Phineas and Ferb is a beloved animated series that initially ran for four seasons between 2007 and 2015. It followed the titular brothers on their summer adventures and their older sister trying to ruin the good times. The show will resume with the fifth season premiering next week right in time for real summer vacation.
It can be difficult returning to a role after many years, but Vincent Martella, the voice of Phineas, didn’t have any rust at all. It helped that even though the show went off the air, there were crossovers with Milo Murphy’s Law, numerous Disney shorts, and a movie where the characters appeared. Still, that first day back into the recording studio for Phineas and Ferb season five was one to remember.
“Phineas has never been too far away, but the first record that I ever had coming back to do new episodes of the show was definitely, like, an emotional experience,” Martella said. “I was really, really moved and excited because like I said, I mean, 17, 18 years is a really long time to do anything or to know someone, and I’ve known all these, you know, these wonderful people I get to work with and I’ve known this character for so long. So it’s been really, really fun getting to be back doing this job every week. I hope we get to forever, it’s been amazing.”
Other cast members have gone through major life milestones since the beginning, and the experiences changed their perspectives on their characters. Rhea shared, “You know what’s really fun? When we started this, I think it was 2008 that we went on the air. And my daughter had not been born yet, and now my daughter is 16, and so it’s very fun playing Mom talking to someone — now Candace is a whole different person to me…And now I’m like, oh, I kind of know this person in three dimensions.”
Tisdale has grown and matured since the first season of Phineas and Ferb. Back then, she was a rising Disney star having featured on The Suite Life of Zack and Cody and High School Musical. Now, she is a mother with two children. She didn’t have to do anything special to prepare her voice for the role after all the years, but she found other hardships. “So it’s like- I- I’m like, literally Candace is my voice. The only difficult thing is Candace’s craziness has so much energy. So when I was younger, it was so easy to tap into that.”
Speaking of that high energy needed for the role, Tisdale was pregnant at the time she was recording lines for season five. She thought she was affecting her youngest daughter. “All I kept thinking was, ‘I really hope this baby understands this is not real life outside!’ It was crazy, and I was just, like, I could only imagine her in my womb being like ‘What is happening out there?’”
But it’s all good. As Rhea said, “[Tisdale’s] daughter was watching episodes from the womb.”
You can watch new episodes of Phineas and Ferb when season five premieres June 5 on Disney Channel.
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