Nicktoon-cember Part 19: Danny Phantom

Danny Phantom is hands down one of the best nicktoons Nickelodeon has ever made. It’s my second favorite Nicktoon next to Avatar. The show was created by Butch Hartman the original creator of Johnny Bravo and one of Nickelodeon’s golden creators. The show focuses on a 14 year old boy named Danny whose parents are paranormal scientist who believe that ghost exist in the world. And they’re right, in this show ghost do exist. Before the series begins the parents discover a realm which serves as the home for ghost and create a ghost portal to travel into what they call the Ghost Zone. When his parents build the machine it malfunctions on them and Danny after being dared by one his friends goes inside to investigate the machine where he accidently pushes the on button (which his parents forgot to push) and his DNA gets mixed with ectoplasm which turns him into a half-ghost. Now Danny must fight ghost to protect his own, while learning how to use his powers, keep his ghost powers a secret from his parents, and balance the day to day hard life of being an unpopular kid in high school.

The show is just great, almost every aspect of this show is a win. First off, I like how the show starts us at the beginning and keeps on continuing. Danny doesn’t know anything about his powers and throughout the show is learning how to use them so it’s like we’re learning with him. That’s pretty refreshing. Second, the characters are likable, recognizable, identifiable and funny. Danny is the unpopular but good hearted boy going through school whose kind of a wisecracker. He almost reminds me of Peter Parker from Spider-man. He acts like a teenage boy and is constantly struggling between using his powers for good or using them to exact revenge on bullies and getting what he wants. He has his two best friends Tucker who’s a geeky tech wiz and Sam a goth girl who secretly has a crush on him. His family is funny with the mom being the brains, the dad the lovable goofball, and the sister Jazz the overbearing, protective, and kind big sister who discovers Danny’s ghost powers but keeps it a secret from the parents and from him until he’s ready to talk about it. Even the bully and popular kids are funny and get a laugh out of me. Third, the villains are cool. The ghost that Danny and his friends fight against are good, very creative, and the fight scenes are well-done as well. There’s a bounty hunter ghost, a computer wiz ghost who tries to be hip, lunch lady ghost, genie ghost, a rocker girl ghost, and probably the funniest ghost was the box ghost a weak and no powered ghost who just haunted boxes. There’s also another half ghost named Vlad who used his powers for evil to become a millionaire and his backstory is rather good. We find out that he and his parents were friends in college and due to a mistake by Danny’s dad Vlad became a half ghost and grew a hate for him. He also has a crush on Danny’s mom. Finally, the animation was very top notch. I really did like the animation in the show it was vivid, lively, and nice to look at and the way Danny transforms into a ghost is pretty cool. The stories and plot that they had in the show were all creative even though there were a few repetitive moments in the show I didn’t really mind them because I liked them. All I can say is Danny Phantom was a great show, one of Nickelodeon’s best shows, and was one of my personal favorite shows on the channel. Butch Hartman also created another show that many consider his masterpiece but I’ll save that for next time.

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