Recap / Phineas And Ferb Night Of The Living Pharmacists

This isn't your average Zombie Apocalypse.

"Lots of me..."

In this episode of Phineas and Ferb Doofenshmirtz being the main antagonist - creates an inator that will turn his brother Roger into a repulsive creature that nobody will want as mayor. Roger becomes a mindless physical copy of Heinz and, due to the excessive energy used by the -inator, the change is transmitted by touch, which must be stopped before all of Danville becomes Doofenzombies.

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Tropes:

• 2D Visuals, 3D Effects: The P.O.V. Cam at the beginning is done in 3D.
• Accidental Misnaming: Lacie calls Candace "Janice".
• All Just a Dream: The ending reveals or at least implies that the entire episode was just the horror movie that Stacy was watching.
• All Up to You: With Phineas, Ferb, and Perry all turned into Doofenzombies, Isabella is the only one left to activate the vortex sprayer and save the town.
  Isabella: Get it together, Fireside Girl! It's up to you to save Phineas! It's up to you to save Danville! It's up to you... to stop talking to yourself!
• Animation Bump:
  • The streets have improved in shading and detail, and even the P.O.V. Cam at the beginning is done in glorious CG.
  • The apartment Isabella meets the Fireside Girls in is much more realistic than earlier rooms.
• And Then John Was a Zombie: By the climax Phineas, Ferb, and Isabella are the only main protagonists who haven't been transformed into pharmacists (not counting Doofenshmirtz, who's immune, and Stacy, who's oblivious to the situation). The title characters are eventually transformed, and Isabella is as well the second she's able to activate the vortex sprayer, which is able to cure everyone.
• Anyone Can Die: No one dies, but the special very quickly demonstrates that Plot Armor will not be a factor here by zombifying major characters like Linda, Lawrence, and Major Monogram with little fanfare.
• Artistic Title: The episode opens with one that invokes both Saul Bass' graphic title sequences and Bernard Herrmann's score for North By Northwest.
• Bait-and-Switch: At one point, Doof pretends to be a Doofenzombie to give Perry (and the audience) a scare.
• Big Blackout: The Doof zombies cut off the power, thus preventing Phineas and the gang from getting a recharge from their rubberization machine to protect themselves from being touched by them and transforming into them. So they put on rubber armor, which seems to work for a while, until a Doof zombie gets a hold of Baljeet's face from under his mask.
• Big "NO!":
  • Phineas shouts this when he sees Candace transform into a pharmacist.
  • Doofenshmirtz does one when Vanessa turns into a Doofenzombie.
• Body Horror: It's kept to a minimum, but there are some truly unsettling images as we watch the characters' own features warp into Doofenshmirtz's.
• Brick Joke: Doof making callbacks to Buford's lines, and Shaun and Ed questioning the logic of this whole mess.
• Captain Oblivious: Stacy is too preoccupied with trying to watch her Grievance movie marathon to notice the Zombie Apocalypse happening outside.
• Cardiovascular Love: The Heart Symbol on the Isabella's Emotional Bravery Patch that she would get if she confessed her love to Phineas.
• The Cameo:
  • George A. Romero voiced news reporter Don Adaded. (Say "Dawn of the Dead (1978)" repeatedly.)
  • Shaun and Ed from Shaun of the Dead make a brief appearance to talk about the impossibility of the infection causing your clothes to turn into Doof's outfit. They appear again at the end to reiterate that none of this made any sense.
• Chekhov's Gun:
  • The plot kicks off when Roger is zapped with the Repulse-inator while dedicating a new water tower. Later, the climax has the kids trying to activate a device on the water tower to douse the whole city and change everyone back.
  • Phineas, Ferb, Isabella, Buford and Baljeet getting rubberized earlier in the special makes them immune to the infection until the effects wear off.
  • Isabella's Emotional Bravery Patch saves Phineas when a pharmacist tears a hole in his protective rubber.
  • Candace begins the special trying to prove she's cool to the older girls. In the end, Vanessa compliments her for being cool under pressure.
• Childish Pillow Fight: Doof and Perry resort to having a pillow fight, since Vanessa is having her foreign film viewing party in the other room and don't want to disturb her.
• Combat Pragmatist: Like in many of the other zombie games and movies, the characters will fight with anything they find.
• Commercial Break Cliffhanger:
  • The original outbreak of pharmacist zombies after Roger is hit with the Repulse-inator.
  • Perry escapes his trap and the zombie swarm, but finds himself alone in a dark closet with what appears to be another zombie (though this one turns out to be Doof himself).
  • Isabella watches in horror as her entire Fireside Girl troop turns into Doofenzombies.
• Continuity Nod:
  • Phineas recalls how fun it was to bounce around the world on a rubber ball, even if Baljeet found it nauseating.
    Buford: That was the fun part!
  • Doofenshmirtz and Norm dance to an instrumental version of "Disco Miniature Golfing Queen" from "Put That Putter Away".
• Creature of Habit: When Candace sees the Doof zombies, she immediately believes that her brothers are behind it and calls her mother to bust them.
  Linda: Oh, I love it when teenagers get together and do party pranks! Do you win the game if I actually do what you say?
• Darker and Edgier: This is easily the darkest episode in the entire show, as while it isn't devoid of humor, it plays many of the horror and tragedy tropes of the zombie genre surprisingly straight.
• Deus Exit Machina: Activating the water tower would have been a cinch for Perry, but he's knocked unconscious by the helicopter crash and gets Doofenized the moment he wakes up.
• Disney Acid Sequence: Several of these occur during "Jump Right To It" and "Triangulation".
• Dramatic Irony: When Isabella tells everyone they may be the only non-pharmacists left in Danville, she is incorrect, as the audience knows Stacy is also not infected at the time (and she is never infected throughout the episode).
• Dwindling Party: Almost every character in the episode gets Doofenized at one point (Except for Stacy and Doof himself).
• Dying Declaration of Love: No one dies, but fearing that this may be their end, Isabella finally tells Phineas about her crush on him at the climax. Phineas is gobsmacked, but before he can respond, a zombie lunges at Isabella. Phineas performs a Heroic Sacrifice, and Isabella is touched too just as she's activating the cure. When they turn back into themselves, they find that their memories of the moments leading up to their transformations are totally gone.
• Elite Zombie: The Doofenized OWCA agents prove to be more of a threat since they retain their skills as secret agents. They even have different appearances (retaining most of their original bodies, only dressed in Doofenshmirtz's clothes) to distinguish them from the other Doofenzombies.
• End-of-Episode Silliness: The Stinger is a rap song based on the Doof Zombies' Madness Mantra "Lots of Me", which is very comedic in nature in contrast to the episode, which is Darker and Edgier.
• The Ending Changes Everything: The ending can either be interpreted as the entire episode being just the movie Stacy was watching or the episode actually have happened. Dan Povenmire has stated that he believes the latter.
• Fish Eyes: The Doofenzombies' default expression.
• Five-Second Foreshadowing: At the midpoint, Perry is grabbed by seemingly one of the Doofenzombies. However, the "Doofenzombie" lacks the Fish Eyes the others have. It turns out to be the real Doofenshmirtz.
• Freeze-Frame Bonus:
  • When Phineas, Ferb, Baljeet, and Buford first see the zombie outbreak, Vivian Garcia-Shapiro and the inexplicable Giant Floating baby Head are seen being infected in the background.
  • During the "Army of Me" musical number, Jeremy Johnson is seen being infected while working at the mall.
• Gainax Ending: In the end once the Pharmacist outbreak has ended, Phineas notes everyone is safe...at least within the city walls of Danville. Then the camera pans out, revealing everyone outside Danville is now a Doof zombie. Smash to The End, which zooms out of Stacy's TV, who shrugs off horror movies, and leaves.
• Genre Blind: Vanessa's friends run straight into Too Dumb to Live horror movie tropes. Candace suggests that they should watch more domestic horror movies.
• Genre Savvy: Candace has seen enough of her brothers' wild antics (not to mention a working knowledge of horror movies) to keep a level head and protect herself and Vanessa for most of the night.
• Gone Horribly Right: Doof finally gets what he wanted: an army of mindless slaves. The catch is they're him and tend to only recite the mantra "Lots of me".
• Hated by All: Typical. Everyone is him, and Doofenshmirtz is still the least liked guy in the room, when the zombies throw him out of his building while saying "less of me.".
• Hell Is That Noise:
  • "Lots of me, lots of me..."
  • Dana says she is going to check an obscure noise in the kitchen. Lampshaded by Candace, who is more familiar with American horror film tropes and the other girls are more into foreign films.
• Heroic Sacrifice: Several, including Buford and Ferb.
• Hold the Line: Candace, Vanessa, and Doof all hold back the Doofenzombies while Phineas explains the plan to reach the water tower and activate the vortex spray.
• Hypocritical Humor:
  • Stacy scoffs at how oblivious a girl in the horror movie she's watching is while she herself is oblivious to the horde of Doofenzombies right outside the window behind her.
  • When Isabella leads Phineas, and Ferb to the basket lift immediately after the boys watched their sister turn into a zombie, Doofenshmirtz praises the kids for their ability to focus before getting distracted by something offscreen
  • Phineas tells Buford to stop comically panicking, because they still have to find a way to stop the Doofenzombies. Then he realizes Isabella's gone, and starts comically panicking himself.
    Buford: "Buford, chill out, you're fine!" I'm vindicated!
• I Call It "Vera": During the pillow fight, Doof introduces Perry to his "friends", "Polly" and "Esther". (Geddit?)
• I Am Not Shazam: In-Universe example. Stacy is a fan of The Grievance films, but apparently not big enough to know the characters' names, because at one point she says, "Don't walk into the kitchen, Grievance lady!"
• I Am Not Weasel: While watching the news, Doof once again kvetches about being mistaken for a pharmacist.
  Doofenshmirtz: Oh, there they go with the whole "pharmacist" thing again. You know what? I should become one. Yeah, that'd show 'em. I should become a pharmacist.
• I Want My Mommy!: Birgitte says this when the Doof zombies invade their party.
• It Can Think: While the regular Doofenzombies are just numerous and persistent, the Doofenized OWCA agents are more organized, destroy Perry's glider when he's distracted, and use flanking tactics against Phineas and Ferb's group.
• The Immune:
  • Doof is immune to the zombification, because he's already himself. Preventing him from becoming mindless.
  • The rubberization prevents Phineas and the gang from being infected.
• Instant Costume Change: While running to Miss Feyersied, Isabella yanks her belt up and instantly changes into her scout uniform.
• Lampshade Hanging:
  • After repeating Buford's "shaking bacon" line, Doof points out that he just made a Call-Back to a line he didn't even hear.
    Doofenshmirtz: In your face, logic!
  • Doof highlights that everybody think he's a pharmacist and never think about other labcoat-wearing jobs.
• Laser-Guided Amnesia: After everyone returns to normal, Isabella and Phineas lose their memories of her love confession earlier.
• Left Hanging: The rest of America, and possibly the world, remains zombified. This was apparently resolved through some unknown means.
  • Though considering this is Phineas and Ferb (and Dr. Doofenshmirtz), devising a way to drench the whole world is almost a Foregone Conclusion.
  • It didn't need to be resolved, since the last shot reveals the whole thing was just Stacy's movie.
• Let's Split Up, Gang!: Birgitte suggests this as a way of hiding from the Doof Zombies. Lampshaded by Candace, since the girls she's hanging with never watched an American horror film, so they are unfamiliar with the tropes to avoid.
• Madness Mantra: "Lots of Me..." is the only thing the Doofenzombies say, unless the Rule of Funny needs them to say something else.
• Model Planning: Phineas and Ferb use a detailed scale model to explain their plan to restore the Doofenzombies. With the zombies bursting in as he speaks, Candace asks whether it was worth taking the time to build the model. Phineas insists that it was.
• Mysterious Protector: Perry protects the party from the shadows several times, first by knocking all the Doofenized OWCA agents away, and later by distracting a horde of Doofenzombies away with the sound of a dragging trashcan.
• Near-Villain Victory: Isabella manages to activate the giant sprinkler just as she got touched by a Doof Zombie and is transforming. Had she not pressed the button in time, it would already be too late.
• Nice Job Breaking It, Hero: When Isabella shows them the window with Doofenshmirtz Evil Incorporated outside.
  Phineas: You know, it might be a good idea to board that window.
  Katie: Oh, so that's why there was so much wood left over.
• Not Using the "Z" Word: Averted a few times, but they are mostly called Pharmacists. Candace refers to them as "zombies" twice, and Vanessa suggests that she and Candace hang out again without the threat of a "zombie apocalypse".
• Offhand Backhand: Stacy to one of the zombies while starting the generator. She never even realized she did it.
• Oh, Crap!: Vanessa, when a zombie reaches through the door. Every one of the girls has one when the zombies attack.
• O.O.C. Is Serious Business: Phineas panics when he realizes Isabella isn't with the group anymore, and spends a lot of time worrying about where she could possibly be. Likewise, Isabella doesn't stop to fawn over Phineas when she returns with critical information, leading to an ironic exchange where Phineas moves in to hug her, only to be ignored.
• Orbital Shot: Ginger has a brief one during "Jump Right To It".
• Patter Song: "Triangulation" for Isabella, when she manages to pinpoint the distance between where the gang is standing and Doofenshmirtz Evil Incorporated.
  Baljeet: That is a mighty upbeat song for a desperate situation.
• Papa Wolf: The original Dr. Doofenshmirtz is content to stay in his "startle space" away from his mindless lookalikes. He changes his tune when he realizes Vanessa would be vulnerable to the transformation and races off to find her.
• Pep-Talk Song: The Fireside Girls have "Jump Right To It", where they encourage Isabella to not be worried and finally confess her feelings to Phineas. Currently provides the trope's page image.
• P.O.V. Cam: The first scene is from Isabella's point of view as she walks into the backyard.
• Raising the Steaks: The OWCA end up being infected by the pharmacists as well, last but not least Perry the Platypus.
• Recycled Animation: "Lots of me" is mainly made up of reused animation from this episode as well as "Doof 101" (which had yet to air stateside at the time) and "Rollercoaster: The Musical!".
• Repetitive Audio Glitch: When Baljeet starts bouncing, the "Quirky Worky Song" plays as usual, but when he bumps into a tree branch, the audio begins skipping with each hit.
• Rocky Roll Call: "Candace?!" "Phineas!" "Candace!" "Isabella?" "Ferb!" "[...]" "Candace?!" "Phineas!" "Candace!" "Isabella?" "Ferb!" "[...]" "Candace!" "Phineas!" "Enough!"
• Running Gag: Someone taking off their clothes when they charge at the zombies, and then Phineas lampshading that the stripping was unnecessary.
• Senseless Sacrifice: After Baljeet is pharmacized, Buford declares he won't let the same thing happen to the rest of his friends. He strips off his rubber armor and charges at the Doofenzombies to buy Isabella, Phineas, and Ferb some time to escape. However, the remaining three kids are so dumbstruck by Buford's decision to make his Heroic Sacrifice in his underwear that they don't make much headway. Luckily, Candace and Vanessa find them and they safely make it to Doof's apartment. This gets a Call-Back when Doofenshmirtz tries to distract his mindless doppelgängers after losing Vanessa, which doesn't amount to much when the kids have to contend with the zombies already climbing the water tower. The fact that Doofenshmirtz is immune makes this even more senseless in his case.
• Shout-Out: Several, most, naturally, zombie or horror movies.
  • The title is based on the first and possibly essential zombie outbreak film Night of the Living Dead (1968), which was directed by the late George A. Romero, who has a cameo as a reporter named "Don Adaded", a play on the sequel, Dawn of the Dead (1978).
  • Simon Pegg and Nick Frost reprise their roles as Shaun and Ed from the film Shaun of the Dead, which happens to be a favorite among the writers.
  • The opening credits are done in the style of Saul Bass, and the music is based on the opening title music of North By Northwest.
  • Ferb paraphrases Spengler's line from the original Ghostbusters, "I'm terrified beyond the capacity for rational thought."
  • Carl calls Perry "the Omega platypus."
  • Both Buford and Doof charge into the pharmacists by yelling, "Yippee-ki-yay!"
  • Scenes, music, a crashing helicopter, a fire hose, and the walled city are nods to World War Z.
• Slept Through the Apocalypse: Stacy never notices the Doofenzombies, and as far as we can see, is the only one in Danville to not become a Doofenzombie.
• Spoiler Opening: The opening credits contain an animation of Perry's footprints being turned into Doofenshmirtz's, a spoiler for the end where Perry is turned into a Doofenzombie.
• Stealth Pun: While hiding from the Doof zombies, Gretchen tells Katie to "bar the door".
• Strange Minds Think Alike: Buford and Doof have the same idea twice. Lampshaded by Doof, who notes it as a Call-Back to something he wasn't even there for.
• Suddenly Speaking: Perry somehow gains the ability to speak after turning into a Doof zombie, saying some unsettling hybrid of his own chatter and the "Lots of me" Madness Mantra.
• Super-Persistent Predator: The Doofenzombies never stop coming regardless of obstacles, which culminates in dozens of them free climbing a water tower just to get at Phineas, Ferb, and Isabella.
• Swapped Roles: At the end, one Doof Zombie lifts up another's lab coat, when they are doused in water, it is revealed to be Baljeet giving Buford a wedgie!
  Buford: I dunno what happened here and I'm pretty sure I don't wanna know.
• Totem Pole Trench: Variation: Fireside Girls navigate Danville disguised as zombies by standing on each others' shoulders and dressing like this.
• Tuckerization: Martin the News Vendor is named for and has the physical likeness of writer Martin Olson, but he is voiced here by Noah Wyle.
• Turn Out Like His Father: Doofenshmirtz references the trope, though in this case, it's literal.
• Turned Against Their Masters: The Doofenzombies throw Doofenshmirtz out of his own building. He calls them out on it and says it's cliche.
• Weaksauce Weakness: The cure for the Pharmacist plague is water.
• What Happened to the Mouse?:
  • We never find out what Norm was doing during the crisis; he just disappears without mention after the first few minutes.
  • We also never find out what happened to Perry and the other O.W.C.A. agents after everyone in Danville is turned back to normal.
• Zombie Apocalypse: Like in The Black Smurfs, it's a reversible transformation type.
• Zombie Infectee: Roger Doofenshmirtz is Dr. Doofenshmirtz's first victim of the Doof zombie virus, spreading it to everyone else later on.

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