Phil of the Future

Phil of the Future
Format	Situation comedy Science-fiction
Created by	Tim Maile Douglas Tuber
Starring	Ricky Ullman Alyson Michalka Amy Bruckner Craig Anton Lise Simms
Theme music composer	John Adair & Steve Hampton
Opening theme	"Phil of the Future (main theme)", performed by Loren Ellis and the Drew Davis Band
Ending theme	"Phil of the Future (instrumental)"
Country of origin	United States
Language(s)	English
No. of seasons	2
No. of episodes	43 (List of episodes)
Production
Executive producer(s)	Tim Maile Douglas Tuber Tom Burkhard Matt Dearborn Tim O'Donnell (all; season 1) Michael Curtis Roger S.H. Schulman (both; season 2)
Location(s)	Pickford, CA (setting) Ren-Mar Studios, Hollywood, CA (filming location, season 1) Occidental Studios, Hollywood, CA (filming location, season 2)
Camera setup	Film; Single-camera
Running time	22 minutes
Production company(s)	2121 Productions Disney Channel Original Productions
Broadcast
Original channel	Disney Channel
Picture format	480i (SDTV)
Original run	June 18, 2004 (2004-06-18) – August 19, 2006 (2006-08-19)
External links
Website

Phil of the Future is an American situation comedy that originally aired on Disney Channel from June 18, 2004, to August 19, 2006 for a total of two seasons. The series was created by Tim Maile and Douglas Tuber and produced by 2121 Productions, a part of Brookwell McNamara Entertainment. The series follows a family from the future that gets stranded in the present day when their time machine breaks down.

Synopsis

Main article: List of Phil of the Future episodes

While on a time travel vacation, teenager Phil Diffy and his seemingly average family from the year 2121 get stranded in Pickford, California in the present day (2004 at the start of the series). While waiting to return home, the Diffys struggle to keep their actual identities secret while Phil and his incorrigible little sister Pim adjust to a new home. Phil finds a trusted friend in neighbor Keely and together they navigate their school campus, grappling with the same thing that teenagers of all time must face — fitting in.

The first season focuses around the Diffy family's attempt to fit into the society of 2004 and to repair the time machine to return to 2121. Vice Principal Neil Hackett attempted to discover that the family is from the future.

The second season of continues the scenario of the Diffy family stranded in "modern" society. The season focuses more on Phil and Keely's friendship turning into boyfriend and girlfriend (in the last episode) and Pim trying to rule the world.

Characters

Main characters

• Philip "Phil" Diffy (Ricky Ullman)

Phil Diffy (born 2107) is the main character in the series. He was a 9th (Season 1) / 10th (Season 2) grader at H.G. Wells Junior/Senior High School. He seemed to be the most "in tune" with how things work in this century. Phil frequently had to make up excuses to hide the fact that he was from the future. He's the best friend of Keely Teslow and eventually her boyfriend. Phil is two years older than Pim.

• Keely Teslow (Alyson Michalka)

Keely Teslow (born March 1990) is Phil's best friend and eventually his girlfriend. She is the only person who knows Phil and his family are from the future. Keely Teslow is an energetic and bubbly girl who aspires to be a reporter. She starts to harbor romantic feelings for Phil during Season 2. She sometimes uses Phil's gadgets as a shortcut for schoolwork. She is notable on the show for her numerous hairstyles and colorful clothes. In the later episodes of the show, she hosts her own daily news program on the school's closed-circuit television broadcasting system. In the episode "The Giggle", she gets to look ahead at her own future and learns that she does, in fact, become a successful news reporter. It is also noted that she is wearing a wedding ring, but turns down the chance to see who her husband is. In the final episode she and Phil finally reveal their feelings for each other and start dating after being voted Cutest Couple. However, shortly after they begin dating, Pim helps Lloyd finally repair the time machine. Keely asks Phil to wait for her in the future, which he agrees to.

• Pim Diffy (Amy Bruckner)

Pim Diffy (born 2109) is Phil's younger sister. She is a 7th (Season 1) / 8th (Season 2) grader at H.G. Wells Junior/Senior High. Pim was a mischievous girl who was constantly up to no good and was even prone to megalomania.Pim was especially known for liking to pull pranks on people, mainly on Phil, Debbie Berwick and Vice Principal Hackett. Pim tried to make Phil miserable whenever she could. She hung out with a young boy "Li'l Danny" Dawkins". She also tried to avoid Debbie Berwick and Candida. Repeatedly in the show, she looked for ways to dominate the world, and universe. Even though Pim often caused trouble for Phil, and has a tough attitude, she also cared about her brother but kept it hidden most of the time. Pim is two years younger than Phil.

• Lloyd Diffy (Craig Anton)

Lloyd Diffy (born 2074) is Phil and Pim's goofy dad, who was working on repairing the time machine. He was an engineer in 2121, and loves "older music". He was paranoid about the government (and Vice Principal Hackett) figuring out he and his family are from the future. During the Diffys' stay, Lloyd and Curtis got jobs at the Mantis hardware store. Lloyd is two years older than Barb. His name may be a reference to Christopher Lloyd, who starred in Back to the Future.

• Barbara "Barb" Diffy (Lise Simms)

Barbara Diffy (née Speckle; born 2076) is Phil and Pim's mom. She is very interested in how things work in this century. Unlike other mothers, though, Barbara seems to let her kids figure things out on their own. She loves to cook the old fashioned way, however, her food usually ends up with something being wrong, because in 2121 they spray food out of a can. Before the show premiered, it was said she had an artificial body, but none of the episodes ever proved this. She forced Pim to be friends with Debbie even though Pim hated Debbie. Her maiden name is revealed in "Not So Great-Great-Grandpa". Barb is two years younger than Lloyd.

• Curtis, the Caveman (J. P. Manoux)

Curtis (born circa 30,000 B.C.E.) is a caveman (Cro-Magnon, as mentioned in Dinner Time) who stowed away in the Diffy's time machine when they went back to visit the Stone Age. The Diffys struggle to make Curtis seem like a normal person, and often pretend he is Phil's uncle. Throughout the episodes, he learns more English.

• Vice Principal Neil Hackett (J. P. Manoux)

Vice Principal Hackett (born 1969) is the Vice Principal at Phil, Keely and Pim's school, H.G. Wells Junior/Senior High School. In the school, he is Phil's teacher in science and Pim's teacher in history. He is often found snooping around the Diffys' house as he tries to figure out where they are really from, though he believes that they are aliens. He is the main antagonist of the series.

Recurring characters

• Ms. Winston (Suzanne Krull)

A 2nd grade teacher in Season 1 (in whose writing class Phil had to attend in episode "Tanner"), and Pim's teacher in Season 2.

Season 1

• Bradley Benjamin Farmer (Rory Thost)

Pim's rival in season 1. He is made fun of his short height (constantly being called a munchkin by Pim). He dated Debbie but Pim broke them up and he became infatuated with Pim.

• Deborah Hortence "Debbie" Berwick (Kay Panabaker)

Debbie is the complete opposite of Pim and she has a very happy attitude towards life. She hardly ever gets mad and is very nice. Debbie also considers Pim to be her best friend. Because of this Pim likes to take advantage of Debbie's good-natured personality. She doesn't like raisins or chihuahuas or naughty nibblers. She lives with her grandma and her curfew is 6:00 pm. Debbie also teaches a yoga class. Her other friends are Neckbrace Lana and Silent Judy. Debbie used to date Bradley until Pim broke them up by changing Debbie's personality but Debbie went back to normal. Debbie enjoys singing and is in the school band. It was revealed that she can hold a note for a very long time.

She is written out of the show in season 2. It was revealed in the Halloween special that she was an evil "happy" cyborg from the future that could only do good and was always happy, until finally snapping and attempting to "nicely" conquer the world through mind-controlling cupcakes. At the episode's conclusion, Phil was forced to melt her.

• Neckbrace Lana (Carlie Westerman)

Lana is a girl who did the school news and was in Pim's grade. She and Pim hated each other.

• Seth Wassmer (Evan Peters)

Seth is the nerdy friend of Phil, Keely and Tia. Replaced by Owen in season 2.

• Tanner Kirkpatrick (Chris Hunter)

A crush of Keely's in the episode "Your Cheatin' Heart" and was in the show most of the season. Phil seems to dislikes him and sometimes cracks jokes about him.

• Tia (Brenda Song)

Keely's best friend. She is pretty, popular and friendly. She is friendly and described as the girl next door by Phil. Replaced by Via in season 2, due to Brenda Song leaving the show to star in The Suite Life of Zack and Cody.

Season 2

• Candida (Spencer Locke)

The "mean" girl that excludes Pim and insults her by frequently referring to her as "Pim-ple". She is referred to as one of the "fashion zombies" by Pim.

• "Lil Danny" Dawkins (Brandon Smith)

He has a crush on Pim and always gets involved with her antics. Pim does not seem to show affection for him, with the exception of when they danced at the dance in the episode "Get Ready To Go-Go".

• Joel Messerschmit (Joel Brooks)

Phil and Keeley's teacher who has the certain pleasure for giving extremely difficult assignments for most students to actually fail. He has a sister named Bettina (also played by Brooks) and a nephew, Nathan (Josh Flitter) who both shockingly carry the same family trait of having a mustache. He reveals in The Giggle that his parents were acrobats.

• Olivia ("Via") (Juliet Holland-Rose)

Via is a girl from England, transferred because her father's in the military. She became friends with Keely after Tia moved. In the episode "Get Ready to Go-Go," Phil went to a Sadie Hawkins dance with her, after a near-miss in returning to the future ruined his plans to go with Keely.

• Owen (Michael Mitchell)

Phil's friend who replaced Seth. He is not that smart and is laid-back, also constantly trying to hit on girls (though he never succeeds).

Production

Phil of the Future's working title was The Out of Timers, and was originally intended to star Wilder Shaw.^{[citation needed]} The title theme song for Phil of the Future was written by John Adair and Steve Hampton. It was sung by Loren Ellis and The Drew Davis Band [1], who also sang the theme song of The Suite Life of Zack & Cody.

Mythology

The future

Throughout the show, there are scattered descriptions of the Diffy family's time period and other bits of "future history."

• By 2121, world peace has been achieved and is celebrated in a holiday called Unification Day.
• At an unspecified time, probably before Unification Day, was the tyrannical reign of Abraham Lin-Clone, a clone of United States President Abraham Lincoln who, among other crimes, abused his hypnotic powers and was eventually imprisoned for life.
• Diamonds are considered worthless but aluminum foil is highly valuable.
• Nobody has a pinky toe in the future, as deemed "useless" by Barb. This gives Phil trouble in "You Say Toe-Mato", when his class squishes tomatoes with their feet.
• Lobsters have become extinct.
• Aliens may have become associated with human beings.

Gadgets used in the series

DNA Scrambler - Manipulates the DNA of the person it is used on Dress-Me Hoop - Used to automatically dress a person when he or she goes through it Holographic Tracking Sensor - Can be used to track a subject I Want Straight Hair - Makes frizzy, messy hair instantly neat and straight Insta Morph - Morphs the appearance of the subject into that of another. (As seen in "Not-So-Great Great Great Grandpa", "Stuck in the Meddle With You", "Your Cheatin' Heart", "Dinner Time", and "Pim-Cipal"). Invisi-Spray - Used to make someone invisible. (As seen in "Double Trouble"). Laser Squash - A futuristic version of handball. (As seen in "Unification Day" and "It's a Wonder-Phil Life".) New-Ager - Can make objects look and/or act older or younger (Such as people or plants) (As seen in "Age Before Beauty" and "Maybe-Sitting") Omnimatic Grabifiers - Works as a laser operated gripping device, used for climbing. Penny Missile - Springing clip Replicator - Replicates (or clones) the subject. Skyak - A futuristic flying vehicle, which resembles a jet-ski (as seen in "Phillin' In", "You Say Toe-Mato", "Dinner Time", and "Tia, Via, and Me... Uh").

Nose Lock - Lock similar to a fingerprint lock, it will only open if the user puts the proper nose in the lock. Spray Food Cans - Spray cans that make any kind of food with a foam-like spray (as seen in "Unification Day" and "Future Tutor"). The Giggle - A futuristic version of the internet that can view the future up to the year 2121. According to Phil, it replaced the thing that replaced the thing that killed the current (2008) internet in the Pay-Per-View Battle Royale. It is portrayed as a version of Google. Time Machine - A vehicle for traveling through time. Has the external appearance of an early 21st century motorhome, but a futuristic internal appearance (as seen in the episodes "Back to the Future (Not The Movie)", "Future Tutor", and "Corner Pocket"). Virtu-Goggles - Strap-on goggles that lets people view and experience a virtual reality world. (Only seen in "Virtu-Date") Wizard - Can do many things; does not work properly around pudding. Cine-Specs - Used to view futuristic movies on. Looks like regular sunglasses. Food 5000 Yummilizer - Can create any kind of food on voice command. (As seen in "Dinner Time"). After Burner - An upgrade for the Skyak. Androider - An attachment for the Wizard which gives a person the muscles of an android.

Merchandise

DVD releases

Gadgets & Gizmos

(Released August 16, 2005)^[1]

Episodes:

• "My Way"
• "Age Before Beauty"
• "Double Trouble"
• "Team Diffy" (aired after video's release)

Disney Channel Holiday

(Released November 1, 2005)^[2]

Episodes:

• "Christmas Break" (as an extra)

Video game

Phil has a new adventure in his video game Phil of the Future, which is marketed by Buena Vista Games. Pim uses a cloning machine to create Blahs, mischievous and trouble-making pets from the future, and it is up to Phil to prevent the attacks. Players must overcome numerous obstacles and challenges to help Phil capture the Blahs and save the day. Players can play as Phil, Curtis, or Keely.

Awards and Nominations

• Directors Guild of America

2007 - Outstanding Directorial Achievement in Children's Programs - Fred Savage for episode "Not So Great Great Great Grandpa" (Nominated)

• Writers Guild of America

2007 - Children's Episodic & Specials - David Steven Cohen for episode "Broadcast Blues" (Nominated)

• Young Artist Awards

2006 - Best Performance in a TV Series (Comedy or Drama): Leading Young Actress - Amy Bruckner (Nominated)

2005 - Best Performance in a TV Series (Comedy or Drama): Leading Young Actress - Alyson Michalka (Nominated)

2005 - Best Performance in a Television Series: Recurring Young Actor - Rory Thost (Nominated)

2005 - Best Performance in a Television Series: Recurring Young Actress - Kay Panabaker (Nominated)

References

1. ^ Amazon.com: Phil of the Future - Gadgets & Gizmos: Curt Dousett, David Kendall (II), Sean McNamara, Savage Steve Holland, Henry Chan (IV), Andrew Tsao, Neal Israel, Tim O'Donn...
2. ^ Amazon.com: Disney Channel Holiday: Disney Channel Holiday Compilation: Movies & TV

External links

• Phil of the Future at the Internet Movie Database
• Phil of the Future at TV.com