"Raging Bully" is the first half of the fifth episode, as well as the 6th broadcast episode of the

animated Animation is a filmmaking technique whereby image, still images are manipulated to create Motion picture, moving images. In traditional animation, images are drawn or painted by hand on cel, transparent celluloid sheets to be photographed and e ...

television series A television show, TV program (), or simply a TV show, is the general reference to any content produced for viewing on a television set that is broadcast via over-the-air, satellite, and cable, or distributed digitally on streaming plat ...

Phineas and Ferb ''Phineas and Ferb'' is an American animated series, animated Musical film, musical-television comedy, comedy television series created by Dan Povenmire and Jeff "Swampy" Marsh for Disney Channel and Disney XD. The series originally aired on t ...

.'' The episode was originally broadcast on

Disney Channel Disney Channel is an American pay television television channel, channel that serves as the flagship (broadcasting), flagship property of Disney Branded Television, a unit of the Disney Entertainment business segment of the Walt Disney Company ...

in the United States on February 4, 2008. In the episode, Phineas Flynn is challenged to a thumb 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 a

hypnotic A hypnotic (from Ancient Greek, Greek ''Hypnos'', sleep), also known as a somnifacient or soporific, and commonly known as sleeping pills, are a class of psychoactive drugs whose primary function is to sleep induction, induce sleep and to trea ...

contraption to force everyone to celebrate his birthday and clean up their mess after the party. "Raging Bully" was written by series co-creators Dan Povenmire and

Jeff "Swampy" Marsh Jeffrey Kent "Swampy" Marsh (; born December 9, 1960) is an American animator, voice actor, writer, director, and producer. With Dan Povenmire, Marsh is the co-creator and co-star of the Disney Channel animated series ''Phineas and Ferb'' and ...

and directed by Povenmire. Heavyweight boxing champion

Evander Holyfield Evander Holyfield (born October 19, 1962) is an American former professional boxer who competed between 1984 and 2011. He reigned as the undisputed championship (boxing), undisputed champion in the cruiserweight (boxing), cruiserweight division ...

guest starred as himself, training Phineas for the big thumb-wrestling match. The episode originally broadcast on

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 official ''Phineas and Ferb'' soundtrack in 2009.

Plot summary

While at the

food court A food court (in Asia-Pacific also called food hall or hawker centre) is generally an indoor plaza or common area within a facility that is contiguous with the counters of multiple food Vendor, vendors and provides a common area for self-serve di ...

in the mall, Phineas accidentally drops his ice cream cone on bully Buford's pants, causing the whole food court to laugh at Buford. Enraged, he challenges Phineas to a fight right there, but boxing champion

arrives and convinces them to instead fight in an organized thumb wrestling match later that day, which Buford accepts. Despite being cautioned by Phineas and Ferb's friends Isabella 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 of

sausages A sausage is a type of meat product usually made from ground meat—often pork, beef, or poultry—along with Edible salt, salt, spices and other flavourings. Other ingredients, such as grains or breadcrumbs, may be included as fillers or ex ...

and playing ''

Dance Dance Revolution (''DDR'') is a music video game series produced by Konami. Introduced in Japan in 1998 as part of the Bemani series, and released in North America and Europe in 1999, ''Dance Dance Revolution'' is the pioneering series of the rhythm and dance ...

.'' Meanwhile, Perry the Platypus arrives at an abandoned cake factory, where he is trapped in a vat of cake 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's

ice cream cone An ice cream cone (England) or poke (Ireland) is a brittle, cone-shaped pastry, usually made of a wafer similar in texture to a waffle, made so ice cream can be carried and eaten without a bowl or spoon. Many styles of cones are made, includ ...

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 the

parking lot A parking lot or car park (British English), also known as a car lot, is a cleared area intended for parking vehicles. The term usually refers to an area dedicated only for parking, with a durable or semi-durable surface. In most jurisdi ...

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 a

Vulcan nerve pinch In the fictional ''Star Trek'' universe, the Vulcan nerve pinch is a fictional technique used mainly by Vulcan (Star Trek), Vulcans to render unconsciousness by pinching a pressure point at the base of the victim's neck. Origin The script for " ...

, to Phineas's surprise. When Phineas asks him why he did it he responds, "Well, he was all up in my face."

Voice cast

Vincent Martella Vincent Michael Martella (born October 15, 1992) is an American actor. He is best known for providing the voice of Phineas Flynn on the Disney Channel animated series ''Phineas and Ferb'' (2007–2015; 2025–present). Martella is also known for ...

as Phineas Flynn, Additional Voices *

Ashley Tisdale Ashley Michelle Tisdale (born July 2, 1985) is an American actress and singer. During her childhood, she was featured in over 100 advertisements and had minor roles on-screen and in theatre. She achieved mainstream success as Maddie Fitzpatric ...

as Candace Flynn * Thomas Sangster as Ferb Fletcher * Caroline Rhea as Linda Flynn-Fletcher * Dan Povenmire as Dr. Heinz Doofenshmirtz *

as Major Francis Monogram, Additional Voices *

Dee Bradley Baker Dee Bradley Baker (born August 31, 1962) is an American voice actor. Much of his work has consisted of vocalizations of animals and monsters. Baker's roles include animated series such as '' Adventure Time'', ''American Dad!'', '' Avatar: The Las ...

as Perry the Platypus, Additional Voices *

Mitchel Musso Mitchel Tate Musso (born July 9, 1991) is an American actor and singer. He is best known for his three Disney Channel roles as Oliver Oken in ''Hannah Montana''; Jeremy Johnson in the animated series ''Phineas and Ferb''; and his Disney XD r ...

as Jeremy Johnson, Additional Voices * Alyson Stoner as Isabella Garcia-Shapiro * Bobby Gaylor as Buford Van Stomm, Additional Voices * Maulik Pancholy as Baljeet Tjinder, Additional Voices *

Michael Buffer Michael Buffer (born November 2, 1944) is an American ring announcer (or " MC") for boxing, professional wrestling, and National Football League events. Pioneering a distinct announcing style in which he rolls certain letters and adds other ...

as Announcer, Additional Voices *

as Himself * Isabella Murad as Milly (uncredited) * Cymphonique Miller as Holly *

Jeff Bennett Jeff Bennett (born October 2, 1962) is an American voice actor. He voiced the titular character of ''Johnny Bravo'', Dexter and Dee Dee's Dad in ''Dexter's Laboratory'', List of The Powerpuff Girls characters#Ace, Ace, List of The Powerpuff Gi ...

Phil LaMarr Phil LaMarr is an American actor and comedian. He was one of the original featured cast members on the sketch comedy television series '' Mad TV'', where he stayed for five seasons. His voice acting roles in animated series include the Sam B of ' ...

and

Grey DeLisle Grey DeLisle (; born Erin Grey Van Oosbree; August 24, 1973), sometimes credited as Grey Griffin, is an American voice actress and singer-songwriter. DeLisle is known for various roles in animated productions and video games. On September 27, ...

as Additional Voices

Production

"Raging Bully" was written by ''

'' co-creators Dan Povenmire and

. It was storyboarded by artists Wendy Grieb and Kent Osbourne and was directed by Povenmire, who managed the bulk of animation direction in the series along with Zac Moncrief. It was originally broadcast in the United States on February 4, 2008, on

with a TV-G parental rating. It was part of the network's

marathon The marathon is a long-distance foot race with a distance of kilometres ( 26 mi 385 yd), usually run as a road race, but the distance can be covered on trail routes. The marathon can be completed by running or with a run/walk strategy. There ...

event "Phineas and Ferb-urary," which debuted new episodes of the series every night for the entire month. 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. Holyfield's guest performance was heavily expected since the original announcement of guest stars lined up for the series released in September 2007. Cast members response to working with Holyfield was highly positive;

and Alyson Stoner, who portray Phineas and Isabella respectively, cited working along guest stars like him as a benefit of working on the show. In 2008, "Raging Bully" became available on the

DVD The DVD (common abbreviation for digital video disc or digital versatile disc) is a digital optical disc data storage format. It was invented and developed in 1995 and first released on November 1, 1996, in Japan. The medium can store any ki ...

compilation ''Phineas 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!" In 2009, the episode's song, "He's a Bully," became available on the official ''Phineas and Ferb'' soundtrack.

Reception

"Raging Bully" received generally positive reviews from television critics.

DVD Talk DVD Talk is a home video news and review website launched in 1999 by Geoffrey Kleinman. History Kleinman founded the site in January 1999 in Beaverton, Oregon. Besides news and reviews, it features information on hidden DVD features known as ...

's David Cornelius stated that he enjoyed Holyfield's guest appearance. Ed Liu, of ''Toon Zone,'' wrote that the episode and others included on the DVD ''The 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." A ''Wired'' 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.

References

External links

* {{good article 2008 American television episodes Phineas and Ferb episodes Television episodes about birthdays Television episodes about bullying