Created by Butch Hartman after “The Fairly Odd Parents,” the premise focuses on a 14-year-old boy named Danny. He has two ghost-hunting parents who have a special machine with a portal.
Danny has done something that altered his DNA. And… you guessed it… he became a ghost.
Well… he’s just half ghost. From then on, he is Danny Fenton (his human name) and Danny Phantom, although the people in his town refer to him as the ghost boy and think he’s evil.
But why is Danny okay with that—being considered a villain? I know he doesn’t let anyone know he’s the ghost boy, except for his two best friends, Tucker and Sam, and later, his sister, Jazz. Still—someone could seriously hurt him. Nothing can get too extreme as “Danny Phantom” was a child-friendly show.
There was one episode special, however, where Danny accidentally revealed to the public that he was the ghost boy. His parents were shocked, and so was everyone else. But we didn’t get to see Valerie’s reaction. In fact, she didn’t appear at all there.
Valerie also hunted ghosts, but was harsher than Jack and Maddie Fenton, Danny’s parents. But she wasn’t always kept tracked of too well. She had three different voice actors, the third being Cree Sumner, who voiced her throughout the series from that point on.
But then she seemed to have disappeared. I remember finding it unsatisfying that Valerie wasn’t in that special where Danny transformed from ghost to person. I’ve always considered how she would’ve reacted.
Another thing I discovered about the show was that the ghosts aren’t dead, and they’re only referred to ghosts to make it easier to recall than to use some other word (I can’t remember the other term). This came from the fan theory: Is Danny Phantom half dead?
Ironically, in one episode, a ghost said, “You can’t catch me alive,” and another said, “Um… you’re a ghost.” Hmmm… was that ever explained? Or how Danny just sucked his future evil self into the Fenton thermos to resolve the main conflict in the special, “The Ultimate Ememy?” I wonder how that worked out.
Regardless, the ghosts were memorable and well-developed.
I loved the box ghost—his signature line, “I am the box ghost” is so clever. He sounds like the alien, Mark, from “The Fairly Odd Parents.”
Ember the Rockstar had an amazing song and I enjoyed how she hypnotized people to love it (until Tucker undid that in one episode).
Desiree the wishing ghost was like a wicked genie. She reminded me of Norm, who was also from “The Fairly Odd Parents.”
Ghosts could possess people in this series. I particularly loved when Danny possessed his dad when he got in trouble at school. It was such a clever way to avoid getting punished.
And have you also noticed this detail about the extras? They’re all physically diverse. People have all different body types and I applaud that. After all, no one should ever feel self-conscious about his or her appearance, especially from something on the screen.
Now about the characters:
Sam’s parents were the opposite of her. They had sunshine-like appearances and personalities while Sam was goth in both her looks and personality.
Paulina was Danny’s crush at first, but then, out of nowhere, she seemed to have betrayed him and joined Dash’s side. I wonder why this happened and without explanation.
And Danny… the hero and star of the show… he was such a relatable character. He ranged from going through teenage issues to being Jazz’s annoying little brother at times to being loyal to his friends.
The show ended in 2007, despite its popularity. There are still some shorts of it on YouTube, such as the special where all the Butch Hartman cartoons cross over with “Danny Phantom” and “Danny Phantom goes to Hogwarts.” Even if there’s unlikely to be a reboot, the show is still great.
I would gladly recommend it to kids today.