because he's phil phil phil of the future he's a 22nd century man back in the early mid-2000s
we took a holiday through history with the diffie family as they got stuck in our time
zone wow is that such an incredible theme song or what i mean honestly if you don't
remember the show too much the theme song was killer and come on the same people behind the
sweet life of zack and cody's theme song made it so you know it's a bop shortly after disney
plus launched back in 2019 one of the first shows i rewatched and binged completely was
fill of the future i remember when the show was on tv and was blown away at this moment i mean no
it doesn't look the best in retrospect but to the younger me this was cool so cool he's so cool so
i wanted to take some time here today and talk about the show the short but sweet life it had
on tv and hopefully see if there's any others out there who enjoy it or have some thoughts
on the show as well and what better year to speak about the show about a family from the year 2121
literally 100 years from the current year so strap in and prepare to travel through time
fill the future was a disney channel original sitcom that first aired on disney's flagship
channel between june 18th 2004 and august 19th 2006. spanning two seasons the series
was centered around the 22nd century diffie family who after crash landing their used time machine
they rented for the family vacation get stuck in 2004 unable to return to the year of 2121
the diffies have to do their best to blend into suburban mid-2000s pickford without raising the
suspicions of nosy supporting characters of their futuristic origins the series main character is
15 year old phil diffy thus you know the name of the show and his adjustment to life as a modern
teenager at h.g wells high school h.g wells of course as many classic sci-fi fans probably know
is the author of the classic 1895 novel the time machine as well as known as the father of science
fiction in general so that's fun the show takes place in real time with the two years the show
was on the air corresponding with the two years the diffi family ended up spending in the present
or i guess now is it the past i don't know time's weird with them landing in 2004 and spoiler alert
leaving in 2006 with the finale titled back to the future not the movie which is kind of funny phil
the future starred iconic disney channel actor and certified member of disney channel's circle
of stars ricky ullman who was another hit disney media such as pixel perfect and was created by
douglas tuber and tim miley can stick around phil will be right back on disney channel
let's blast the ramo back to fill of the future on disney channel
phil diffy is an easygoing 22nd century teenager who despite his clear intelligence
often comes off as naive or weird to his 21st century peers because of his ignorance of
21st century tech and culture phil spends most of the series just trying to survive
modern high school or for us 2004 high school often using the futuristic tech his family
brought with them on vacation to cut corners or get ahead or to just impress keely beyond phil
the out of time diffi family also included phil's father lloyd diffy who spends most of the series
either trying to fix the time machine working his modern job at mantis hardware or paranoidally
trying to prevent the current government from finding out that his family is from the future
barbara diffie a hands-off kind of mother who is obsessed with how things in the 21st century work
and phil's little sister pim diffy a troublemaker who is constantly trying to either prank phil
or dominate the world odd note originally barbara diffy was going to have a detachable
head in a robotic body which is interesting in the first season as she's always wearing chokers and
turtlenecks to cover up where that head seam would be but anything related to this was eventually
edited out before airing despite this being in early advertisements man i'm still waiting for
the whole futurama head in the jar thing to be a reality so i can live on a shelf and annoy my
great great great grandchild's family with my back in the day tv show and cartoon knowledge
one can dream also living in the diffy household is curtis a caveman who stowed away on the diffies
time machine during one of their prehistoric stops before getting stuck with them in 2004
over the course of the series curtis becomes more and more modernized as can be seen as he gets a
job with lloyd at mantis hardware despite that he does occasionally revert back to his caveman
instincts often causing issues for the diffi family the main antagonist of the show if any
character can even be classified as such is h.g wells high school vice principal neil hackett vp
hackett's strong belief in the existence of aliens and the diffies family's strange behavior has
him spending most of the series trying to prove that the diffies are aliens in disguise jp manau
who plays vice principal neil hackett also plays curtis implying that curtis might be his distant
ancestor in the series jp was also in that caveman show you vaguely remember as a thing that may have
existed and it totally did for a brief minute by the way outside of the diffi family the only
person who knows that phil is from the future is his best friend and eventual love interest keely
teslo who learns about phil's origins pretty early on phil the future was notably brenda song's first
recurring role on the disney channel with her playing the part of tia healy and phil's friend
brenda ended up leaving the show for its second season to take up her iconic role as london tipped
in on the suite life of zach and cody the show was also for a handful of episodes home to evan
peters as seth and the exact teenage role fashion evan peters would play within multiple productions
you're telling me there's a difference between evan is seth and phil in the future and evan is
russell and sleepover exactly in the final episode of fill of the future back to the future not the
movie long time will they won't they couple phil and keely finally get together a fact that was a
bright spot for many of the viewers back then immediately after this though in a dark spot
in many young childhoods lloyd diffy reveals that he finally managed to fix the family time machine
with the revelation that he had been deliberately stalling fixing it since the family was so happy
living in the past but as it got harder and harder to keep the family's secret
secret he had decided it would be best to travel back to the time they belong keely and phil have
a dramatic parting after phil convinces his father to go back so he can say goodbye to her properly
and in doing so keely makes phil promise to wait for her i don't know about that phil i think she's
just gonna be about 132 years older than you with that the family climbs back into the time machine
and heads back to 2121 leaving the show on a romantic cliffhanger the show also ends in a plot
cliffhanger when in the last scene the family realizes they left curtis behind in the past
which is still curtis's future and now they do have to go back for him so while having an opening
for more if they were gonna do more seasons it still technically gave the show an ending of
sorts which kind of felt like a rarity for shows as short as only two seasons though actor ricky
olman says he himself does not know why the show was eventually canceled after 43 episodes
some fans speculate that disney decided to take the revenue that was made from the show and create
a new show with it this show ultimately being wizards of waverly place yes what i'm saying is
blame selena gomez for taking phil the future off the air okay relax i'm kidding blame david henry
i don't know why just do it all right but if you think about it wizards of waverly place is a very
similar concept to fill of the future both feature a family removed from the society around them
wizards versus humans future versus the past trying to blend in to protect a family wide secret
while using wacky and strange tools and devices magic for the russos 22nd century tech for the
diffies to get in and out of trouble and the entire series is leading up towards
one major event the family wizard competition or getting back to the future what makes this
show special and warrants the memories i have for it is that the show itself is quirky and
not the oh wow that person is so quirky type of quirky but the type of quirky that makes things
surreal in the weirdest of ways i've said quirky too much allowing itself to play out almost like a
live-action cartoon with ridiculous circumstances tongue-in-cheek dialogue the music and sound
effects that correspond with facial reactions movements as well as emphasizing the awkwardness
and even some fourth wall breaking i mean look at this moment as phil was trying to explain things
he'd rather do than hug his sister the intro starts playing until he pushes the card out of
the way saying wait he's not finished then once he is done cues the intro card to come in once more
i'm not finished the future tech and special effects in the show were always fun to see
making it stand out from the crowd of other disney shows as well sure some of them did have more
fantastical elements when we were blessed with anything sci-fi it was highly appreciated for
its blending of practical and cgi effects in the first season you can really feel the low budget
attitude that it had which gave it an even more charming feeling honestly like this flashback
scene to them finding curtis in the past and it's just some random place in the park or the
woods with a sipi a filter it had that charming aesthetic which propelled my enjoyment of the
show at first later on when the show felt more structured technically it carried the charm
through the spirit of the characters and the writing mixed with the music cues and beats it
was also always cool to get a look into the future not just by the gadgets we see throughout the show
but when phil uses like the virtue goggles with keely to virtually go into a mall of the future
now in saying all of this i wouldn't classify phil of the future as a particularly great show it most
likely wouldn't top your list of disney channel classics either i'm guessing but it did something
better than most short-lived shows and that was leave a so far real lifelong impression on me
my memories and fondness of it an easy watch with minimal dedication needed to get through
now having watched through it a third time personally on disney plus it's a nice distraction
for my sopranos re-watch that's for sure the show did well in also pushing ali mishaka into the
stardom light her character here keely is a great character to pair up with phil as phil being used
to a lot of the technology and futuristic stuff since that's the time he came from keely gets to
be us that reactionary wow look at that what is this type of character in the show she also has
her own interests and passions like journalism and we do have dedicated episodes of exploring
that here within the show and like i said earlier there's that will they won't they that she has
between phil throughout the series leading up to the final moments before he heads back to
the future but i'ma use that word again quirkiness it just embodies her character throughout it ali's
stardom was really just beginning because outside of this bringing in her sister for the music that
they do to create the duo of ally and aj was a huge phenomenon at the time and they would even
get their own movie together later on called cowbellas maybe one day we'll take a look into
that disney channel original movie now phil the future did have some reruns later on on disney's
life i think even playing as late as 2017 but the only physical media ever released for this was in
2005 called gadgets and gizmos which contained four episodes of the show oh and it did have
a video game and like most disney channel live action shows turned video game it was released
for the gameboy advance in 2006 in which you play as phil taking down the clone pet creatures called
blas thanks to pym's misdoings it wasn't downright awful the feel of the future was an interesting
show with a fun premise and fun performances because it's such an easy watch and now it's
on streaming going through its 43 episodes it's a breeze and now for the third year in a row doing
so has me highly recommending you to check it out if you haven't or if you have give it a re-watch
yeah it's a bit dated and the first season has its rougher moments but it brings me back in time and
by the time it's over i'm ready to travel back to the present thanks so much for checking out
this video i appreciate it very much let me know your thoughts on phil the future as well as other
disney channel shows from this era we should check out here on the channel make sure to like
and subscribe for more content like this i'll be back with another video soon but until then later
you