Danny Phantom

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Danny Phantom
Photo of title card
Genre	Action Adventure Fantasy Comic science fiction[1] Superhero
Created by	Butch Hartman
Developed by	Steve Marmel
Voices of	David Kaufman Grey DeLisle Rickey D'Shon Collins Colleen Villard Rob Paulsen Kath Soucie Martin Mull
Theme music composer	Guy Moon Butch Hartman
Opening theme	"Danny Phantom", performed by Deric Battiste and Guy Moon
Ending theme	"Danny Phantom" (instrumental)
Composer	Guy Moon
Country of origin	United States
No. of seasons	3
No. of episodes	53 (list of episodes)
Production
Executive producer	Butch Hartman
Producers	Bob Boyle (2004–05) Steve Marmel (2004–05) George Goodchild (2005–07)
Animator	Rough Draft Korea
Running time	23 minutes 46 minutes (2-part episodes)
Production companies	Billionfold Inc. Nickelodeon Animation Studio
Distributor	ViacomCBS Domestic Media Networks
Release
Original network	Nickelodeon
Picture format	480i (4:3 SDTV)
Audio format	Dolby Digital 5.1
Original release	April 3, 2004 (2004-04-03) – August 24, 2007 (2007-08-24)

Danny Phantom is an American animated action adventure television series created by Butch Hartman for Nickelodeon. The series follows Danny Fenton, a teenage boy who, after an accident with an unpredictable portal between the human world and the "Ghost Zone", becomes a human-ghost hybrid and takes on the task of saving his town (and the world) from subsequent ghost attacks using an evolving variety of supernatural powers. Danny is aided in his quest by his two best friends Sam Manson and Tucker Foley, and later, his older sister Jazz, who for most of the series' run are among the only people who know of his double life.^[2]

Throughout its run, Danny Phantom received five Annie Award nominations and positive reviews.^[3][4] In the recent years, it has received renewed attention and critical acclaim from critics and audiences, being considered by many as Hartman's best and most acclaimed work.^[5][6] Additionally, Danny Phantom has spawned video games, home video releases, toys, and various other merchandise. A campaign called the Go Ghost Again Movement has spawned in recent years. A petition on Change.org has already received over 17,000 signers and is rapidly gaining signers. The so-called "Go Ghost Again" campaign has already received over 17,000 signers and is rapidly growing.^[7]

Premise[]

Daniel "Danny" Fenton, a 14-year-old boy living in the small town of Amity Park, lives with his ghost-hunting eccentric parents, Jack and Madeline "Maddie" and his overprotective but caring seventeen-year-old sister, Jasmine "Jazz". Upon pressure from his two best friends, Samantha "Sam" Manson and Tucker Foley, Danny decides to explore the Ghost Portal created by his parents in their attempt to bridge the human world and the Ghost Zone (the parallel universe in which ghosts reside), that when plugged in, failed to work. Once inside, he inadvertently presses the "On" button (which his parents naively failed to do), thus activating the Portal and infusing his DNA with ectoplasm, transforming him into a half-ghost.^[8]

Danny, who calls himself "Danny Phantom" in ghost form, develops the ability to fly, to become invisible, to become intangible, and to "overshadow" (possess and control) people after first learning how to switch back and forth at will between his ghost and human forms. Over time, he develops much stronger abilities, such as his Ghost Ray (a concentrated blast of energy he fires from his hand), his Ghostly Wail (an intensely powerful scream with sonic capabilities that knocks back anything caught in its path), and even cryokinesis. Danny is initially frightened by his new abilities and has little control over them, but he soon learns to use them to protect his town from malevolent spirits. Danny turns to the life of a superhero, using his powers to rid his hometown from the various ghosts and mutant animals who begin to plague it and are almost always brought into the world thanks to the sporadic activation of the Fentons' Ghost Portal. Sam, Tucker, and Jazz are Danny's primary allies in his ghost-fighting activities,^[9] and help him keep his ghost-half a secret.

Danny's ghost form is a polarization of what he looked like when he first entered the Ghost Portal. When he "goes ghost", his black hair turns white, his blue eyes turn green, and the black-and-white jumpsuit he had put on before the accident appears in negative color, with the originally white areas of the suit appearing black, and vice versa. In the premiere episode of season two, a ghost grants Sam's inadvertent wish that she and Danny had never met; in consequence, Danny loses not only memories, but his ghost powers as well, as Sam had primarily been the one to persuade Danny to investigate the Portal in the first place, which led to the accident. Luckily, however, Sam had been protected from the wish by the ghost-hunting tech of Danny's parents, allowing her to persuade the now fully human Danny to regain his powers by re-enacting the accident. This time, before Danny enters the Portal, Sam replaces the logo of his father's face on the jumpsuit, which she also had removed the first time (if she hadn't, it would have been part of Danny's ghost form), with her newly designed "DP" fused-letter logo on the chest so that it appears when he goes ghost from then on.

Danny faces threats of many kinds, including vengeful ghost hunter Valerie Gray (voiced by Cree Summer) who, for a short period of time, becomes his love interest,^[10] an enemy half-ghost Vlad Masters, an old college friend of his father's and considered to be Danny's true arch-rival,^[11] and even his own parents who, as ghost hunters, view Danny Phantom (as they would and do to any ghosts) as nothing but a menace to human society. Furthermore, Danny tries to keep his secret safe from his classmates, teachers, and family.^[12] Throughout the progression of the series, Danny slowly realizes his own potential and purpose, while both worlds slowly begin to accept him as their defender.^[13]

Episodes[]

Cast & characters[]

Characters were designed by Stephen Silver and Ben Balistreri.

• Daniel William "Danny" Fenton / Danny Phantom (voiced by David Kaufman) is the series' titular protagonist. Danny is a 14-year-old boy who gains ghost powers in a lab accident when he steps into and activates his parents' Ghost Portal. Now a human-ghost hybrid, he chooses to use his powers to fight against malevolent ghosts who regularly escape the mysterious Ghost Zone and plague his hometown of Amity Park.^[9] A rather unpopular student in high school along with his friends, Danny also faces the typical hardships of living a normal teenager's life, but with the additional challenges of protecting Amity Park from frequent ghost attacks, learning to control his ghost powers, and maintaining his secret identity as "Danny Phantom." An ongoing story arc is his struggle to use his powers for the benefit of others rather than abuse them for his own needs, though he ultimately makes the right decision with the help of his friends. Despite frequently struggling with self-confidence, Danny values his altruism and comes to appreciate his own self-worth.^[13][14][15]
• Samantha "Sam" Manson (voiced by Grey DeLisle) is Danny's female best friend and eventually girlfriend at the end of the series; she is also responsible for the accident in which Danny gains his powers. She is a self-proclaimed Goth who is also a practitioner of a dramatized form of vegetarianism called "Ultra Recyclo-Vegetarianism"^[9] (often generalized as "not eating anything that had a face") and is an amateur activist, often protesting about environmental issues and animal rights. At first, she is Danny's closest friend; however, her romantic feelings for Danny strengthen over time. Her patience pays off, as Danny secretly falls in love with her as well; they ultimately share their true feelings with each other and become a couple.^[13][16][17]
• Tucker Foley (voiced by Rickey D'Shon Collins) is Danny's African-American male best friend, a nerd who is obsessed with technology and carries a PDA at all times. When not obsessing over gadgets, he obsesses over girls.^[18] Like Sam, he shares in Danny's secret and often helps battle ghosts and send them back into the Ghost Zone. He generally provides comic relief.^[19] Tucker's gadgets are sometimes redundant but work well in the Ghost Zone or against ghosts. Tucker and Sam frequently handle the toils and triumphs of aiding Danny, especially when he's "going ghost."^[20]
• Jasmine "Jazz" Fenton (voiced by Colleen O'Shaughnessey) is Danny's somewhat overprotective but loving older sister, an intelligent and highly sociable overachiever who considers herself an adult. Jazz views her parents' obsession with ghosts as a sign of needing psychological help.^[9][21] She eventually learns about Danny's powers,^[22] but chooses not to reveal her knowledge until he is ready to talk about them with her. Once Danny accepts that Jazz knows, they become much closer.^[15]
• Jack Fenton (voiced by Rob Paulsen) is Danny and Jazz's father and Maddie's husband. Jack expresses an obsession with destroying ghosts, blindly holding the belief that all ghosts are evil and must be destroyed, including Danny Phantom.^[23] He is generally incompetent in nature, but can be an effective fighter when provoked.^[23][24][25] Jack cares about his family but doesn't know about Danny's powers.^[9][21] He is almost never seen without his orange jumpsuit.
• Madeline "Maddie" Fenton (voiced by Kath Soucie) is Danny and Jazz's mother and Jack's wife. She is a gifted genius and dedicated hunter of ghosts, though she usually aims to dissect and study them rather than destroy them.^[21] A ninth-degree black belt, she is an excellent, competent fighter from whom Danny probably inherited his own talent for combat.^[24][26] Like her husband, she doesn't know about Danny's powers and is almost never seen without her blue jumpsuit.
• Vlad Masters / Vlad Plasmius (voiced by Martin Mull) is Danny's nemesis throughout the series. Vlad had attended college at the University of Wisconsin–Madison with Jack and Maddie until Jack's prototype Ghost Portal shot ghost energy into Vlad's face, giving Vlad ecto-acne and ghost powers and ruining his social life. Half-ghost for 20 years, Vlad has much more experience with his ghost powers than Danny. Vlad serves as the main antagonist throughout the entire series as he always tries to steal Maddie away from Jack and to persuade Danny to join his side and destroy his friends. However, Vlad does ally with Danny from time to time during situations where it is needed.^[13] He first appears in "Bitter Reunions".

Production[]

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According to a video on Butch Hartman’s YouTube channel, Butch came up with the idea while helping his mom move to California. Among the ideas Butch had for the show was a Scooby-Doo version, Danny with an owl sidekick named “Spooky” and Danny riding a ghost motorcycle. But those ideas were scrapped. He then started to draw Danny in different sizes and styles like for example, Danny being shorter, Danny being taller and Danny being muscular but all the drawings Butch completed had Danny with dark hair. So one day, Butch was drawing Danny in his ghost outfit. He left the shoes and the gloves white but when he got to Danny's hair, Butch was like "That's really cool". Butch found out that when Danny turns into a ghost, his hair is white so he left the hair that way. Then he was at a restaurant with the head of Nickelodeon. He tells Butch that The Fairly OddParents was going so well and asks him "What else do you have?". Butch then says "Well, I got this show called "Danny Phantom". It's about a kid with ghost powers". And the Nickelodeon head tells Butch "Can you have it done by March?".

Broadcast[]

Danny Phantom premiered on April 3, 2004, at 9:30 p.m. with its first episode airing after the 2004 Kids' Choice Awards, two days after Nickelodeon's 25th anniversary.^{[citation needed]} The series aired its final episode on August 24, 2007. The series aired on CBC and YTV in Canada.^[27]

Merchandise[]

Video games[]

There have been two video games released for the main series. Danny Phantom: The Ultimate Enemy (for the Game Boy Advance) was made to promote the then upcoming special "The Ultimate Enemy" with the main gameplay consisting of events from the TV movie. It is a 2D platformer and was released September 8, 2005.^[28] Danny Phantom: Urban Jungle for both the Game Boy Advance and Nintendo DS was to promote the Danny Phantom episode "Urban Jungle". It is loosely based on the episode and is strictly a shooter game. It was released September 19, 2006.^[29]

Danny is one of the main heroes in the Nicktoons Unite! series, appearing in all four games across multiple platforms, Nicktoons Unite!, Nicktoons: Battle for Volcano Island, Nicktoons: Attack of the Toybots, and SpongeBob SquarePants featuring Nicktoons: Globs of Doom.^{[citation needed]}

Danny Phantom and other characters and locations from the series have also been featured in other Nickelodeon crossover video games including: Nicktoons: Summer Camp, Nicktoons Basketball (PC), Nicktoons: Freeze Frame Frenzy (Game Boy Advance), Nicktoons Movin' (PlayStation 2), Nicktoons Winners Cup Racing (PC), Nicktoons Nitro (Arcade),^[30] Nicktoons MLB, Nickelodeon Super Brawl Universe (Android, iOS), and Nicktoons: Android Invasion (LeapFrog Didj).^{[citation needed]} Danny Phantom characters and locations are featured in Nickelodeon Kart Racers 2: Grand Prix (PlayStation 4, Xbox One, Nintendo Switch, Microsoft Windows), which was released in 2020.^[31]

Print media[]

In October 2005, Scholastic Corporation published a Nick Zone chapter book, Stage Fright, with an original Danny Phantom story written by Erica David and illustrated by Victoria Miller and Harry Moore.^[32] Danny Phantom also made several appearances in Nickelodeon Magazine, including original comics "Brat's Entertainment!" (featuring Youngblood) and "Seeing Red" (featuring Undergrowth).^{[citation needed]}

Home media[]

Nick Picks releases[]

CreateSpace releases[]

Shout! Factory releases[]

Other releases[]

Toys[]

Little official merchandise has been produced for Danny Phantom.

In 2005, Burger King released a line of Danny Phantom kids' meal toys.^[50][51]

In 2012, a company called Jazwares Toys released a 6-inch tall action figure of Danny Phantom as part of their Nicktoons toy line.^[52]

In 2020, Funko Pop released a limited edition Danny Phantom figure for 2020 New York City Comic Con. The figure was also released in Target stores.^[53]

Apparel[]

As of 2020, a line of Danny Phantom shirts is available at Kohl's as part of their licensed Nickelodeon merchandise collection.^[54]

Reception[]

Critical reception[]

Danny Phantom was well received by both television critics and audiences, gathering a cult following since its original run.^[55] Sean Aitchison from CBR said “Danny Phantom might have a few elements that firmly place it in the 2000s, but the storytelling and design still feel fresh and fun in modern day. The show was full of action and humor, and the characters felt real and layered. If you're looking for an old Nickelodeon cartoon to rewatch, Danny Phantom should be on your list.”^[56] Eric McInnis writing for Study Breaks Magazine said, “The show offered fun comedy, memorable characters, and fantastic character designs for the enemies Danny had to fight in each episode.”^[57] Joly Herman of Common Sense Media criticised the mature themes of Danny Phantom, saying that, “This cartoon can be funny, and the characters are unique. But, as is the case with so many contemporary cartoons, the rush to violence overshadows the good aspects of the series. Death threats, torture, knives, and violence against women are commonplace. There's no opportunity to work things out. Danny is either a coward or a hero -- there's no in between. He either fights or perishes, which is a heavy choice for a sensitive guy.”^[58]

Awards and nominations[]

References[]

External links[]

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• Danny Phantom at IMDb
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• Danny Phantom on Twitter