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Phil of the Future

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Phil of the Future
File:POTFCast.jpg
Created byDouglas Tuber
Tim Maile
StarringRicky Ullman as Phil Diffy
Amy Bruckner as Pim Diffy
Alyson Michalka as Keely Teslow
Craig Anton as Lloyd Diffy
Lise Simms as Barbara Diffy
Country of originUSA
No. of episodes43
Production
Executive producersDouglas Tuber
Tim Maile
(season 1)
Roger S.H. Schulman
Michael Curtis (season 2)
Running timeapprox. 0:23 (per episode)
Original release
NetworkDisney Channel
ReleaseJune 18, 2004 –
August 19, 2006

Phil of the Future was an American comedy children's television series that was produced by 2121 Productions (a part of Brookwell McNamara Entertainment). It debuted on June 18, 2004 on the Disney Channel, and ended on August 19, 2006 as part of the Disney Channel Games.. Stars of the show include Ricky Ullman (Phil Diffy), Amy Bruckner (Pim Diffy), and Alyson Michalka (Keely Teslow). The series finale aired in the US on Saturday, August 19, 2006.

Main characters

  • Phil Diffy (born 2106), played by Ricky Ullman (Raviv Ullman): Phil Diffy is a teenage boy from the year 2121 who is stuck in our time period. He seems to be the most "in tuned" with how things work in this century. Phil frequently has to make up excuses to hide the fact that he is from the future. Phil has tons of futuristic gadgets; at least one is used in each episode of Phil of the Future. He spends most of his spare time with his best friend Keely Teslow, whom he seems to have a crush on.
  • Pim Diffy (born 2109), played by Amy Bruckner (Amelia Ellen Bruckner): Pim Diffy is Phil's younger sister. Pim is a mischievous girl who is constantly up to no-good. Pim tries to make Phil miserable whenever she can. She hangs out with a fly young boy Lil' Danny Dawkins. She also tries to avoid Debby Berwick by finding ways to torture her.
  • Keely Teslow (born 1989), played by Alyson Michalka (Alyson Renae Michalka): Keely Teslow is Phil's best friend. 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 reveals in the episode My Way that she secretly wanted to be a singer but that notion seems to disappear after that one episode. She seems to have a crush on Phil, which Phil seems to share; although neither will admit it until the Season 2 finale "Back to the Future" where they decide to be a couple and start a relationship. She sometimes uses Phil's gadgets as a shortcut for schoolwork. She is notable on the show for her numerous hairstyles and colorful clothes.
  • Lloyd Diffy (born 2083), played by Craig Anton (Craig Ward Anton): Lloyd Diffy is Phil's goofy dad, who is working on repairing the time machine. He was an engineer in 2121, and loves "older music". He is paranoid about the government figuring out he and his family are from the future. He currently works at the Mantis hardware store.
  • Barbara Diffy (born 2085), played by Lise Simms (Elisabeth Caroline Simms): Barbara Diffy is Phil's mom. She is very good at communicating with her kids, and they often consult her in situations in which they need advice. She is sweet and kind. Unlike other mothers though, Barbara seems to let her kids figure things out on their own, and she can't cook food (a plot device used to parody the sitcom moms who are excellent cooks) because in 2121 they spray food out of a can.

Recurring Characters

  • Debbie Berwick (born 1990), played by Kay Panabaker (Stephanie Kay Panabaker): An overly happy, peppy, girl who only hates raisins. In the Halloween special, it is revealed that she is a dangerous cyborg sent back to 2005 to protect 2121. This is just a Halloween story though. She is absent in season two because she got a role as Nikki Westerly on The WB's Summerland.Also stars in Read it and Weep as Jamie
  • Curtis the Caveman (born c. 30,000,000 BC), played by J.P. Manoux (Jean-Paul Christophe Manoux): A caveman that stowed away on the family's time machine and is currently living in the Diffys' garage. He is often used in Pim's schemes. In the episode "Phillin' In", it is revealed his favorite treat is Wallaberries.
  • Neil Hackett (born 1969), played by J.P. Manoux (Jean-Paul Christophe Manoux): The vice-principal of H.G. Wells High School, Hackett suspects that Phil and his family are up to something but can never prove it. He is basically a benign and rather silly fellow. He is also suspicious of the Diffys, as he thinks they are aliens. And from day one he has had ongoing problems with Pim. He is enormously conceited, as revealed in one episode where he is confronted with his own clone and gasps, "He's beautiful...")
  • Tia (born 1988), played by Brenda Song: Keely's best girlfriend in Season One. Tia was said to have moved from Pickford and is consequently not seen in Season Two.
  • Seth Wosmer (born 1987), played by Evan Peters: The fourth member of Phil's little group, Seth is something of a nerd. He loves algebra, revealed in the pilot episode. It is revealed in one episode he is a member of the school billiard team. This character is not seen in Season two.
  • Bradley Benjamin Farmer, played by Rory Thost: The member of many school clubs, Pim has a rival in Bradley. He often has wound up helping Pim out of fear. Bradley has also started hitting on Pim since he and Debbie broke up, although he is not seen in Season Two.
  • Ms. Winston, played by Suzanne Krull: Pim's English teacher, who can be very mean and intimidating, but does show her soft side occasionally. She also taught Phil how to write more neatly, when she was teaching a second grade class.
  • Via, played by Juliet Holland-Rose: A new student who is Keely's new girlfriend. Via has an English accent. Via was introduced in Season Two. Via is the replacement of Tia.
  • Owen, played by Michael Mitchell: A smooth talker who is Phil Diffy's rival/friend. He is exceptionally self-confident, and even arrogant at times. Owen was introduced in Season Two. Owen is a replacement of Seth.
  • The Fashion Zombies: A group of rich and popular girls, led by Candida, played by Spencer Locke, who's role purpose is to make Pim's life miserable. The Fashion Zombies were introduced in Season Two. The Fashion Zombies replace Debbie.
  • Lil' Danny Dawkins, played by Brandon Smith (Brandon Mychal Smith): Introduced in Season Two, Seems to have a crush on Pim Diffy and Pim actually likes to hang around with Danny. Danny replaces Bradley. Lil' Danny Dawkins found the wizard on the episode Where's The Wizard?
  • Mr. Messerschmidt, played by Joel Brooks: Also introduced in Season Two, he sometimes tortures students by making them take really hard tests. He's a mean, strict, and tough teacher at H.G. Wells high school. Mr. Messerschmidt is a replacement of Ms. Winston.

Season 1

Phil Diffy, his sister Pim, his mother Barbara, and his father Lloyd, are from the year 2121. One day they rent a time machine for vacation and due to an accident they are stuck in the Christmas of the year 2003, and then progresses throughout natural time. (Due to the fact that the show was cancelled in 2005, we must assume the final episodes take place in 2005; this was when they filmed the final episodes, though they were released in 2006. But it is known that the very last episode takes place in 2006.) The family must adjust to life in the early 21st century while making sure that no one finds out they're from the future, hoping one day Lloyd will find all the missing parts to the time machine and they can go back home to the year 2121. Phil has a best friend named Keely Teslow who is the only person who knows his secret.

Episodes usually revolve around Phil and Keely. A secondary plot involving Pim is also shown in the episodes.

Season 2

The second season of Phil of the Future continued the scenario of the Diffy family being stranded in the past. However, the show's focus shifted to focusing on Phil Diffy and Keely Teslow's relationship and the foreshadowing of a romantic relationship between the two friends.

Some of the major episodes in season two have included: "The Giggle" (Phil uses a futuristic search engine to see Keely's future), "Virtu-Date" (Phil gets jealous of a robot when he and Keely go on a virtual reality date), "Get Ready to Go-Go" (Phil and Keely finally go to the school dance), "Stuck in the Meddle With You" (Keely tries to hook up two of her classmates), and "Back to the Future" (Phil and his family go back to the future just as Phil and Keely decide to be a couple).

Season 2 changes Season 2 deals less with the futuristic gadgets and Phil trying to blend in, but more emphasis on Phil and Keely's friendship turning into something more, and trying to get back to the future. Spearheading the new direction was a new creative crew, including Michael Curtis (Friends) and Roger S. H. Schulman (Shrek) as Executive Producers.

The Season 1 characters Tia, played by Brenda Song (Keely's friend), Seth Wosmer (Phil's friend), Debbie Berwick, played by Kay Panabaker (Pim's perky nemesis), and Bradley Benjamin Farmer are no longer on the cast for Season 2. They had added four new characters: a smooth-talking guy named Owen, a young British lady named Via, Pim's new sidekick Lil Danny, and the fashion zombies led by a girl named Candida.

Former Cast Members

Season 2 characters

The second season adds new characters, who show up less than the characters from the first season, including: smooth-talker Owen, British and all-knowing Via, Pim's new sidekick, Lil' Danny Dawkins, and her enemies, The Fashion Zombies who were led by Candida, played by Spencer Locke.

There is also larger emphasis on J.P. Manoux's characters, Curtis the Caveman, as well as Vice-principal Neil Hackett in Season 2.

Also the second season featured a brand new opening credits sequence. In addition, Michael Curtis (Friends) and Roger S.H. Schulman (Living Single) were brought in as executive producers.

Series Finale

The series finale, Back to the Future (Not the Movie), first aired on August 19, 2006. Template:Spoiler Phil and Keely get voted cutest couple. Because of this, they decide to be a couple. However, Pim discovers that Lloyd knew how to fix the time machine the entire time but has chosen not to tell the family due to their happiness in the current century. Eventually Phil tells Keely that he is leaving. Also, once they get back to 2121, they cannot travel back in time because of a new law called the "Thanks to the Diffys Law". The entire family, including Pim, individually choose to destroy the time engine, but Phil stops them because he knows they belong in the future. The Diffys leave, but Phil begs to go back for five minutes to properly say good-bye to Keely. He kisses her and she kisses him back, and then he returns to the time machine. After a while, the family realizes that they have left Curtis back in the present, and Lloyd reluctantly throws the time machine into reverse to pick him up. Template:Endspoiler

Inconsistent Storylines

  • In "Team Diffy", Phil says that he can visit Keely from the future and Keely can come to the future, But in "Get Ready to Go-Go", Phil says if he leaves, they can never see each other again, which is also the case in "Time Release Capsule". But in the season finale of "Back to the Future" the rule is the same as it is in "Team Diffy" where they can visit each other, but they cannot any more because of the "Thanks to the Diffy's" Law.

Answers to these storylines: In "Time Release Capsule", he would never see Keely again because the Diffy's would've never gone back to the present because the logic was that Lloyd would've seen the note and known not to go.

Episodes

Main article: List of Phil of the Future episodes
  • Certain episodes of Phil of the Future can be seen here on the DisneyChannel.Com Channel.

Theme song

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 are also the singers for the theme song of The Suite Life of Zack and Cody.

Trivia

  • The series working title was going to be "The Out of Timers" but was later reworked to "Phil of the Future."
  • Wilder Shaw was originally going to play the role of Phil Diffy.
  • Phil Diffy's character was suppose to be age 12 instead of 15 and 16.
  • Phil's working name was going to be Felix Diffy.
  • The series was created and executive produced by Douglas Tuber & Tim Maile (Lizzie McGuire). They left the show after season 1.

Goofs and Notes

  • In the episode, The Giggle, Mr. Messerschmidt says he gave a hard test to an eleventh grader named Stacy Pimkins. When they briefly move the camera to show Stacy they show an elderly woman who could well be Mr. Messerschmidts mother. So if Stacy is younger than Mr. Messerschmidt it shouldn't look like she's older. This is actually to show that she is still taking the test and that's how hard it is.
  • In this same episode When Keely And Phil were working out Stacy Pimpkins was cheerleading but Messerschimdt said you cannot leave until the test is finished.
  • In the episode "Broadcast Blues", when Phil is hiding in the trash can filming Keely undercover as a janitor he isn't wearing headphones. When the shot cuts away and back to Phil he's wearing large headphones, and when the shot cuts away once again the headphones are around his neck.
  • In "Team Diffy," Andy Baxley- played by guest star Orlando Brown- zaps Phil with a wizard while he's pouring milk for Curtis. Phil spills milk all over Curtis and Keely, but when Phil and Keely greet Andy, Keely's shirt is clean.
  • In the episode "You Say Toe-mato", when Phil realizes that Keely said "You're about to eat ketchup right now," he throws the hot dog behind him and it lands on a guy's shirt. When the camera switches back to Phil, he has another hot dog with ketchup on it on his tray.
  • In the Season Finale, it is discovered that Lloyd was pretending to stay in the past so they could have fun. But in "Team Diffy" Lloyd was extremely glad that there was someone who can take them back to the Future. However, Lloyd may not have fixed the time machine by that episode and started pretending yet.
  • A short montage of clips from the pilot episode can be seen at the "BME BIO Page".
  • The episode name 'Broadcast Views' is also used as an episode name for the hit, Nickelodeon TV Show - Zoey 101, which is extremely popular.
  • In the season one episode "My Way", ep. #7 (ep. #15 in broadcast order), Keely (Alyson Michalka) sings the song "Protecting Me" three times in the episode. The song was written by Alyson's younger sister Amanda. A longer version can be heard on Aly & AJ's debut album "Into the Rush."
  • Promos from before the show debuted showed Barbara as a head with a cybernetic body. This has yet to appear in any episode or even be hinted at. It most likely will not happen because in the episode "Ill of the Future", she caught the virus too and if she had an artficial body that would be impossible. It has been said that due to the beheadings in the Middle East that the idea of Mrs. Diffy being able to remove her head would be inappropriate.
  • The webcomic The Wotch is referenced in one episode with Phil saying "It shouldn't end like this! This isn' the Wotch. With an o!"
  • In the episode where Phil finally tells Keely he is from the future we find out that in his time humans have only four toes. Though earlier on in the series we see Phil wearing sandals and he has five toes. However, Phil's dad makes a fake toe as seen in that episode.
  • In the episode "Phenomonally Yours" when Marla is crushing on Phil, the teacher reads Phil's poem and he starts with, "When I" which then gets taken by Phil. But when Phil starts it, he says, "I met." This may have been Phil starting where the teacher left off.
  • In that same episode when Debbie Berwick is singing that is actually Amanda Michalka's voice.
  • In the episode "Good Phil Hunting" when Phil poses as an AV club Mr.Hackett asks him "What is the first rule of AV club?" which Phil replies "Do not talk about AV club!", a direct reference to the 1999 film Fight Club.
  • The 4th wall is broken in "Ill of the Future". When the theme song is supposed to start, Phil pushes it back.
  • In the episode when Keely and Via met for the first time and became friends, Phil replicated Keely using the wizard but the wizard is a different one from the later seasons.
  • There has been much discontent and confusion amongst fans over Disney's possible (and uniquely untimely*) cancellation of the show, which is yet to be confirmed by Disney or any other reliable source. However, comments made by actors of the show and the pirated final episode "Back to the Future" implies the show is no longer in production.
  • In the episode "Wheres the Wizard?" Lil' Danny says "Tu me hablas español?" which means "You speak to me in Spanish?". However, the subtitles say "Am I Speaking Spanish?" which in Spanish is "Estoy hablando Español?". This also happens when he says, in English, "The fire truck is red." The subtitles say "El cámíon, bombero es rojo" when it's supposed to be "El camión bombero es rojo."
  • In the episode, "Back to the Future", Keely asks Phil if he'll wait for her in the future. It is strange for her to ask him this because she would be 132 years old and will most likely not be alive. Secondly, if anyone is asking that question, it should be Phil to Keely because she'll have to wait over 100 years, while he only has to wait until the "car" ride is over.

DVDs

Gadgets and Gizmos This DVD contains 4 episodes from season 1 of Phil of the Future. Episodes include: "Double Trouble," "Age Before Beauty," "My Way", and "Team Diffy." This DVD also contains bonus features including the "2121 Fall Cyber Catalogue," and audio commentary on "Team Diffy" With Ricky Ullman.

Disney Channel Holiday This DVD contains holiday episodes from selected Disney channel shows. The episode "Christmas Break" from Phil of the Future is featured, and it also contains episodes from Lizzie McGuire, Even Stevens, That's So Raven, The Suite Life of Zack and Cody, and Kim Possible.

Video Game

Phil has a new adventure in his video game "Phil of the Future", which is published by Buena Vista Games.

Gadgets Used in the TV Series

Wizard - Can perform multiple functions (Usually spelled Wzrd)

New Ager - Can make people older and younger

DNA Scrambler - Manipulates the DNA of the person it is used on

Insta Morph - Morphs the appearance of the subject into that of another

Skyak - A futuristic flying vehicle, which resembles a jet-ski

Penny Missile - Springing clip

The Giggle - A futuristic version of the internet

Replicator Gadget - Replicates (or 'clones') the subject

Holographic Tracking Sensor - Can be used to track a subject

Omnimatic Grapthifiers - Works as a laser operated gripping device, used for climbing

Virtu-Goggles - Strap-on goggles that lets people view and experience a virtual-reality world

Laser Squash - A futuristic version of handball

Spray Food Cans - Spray cans that make any kind of food

I Want Straight Hair - Makes frizzy, messy hair instantly neat

Dress Me Hoop - Used to automatically dress a person when he or she goes through it

Inviso-spray - Used to make someone invisible


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