Danny Phantom Review/Transcript

Tucker: Man, I cover for Danny, my movie gets sold out and I gotta watch this now...

(Intro)

Oh boy, this one! We've got a lot to talk about with Danny Phantom, and not a lot of time to do it. As I've said before for this marathon, I couldn't watch literally every single episode of every show, because that would be absolutely insane. For Danny Phantom though, that's a little bit harder to justify than something like...Ren & Stimpy. This is because Danny Phantom was a very groundbreaking show for the time. At least in terms of Western cartoons, and definitely groundbreaking on Nickelodeon. This might sound really absurd, like a stupid idea that no one would ever ever consider, but in the making of Danny Phantom, everyone just sat around on the table and they decided "what if the end of a single episode, wasn't actually the end of the story?" I know! It sounds absolutely crazy, and something that'll probably never ever catch on! I-I joke obviously, but yeah, in terms of Western animation, Danny Phantom was one of the first shows that wasn't entirely episodic. Not the absolute first, Teen Titans beat it to the punch a year prior, but it's still pretty impressive doing this in 2004, especially with the politics of Nickelodeon.

You see, even back then, Nickelodeon had this "delightful" little habit where they'd air the episodes of your show...whenever the fuck they wanted. Oh, you say that this is chapter 2 in your story? Well I'm pretty sure it'll fit much better after chapter 27. If you don't like it, we could air it in four in the morning! We've killed before, and we will do it again! In some ways, Danny Phantom does this better than its modern contemporaries. For example, it doesn't wait until literally episode 52 before it decides that things should be interesting, and then, ignore the fact that Earth can explode at any moment to have a birthday party! Hello Steven Universe!

In other ways, Danny Phantom really does feel like a show doing something super experimental, for the first time. In essence that it's, bound to not work as well as it should. Having a changing status quo was a double-edge sword for Danny Phantom. It's one of the things that gave this show a ton of intrigue and it kept fans coming back. Most times the show would change, if it at all, tended to be during a season finale. Or maybe a huge special that introduced a new character. But Danny Phantom was continually changing. New characters were constantly introduced. At the start of the series, Danny didn't have much control over his powers, but he got more and more as the series went on.

Of course, the bad side of this, is if you're not careful and you don't follow the plot threads that you've established, you end up with season 3 of Danny Phantom, which is quite possibly one of the most infamous seasons of a good cartoon ever made. I don't have time to go into all the little problems or even the big problems with season 3 right now, because quite frankly I wouldn't even know...where to begin? Let's just say that Nick-o-Rama here is giving me plenty of ideas for future atrocity reviews...and some admirables here and there. And some day, Danny Phantom season 3 is probably going to get the Korra season 1 style review. After I do Rick & Morty season 3. And Samurai Jack season 5. Those seasons are awful! Don't @ me.

A lot of the issues with season 3 of Danny Phantom were on the network's part. Not only did they air the episodes out of order, they literally aired each episode one day after the other. But not all of the problems were on Nickelodeon's part, so that's a discussion for another day. We need to talk about when the show is good. Because, the show in its prime was actually really good.

It stars Danny Fenton, a teenager who went into a ghost machine and ended up getting turned into a half-ghost. Or um...a "halfa" as the ghosts within the story call him. This can all be explained within the theme song. I complain time and time again about theme songs that use rap, but Danny Phantom is like, one of the three in the world that actually make it work. You need someone who really understands the genre and, DJ D-Wreck seems to be the guy who will fit the bill. By the way, the lyrics are clearly "Yo, Danny Phantom" and not "Young Danny Phantom," Butch. I know you wrote it, but let's be honest here, saying "young Danny Phantom," it's not good writing. Think about it, do you ever refer to any other teenagers as "young" 14-year-olds? It's like saying "a dead zombie" or "a wooden tree." It's a colloquial redundancy and it sounds awkward as hell.

Speaking of Butch Hartman, this is probably the show that's considered his "magnum opus," even though it's the least like his other shows. I mean when it comes to the drawing style even, it looks... the least like the Butch Hartman typical style. The show uses a lot of darker colors too, not quite Batman, but there's a lot of black and darker blues. It's also an action show, well, closer to a superhero show. It's not like the other Butch Hartman shows didn't have any comic book references, but this show here, really wanted to be a comic book in animation form. It's complete with these little title cards for each episode and I gotta say, these are really good and really clever. They fit the style and the theme beautifully.

Of course, being a superhero show, there are some things that you have to expect going in. Superhero shows meant something a little bit different back in 2004 than they do now. Nowadays we've got all kinds of them, and by that I mean one kind: "dark and gritty with an ugly green filter over the entire film about a bleak world and about all, let's call them, mature themes." We can probably thank Nolan and The Dark Knight for that. Back in the 2000s though...superheroes were a bit...cornier? During fights they'd give off these sometimes cheesy one-liners, and Danny Phantom fits its way right in there. So if you like those older style superhero stories, think the original Spiderman trilogy, then you'll really love this.

Definitely helping with this is that it really does use the best of the superhero genre. The action in the show is really good. I probably say this a lot with this marathon but it's not as good as Avatar, but the fight scenes, stand on their own. And they make clever use of Danny's ghost powers and the abilities of the various ghosts he comes across. And yes, there are the ghosts. You can't have a superhero show without a really good rogues gallery. Although...some try. Hello Powerpuff Girls 2016.

Danny Phantom's villains are really good and constantly memorable. Although, they do stray from the idea of ghosts, sometimes. Some of them are the traditional idea of a ghost, you know someone who died and can't move on for whatever reason, like Poindexter of Ember McLain. Some of them though...Medusa, like, the actual fucking Medusa from Greek mythology. Or, a-a tornado...spirit...thing. But that's kinda nitpicking a little bit, they do make good antagonists, usually. And they almost always tend to have a unique and interesting gimmick. Like Ember. She's a rock star who gets more and more powerful the more famous that she gets. And not all of the ghosts are immediately hostile either, that's a nice twist.

If I did have to complain about something though, it's that the cheese doesn't stop with the superhero one-liners. Butch Hartman was behind this show, and even if you couldn't tell through the art style, you can tell through the writing. There's a lot of what Alpha Jay has dubbed "Butch Hartman and then the opposite happens" style of jokes. Honestly, in some senses it can be kinda worse than his other shows. Because at least with The Fairly Oddparents, that humor fits. It does not go well in a more action-oriented show.

And then there are Danny's parents. Usually parents in cartoons are bad, but oh...boy...Danny's parents, his father especially try my patience. You will see this joke a lot: Jack Fenton is working on something. He leaves the room to do something stupid. And then whatever he was working on explodes or releases a ghost or outright attacks Danny. You will see this time and time again. Danny Phantom is a show that I really do like for the story, but unfortunately, its humor I just have to...tolerate. And that's not always easy to do. Although it is easier than tolerating Sam.

Danny: So, why exactly are we breaking our backs here, Sam?

Sam: Frogs' rights! We have to stop dissecting frogs in our school biology labs!

Vegetarians and Sam: -now! Veggies forever! Veggies now! Veggies forever!

Oh...God, Sam. This girl was planned to be Danny Phantom's love interest from the start? I'm sorry, I just don't see it. And a lot of people agree with me on that [Caption: This is a face that I want to punch.]. A lot of people say it's because she and Danny don't have chemistry. No, I don't see it because Sam is awful! Episode one, she gets the lunch menu changed to only have vegetarian options, not just add vegetarian options, but only have them. And then she gets angry when people don't seem to like being forced into her way of life. She rants about individuality, while forcing other people to follow her lifestyle! Episode two, she hates Pauline for no reason.

(Cut to Sam as a dragon holding Paulina captive)

Danny: Yep, that's Sam.

Yeah, she was right about Pauline eventually, but number one, she had no reason to believe that from the outset, and number two, that's a terrible message to give! Oh, yeah, it's okay to completely dislike people because, you're probably right and they're secretly awful. In episode three, she blackmails Danny and Tucker with a compromising photograph, while ranting about a gorilla.

Sam: First...*takes photo of Danny and Tucker cuddling each other in their sleep* *chuckles* Boys hugging makes every yearbook funny.

(A black screen with a caption reads: Sam just shit talked the LGBT community. Fuck off!)

In episode four, she's, just about lost me and she can go die. Yeah, she gets kinda better after a while, but that's a hard thing to recover from when she's constantly, and I mean constantly digging herself lower. She is like all the worst stereotypes of vegans, animal rights protesters, left-wing activists, and goths just rolled into one. And I kinda blame her for both inspiring some vegans to be so "up-in-their-ass" about being vegans and people hating vegans for no reason. If everyone who had both of these mindsets were inspired by her and her alone, I would not be surprised. "Oh hey, yeah, I'm going to ignore saving your life until you apologize for hanging out with the cool kids. Even though we didn't really have any plans on that day and shouldn't have a problem with it." 2000s cartoons and their ideas of friendship, man. They tend to be so screwed up.

Danny and Tucker I think are much better characters, they're not the greatest, but, Danny finally straddles that line that so many Nicktoons tried and failed before this. They finally got away from the typical "high school kid" and...actually made him interesting. We've come a long way from Doug. I-I really wish that it was just those two and Sam wasn't in this show at all. I get it though, because network politics every group of two boys needs to have a best friend who is a girl, but is not "a girlfriend" at the start. Even though Jazz would kind of apply here and she is better in every single way. Her trying to be a parent to both herself and Danny can come off as a bit obnoxious here and there, but it's clear that she does mean well and she isn't trying to be controlling. And considering the parenting competition, I think that it's more than a little bit excusable. I mean, Jack and Maddie did turn their son into a ghost. Well, a half-ghost. Although, in most of their appearances, they seem to be trying to finish the job...either by trying to hunt down Danny's ghost half and failing badly or trying to be a parent to Danny's human half and failing badly.

All in all though, Danny Phantom is a pretty good show...with a few weaknesses. It was pretty groundbreaking for the time, and it has both the good and bad side effects of that. So like any breakthrough, I'd recommend to enjoy the ride through season 2, and jump out before it breaks through the ground in season 3. And the less said about the finale, the better. Did you guys know that Danny Phantom was actually the first Nicktoon that had an episode finale, that wasn't a movie? Brilliant start!

Announcer: Next on Nickelodeon...

(Shows clip of The X's intro)

(End Credits Theme: Danny Phantom Theme Song)