Phineas And Ferb creators discuss challenges of making a film amid Covid-19 pandemic

Dan Povenmire (left) and Jeff Marsh (Disney+/Craig Sjodin/PA)

Being able to finish the Phineas And Ferb film amid the challenges posed by coronavirus was a “relief”, according to one of the co-creators of the cartoon.

Dan Povenmire said production of Phineas And Ferb The Movie: Candace Against The Universe was still ongoing when the pandemic struck.

Animators and actors working on the film completed it while in isolation, he told the PA news agency.

Phineas And Ferb The Movie: Candace Against The Universe (Disney+/PA)

“We were sort of in the middle of editing it so every line that we rewrote in the process – which is often more than half of the lines – we had to re-record from people’s houses and closets and bathrooms, just wherever they could soundproof a room,” he said.

Povenmire added that it would have been “very, very hard to do this two or three years earlier”.

He said that, while he thought they would eventually finish the film, he was “relieved” once it was completed.

“We finished pretty much on time and that was a herculean effort by a lot of people,” he said.

There was a lot of “juggling” because different parts of the production were being completed in different countries, Povenmire said.

Dan Povenmire (left) and Jeff Marsh (Disney+/Craig Sjodin/PA)

“One of the studios would shut down because the pandemic would hit that country really bad and they’d say ‘OK, we can’t handle these scenes right now’,” he said.

“We would take the scenes and we would send them to another studio; that would then shut down and we would send it to a third studio.”

Co-creator Jeff Marsh said: “We were using technology that we not only didn’t know existed, we didn’t know that there was a need for it until now.”

The Disney+ film sees Phineas and Ferb travel across the galaxy to rescue their sister Candace, who has been abducted by aliens.

The cartoon has also aired as a television programme.

In one week, prepare to take off on a journey across the universe! 💫 The upcoming Original Movie, Phineas and Ferb The Movie: #CandaceAgainstTheUniverse, starts streaming Aug. 28 on #DisneyPlus. #PhineasAndFerbMovie pic.twitter.com/vCAnydfuKs

— Disney+ (@DisneyPlus) August 21, 2020

Povenmire said they have always tried not to dumb the cartoon down for younger audiences, adding: “There’s no reason to do that, I think.

“Kids are smarter than you give them credit for.

“I think that too often when you are making kids’ TV you start trying to tailor every joke towards someone who is not as sophisticated as you think they are and I think a lot of the time kids get much more than we expect.”

Marsh said they have “always been aware that parents and adults are in the room”.

He added: “People always seem to be so worried that every kid got every single joke and it is OK if they don’t.

“It makes it nice when you go back later and watch it and you get a joke that you missed the first time.”

– Disney+’s Phineas And Ferb The Movie: Candace Against The Universe will be released on Friday.