Although the setting sounded very interesting and being somebody who has always gotten a lot of pleasure out of 'Phineas and Ferb' (very quickly became one of Disney's better shows in a long time), there was the worry as to whether anything original would be done with quite ordinary sounding subplots, whether the formula had gotten stale and whether it would feel too over-stuffed. Three subplots in one barely 25 minute episode had that danger.
"The Lake Nose Monster" for me is not quite one of my favourite 'Phineas and Ferb' episodes, but it is in the better half of Season 2 and a great episode. That does a great job with what it set out to do and avoids the potential traps on the whole. The pacing isn't perfect and one subplot is not as good as the other two, but the execution is not near as mundane as it could have been, the formula doesn't feel stale and it generally doesn't feel too much.
It is in my view at its weakest with the Candace subplot, which had its charms but was on the cheesy and cliched side. It served well as giving some development to Candace and Jeremy but the relationship doesn't progress massively.
Occasionally, like other 'Phineas and Ferb' episodes, "The Lake Nose Monster" is a little too on the manic side.
However, the animation is full of rich bright colour with some good attention to detail in the backgrounds. The setting is very colourful and authentic, put to great use in the Phineas and Ferb subplot. The music is dynamic with the action and the theme song is insanely catchy with very clever and quotable lyrics that anybody still in school fishing for how to spend their vacation will relate to. All the characters work beautifully together, with great chemistry between the titular characters, a sweet if cliched one between Candace and Jeremy and a entertainingly wacky one between Perry and Doofenschmirtz. All the characters are engaging and all the voice acting is very good and never less than that.
Writing is extremely good, in its customary smart and witty style that clearly knows what type of audience and age demographic (all ages) it wants to appeal to. Never being too over-complicated for younger audiences and never being too childish for adults, the writing is far from a mess tonally and doesn't try to do too much. There are more imaginative stories than the one(s) here in "The Lake Nose Monster" in other 'Phineas and Ferb' episodes, but they are still very entertaining and well crafted and don't feel too repetitive despite the somewhat formulaic structure. Phineas and Ferb's subplot charms and amuses with enough variety and energy to avoid fatigue, as well as some nice nostalgia and neat referencing, and that for Perry and Doofenschmirtz may not be one of their most imaginative but is carried significantly by their dynamite chemistry and some very funny lines from Doofenschmirtz.
Summarising, great. 9/10
"The Lake Nose Monster" for me is not quite one of my favourite 'Phineas and Ferb' episodes, but it is in the better half of Season 2 and a great episode. That does a great job with what it set out to do and avoids the potential traps on the whole. The pacing isn't perfect and one subplot is not as good as the other two, but the execution is not near as mundane as it could have been, the formula doesn't feel stale and it generally doesn't feel too much.
It is in my view at its weakest with the Candace subplot, which had its charms but was on the cheesy and cliched side. It served well as giving some development to Candace and Jeremy but the relationship doesn't progress massively.
Occasionally, like other 'Phineas and Ferb' episodes, "The Lake Nose Monster" is a little too on the manic side.
However, the animation is full of rich bright colour with some good attention to detail in the backgrounds. The setting is very colourful and authentic, put to great use in the Phineas and Ferb subplot. The music is dynamic with the action and the theme song is insanely catchy with very clever and quotable lyrics that anybody still in school fishing for how to spend their vacation will relate to. All the characters work beautifully together, with great chemistry between the titular characters, a sweet if cliched one between Candace and Jeremy and a entertainingly wacky one between Perry and Doofenschmirtz. All the characters are engaging and all the voice acting is very good and never less than that.
Writing is extremely good, in its customary smart and witty style that clearly knows what type of audience and age demographic (all ages) it wants to appeal to. Never being too over-complicated for younger audiences and never being too childish for adults, the writing is far from a mess tonally and doesn't try to do too much. There are more imaginative stories than the one(s) here in "The Lake Nose Monster" in other 'Phineas and Ferb' episodes, but they are still very entertaining and well crafted and don't feel too repetitive despite the somewhat formulaic structure. Phineas and Ferb's subplot charms and amuses with enough variety and energy to avoid fatigue, as well as some nice nostalgia and neat referencing, and that for Perry and Doofenschmirtz may not be one of their most imaginative but is carried significantly by their dynamite chemistry and some very funny lines from Doofenschmirtz.
Summarising, great. 9/10
