Danny Phantom is one of the most, if not THE most, popular Nickelodeon shows of the 2000s. It certainly seems to be the most well-liked of Butch Hartman's shows as well. What are MY thoughts on it?
Well, I... think I watched one episode with the sound off. I might've watched another one at some point, I don't know. I knew the theme song at least. I saw ads.
Yeah, sorry. I was never a huge Danny Phantom fan. I generally prefer comedic cartoons to action-based ones. I'm sure shows like Young Justice and Avatar are just as great as everyone makes them out to be, I've always just been more into comedy. Or maybe I just wasn't watching Nickelodeon when they happened to be airing an episode of the show (this was the pre-TiVo era, so you either had to watch it when it was on or wait for a DVD or iTunes release).
Okay, so what is Danny Phantom about? The theme song explains the show's premise: Danny Fenton (voiced by David Kaufman) is a fourteen-year-old boy living in the town of Amity Park. One day, his ghost hunter parents Jack (voiced by Rob Paulsen) and Maddie Fenton (voiced by Kath Souice) built a machine called the Ghost Portal to bridge the human world and the Ghost Zone, a world populated by ghosts. It didn't work. When Danny went inside the Ghost Portal, he inadvertently pressed the "ON" button and it infused his DNA with ectoplasm. Now Danny has ghost powers! He can walk through walls, turn invisible, possess people, all that stuff. And when you get cool powers, what else can one do with them than protect humanity from evil? Problem is, most of his town is afraid of ghosts, so he has to keep his identity and ghost powers secret.
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| Danny even appeared on boxes of Cap'n Crunch. Even SpongeBob never did THAT... probably because he had his own cereal. |
Has there ever been a superhero with ghost powers before? I'm sure there was and some huge Marvel or DC fan will tell me about it in the comments section of this post. But still, this is a really cool idea for a cartoon show, so I'm not surprised it became such a hit.
The first episode of Danny Phantom aired after the Nickelodeon Kids' Choice Awards on April 3rd, 2004. Alas, a huge fanbase didn't stop Nickelodeon from basically sabotaging it, giving the third season an erratic airing schedule and then cancelling it outright in 2007. Fans organized petitions and small organizations to get the show renewed, but Nickelodeon would not be swayed. The good news is, the whole series was released on DVD in 2014, and you can watch episodes on Paramount Plus and Apple TV if you have either of those streaming services.
I suppose I might as well do my part to help raise awareness of the show, even if I wind up not liking it. I suppose I probably should've saved this review for the Halloween season since it's about ghosts, but nah, I'll post it now. We'll be watching the third episode of the show, "One of a Kind", to see if Danny Phantom lives up to the hype or if... uh, insert ghost joke here.
