Dr. Heinz Doofenshmirtz
Encyclopedia
Doctor Heinz Doofenshmirtz is the main antagonist
of the show Phineas and Ferb
. Doofenshmirtz is voiced by Dan Povenmire
and created by Povenmire and Jeff "Swampy" Marsh. Doofenshmirtz first appeared in the pilot episode
of the series and since then has appeared in every episode to date except "Isabella and the Temple of Sap". A routinely bumbling, incompetent and forgetful mad scientist
, Doofenshmirtz is the primary villain of the series and the mastermind behind the B-Plot. In the movie of the show, a more evil and successful version of him appears as the main villain. He and Perry The Platypus
are considered to be the show's breakout character
s.
Doofenshmirtz's goal in life is to "take over the entire tri-state area
" and attempts to do so with obscure contraptions and inventions that tend to have "-inator" as the suffix
(as a child, he invented a machine simply called the "Inator"). Doofenshmirtz's voice is of German
or Austrian
descent (as he was noted by Lawrence Fletcher as having a German
accent).
In nearly every episode of the series, Doofenshmirtz has an evil scheme or invention that he often explains about through the means of a "back story
" from his youth. Throughout the series, the back stories explore his mentally abusive and shunned childhood growing up in the fictional village Gimmelshtump, Druselstein. This is usually related to being neglected by his mother and father and the way they obviously liked his brother, Roger, better. Doofenshmirtz usually monologues and displays acts of "cartoonish" physical violence towards his frenemy
Perry, a skilled anthropomorphic platypus
secret agent
who disguises himself as the mindless pet of the series's main characters. Doofenshmirtz appears in several merchandise pieces based on the series, particularly the book series and the video game.
" and uses peculiar contraptions to do so. Their names tend to end with the suffix
"-inator" (except for Shrinkspheria, an invention he stated "I was going to call it a Shrinkinator but I've done the -inator thing before",) and are made up of "strange items [he] purchases off the internet" with his large alimony
check. Ever since the day they first met, his arch-nemesis has been the secret agent
Perry the Platypus
. During every intro, a song is played, with the lyrics "Doofenshmirtz Evil Incorporated", with the song lyrics changed if he is in a different location. Once, however, the sound booth was shown with the band in it. Habitually, Doofenshmirtz's daily encounters with Perry follow a basic chain of events, beginning with Perry being captured, Doofenshmirtz explaining his evil scheme to Perry, Perry escaping from whatever Doofenshmirtz used to trap him, the two waging in combat with each other, with Perry walking away victorious with the inator being destroyed with a self destruct button, leading to Doofenshmirtz yelling his catch phrase
in anger "Curse you, Perry the Platypus!" A running gag of the show is Dr. Doofenshimirtz only recognizes Perry with his hat on, which Perry uses as an advantage against him. Doofenshmirtz is also often called a "pharmacist".
Backstories
told by Doofenshmirtz often explain the reason for his evil schemes. As explained by his backstories, during his birth in his hometown of Gimmelshtump, Druselstein,, both of his parents neglected to show up, a recurring theme in other events in his life that left him to throw himself his own surprise parties. He was disowned by his parents and forced to live with ocelots, smelling so horrible due to the raw meat they ate, he had no friends and was forced to work in a carnival as the ball thrown at a dunking booth. When he was finally taken back by his parents, they were stricken with poverty
and had their lawn gnomes, used to ward off black magic
in his village, repossessed. His father, in desperation, forced him to become the new one, not allowing him to move.
Doofenshmirtz's leitmotif
s are various "evil jingles" for his company operation, Doofenshmirtz Evil Incorporated, performed by a quartet, sometimes changing as a running gag
based on his current location or situation (such as "Doofenshmirtz Quality Bratwurst" when he is shown selling bratwurst
, or "Doofenshmirtz Evil is Carpeted" when his building is shown covered with rugs).
"Got Game?" shows that even when his father won a pure breed "spitzen hound" that he named "Only Son" as a displacement of his apparent hatred towards him, a pet that became an award-winning show dog
, he still forced Doofenshmirtz to dress as a lawn gnome. One of his only real friends was a balloon
he had drawn a face on and named "Balloony." A few episodes display his issues with his mother and younger brother, Roger. Thinking that her newborn son was to be a girl, Doofenshmirtz's mom knitted several dresses, though when he turned out a boy she forced Doofenshmirtz to wear them instead for lack of material for a year, effectively emasculating him. His brother was as Doofenshmirtz describes a "goody-two shoes" whom his mother favored. In "Thaddeus and Thor," Doofenshmirtz explains that this was as well due to Roger's skill in kickball
, a sport Doofenshmirtz was terrible at.
Throughout his school career, he tried different hobbies, including trying to be a magician, making science fair
inventions such as "The Inator" and "The Even-Bigger-Inator" (both of which lost to baking soda volcanoes), poetry (where he curiously also lost a competition to a baking soda volcano), and shadow puppetrya successful act which got him a girlfriend for a short period, until he was upstaged by a poor puppeteer with large hands. He also tried being a bratwurst
vender until the hot dog
industry put him out of business. On a date with Linda Flynn before she became famous, a feat Doofenshmirtz sarcastically suggested was not going to work out by saying he was going to rule the world, she suggested that he start small with the Tri-State Area.
As a result of this and his misfortunes as a child, Doofenshmirtz turned to evil and used his skills at inventing to do so. His daughter, Vanessa, notes that he is not actually a doctor and simply purchased a $15
doctorate
with his ex-wife's
money
. He went to "Evil 101" where his teacher, Dr. Gevaarlijk (which means "dangerous", in dutch), openly displayed her hatred of him and failed him.
were working on the Nickelodeon
animated series Rocko's Modern Life
, they always had two things in episodes they worked on: a song or a musical number and an action/chase scene. When they created Phineas and Ferb, they wanted to incorporate this trait into that series too. They used a platypus secret agent to do so, due to the animal's interesting appearance, and wanted to have a continuous nemesis for him that the viewers could get to know. They chose one named "Dr. Meddleshmirtz;" Meddleshmirtz was a prototype for Doofenshmirtz and carried a majority of his traits. His name eventually was changed to "Doofenshmirtz."
Every main character of the series was designed to incorporate geometric shapes in reminiscence of Tex Avery
's graphic style for his Looney Tunes
cartoons; Doofenshmirtz himself appearing to use that of an oval
. They were as well meant to be drawn very simple, so that the child viewers could draw them easily themselves. Each one was designed to be recognizable from a distance or, as Povenmire notes as a reference to Matt Groening
and The Simpsons
, by silhouette
.
as his best friend, and is often concerned for Perry when he does not arrive at the scene of his next scheme, hesitating to execute his plans and fearing for where Perry has gone - though he notes that he "hopes something terrible has happened to him." It was also shown in one episode that all his traps were platypus-sized indicating that they have always been arch rivals. Doofenshmirtz's relationship with Perry has also been used to his advantage, as he once replaced Perry as his nemesis with a secret agent panda bear to cause depression in Perry, causing a distraction from his actual plot to freeze agents to use as a giant chess
set. When Perry is re-assigned by the Agency to a higher-leveled threat, The Regurgitator, leaving Doofenshmirtz classified as a low-level threat who would be dealt with by a secret agent snail
, Doofenshmirtz himself took up an internship with the new villain to assist him in ultimately defeating the new threat and keeping Perry as his nemesis. It is either shown that he is better than all other evil scientists or Perry goes easy on him, as in the episode Oh There You Are Perry, Perry imprisoned an evil scientist in less than a day's time. He is shown to be devoted to his daughter, Vanessa, often trying to impress her every time they meet but always ends up failing. There are times though that she shows she likes her father although she was not aware that whatever it is that makes her like him is with the help of Perry the Platypus. In the episode "Hail, Doofania!" Vanessa acted like Candace trying to bust her father to her mom that he is really pure evil. He also has a robot named Norm whose appearance is based on that of his brother Roger, showing that he may have some love for his brother.
In 2009, Josh Jackson, editor-in-chief for Paste Magazine
, wrote in a blog that Phineas and Ferb was "the best kids show on TV" and gave Doofenshmirtz a large amount of praise. He calls his inventions "awesomely designated devices of pure evil" and his complex relationship with his nemesis Perry the Platypus as "pitch-perfect."
Antagonist
An antagonist is a character, group of characters, or institution, that represents the opposition against which the protagonist must contend...
of the show Phineas and Ferb
Phineas and Ferb
Phineas and Ferb is an American animated television comedy series. Originally broadcast as a preview on August 17, 2007, on Disney Channel, the series follows Phineas Flynn and his English stepbrother Ferb Fletcher on summer vacation. Every day the boys embark on some grand new project, which...
. Doofenshmirtz is voiced by Dan Povenmire
Dan Povenmire
Daniel Kingsley "Dan" Povenmire is an American television director, writer, producer, storyboard artist, and actor associated with several animated television series, best known as the co-creator of the Disney animated series Phineas and Ferb in which he also voices the show's villain, Heinz...
and created by Povenmire and Jeff "Swampy" Marsh. Doofenshmirtz first appeared in the pilot episode
Television pilot
A "television pilot" is a standalone episode of a television series that is used to sell the show to a television network. At the time of its inception, the pilot is meant to be the "testing ground" to see if a series will be possibly desired and successful and therefore a test episode of an...
of the series and since then has appeared in every episode to date except "Isabella and the Temple of Sap". A routinely bumbling, incompetent and forgetful mad scientist
Mad scientist
A mad scientist is a stock character of popular fiction, specifically science fiction. The mad scientist may be villainous or antagonistic, benign or neutral, and whether insane, eccentric, or simply bumbling, mad scientists often work with fictional technology in order to forward their schemes, if...
, Doofenshmirtz is the primary villain of the series and the mastermind behind the B-Plot. In the movie of the show, a more evil and successful version of him appears as the main villain. He and Perry The Platypus
Perry the Platypus
Perry the Platypus, also known as Agent P or simply Perry is an anthropomorphic platypus from the animated television series Phineas and Ferb. Perry is voiced by Dee Bradley Baker and created by the series' co-founders, Dan Povenmire and Jeff "Swampy" Marsh...
are considered to be the show's breakout character
Breakout character
A breakout character is a fictional character in different episodes, books or other media that becomes the most popular, talked about, and imitated. Most often a breakout character in a television series captures the audience's imagination and helps to popularize the show, sometimes inadvertently...
s.
Doofenshmirtz's goal in life is to "take over the entire tri-state area
Tri-state area
There are a number of areas in the 48 contiguous United States known as tri-state areas where three states either meet at one point or are in proximity to each other. The best known of the latter type is the New York metropolitan area...
" and attempts to do so with obscure contraptions and inventions that tend to have "-inator" as the suffix
Suffix
In linguistics, a suffix is an affix which is placed after the stem of a word. Common examples are case endings, which indicate the grammatical case of nouns or adjectives, and verb endings, which form the conjugation of verbs...
(as a child, he invented a machine simply called the "Inator"). Doofenshmirtz's voice is of German
Germans
The Germans are a Germanic ethnic group native to Central Europe. The English term Germans has referred to the German-speaking population of the Holy Roman Empire since the Late Middle Ages....
or Austrian
Austrians
Austrians are a nation and ethnic group, consisting of the population of the Republic of Austria and its historical predecessor states who share a common Austrian culture and Austrian descent....
descent (as he was noted by Lawrence Fletcher as having a German
German language
German is a West Germanic language, related to and classified alongside English and Dutch. With an estimated 90 – 98 million native speakers, German is one of the world's major languages and is the most widely-spoken first language in the European Union....
accent).
In nearly every episode of the series, Doofenshmirtz has an evil scheme or invention that he often explains about through the means of a "back story
Flashback (narrative)
Flashback is an interjected scene that takes the narrative back in time from the current point the story has reached. Flashbacks are often used to recount events that happened before the story’s primary sequence of events or to fill in crucial backstory...
" from his youth. Throughout the series, the back stories explore his mentally abusive and shunned childhood growing up in the fictional village Gimmelshtump, Druselstein. This is usually related to being neglected by his mother and father and the way they obviously liked his brother, Roger, better. Doofenshmirtz usually monologues and displays acts of "cartoonish" physical violence towards his frenemy
Frenemy
"Frenemy" is a portmanteau of "friend" and "enemy" that can refer to either an enemy disguised as a friend or to a partner who is simultaneously a competitor and rival. The term is used to describe personal, geopolitical, and commercial relationships both among individuals and groups or institutions...
Perry, a skilled anthropomorphic platypus
Platypus
The platypus is a semi-aquatic mammal endemic to eastern Australia, including Tasmania. Together with the four species of echidna, it is one of the five extant species of monotremes, the only mammals that lay eggs instead of giving birth to live young...
secret agent
Espionage
Espionage or spying involves an individual obtaining information that is considered secret or confidential without the permission of the holder of the information. Espionage is inherently clandestine, lest the legitimate holder of the information change plans or take other countermeasures once it...
who disguises himself as the mindless pet of the series's main characters. Doofenshmirtz appears in several merchandise pieces based on the series, particularly the book series and the video game.
Role in Phineas and Ferb
Doofenshmirtz is portrayed as a bumbling and somewhat incompetent evil genius who hates nearly everything (except Christmas, much to his chagrin). He is bent on taking over the "entire tri-state areaTri-state area
There are a number of areas in the 48 contiguous United States known as tri-state areas where three states either meet at one point or are in proximity to each other. The best known of the latter type is the New York metropolitan area...
" and uses peculiar contraptions to do so. Their names tend to end with the suffix
Suffix
In linguistics, a suffix is an affix which is placed after the stem of a word. Common examples are case endings, which indicate the grammatical case of nouns or adjectives, and verb endings, which form the conjugation of verbs...
"-inator" (except for Shrinkspheria, an invention he stated "I was going to call it a Shrinkinator but I've done the -inator thing before",) and are made up of "strange items [he] purchases off the internet" with his large alimony
Alimony
Alimony is a U.S. term denoting a legal obligation to provide financial support to one's spouse from the other spouse after marital separation or from the ex-spouse upon divorce...
check. Ever since the day they first met, his arch-nemesis has been the secret agent
Secret Agent
Secret Agent is a British film directed by Alfred Hitchcock, loosely based on two stories in Ashenden: Or the British Agent by W. Somerset Maugham. The film starred John Gielgud, Peter Lorre, Madeleine Carroll, and Robert Young...
Perry the Platypus
Perry the Platypus
Perry the Platypus, also known as Agent P or simply Perry is an anthropomorphic platypus from the animated television series Phineas and Ferb. Perry is voiced by Dee Bradley Baker and created by the series' co-founders, Dan Povenmire and Jeff "Swampy" Marsh...
. During every intro, a song is played, with the lyrics "Doofenshmirtz Evil Incorporated", with the song lyrics changed if he is in a different location. Once, however, the sound booth was shown with the band in it. Habitually, Doofenshmirtz's daily encounters with Perry follow a basic chain of events, beginning with Perry being captured, Doofenshmirtz explaining his evil scheme to Perry, Perry escaping from whatever Doofenshmirtz used to trap him, the two waging in combat with each other, with Perry walking away victorious with the inator being destroyed with a self destruct button, leading to Doofenshmirtz yelling his catch phrase
Catch phrase
A catchphrase is a phrase or expression recognized by its repeated utterance. Such phrases often originate in popular culture and in the arts, and typically spread through a variety of mass media , as well as word of mouth...
in anger "Curse you, Perry the Platypus!" A running gag of the show is Dr. Doofenshimirtz only recognizes Perry with his hat on, which Perry uses as an advantage against him. Doofenshmirtz is also often called a "pharmacist".
Backstories
Back-story
A back-story, background story, or backstory is the literary device of a narrative chronologically earlier than, and related to, a narrative of primary interest. Generally, it is the history of characters or other elements that underlie the situation existing at the main narrative's start...
told by Doofenshmirtz often explain the reason for his evil schemes. As explained by his backstories, during his birth in his hometown of Gimmelshtump, Druselstein,, both of his parents neglected to show up, a recurring theme in other events in his life that left him to throw himself his own surprise parties. He was disowned by his parents and forced to live with ocelots, smelling so horrible due to the raw meat they ate, he had no friends and was forced to work in a carnival as the ball thrown at a dunking booth. When he was finally taken back by his parents, they were stricken with poverty
Poverty
Poverty is the lack of a certain amount of material possessions or money. Absolute poverty or destitution is inability to afford basic human needs, which commonly includes clean and fresh water, nutrition, health care, education, clothing and shelter. About 1.7 billion people are estimated to live...
and had their lawn gnomes, used to ward off black magic
Black magic
Black magic is the type of magic that draws on assumed malevolent powers or is used with the intention to kill, steal, injure, cause misfortune or destruction, or for personal gain without regard to harmful consequences. As a term, "black magic" is normally used by those that do not approve of its...
in his village, repossessed. His father, in desperation, forced him to become the new one, not allowing him to move.
Doofenshmirtz's leitmotif
Leitmotif
A leitmotif , sometimes written leit-motif, is a musical term , referring to a recurring theme, associated with a particular person, place, or idea. It is closely related to the musical idea of idée fixe...
s are various "evil jingles" for his company operation, Doofenshmirtz Evil Incorporated, performed by a quartet, sometimes changing as a running gag
Running gag
A running gag, or running joke, is a literary device that takes the form of an amusing joke or a comical reference and appears repeatedly throughout a work of literature or other form of storytelling....
based on his current location or situation (such as "Doofenshmirtz Quality Bratwurst" when he is shown selling bratwurst
Bratwurst
A bratwurst is a sausage usually composed of veal, pork or beef. The plural in German is Bratwürste....
, or "Doofenshmirtz Evil is Carpeted" when his building is shown covered with rugs).
"Got Game?" shows that even when his father won a pure breed "spitzen hound" that he named "Only Son" as a displacement of his apparent hatred towards him, a pet that became an award-winning show dog
Show dog
A show dog might refer to any dog entered into a dog show. More specifically, a show dog is a dog which has been specially bred, trained, and/or groomed to conform to the specifications of dog shows, so as to have a chance of winning...
, he still forced Doofenshmirtz to dress as a lawn gnome. One of his only real friends was a balloon
Balloon
A balloon is an inflatable flexible bag filled with a gas, such as helium, hydrogen, nitrous oxide, oxygen, or air. Modern balloons can be made from materials such as rubber, latex, polychloroprene, or a nylon fabric, while some early balloons were made of dried animal bladders, such as the pig...
he had drawn a face on and named "Balloony." A few episodes display his issues with his mother and younger brother, Roger. Thinking that her newborn son was to be a girl, Doofenshmirtz's mom knitted several dresses, though when he turned out a boy she forced Doofenshmirtz to wear them instead for lack of material for a year, effectively emasculating him. His brother was as Doofenshmirtz describes a "goody-two shoes" whom his mother favored. In "Thaddeus and Thor," Doofenshmirtz explains that this was as well due to Roger's skill in kickball
Kickball
Kickball is a playground game and competitive league game, similar to baseball, invented in the United States in the first half of the 20th Century. Kickball may also be known as kick baseball, base soccer, soccer-base, or soccer-baseball...
, a sport Doofenshmirtz was terrible at.
Throughout his school career, he tried different hobbies, including trying to be a magician, making science fair
Science fair
A science fair is generally a competition where contestants present their science project results in the form of a report, display board, and models that they have created. Science fairs allow students in grade schools and high schools to compete in science and/or technology activities...
inventions such as "The Inator" and "The Even-Bigger-Inator" (both of which lost to baking soda volcanoes), poetry (where he curiously also lost a competition to a baking soda volcano), and shadow puppetrya successful act which got him a girlfriend for a short period, until he was upstaged by a poor puppeteer with large hands. He also tried being a bratwurst
Bratwurst
A bratwurst is a sausage usually composed of veal, pork or beef. The plural in German is Bratwürste....
vender until the hot dog
Hot dog
A hot dog is a sausage served in a sliced bun. It is very often garnished with mustard, ketchup, onions, mayonnaise, relish and/or sauerkraut.-History:...
industry put him out of business. On a date with Linda Flynn before she became famous, a feat Doofenshmirtz sarcastically suggested was not going to work out by saying he was going to rule the world, she suggested that he start small with the Tri-State Area.
As a result of this and his misfortunes as a child, Doofenshmirtz turned to evil and used his skills at inventing to do so. His daughter, Vanessa, notes that he is not actually a doctor and simply purchased a $15
Diploma mill
A diploma mill is an organization that awards academic degrees and diplomas with substandard or no academic study and without recognition by official educational accrediting bodies. The purchaser can then claim to hold an academic degree, and the organization is motivated by making a profit...
doctorate
Doctorate
A doctorate is an academic degree or professional degree that in most countries refers to a class of degrees which qualify the holder to teach in a specific field, A doctorate is an academic degree or professional degree that in most countries refers to a class of degrees which qualify the holder...
with his ex-wife's
Divorce
Divorce is the final termination of a marital union, canceling the legal duties and responsibilities of marriage and dissolving the bonds of matrimony between the parties...
money
Money
Money is any object or record that is generally accepted as payment for goods and services and repayment of debts in a given country or socio-economic context. The main functions of money are distinguished as: a medium of exchange; a unit of account; a store of value; and, occasionally in the past,...
. He went to "Evil 101" where his teacher, Dr. Gevaarlijk (which means "dangerous", in dutch), openly displayed her hatred of him and failed him.
Creation and design
When Jeff "Swampy" Marsh and Dan PovenmireDan Povenmire
Daniel Kingsley "Dan" Povenmire is an American television director, writer, producer, storyboard artist, and actor associated with several animated television series, best known as the co-creator of the Disney animated series Phineas and Ferb in which he also voices the show's villain, Heinz...
were working on the Nickelodeon
Nickelodeon (TV channel)
Nickelodeon, often simply called Nick and originally named Pinwheel, is an American children's channel owned by MTV Networks, a subsidiary of Viacom International. The channel is primarily aimed at children ages 7–17, with the exception of their weekday morning program block aimed at preschoolers...
animated series Rocko's Modern Life
Rocko's Modern Life
Rocko's Modern Life is an animated series created by Joe Murray. The show aired for four seasons between 1993 and 1996 on Nickelodeon. Rocko's Modern Life is based around the surreal, parodic adventures of an anthropomorphic wallaby named Rocko, and his life in the city of O-Town...
, they always had two things in episodes they worked on: a song or a musical number and an action/chase scene. When they created Phineas and Ferb, they wanted to incorporate this trait into that series too. They used a platypus secret agent to do so, due to the animal's interesting appearance, and wanted to have a continuous nemesis for him that the viewers could get to know. They chose one named "Dr. Meddleshmirtz;" Meddleshmirtz was a prototype for Doofenshmirtz and carried a majority of his traits. His name eventually was changed to "Doofenshmirtz."
Every main character of the series was designed to incorporate geometric shapes in reminiscence of Tex Avery
Tex Avery
Frederick Bean "Fred/Tex" Avery was an American animator, cartoonist, voice actor and director, famous for producing animated cartoons during The Golden Age of Hollywood animation. He did his most significant work for the Warner Bros...
's graphic style for his Looney Tunes
Looney Tunes
Looney Tunes is a Warner Bros. animated cartoon series. It preceded the Merrie Melodies series and was Warner Bros.'s first animated theatrical series. Since its first official release, 1930's Sinkin' in the Bathtub, the series has become a worldwide media franchise, spawning several television...
cartoons; Doofenshmirtz himself appearing to use that of an oval
Oval
An oval is any curve resembling an egg or an ellipse, such as a Cassini oval. The term does not have a precise mathematical definition except in one area oval , but it may also refer to:* A sporting arena of oval shape** a cricket field...
. They were as well meant to be drawn very simple, so that the child viewers could draw them easily themselves. Each one was designed to be recognizable from a distance or, as Povenmire notes as a reference to Matt Groening
Matt Groening
Matthew Abram "Matt" Groening is an American cartoonist, screenwriter, and producer. He is the creator of the comic strip Life in Hell as well as two successful television series, The Simpsons and Futurama....
and The Simpsons
The Simpsons
The Simpsons is an American animated sitcom created by Matt Groening for the Fox Broadcasting Company. The series is a satirical parody of a middle class American lifestyle epitomized by its family of the same name, which consists of Homer, Marge, Bart, Lisa and Maggie...
, by silhouette
Silhouette
A silhouette is the image of a person, an object or scene consisting of the outline and a basically featureless interior, with the silhouetted object usually being black. Although the art form has been popular since the mid-18th century, the term “silhouette” was seldom used until the early decades...
.
Voice
Co-creator and executive producer Dan Povenmire voices Doofenshmirtz. He describes the voice he uses as "vaguely Eastern European" and is one he used at fifteen years old when having pillow fights and such with his five year old sister. To this day, his sister recognizes the voice and asks him to do it frequently. During recording sessions, Povenmire is easily able to ad-lib and improvise; the writers are known to change his lines around and add new ones without throwing him off. Povenmire sometimes adds his own lines to mix with the script, as well as being asked to alternate his voice to enunciate his lines. Povenmire is usually asked to perform the voice in interviews and performs the voice for his daughter's friends.Personality
Doofenshmirtz is portrayed as an evil mad scientist who despises almost everything around him, including pelicans, ear hair and obscure things such as musical instruments starting with the letter "B." Throughout the series, this is explained more and more, and is attributed to his broken upbringing with overprotective yet unloving mother and his verbally abusive father. Doofenshmirtz treats his nemesis Perry the PlatypusPerry the Platypus
Perry the Platypus, also known as Agent P or simply Perry is an anthropomorphic platypus from the animated television series Phineas and Ferb. Perry is voiced by Dee Bradley Baker and created by the series' co-founders, Dan Povenmire and Jeff "Swampy" Marsh...
as his best friend, and is often concerned for Perry when he does not arrive at the scene of his next scheme, hesitating to execute his plans and fearing for where Perry has gone - though he notes that he "hopes something terrible has happened to him." It was also shown in one episode that all his traps were platypus-sized indicating that they have always been arch rivals. Doofenshmirtz's relationship with Perry has also been used to his advantage, as he once replaced Perry as his nemesis with a secret agent panda bear to cause depression in Perry, causing a distraction from his actual plot to freeze agents to use as a giant chess
Chess
Chess is a two-player board game played on a chessboard, a square-checkered board with 64 squares arranged in an eight-by-eight grid. It is one of the world's most popular games, played by millions of people worldwide at home, in clubs, online, by correspondence, and in tournaments.Each player...
set. When Perry is re-assigned by the Agency to a higher-leveled threat, The Regurgitator, leaving Doofenshmirtz classified as a low-level threat who would be dealt with by a secret agent snail
Snail
Snail is a common name applied to most of the members of the molluscan class Gastropoda that have coiled shells in the adult stage. When the word is used in its most general sense, it includes sea snails, land snails and freshwater snails. The word snail without any qualifier is however more often...
, Doofenshmirtz himself took up an internship with the new villain to assist him in ultimately defeating the new threat and keeping Perry as his nemesis. It is either shown that he is better than all other evil scientists or Perry goes easy on him, as in the episode Oh There You Are Perry, Perry imprisoned an evil scientist in less than a day's time. He is shown to be devoted to his daughter, Vanessa, often trying to impress her every time they meet but always ends up failing. There are times though that she shows she likes her father although she was not aware that whatever it is that makes her like him is with the help of Perry the Platypus. In the episode "Hail, Doofania!" Vanessa acted like Candace trying to bust her father to her mom that he is really pure evil. He also has a robot named Norm whose appearance is based on that of his brother Roger, showing that he may have some love for his brother.
Reception
In a generally negative review of the series during 2008 for Toon Zone, Maxie Zeus notes that a large bright side of the series is Povenmire's performance as Doofenshmirtz. Zeus states that "Dan Povenmire voices him with such energy, and with such perfect timing, that you'll laugh out loud even at the stuff that isn't even supposed to be funny." Zeus as well says that the Doofenshmirtz subplot would have made a "fine bit of sketch writing" if trimmed down.In 2009, Josh Jackson, editor-in-chief for Paste Magazine
Paste (magazine)
Paste is a monthly music and entertainment digital magazine published in the United States by Wolfgang's Vault. Its tagline is "Signs of Life in Music, Film and Culture."-History:...
, wrote in a blog that Phineas and Ferb was "the best kids show on TV" and gave Doofenshmirtz a large amount of praise. He calls his inventions "awesomely designated devices of pure evil" and his complex relationship with his nemesis Perry the Platypus as "pitch-perfect."