Cartoon character march determinedly towards the camera.

No, Perry the Platypus Wasn’t Originally a Dog: Series Co-Creator Replies to TikTok

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Phineas and Ferb co-creator Dan Povenmire took to YouTube yesterday, September 16, to set the record straight on some “facts” in a social media post.

While some of the facts in the TikTok post “8 Phineas & Ferb Facts You (Probably) Didn’t Know” were true, a lot missed the mark.

  • “The show took 16 years to get greenlit — Disney initially rejected it multiple times”: Most of that time was pitching the series to other studios, and while Nickelodeon rejected it twice, Disney only rejected it once.
  • “Phineas’ head is actually shaped like a ‘P’ and Ferb’s like an ‘F'”: Dan says while they’re close enough that they were used for the logo, it was never intentional.
  • “Perry was originally going to be a dog, but they changed it to a platypus to be more unique”: Nope. Dan wonders if it was said jokingly at some point, but that wasn’t the case.
  • “The show holds a Guinness World Record for ‘Most Songs in a TV Series'”: Dan isn’t aware of such a record, and the record doesn’t appear on the Guinness World Records website.

    The record would have to be far more specific, too: BBC series Top of the Pops for instance ran weekly from 1964 to 2006, and still airs specials. Its songs are from the hit parade, so a completely different thing, but thus the category would have to be something like “Most Songs Created for a Scripted TV Series.”

    But even then, Muppet Wiki has pages on 3610 songs on the original American version of Sesame Street.

  • “Doofenshmirtz’s backstories are based on the creators’ own embarrassing childhood memories”: Nope. But this one brought out some amusing comments on the YouTube upload:
    “So you’re telling me Dan wasn’t actually raised by wild ocelots?? 😦”
    “I’m so sorry to hear that neither of your parents showed up to your birth, Dan. That really sucks.”
    “I can’t believe Dan Povenmire wasn’t actually forced to be a garden gnome.”

Long story short, don’t believe everything you read on TikTok, or anywhere, especially if there’s no source or context.

 

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