| "Raging Bully" | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Phineas and Ferb episode | |||
| Episodeno. | Season 1 Episode 6 | ||
| Directed by | Dan Povenmire | ||
| Written by | Dan Povenmire (story) Jeff "Swampy" Marsh (story) Martin Olson (story) Wendy Grieb (storyboards) Kent Osborne (storyboards) | ||
| Featured music | "He's a Bully" | ||
| Production code | 105a | ||
| Original air date | February 4, 2008 (2008-2-4) | ||
| Guest appearances | |||
| Episode chronology | |||
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| Phineas and Ferb(season 1) | |||
| List of episodes | |||
"Raging Bully" is the 6th broadcast episode of theanimatedtelevision seriesPhineas and Ferb. The episode was originally broadcast onDisney Channel in the United States on February 4, 2008. In the episode,Phineas Flynn is challenged to athumb wrestling competition at the mall by the local bully, Buford, after he accidentally embarrasses him in the food court. Meanwhile, the evil Dr. Heinz Doofenshmirtz tries using ahypnotic contraption to force everyone to celebrate his birthday and clean up their mess after the party.
"Raging Bully" was written by series co-creatorsDan Povenmire andJeff "Swampy" Marsh and directed by Povenmire.Heavyweight boxing championEvander Holyfield guest starred as himself, training Phineas for the big thumb-wrestling match. The episode originally broadcast onDisney Channel on February 4, 2008, as part of the month-long special event, "Phineas and Ferb-urary." It received generally positive reviews from television critics and the featured musical number, "He's a Bully," became available on the officialPhineas and Ferb soundtrack in 2009.
While at thefood court in the mall,Phineas accidentally drops his ice cream cone on bullyBuford's pants, causing the whole food court to laugh at Buford. Enraged, he challenges Phineas to a fight right there, but boxing championEvander Holyfield arrives and convinces them to instead fight in an organizedthumb wrestling match later that day, which Buford accepts. Despite being cautioned by Phineas and Ferb's friendsIsabella and Baljeet, a nerd who does his homework over the summer because of his low grades, Holyfield trains Phineas through simple tasks, including punching a chain ofsausages and playingDance Dance Revolution.
Meanwhile, Perry the Platypus arrives at an abandoned cake factory, where he is trapped in a vat ofcake mix. Dr. Doofenshmirtz, appears and explains that today is his birthday. All throughout his life, his parents never showed up to his birthday parties (even his own birth); now, he plans on using a hypnotic device- "the Slave-inator"- to force everyone to celebrate his birthday. He then rides off with the invention on a flying machine. Perry escapes from the mix and follows after him. In the air, Perry and Doofenshmirtz fight and the machine is activated, but while trying to get Perry to let go of the wall of the flying machine he accidentally makes the machine malfunction, causing the people below to still not want to celebrate his birthday. Doofenshmirtz, defeated, drops the ice cream cone he is eating in the fight and it falls to the ground below.
Finally, the big match commences and Phineas is vigorously beaten by Buford in each round. Candace takes a picture of the match, but it was obscured by her thumb over the lens when she tried to show Linda inside performing a gig. When the final round begins, Buford overpowers Phineas and pulls him up through the air. Just then, Doofenshmirtz'sice cream cone falls and lands on Phineas's head. Buford is satisfied now that Phineas is embarrassed and calls off the match. The audience who was watching cleans up the mess (due to Doofenshmirtz's machine accidentally telling them to) just before Candace comes out with Linda. At theparking lot a few minutes later, Phineas thanks Holyfield for his help and Holyfield walks off. After Buford and Phineas reconcile and form a friendship with each other,Ferb makes a comment which accidentally offends Buford and he is about to be beaten up, but he knocks Buford out with aVulcan nerve pinch, to Phineas's surprise. When Phineas asks him why he did it he responds, "Well, he was all up in my face."
"Raging Bully" was written byPhineas and Ferb co-creatorsDan Povenmire andJeff "Swampy" Marsh.[1] It was storyboarded by artists Wendy Grieb and Kent Osbourne and was directed by Povenmire,[1] who managed the bulk of animation direction in the series along withZac Moncrief.[2] It was originally broadcast in the United States on February 4, 2008, onDisney Channel with aTV-G parental rating.[3] It was part of the network'smarathon event "Phineas and Ferb-urary," which debuted new episodes of the series every night for the entire month.[4]
Heavyweight boxing champion Evander Holyfield guest starred in the episode as himself, appearing at the mall to help train Phineas for the big thumb wrestling match against Buford.[4][5][6] Holyfield's guest performance was heavily expected since the original announcement of guest stars lined up for the series released in September 2007.[7] Cast members response to working with Holyfield was highly positive;Vincent Martella andAlyson Stoner, who portray Phineas and Isabella respectively, cited working along guest stars like him as a benefit of working on the show.[8]
In 2008, "Raging Bully" became available on theDVD compilationPhineas and Ferb: The Fast and the Phineas, along with fellow first season episodes of the series "One Good Scare Ought to Do It!" "Lawn Gnome Beach Party of Terror," "The Fast and the Phineas," "Are You My Mummy?" "Flop Starz," "Lights, Candace, Action!" and "It's About Time!"[6][9][10][11] In 2009, the episode's song, "He's a Bully," became available on the officialPhineas and Ferb soundtrack.[12][13]
"Raging Bully" received generally positive reviews from television critics.DVD Talk's David Cornelius stated that he enjoyed Holyfield's guest appearance.[6] Ed Liu, ofToon Zone, wrote that the episode and others included on the DVDThe Fast and the Phineas were "way too manic for their own good, never giving a gag enough time to develop a proper laugh before ripping off to the next one," but considered Phineas's "He's a Bully"training montage to be one of the series' "amusing video sequences."[14] AWired magazine review for the soundtrack said that the "He's a Bully" was "butt-rock," but blended nicely with other melodies of completely different genres.[13]