Phineas and Ferb build a three-story, interactive maze with some of the most difficult puzzles they can think of. At the same time, Isabella is mentoring a junior Fireside Girl named Melissa, but Melissa takes more of a kinship to Candace, much to Isabella's dismay. Meanwhile, in space, Dr. Doofenshmirtz plots to tilt all of the buildings in the Tri-State Area in the same manner as the leaning tower of Pisa, financing an even larger plan; tilting every building in the world.
This Episode Contains Examples Of:
- Brick Joke:
- When Phineas uses the metaphor of rats going through a maze to get cheese, Buford is excited at the prospect of getting free "metaphor cheese". At the end of the episode, after escaping the maze, Buford complains "Hey, I never got my metaphor cheese!"Echo: Cheese! Cheese! WOMBAT! Cheese!Buford: Huh. My echo must be broken.
- When Candace, Isabella and Melissa are staring down the pit in the maze, Candace throws a grappling hook down to the bottom and waits for a thud, concluding afterward that it's "3 seconds deep". Later, when Phineas and Ferb's maze building rolls off a cliff, Buford comments that the drop was at least 3 seconds deep.
- When Phineas uses the metaphor of rats going through a maze to get cheese, Buford is excited at the prospect of getting free "metaphor cheese". At the end of the episode, after escaping the maze, Buford complains "Hey, I never got my metaphor cheese!"
- Broken Echo: A Running Gag in this episode is Dr. Doofenshmirtz complaining that his echo is "broken" when the second-to-last word is different. Later, the same thing happens to Buford.Doofenshmirtz: Ah, Perry the Platypus. Welcome to my evil space station!
Echo: Station! Station! Cookie! Station!
Doofenshmirtz: Wait, did you hear that? That "cookie" part? I think my echo is broken. I really do. - Catchphrase Interruptus: When Phineas is inspired to make the maze from the "simple" maze on the back of a cereal box, he begins to say his usual "I know what we're gonna do today" quote, but Ferb stops him ("You don't even need to say it.").
- Continuity Nod: Melissa recognizes Candace as "the girl who won fifty patches in one day".
- Cutting the Knot: One of the maze puzzles consists of guessing the total amount of jellybeans in a jar to unlock a door. Phineas, Ferb, and Baljeet attempt to solve the problem mathematically, but Buford gets impatient and decides to just eat all the jellybeans, then type the number zero. It works.
- Failures on Ice: Candace is no better at roller skating than she was the previous time.
- Gone Horribly Right: Doofenshmirtz creates his Tilt-inator without any sort of Self-Destruct Mechanism or off-switch whatsoever, so that once activated it cannot be stopped. It ends up biting him back when Perry just blocks the Tilt-inator beam itself, first by closing Doofenshmirtz's space station bay doors, and then by jamming the machine with a snow globe; in both instances, Doofenshmirtz can't abort the Tilt-inator from firing, causing it to fire at Doofenshmirtz's space station and making it spin out of control.
- Green-Eyed Monster: Isabella is this toward Candace when Melissa begins idolizing Candace instead of her.
- I'm Okay!: Candace says this after she falls over while trying to roller skate in the beginning of the episode.
- "Jar of Jellybeans" Contest: One of the puzzles in the maze involves one of these, wired to the door that will open when the correct number of jellybeans in the jar has been inputted. While Phineas, Ferb and Baljeet are discussing the best way to calculate the correct number with mathematic equations, Buford opts to eat all the jellybeans and enters "0". It works, though Baljeet calls him out for "not showing his work".
- Letting the Air out of the Band: When Doofenshmirtz reveals that he's not allowed to set foot in Albania ever again.
- Loophole Abuse: The Jellybean door forces Phineas' team racking their brains for the best way of working out how many jellybeans are in the jar, which Buford simply ignores and simply eats all the jellybeans in the jar, enter "0" on the keypad, and it opens (since the jar is empty, it technically makes it the correct answer).
- May The Farce Be W Ith You: Candace, Isabella and Melissa swinging in the hard part of the maze is a parody of the shot of Leia and Luke swinging.
- The Maze: What Phineas and Ferb build in this episode.
- Metaphorgotten: Phineas explains that the gang will enter the maze "like lab rats going after cheese", which excites Buford, even after Phineas already explains that it's a metaphor. It prompts this exchange:Buford: Did somebody say cheese?
Phineas: Buford, that's just a metaphor.
Buford: Hmm. I am to metaphor cheese as metaphor cheese is to transitive verb crackers! - Mood Whiplash: Doof's outgoing message on his answering machine: "Hello, you reached Dr. Heinz Doofenshmirtz, I'm not here right now... Or am I? (Evil Laughter) Oh, if you're calling for the piano, it's already been sold."
- Noodle Incident: During Doofenshmirtz's long backstory tirade to Perry, he reveals that in an incident involving a group of college kids from Canada and a rivalry with a guy named Dylan, he upset an ambassador's wife while backpacking across Europe, and now he's no longer allowed to set foot in Albania.
- Overly Long Gag: Doubling as a Funny Background Event, during the "jellybeans" scene as Phineas and Baljeet try to guess the number, Ferb can be seen repeatedly opening his mouth and putting a finger up as if he wants to say something, but Phineas and Baljeet keep talking.
- Pun-Based Title: The title is a reference to how indigenous Americans refer to corn as "maize".
- Raiders of the Lost Parody: Ferb does a recreation of the famous idol switch scene in Raiders of the Lost Ark.
- Rimshot: Occurs after Buford eats the jelly beans:Baljeet: Okay, technically that is correct, but you did not show your work!
Buford: I will in about 20 minutes!
(Rimshot) - Running Gag:
- Candace mispronouncing the name of the Fireside Girls.
- Someone having a Broken Echo! (ECHO!!! ECHO!!! Hamster! ECHO!!!) Wait...
- Tilting Tower of Pisa: Inverted; Dr. Doofenshmirtz's evil plan includes making every other building in the world tilt at a similar angle, leaving the Leaning Tower of Pisa as nothing special. He then plans to straighten his own building, making it unique.
- Tuckerization: Melissa is named for one of Dan Povenmire's daughters.
