandoned movie theater, shows a documentary with a Green Aesop about how humans are the biggest enemy of the platypus, to explain his plan to kill Perry by sending a giant robot man. It never occurs to him to just shoot Perry while he's trapped.
- Cup Holders: Despite not having any weapons or defense systems, Phineas and Ferb's chariot does have cup holders.
- Early-Installment Weirdness: Norm first appears in this episode, and although he has his distinct cheerful-sounding voice, he has been programmed by Dr. Doofenshmirtz to destroy all platypuses. After this episode, Norm is much more mild-mannered, and his anti-platypus programming has been removed. He also only communicates in contextless Standard '50s Father phrases, while later he's shown talking normally. He is also seen being powered by an on/off switch, while future episodes have him powered by a squirrel on a wheel.
- Hoist by His Own Petard: Buford's declaration of there being no rules in the chariot race bites him when Isabella uses his fact to tie his and Baljeet's chariot to a lamppost.Isabella: (Calling back) Sorry, no rules!
- Hooks and Crooks: Isabella and the Fireside Girls manage to hook Buford and Baljeet's chariot to a lamppost with a hook and chain.
- "I Can't Look!" Gesture: When Norm is deactivated after Candace confronts him, prompting the spectators to think she turned him to stone and flee, Ferb promptly covers his eyes, fearing that Candace could turn him to stone, too. The resulting event frightened the stepbrother so much that he doesn't bother to look even after Candace has left.
- Innocently Insensitive: Phineas is really insistent on comparing his sister to Medusa, apparently not knowing the implications of this or how he’d think Candace would feel about it. Of course, Candace making the exact same faces of a statue and a chariot doesn't help either.
- I Resemble That Remark!: Candace insists she does not look like the Gorgon, while wearing an angry scowl that matches that worn by her chariot's statue.
- I Take Offense to That Last One: A visual version; Phineas mentions they've made a chariot for Candace that looks just like her...and is actually a repulsive gorgon. Candace's response?Candace: Oh, that's ridiculous! I do NOT have wheels!
- Literal-Minded: This is why, after hearing a documentary which stated that "The enemy of platypus is man!" in an attempted Green Aesop, Dr. D instead comes to the conclusion that he must build a robot-man to destroy Agent P.
- Nobody Here but Us Statues: This is the first time that Major Monogram gives Agent P his mission in person. Here he is disguised as one of the Grecian statues.
- Not So Stoic: Even Ferb was among those spooked by Candace when she was thought to have turned Norm to stone; he outright refuses to peek even after Candace has run away.
- Oh, Crap!: Perry has a big one after seeing Norm come to kill him.
- Our Slogan Is Terrible: There's a running gag about Paul Bunyan's Pancake Haus:♫Paaaaaaaaul Bunyan's... Where the food is good!♫ (But not too good, eh?)
- Perplexing Plurals: Both Major Monogram and the narrator of Doofenshmirtz's documentary have trouble figuring out the plural form of "platypus" (debating on whether it's "platypuses", "platypi", or "platypeople", or...well, you know what we mean). note
- Poor Communication Kills: Candace tries to tell Lawrence about Phineas and Ferb's chariot race, but Lawrence assumes she's talking about the movie he's watching.
- Pop-Culture Pun Episode Title: The episode title is a pun on the song "Greased Lightnin'" from the movie Grease.
- Spiked Wheels: Buford's chariot has them, causing Phineas to question why they put the spikes on his chariot in the first place.
- Taken for Granite: Played with. Candace, wearing her Medusa-themed helmet, confronts Norm just as Perry pulls his power switch. Believing Candace turned him to stone, the spectators in the museum mistake her for Medusa and flee. After they leave, Phineas tries to convince her that she's not really Medusa, but as Candace looks at the human-like marble statues in the front of the building, she is convinced that they are real people who she turned to stone and flees in horror.
- There Are No Rules:Baljeet: Should we not establish the rules first?
Buford: This is a chariot race, there are no rules!
Isabella: No rules? Well, if those are the rules... - Use Your Head: During the race, Baljeet tells Buford, his teammate, to use Baljeet's helmet, while Baljeet was wearing it, to create sparks and aim them at the other chariots. Buford also uses Baljeet's helmet to cut the rope after the Fireside Girls tie their chariot to a lamppost.
- Weaponized Ball: Buford's chariot also has a catapult that is capable of launching bowling balls.
