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"I'm GOING GHOST!"
"And it was then Danny knew what he had to do
He had to stop all the ghosts that were comin' through
He's here to fight for ME and YOU!
He's gonna catch em all, 'cuz he's Danny Phantom!
A Super Hero series on Nickelodeon, by the creator of The Fairly OddParents.
The series revolves around the adventures of Danny Fenton, the son of parents who are professional ghostbusters. ( No, not those.) While generally less than competent, their engineering skill is phenomenal, allowing the creation of such inventions as the Fenton Portal, a machine that opens up a path to the " Ghost Zone", apparently an odd kind of afterlife where ghosts are either beings of the dead and/or monsters from another dimension. At the urging of his good friend, Sam Manson, Danny explores the portal and accidentally activates it, imbuing his molecular structure with ectoplasmic energy.
Now with a set of formidable ghost powers, Danny eventually decides to use them to protect humanity from various spectral threats. Unfortunately, since most of the town, including his own parents, fears and hates his Danny Phantom identity, Danny has to keep a secret identity. Fortunately, his best friends, Sam and Tucker (and his own sister, who quietly knows Danny's secret as well), are his constant companions, who give him vital practical and emotional support in his self-appointed role.
Despite the comical tone, this series is a surprisingly well-conceived and endearing narrative of a boy growing into his true calling while the world gradually comes to accept him, much like a variant of Spider-Man at that franchise's best.
Following its initial nine episodes (known affectionately as the Magnificent Nine by longtime fans), the show began to become more and more " FOP-ish" and began to borrow heavily from its predecessor. This was all but embraced in the latter seasons, which saw an increase in gags, gross humor, and Deus Ex Machina endings. However, the series also grew its beard by Season Two, ending in a mostly mixed Season Three.
Before reaching half-way through the second season, Butch Hartman announced the decision made by Nickelodeon to cancel the production of the show, making it 53 episodes in three seasons. Dedicated fans orchestrated various petitions and small organizations to overturn the decision, but despite these protests, the production of Danny Phantom finished in February 2007, with no plans for future episodes after 53. However, at least the series had enough lead time to create a Grand Finale.
This series has a character sheet.
This series contains examples of:
- A Boy And His X: "A boy and his dog. Somehow, it's not supposed to be this weird." (The dog in question was a ghost dog that alternates between being cute, and large and vicious.
- Used again in "Infinite Realms": "Awww, a boy and his snow monster." (Both were said by Sam, come to think of it...)
- Aborted Arc: Are you kidding? The news that the series would only have three seasons caused a LOT of planned story arcs to simply disappear without a trace. What deal did Vlad and the Fright Knight broker? What role does Dani end up playing? Will Valerie ever come to terms with her own extremism? Does Dark Danny escape and make a return appearance, as is hinted at in "The Ultimate Enemy"? We'll never know now.
- A Day In The Limelight: Tucker ("What You Want", "King Tuck") and Jazz ("The Fenton Menace", "Secret Weapons")
- Accidental Hug
- Action Mom: Maddie is a ninth degree martial artist!
- Adorkable: Danny.
- Affably Evil: Most villains. Especially Vlad, who's the Big Bad no less. How can you take him seriously as a villain after you see his Green Bay Packers cheesehead?
- All Guys Want Cheerleaders: Danny constantly moons over the egotistical and vain Paulina, although he eventually wises up about how she's not worth his time.
- All Of The Other Reindeer: Danny is patronized by his family, bullied at his school and feared and hated in his superhero identity by both most mortals and ghosts. Fortunately, his best friends help keep him steady while the world, starting with his sister, begins to gradually come around.
- All Powerful Bystander: Clockwork
- Alter Kocker: The "ecto-American" vulture ghosts.
- Amulet Of Concentrated Awesome: The amulets that Dora and Aragon wear to turn them into dragons.
- Anachronic Order: Sort of. "The Fenton Menace" (due to delays) was supposed to air before "The Ultimate Enemy" but ends up after, making Danny look like he's tempting fate. Also, D-Stabilized, which appears to take place much earlier than it's production number would indicate.
- Danny Phantom is an unfortunate victim of this. See Out Of Order for more egregious examples.
- An Ass Kicking Christmas: The Fright Before Christmas
- Ancient Keeper: Frostbite
- An Ice Person: Season Three Danny
- Anime Hair: Danny, Plasmius, and Dark Danny, just to name a few. Must be a halfa thing. Also: Ember and Spectra.
- Anticipatory Breath Spray: Tucker.
- Vlad as well, in Maternal Instincts.
- Anvilicious
- Arson Murder And Jaywalking:
Mr. Lancer: "Tucker Foley. Chronic tardiness, talking in class, repeated loitering by the girl's locker room."
(Tucker gives a sly smile)
- Don't forget the list of what's in Pandora's box:
Danny: "Plagues, pestilence, boy bands ... wow, this is one evil box."
- And let's not forget when they get in trouble in "Kindred Spirits".
Jack: "You three are in a world of trouble! Skipping school, stealing and wrecking the Spectre Speeder...
Lancer "Calling me OLD MAN..."
- Art Evolution: The main characters don't look like stick figures and actually gain muscles in latter series; the colors also get more vibrant.
- Audience Sucker Punch: Unfortunately as it causes lackluster fighting scenes in what is otherwise an Action/Comedy series. This improves somewhat starting around the second half of Season Two due in part to storyboarder George Goodchild.
- Author Appeal: Hartman incorporates space themes (he loves Star Wars) through Danny who wants to be an astronaut.
- Ax Crazy: Oh, Dan... let's see: the first thing he did upon "reawakening"? Steal the ghostly half of Big Bad Vlad Masters (Our Ghosts Are Different is in full force here) and then killed his human half in front of Vlad, who viewed Danny as a surrogate son. In his first scenes, he kills at least a dozen people as well and spends much of the episode killing or planning to kill some more. The fact that even Vlad refuses to tell Danny how his human half died speaks volumes. Rather unpleasant, considering what age group this is aimed at.
- Backstory: While we do know the basics of how Danny got his powers from the Expository Theme Song, it isn't until the episode "Memory Blank" that we actually learn it was Sam that persuaded him to enter the portal in the first place.
- Back To Back Badasses: Danny and Skulker in "Prisoner of Love."
- Bad Future: The premise of "The Ultimate Enemy".
- Bad Job Worse Uniform
- Badass Family: Danny may be the one with superpowers, but Jazz, Maddie, and even Jack have proven capable of fighting ghosts.
- Baddie Flattery: Vlad to Danny, in conjunction with Not So Different.
- Battle Cry: "I'M GOING GHOST!"
- Beard Of Evil: Vlad, Dark Danny, Ghost Writer, Skulker; minorly subverted with Ghost Writer, who isn't evil, just mad at Danny for destroying the poem and does what he does to teach Danny a lesson about being a scrooge.
- Be Careful What You Wish For: "What You Want", "Memory Blank"
- Berserk Button: "Do—not—call—me—a—LOSER!"
- Beware The Nice Ones - Jack is usually extremely oblivious and very much a Gentle Giant. Vlad made a miscalculation and underestimated him by far. He proceeds to beat up Vlad, which Danny himself has not been able to do, even at the end by himself.
- Most definitely Maddie. She kicks some serious butt.
- Arguably Danny himself, who is laid back and kind of lazy... when he's human. It's when he's not that you need to watch out, as many lesser foes found out, as did Vlad, if in a Bad Future. Luckily for him, Clockwork hit the Reset Button on that timeline... or maybe not so lucky.
- Big Bad: Vlad "Plasmius" Masters
- Big Fancy House
- Vlad's residences
- The Fenton brief family's home in "Livin' Large"
- Subverted by Manson family's home; looks normal on the outside.
- Big Lipped Alligator Moment (The random iguana-ghost attack during the beginning of "King Tuck". It's never mentioned again for the rest of the episode.)
- That might have been used to represent how no one listens to Tucker.
- Big No: Tucker, upon finding out that the flour babies were baked into cookies by his mother.
- And by Vlad in "Kindred Spirits" when his perfect clone melted. Doubles as a Tear Jerker.
- And by Danny when the vat of Nasty Sauce all the important people in his life (and Lancer) are attached to... explodes.
- Black Best Friend: Tucker
- The Blank: Amorpho, a shapeshifter whose default form is faceless. Also, possibly Fright Knight.
- Book Dumb: Danny (and Tucker)
- Brain Washed: Both Ember and Freakshow use this against Danny.
- Breather Episode: After the heavy-handed "Reign Storm" dealt with character developments and important story arcs, the next episode aired was the lighthearted (possibly THE most lighthearted DP episode), "Identity Crisis". There was also "The Ultimate Enemy" which was just gruesome, but the episode that aired after was a light and fluffy Christmas Episode.
- Brought Down To Normal: Danny involuntarily lost his powers thanks to Literal Genie Desiree in "Memory Blank". He also loses them in "Phantom Planet", but since that was done voluntarily, it's an "It Seemed Like a Good Idea at the Time".
- Brought To You By The Letter S: Danny's costume gets a stylized DP chest symbol on his costume. An entire episode exists to explain where it comes from, using a Cosmic Retcon so that everyone but Sam believes that it's always been there.
- Bully Hunter: Poindexter, the ghost of a bullied nerdy teen who lived in the 50's, who now as a ghost targets Danny when he thinks he is bullying Jerk Jock Dash Baxter.
- Bumbling Dad: Jack Fenton may be a brilliant inventor, but otherwise he's an idiot.
- Bunny Ears Lawyer: See Bumbling Dad.
- Butterfly Of Doom: Cheat on your CAT, and the world gets boned. By YOU!
- Butt Monkey: Tucker. He's dumped on quite often despite saving/helping Danny more than once and yet, he barely gets thanked. Several times in the latter portion of the series, he is often the butt of the joke or virtually ignored.
- Calling Your Attacks: Occasionally employed. Usually with Fenton gear.
- Canon Fodder - Lots, the most famous being Dark Danny's ultimate fate.
- Can't Get Away With Nuthin': Remember kids, cheating on a test will cause you to turn evil and destroy the future!
- Can't Get In Trouble For Nuthin'
- Carnival Of Killers
- Catch Phrase
- Danny: I'm going ghost!
- Tucker: Ya got that right!
- Technus: I, Technus (insert outdated slang here)
- Box Ghost: "I AM THE BOX GHOST!", "BEWARE!"
- Mr. Lancer: *insert title of classic book here*!
- Desiree: So you have wished it, so shall it be.
- Various characters: "For the record, I blame you." "Survey says..."
- Character Development: Just about everyone of the main characters get some form of character development. This is severely underplayed by the third season.
- Chef Of Iron: The Lunch Lady Ghost
- Chekhov's Gun: Many of the Fenton Gadgets.
- The Tucker-bot from "Livin' Large", later used in "Phantom Planet". Also, Valerie's first ghost hunting suit, first appearing in the tenth episode. We later find out in the fortieth episode why Vlad gave her the gear!
- Chekhov's Boomerang: The Boooomerang, first used in The Ultimate Enemy to find Danny, gets used again in D-Stabilized. Bonus points for being an actual boomerang.
- The Chessmaster:
Danny: "I don't understand..."
Vlad: "What? That I used two fourteen-year-old pawns to turn a knight and topple a king? It's chess, Daniel. Of course you don't understand. But then, you never really did."
- Chew Bubblegum
- City Of Adventure: Amity Park
- Clark Kenting: Unless you want to say that Danny's ghost form inhibits mundanes' perception of him or some other Techno Babble, we're asked to believe that changing his hair and eye color is enough of a disguise for him. He doesn't even bother to change his first name.
- For that matter, neither does Vlad with his name, though his ghost form is immensely different in looks then Danny is with his, so it may be justified.
- Dark Danny in "The Ultimate Enemy" lampshades this, mocking everyone by pointing out how obvious it was.
- Cloning Blues: "Kindred Spirits".
- Color Coded For Your Convenience: Interesting switch with Vlad and Danny. It's played straight when they're in human form: Danny wears white and Vlad dons black, but in ghost form, the hero is predominately black while Vlad wears a near all-white suit.
- Comes Great Responsibility: And the Spider-Man parallels don't stop there.
- Coming Of Age Story: In his definite Character Development Arc, Danny starts off as a naive boy who is looking for his place in the world, uncertain of the big decisions thrust onto him. By the end of the series, he has grown into a mature lad who continuously handles big burdens displayed before him. By the ending, said burdens and responsibilities are even bigger, but he's grown up enough to face the task.
- A smaller meta-arc would be Jazz's coming of age, going from a nosy sullen kid growing up too fast to someone who appreciates her age and knows when not to get involved.
- Complete Monster: Dan Phantom. Think Vlad is evil? Just take a glimpse of how Dark Danny was created, and then you'll see who the true monster is.
- ...who has entirely too many fangirls to count.
- Compressed Vice: All too frequently.
- Continuity Drift: In one episode a nerdy friend of Tucker's is mentioned as "Nathan". In a Season 3 episode he shows up again, but gets called "Lester".
- Continuity Nod: Mostly the Fenton inventions, but several elements from prior are mentioned in latter episodes (and even move the plot forward). Justifies the great continuity this show has.
- In episode 16, "Maternal Instinct", Vlad Masters is shown to have one of the large yellow monster trucks which will later show up in "Memory Blank".
- Speaking of Memory Blank, it contains multiple shout-outs to earlier season 1 episodes.
- Danny brings up Sam's "great ideas" of changing the school cafeteria menu (episode 1), releasing the purple-backed gorilla (ep 3), and selling his dad's old junk at a garage sale (ep 4). She counters by asking whether he would also like to blame her for puberty, which was used multiple times as an excuse for his "voice change" in episode 5 when Danny was possessed by Poindexter.
- Sam's photo album contains the picture she took of Danny and Tucker hugging during episode 3.
- Danny also pulls a Fake Out Make Out on Sam, which she had originally pulled on him in the episode where Valerie becomes a ghost hunter.
- At one point Danny phases down through the floor of the school, noticing the large store of meat in the basement that was discovered in the first episode.
- Paulina is wearing the same dress at her Quinceañera (15th birthday party) that she wore to the dance with Danny in episode 2, while at the same time Sam comments that she looks "almost human", possibly in reference to Paulina's ghost-dragon transformation from the same episode.
- During Danny's flashback/remembering sequence, special attention is given to him sneaking into the girl's locker room with his ghost powers, which happened in episode 6, the same episode Desiree was introduced.
- When trying to act ghostly in order to get Jack to chase him, Danny yells "Fear me!", something a ghost translator from an early episode appended to every sentence spoken by Danny.
- The emergency ham shows up in the episode "Pirate Radio", before being revealed to be useful for something in "Reality Trip".
- Also in "Pirate Radio", the easy-listening Earworm that's on every radio station is a version of Ember's rock song from "Fanning the Flames" - and Foreshadowing for her appearance as Youngblood's partner in crime.
- Even later in the series, Skulker still has an appointment to check out a book on purple-backed gorillas.
- In the episode "Reign Storm", Tucker mentions that Danny caught Skulker and Ember and sent them back to the Ghost Zone together. In the episode "Girl's Night Out", it's revealed that Ember and Skulker are now going out (see also, Pair The Spares). Too much time in the Thermos together?
- Cool Car: The Fenton Family Ghost Assault Vehicle (otherwise known as just "the RV").
- Crazy Prepared: Fenton Works.
- Crowning Moment Of Awesome: Jack gets a totally awesome one in the finale.
Jack: An old friend? No. You? Yes. *Turns his back and leaves*
- Danny getting his powers back in Phantom Planet.
Danny: *To other ghosts* The good news is, my powers are back. The bad news is, my powers are back!
- Jack gets another one in "The Million Dollar Ghost" where he single-handedly thrashes Vlad.
Vlad: This can't be! You're an idiot! An idiot!
Jack: That may be, but I'm the idiot that kicked your butt.
- Dating Catwoman: Danny and Valerie briefly.
- Deadly Upgrade: The Ecto Skeleton increases the user's power 100 times, also can kill the user.
- Deadpan Snarker: Sam.
- Defanged Horrors: The Ghost Zone (somewhat).
- Deflector Shields
- Description Cut: Used just as much as Hypocritical Humor.
- Deus Angst Machina: Danny's alternate future. Twisted in that "fate" was really just Clockwork manipulating the time stream to produce what was pretty much the worst possible future ever to scare Danny away from his Face Heel Turn.
- Did Mom Just Have Tea With Cthulhu?
- Did You Just Punch Out Cthulhu? : Well, to a lesser degree. In one episode, Jack and Danny go fishing when they are attacked by some kind of sea dragon monster. Jack kicks it's ass pretty easily.
- Distaff Counterpart: Dani Phantom, Danny's Opposite Sex Clone.
- Disaster Dominoes: In Valerie's father's lab while Danny tries to catch the rampaging ghost dog.
- Dish Dash: In the series' very first episode. Danny protects Sam from death by flying dishes by catching them all. Unusual for the trope, he gets all the dishes safely put away!
- Disposable Superhero Maker
- Does This Remind You Of Anything: Overshadowing looks really, really similar to possession albeit benign. It would be prime candidate for Insistent Terminology if anyone connected the dots.
- Draco In Leather Pants: Vlad is the second most paired off character in the series. The fact that he has plotted and would commit murder, was responsible for many people getting hurt in attacks and Dark Danny in one timeline doesn't matter much to most of his fangirls. They see (as the entry puts it) a "...suave, handsome, charismatic, obscenely rich, relatively competent, with an alternate form heavily resembling a vampire and superficially sympathetic motives (he wants to make his old love interest his wife and his arch-nemesis his son): a perfect object for fangirl lust..."
- Vlad is a borderline deconstruction; When Danny goes back in time to reverse the accident that caused him to become a ghost, he's villainous regardless.
- Dark Danny also has his fans. Most notable thing about him is his voice and body, but most fans tend to forget he's a mass murdering psychopath that would as just as soon do this to them
 as kiss them... if they're lucky. Remember he is a sadist.
- According to fans, the Ghost Writer is one Hot Librarian. Somewhat averted in that he wasn't evil, just overzealous in trying to teach Danny a lesson.
- The Dragon: Fright Knight seems to love this as he fights for both Pariah Dark and Dark Danny.
- Dungeonmasters Girlfriend: Jazz
- Ear Worm: You will remember my naaaame.
- Egg Sitting: Danny and Valerie, Dash and Paulina, Tucker and Sam all are in the same "this bag of flour is your baby" project for health class in "Life Lessons".
- Electric Boogaloo: Played for laughs. When the family temporarily gets filthy rich, they move. Jack wants to call their new home "Fenton Works 2: This Time, it's Personal".
- Enemy Mine: Danny and Vlad in "Reign Storm" (against the Ghost King) and "Torrent of Terror" (against Vortex).
- Danny and Dash had to work together against Skulker in "Micro-Management", as did Danny and Valerie in the Chained Heat episode, "Life Lessons".
- "Reign Storm" also takes this a step further by forcing Danny to unite every ghost he's ever met to defeat the Ghost King.
- Ensemble Darkhorse: Clockwork. For a character only appearing in two episodes, he has amassed quite a following.
- Same for Ghost Writer, especially with the fangirls. One episode and there are SWARMS of fanart of him everywhere. Don't even get me started on Dark Danny.
- The fanboy equivalent would be Ember. Gothy, leatherclad and clearly desperately lonely—not to mention having a very ambiguous backstory.
- Eternal English: You would think that someone who died 1600 years ago would not be speaking Modern American English. Also, the one non-English speaker speaks modern Esperanto.
- Everybody Laughs Ending: "Attack of the Killer Garage Sale", "Public Enemies", "Double Cross My Heart", Danny Phantom is riddled with this.
- Everything Is Online: and therefore vulnerable to being hacked via one of Tucker's PDAs.
- Evil Albino: Freakshow
- Evil Counterpart: Plasmius and Dark Danny both qualify.
- Evil Diva: Ember
- Evil Is Sexy: Vlad Masters, adorned in a black suit. Also, Sam during her temporary evil in "Urban Jungle".
- Also Dark Danny, whose voice acting was so brilliant it stands out in fandom. It even gained him fangirls. Also, that muscular body is a very large improvement for someone who did it in just ten years.
- Spectra
- Desiree
- Ember
- Evil Laugh: Dark Danny has a rather nice one.
- Vlad's done a couple during his time. The most striking would be the beginning to "Kindred Spirits", the episode where he takes a serious Moral Event Horizon turn.
- It is debatable if Ghostwriter's "maniacal/evil nerd-laugh" counts.
- Evil Makeover: Danny, Sam and Vlad each get one. Fans really dig how their looks (and voices) turned out. Wow. Evil Is Sexy indeed.
- Evil Plan: While the particular episode's ghost(s) might have their own agenda, Vlad's plan stays pretty much the same until his Villain Decay in season 3: Kill Jack, make Maddie his wife, and make Danny his son.
- Executive Meddling: Unfortunately. Firing Steve Marmel was seen as the nail in the coffin for many fans. Network Decay, anybody?
- Exposition: Particularly awkward, repetitive uses of As You Know, Tell Me Again,Talking To Themselves, Postponed Question, etc.
- Expendable Clone: No one, least of all Danny, seems particularly bothered when Danny destroys the less-human looking clones. Only the human-looking Danielle gains his sympathy. This is subverted, however, by the fact that Danny also doesn't seem to be bothered when he destroys the so-called "perfect clone" of himself, which would be, in theory, at least as "human" as his Opposite Sex Clone Dani.
- Expository Theme Tune
- Expy: Star is Veronica Star all grown up. Same name? Check. Blonde? Check. Satellite to a non-white Rich Bitch? Check. A cheerleader? Check. The only major difference is that she is voiced by Tara Strong, not Grey Delisle.
- Dash is an expy of Flash Thompson of Spider-Man: bullies Fenton, admires Phantom and he's a jock.
- And as pointed out in the page caption for The Urkel, Tucker is not only an example of that trope but an expy of the Trope Namer. Only without the annoying nasal voice.
- Vlad Masters is clearly an expy of [[Spider-Man Norman Osborn]]. He's rich, he's a crazed lonely man, he's got a dual identity, just give him a son and you've got the complete package.
- He could also be considered an Expy for Dracula. His appearance, fact that he lives in the castle, and even shares the same first name as the historical Vlad Dracula III (AKA "Vlad Tepes"/"Vlad The Impaler"). Not to mention that originally, Vlad WAS going to be a vampire until Executive Meddling declared the concept "too occult" and made him a half-ghost instead. Not to mention both women that Vlad and Dracula fall in love with have names that start with the letter "M" (Dracula falls in love with Mina Harker and Vlad falls in love with Maddie Fenton). Oh, and they also at one point use a backward-spelled "alias" of their own name" (IE: Vlad has "Dalv" and Dracula has "Alucard").
- Don't know if this also counts, but Lancer is possibly an Expy of J. Jonah Jameson from Spider-Man
- Freakshow and Lydia are seen as parallels to The Joker and Harley Quinn, respectively. Not surprising, as Butch Hartman seems to be a fairly big fan of superhero comics.
- Desiree the Literal Genie is a fairly transparent Expy of Arielle Juliette - as seen on flickr.com
- Fake Out Make Out: Danny and Sam coined the term, and are quick to uncomfortably realize their own reactions were more sincere than either suspected.
- Fallen Hero: Danny's future self most definitely, irrevocably, very disturbingly and with extreme violence and prejudice.
- Fallen Princess: Valerie.
- Family Friendly Firearms
- Family Unfriendly Death: Danny's human half in his Bad Future. So much so that Vlad refuses to divulge any of the details.
- Family Unfriendly Violence: What Danny's future self did to just about everybody. Many ghosts have been crippled or otherwise permanently injured, and one human character lost an arm and an eye.
- Fangs Are Evil: Vlad, evil Danny.
- Somewhat subverted and lampshaded with Ghostwriter's "Piranha-fangs".
- Fan Dumb: Oh, so much: The ongoing True fan/Anti-fan wars, The people who act as though Danny's a real person and get annoyed with the way he's treated in fanfiction -particularly Vlad Danny slash, which admittably is pedophilia, the general air of Serious Buisness....need I go on?
- Fan Nickname:
College Trio - Collective name to refer to Vlad, Jack, and Maddie.
CW - Because sometimes "Clockwork" is just too long to bother with.
GW - Because sometimes "Ghost Writer" is just too long to bother with. ( And his initials are written on the pediment of his mansion )
Frightmare - Nocturne's temporary name prior to the episode "Frightmare" airing.
Señor Seximus - Nickname used by English-speaking fans for Vlad in the Spanish language version of the show. Why did they watch this version? Do you even have to ask?
Vlad Seximus - Enough said.
Dan Phantom- A name commonly used for Danny's evil alternate-future self. Only originated in the video game adaptation.
Dark Danny-Another name used for Danny's evil alternate future-self. Shown during the episode's credits.
Master of Longwinded Introductions-Technus.
- Fanon: A lot of people believe that Paulina's last name is "Sanchez". This is never mentioned anywhere in canon. Also many believe that "James" is Danny's middle name. Also, a number are divided on if Vlad can sense ghosts or not.
- Not to mention many fans under assumption that Ember's song indicates a bad romance that tragically took her life.
- Though a picture exists, Vlad being a smoker has spread like plague-probably because it suits his character.
- On a similar vein, a lot of slash-friendly fans have Vlad and Jack Mistaken For Gay in college or hint that the Backwash Incident involved slash.
- Most Danny/Sam shippers believe Danny's affectionate nickname for Sam is "Sammykins". The only time it was ever used in canon was by her mother when waking Sam up.
- Fan Preferred Couple: Danny/Valerie, Danny/Vlad, Danny/Dan, Sam/Tucker, Tucker/Valerie, Sam/Dan, Sam/Kwan, Sam/Dash, Danny/Tucker/Sam, Maddie/Vlad, Danny/Paulina- the list goes on and on and on and on...
- That's not to say Danny/Sam isn't popular. In fact, at least a quarter of the fandom ships them.
- Fantastic Racism: Most ghosts don't like humans and most of the human cast are terrified of ghosts. It gets creepy when Danny hears about his parents discussing what to do with his alter ego's remains if they ever caught him.
- Fat Idiot: Jack Fenton, or so Vlad would claim. (Jack is actually a subversion.)
- Fetish Fuel: The ghost genie Desiree, who has a Stripperific outfit and will grant any wish you want. ANY. Also Spectra will humiliate you.
- Sam's dress in "Urban Jungle".
- Flanderization: By Season Three, many suffered from this.
- Flip Flop Of God: So "ghosts" are really just monsters from another dimension who happen to use ectoplasm? Okay, Hartman...but what about the countless references to ghosts being dead or previously being alive?
- Flying Brick
- Flynning: That sword fight between Danny and Vlad in "Infinite Realms".
- Foe Yay: Plenty of Vlad/Danny for all!
- Foreshadowing: Loads. A lot of it is really subtle and hard to catch until you rewatch things, but two good examples: the ectopusses Danny fights in episode 1 are sent by Vlad (who only shows up in the seventh). In the background, Valerie says "Mrs. Spectra says I worry too much about material possessions" in "My Brother's Keeper." The next episode, it's the loss of her material possessions that drives her to become a very aggressive ghost hunter.
- Forgotten Anniversary: When the anniversary gift goes to the ghost world...guess what happens.
- Four Temperament Ensemble: "Team Phantom" - Danny is Choleric for good leadership skills, but highly emotional personality, Tucker is Sanguine because he's fun-loving, Jazz, though not depressive is Melancholic for her kind, but perfectionist persona, and Sam is Phlegmatic because she's a responsible Stoic Goth.
- Freak Lab Accident: "But then Danny took a look inside of it. There was a great big flash, everything just changed. His molecules got all rearranged."
- Friendless Background
- Funny Foreigner: Subverted with Gregor. He's not funny at all, his real name is Elliot, and he's from Michigan.
- Furry Fandom: In "Reality Trip", Tucker admits aloud that he finds a wolf lady to be "hot".
Tucker: That may be the hottest geek I've ever laid eyes on.
(The wolf lady transforms into a more feral-looking wolf)
Sam: Yeah? How about now?
Tucker: Yeah. Still hot.
- Future Badass: The Box Ghost.
- Future Me Scares Me: Danny's future-self isn't exactly what he'd hope it to be. Then again, not many people want to grow up to be a rampaging sociopath.
- Gadgeteer Genius: Tucker, though Jack and Maddie actually make all their own gear.
- Gas Mask Mooks: Most non-operative GIW hunters wear masks that resemble gas masks.
- GASP!: In the finale, among other places.
- Geek: Tucker (technically a "Techno-Geek"), Mikey, Nathan/Lester, etc.
- Geeky Turn On: Whenever Maddie shows her Action Mom or ghost hunting skills, Jack's usual response is "Man that's hot!".
- Getting Crap Past The Radar: It's somewhat rare, but it does happen on occasion. For an example, in "Eye for an Eye" when Vlad is running for mayor, Jack hopes to be his second man, saying this line:
Jack: He told me that whenever he thinks of number two, he thinks of me.
- It happened more often than you might think. In "Memory Blank" there's a montage when Danny gets his memory back. It shows a photo of him using his invisibility to sneak out of the girl's locker room twice. Both times he had a content look on his face.
- Ghostly Goals: Which (if any) ghosts have "unfinished business" and will pass on after completing it is up for debate, considering the show never addressed afterlife beyond the Ghost Zone; however, almost every ghost Danny fights is the "attack the living" type.
- Girl's Night Out Episode: Aptly titled "Girls' Night Out", featuring Jazz, Maddie and Sam stopping Spectra, Kitty and Ember from making all the men disappear.
- Glowing Eyes Of Doom: Danny's eyes glow green even in human form when he gets too angry.
- Gondor Calls For Aid: "Reign Storm" where Danny, Vlad and Valerie have to ally to stop a Big Bad
- "Planet Phantom", where Danny has to enlist much of the population of the Ghost Zone (both friends and enemies) to save the world from an asteroid.
- The Good The Bad And The Evil: Team Phantom - good; Vlad, Valerie, and some of Danny's ghostly enemies - bad; most of Danny's Rogues Gallery - evil.
- Goshdang It To Heck
- Gosh Hornet: In "13", when Tucker disturbs a beehive in the middle of lunch period and chaos ensues.
- Goth:Sam is said to be goth and goes between Perky and Gloomy, but more often comes off as an activist hippie who wears black.
- Gotta Catch Them All: "Reality Trip" (and even the series' theme song).
- Grand Finale: "Phantom Planet".
- Great Big Book Of Everything:
- "Fright Night" - The Token Trio use a book to learn about the Fright Knight.
- "Reality Trip" - The trio use a book to find out about the Reality Gauntlet and find out it was written by the Evil Albino.
- "Infinite Realms" - Vlad mysteriously has a book with information about the Infimap in it.
- Green Eyes: Danny in ghost-mode and Jazz normally. Also (for some reason), all the non-white characters have green eyes.
- Green Thumb: Undergrowth and Sam in "Urban Jungle".
- Groupie Brigade: One episode focused on this when Danny Phantom (by this point, a well known hero and celebrity) is on the run from screaming teenage fans; most of which come from his own school. He had to secretly turn human to get away from the crazed mob.
- Growing The Beard: Though Season One had its continuity and Story Arc, Season Two upped the ante with deeper, darker plots and more Character Development.
- Half Human Hybrid: Apparently, the accident turned Danny into a "half-ghost".
- Hammerspace
- Hand Wave: Various.
- You could say that the entire concept of a "half-ghost" is this. The mechanics behind it is never really explained, and many a fan has tried to figure out how being half-dead really works.
- Hannibal Lecture: Vlad and Spectra.
Spectra: "Look at you? What are you? A ghost trying to fit in with humans or some creepy little boy with creepy little powers? You?re a freak! Not a ghost, not a boy! Who cares for a thing like you?"
- Happily Ever After: The world is saved from a giant asteroid, Jack and Maddie (and arguably the whole world) knows and accepts Danny's identity as a half ghost, Danny is regaled as a hero around the world, the Big Bad has been banished from the planet, and Danny and Sam get together in the end.
- Hartman Hips: Maddie, Valerie, Paulina, etc... it is a Hartman series...
- Sam in "Urban Jungle", but otherwise she's quite trimmed.
- Hatedom: A mild one for Dani, likely due to poor execution of her story, though Your Milage May Vary.
- Hero With Bad Publicity: Poor, poor Danny...
- Hey, It's That Voice!: Where to start?
- High Octane Nightmare Fuel: Desiree, the Literal Genie. Well, [1]. But, in human form◊, it's Nightmare Retardant.
- High School
- Hoist By His Own Petard: Happens to Vlad more often then not, but really comes to a head in the series finale when he makes a Xanatos Gambit to take over the world in exchange for saving them, revealing his ghost half to everyone in the process. This backfires horribly resorting in him being self-exiled from Earth and drifting in space, if not dead.
- Hollywood Nerd: Danny, especially when standing beside Tucker.
- Homage: Multiple. The Goth Bookstore showcases George McFly's book from Back to the Future on its shelves. When Danny collapses from cold in "Urban Jungle," he wakes up floating in his underwear in a water tank a la The Empire Strikes Back. Then there's "three for the OpCenter" as they "beam up" to the upper level of the Fenton house. And those are just the really obvious ones. There's more than a few examples in dialogue as well.
- To add into the "Back to the Future" references, "Masters of All Time" has a blink-it-and-you'll-miss-it" cameo of Marty McFly in the group shot of the 80's college student (wearing his infamous red "life jacket") and an even cooler homage: the clock tower on the school reads 10:04. Awesome.
- Adding yet again to the "Back to the Future" references, the first reference is found in "Splitting Images", the fifth episode of the first season. Marty can be found this time as one of the kids in the 50s version of Casper High.
- And hilariously, Danny and (Animated) Marty are voiced by the same person!
- Vlad's mansion being empty of servants may be a reference to Dracula, who likewise had a huge, (mostly) empty castle.
- Many references to Star Wars are seen throughout the series, as creator Butch Hartman is a major fan of the franchise.
- Horned Hairdo: Both Vlad and Spectra sport this.
- How Do I Shot Web: Pretty much whenever Danny develops a new power. Or, in the case of "Memory Blank", has to relearn how to use them.
- Hugh Mann: Amorpho.
- The Hunter: Valerie.
- Hunter Of His Own Kind: Danny. Also Skulker, in a subversion: he doesn't do it for the greater good, he just does it for the sake of hunting them.
- Hurricane Of Puns: Probably more prominent in "Beauty Marked" than any other episode, as Danny found at least a dozen for his ax-wielding opponent.
- Hypno Trinket: Freakshow's staff in "Control Freaks".
- I'd Tell You But Then I'd Have To Kill You: "You three have seen too much. You must be eliminated."
- I Just Want To Be Special: Tucker
- Amorpho, though not so much "special" as "noticed, good or bad".
- I Know Kung Fu: Maddie, Valerie.
- "I Know You're In There Somewhere" Fight: Danny to Tucker in "What You Want," Sam to Danny in "Control Freaks".
- Impairment Shot: Danny wakes up to see Vlad and Dani out of focus in "Kindred Spirits".
- Improbable Hairstyle: many of the ghosts have this, but this is averted with most of the humans. Except for Danny. What kind of hairstyle is that, a reverse mullet?
- Incredibly Lame Pun: Danny is a master of really bad puns. Also lampshaded once in "Shades of Gray" and "Beauty Marked".
Hey, another "ax" pun!
- Puns are used as lead-ins to commercial breaks with alarming frequency. As narrated by Ghost Writer:
(A giant Nutcracker appears)
"'Aw nuts!' Danny cried as he started to run."
"Must we end every scene with a terrible pun?"
- Infant Immortality: Averted hard in "The Ultimate Enemy" which shows the only cold-blooded murder committed in the series and the accidental deaths of Jazz, Sam and Tucker. Sidney Poindexter may also be an aversion, but he's already a ghost. An annoying one at that.
- I Need To Go Iron My Dog: Danny often has to come up with excuses (sometimes involving Suspiciously Specific Denial) on the fly so that he can get away and transform. His friends and sister will also up with some strange ones to cover for him.
Danny (noticing Box Lunch): A ghost? Here? (to Jazz) Now get out of my room!
Jazz: We're in the kitchen... (also noticing Box Lunch) ... but if that's your attitude, then I don't want to see you ... or ... anything you do in here for the next ... several minutes! (exit stage left)
- Informed Judaism: The Manson family. Ironic since Sam's parents are characterized as WASPs.
- Invocation: Danny's "Going Ghost!" is just a habit to say when he changes, it's not necessary.
- Ironic Echo Cut: Borrowed from FOP.
- It Seemed Like A Good Idea At The Time: In "Phantom Planet", when Danny gets rid of his powers to have a normal life, just before he needs them to save the world.
- On a much darker note, cheating wasn't a good idea either. Nor was begging his archrival to remove his humanity. It backfired horribly.
- Similarly in "Phantom Planet", Vlad revealing himself to be half-ghost to the world...and then forcing the world to pay him in order to save the planet. Which he couldn't actually do.
- It's Not You, It's My Enemies: Ironically, Valerie severs her relationship with Danny (Fenton) before it can start because she doesn't want him to get hurt because of her job hunting ghosts, including Danny Phantom.
- The Jailer: Walker.
- JerkAss: Vlad of course, especially damning in the series finale, after he reveals his ghost powers to the world. Jack, while surprised at this, is willing to overlook it and try to rebuild their friendship. Vlad coldly blows this off however since he thinks his plans are coming to fruition. When they don't though, he tries crawling back to Jack. Say the least, his chance at redemption is long since gone and Jack leaves him to rot.
- A bit of Alternate Character Interpretation can cause the Ghostwriter to be this. He basically causes the whole world to torture Danny because Danny accidentally incinerated a Christmas poem he wrote. Sure, he considered it his Magnum Opus, but what self-respecting writer considers a Christmas poem his greatest work? And if it really was that important, he just could've used his power to rewrite reality and make it so that Danny never incinerated it. Not to mention that, in order to torture Danny, he breaks an annual Christmas truce that EVERY ghost follows.
- Jerk Jock: Dash and Kwan are insufferable that way.
- Jive Turkey: The second episode has Mr Lancer trying to speak rap using a "How to Talk Slang" book.
- Hey Technus, your language is FAR OUT, but your execution is FUNKY FRESH.
- Journey To The Center Of The Mind: Danny invades the dreams of his friends in order to snap them out of Nocturne's control in "Frightmare".
- Just A Kid: Danny gets this a lot. His in-universe nickname is "Ghost Boy". More notably, Vlad does this twice, once almost calling it out ("Bitter Reunions"), the other as more of an insult ("Reign Storm"). Clockwork also does this once, but it's justified - he's trying to explain the nature of time and his own existence to someone who's probably flunking high school math. ("Why am I bothering? You're fourteen.")
- Valerie also remarks this about herself when her ghost-hunting benefactor reveals himself. "But why me? I'm, like, fourteen."
- Kid From The Future: Box Lunch, daughter of The Box Ghost and The Lunch Lady.
- Lampshade Hanging: "Jazz, take it easy. There's a rhythm to these things. Ghost attacks, we exchange Witty Banter, I kick ghost butt, then we all go home having learned a valuable lesson about honesty or some such nonsense." Also used by Dark Danny to his parents (so very justified) and subtly by Clockwork.
- Large Ham: Oh, where do we begin? Box Ghost, Technus, Super Danny in "Identity Crisis", arguably Jack, and especially Undergrowth's "I AM EVERYWHEEEERE!"
- Last Minute Hookup: After episodes of conspicuous "hints" towards it, Danny and Sam's relationship gets serious only in the concluding two episodes of the series.
- Launcher Of A Thousand Ships: Seriously, the fans pair Danny up with everyone...and everything. Many of these pairings have nicknames, such as Pitch Pearl.
- Strangest might possibly be Danny x Thermos. (Granted the pairing was created as a gag due to the craziness of the fandom at the time. That didn't stop someone from initiating Rule 34 for this pairing, though...)
- Least Rhymable Word: There was an episode where everyone was forced to speak in rhyme as someone narrated the entire episode. That is, until someone picked up an orange, prompting him to remark irritably that nothing rhymes with orange.
Walker: Orange? (offers it to Ghostwriter)
Ghostwriter: GET THAT THING AWAY FROM ME!
Guybrush: "We'll surely avoid scurvy if we all eat an orange."
Pirate 1: "And—um..."
Pirate 2: "Well...uh...door hinge?"
Pirate 1: "No, no..."
Pirate 2: "Guess the song's over, then."
- Tucker believed that the reason Danny Doomed us all by getting rid of his powers in the Finale was because nothing rhymed with Phantom.
- Locked Into Strangeness: Danny's new hairstyle in "Phantom Planet."
- Also Vlad, whose hair in human form changed permanently in the accident that gave him power. Hmmm...
- Not quite. "Masters of All Time" shows us Vlad in an alternate timeline without his powers, and he still has white hair, whereas Jack now has the same powers (and basically the same ghost form), and retains his jet-black hair.
- Limited Wardrobe
- Literal Genie: Desiree
- Lost Forever: The original "Fright Before Christmas".
- Love Makes You Evil: Story of Vlad's life. Losing everything he loved caused it to be Danny's future. Somebody hit the Reset Button.
- Loves My Alter Ego: Pauline idolized Danny Phantom and typically dismissed Danny Fenton.
- Lying Creator: Butch Hartman has said the ghosts are not meant to be spirits of the dead, despite many of the ghosts in the show are shown to once have been alive (Pointdexter, Desiree, the Dairy King, the Lunch Lady, Ember). See Flip Flop Of God.
- Desiree may not be an example; that info came from a folk tale.
- It may just be that they are, but he has to say that.
- Magic Skirt: Sam, Kitty, and Spectra.
- Magnetic Plot Device: The Ghost Portal.
- Magnificent Bastard/Manipulative Bastard: Vlad.
- Make A Wish: Desiree.
- Man Of Wealth And Taste: Vlad in his black suit. Hoo boy...!
- Mass Hypnosis: One of Ember's main abilities
- Make Me Wanna Shout: Danny and Dark Danny's "Ghostly Wail".
- Mama Bear: Maddie Fenton can get rather aggressive if either of her children are in danger.
- Master Of Delusion: Valerie, unfortunately.
- Danny, with regards to Jazz knowing his double life. "Danny! Go somewhere I can't see you and get help!" "Are you hiding here? Then I'll hide way over there where I can't see you."
- Master Of The Mixed Message: Danny.
- Meaningful Name: Most ghosts' names give clues as to some aspect of their appearance or what they can control. Example: The Box Ghost can control boxes and other cube-like objects. BEWARE!!!
- Desiree, a genie ghost who grants wishes and lived her life trying to fulfill them for others, is simply another way to pronounce desire.
- The kids all attend Casper High. Can they really complain about the constant ghost attacks?
- Mercy Lead: Valerie in "D-Stabilized". Subverted in "Maternal Instinct" by both Vlad and later Danny.
- Me's A Crowd
- MIB: Somewhat inverted with the Guys In White.
- Mickey Mousing
- Mind Game Ship: Ala Teen Titans. Some Shippers just took it and ran with it.
- Mind Rape: Vlad's attempts to get Danny over to his side. Done almost literally later on when Vlad tries to remove Danny's human emotions (at Danny's request, chillingly). That it backfired is putting it mildly.
- Mode Lock: caused by the Plasmius Maximus, as well as a few others.
- Mood Lighting
- The Most Dangerous Game: Basic plot of "Life Lessons", combined with Egg Sitting. Also defines Skulker's character to a tee.
- Motive Decay: Vlad's initial, intriguing motive to turn Danny into his son and apprentice, putting him on par with Slade from Teen Titans, disintegrated without explanation by Season 3, leaving him nothing your average, run-of-the-mill Villain With Good Publicity.
- Murder The Hypotenuse: Vlad will do absolutely ANYTHING to claim Maddie for his own. Luckily for Jack, Danny's powers have saved him from demise more than once.
- Musical Assassin: Ember McLain.
- Myth Arc: Danny's coming of age as a superhero and struggle with his darkness, his deepening relationship with Sam, and the world's gradual acceptance of him and that's just the main character.
- Jazz's arc where she slowly and eventually accepts her parents' ghost hunting habits and eventually getting into the life style; she also learns to embrace her childhood instead of acting like an adult all the time.
- Valerie's growth from a shallow, popular teen to a fierce ghost hunting warrior who starts to see a world beyond what she perceived while she was spoiled.
- Vlad's continuous desire for Maddie and especially Danny that culminated in his Villainous Breakdown.
- Name's The Same: A Part Time Hero named Fenton.
- Also Tucker shares the same last name with Richie Foley from Static Shock who is also a nerdish technologically obsessed side kick who does scheduling for the protagonist.
- Narm: The sound effect for the Ghostly Wail, the most badass attack Danny has, is so cheesy it's embarrassing.
- Vlad's defeat in "Phantom Planet", where he is humorously smacked by the Disasteroid.
- Narrative Poem: most of the "Fright Before Christmas".
- New Powers As The Plot Demands: Kind of justified since it serves as a more physical metaphor for his character growth (his powers grow as Danny himself does).
- New Super Power: After establishing the basic ghost-related abilities, Danny gets newer, less-ghostly, energy-based powers about every other episode. One notable gain occurred in "Urban Jungle", where Danny develops ice- and cold-generation powers just in time to fight a plant ghost who is particularly vulnerable to cold. However, at least the producers were classy enough to foreshadow this new power; Danny's ghost sense is said to be a by-product of it. Furthermore, the episode used that power as the springboard to show the deepening friendship with Danny and Frostbite as student and mentor.
- The ice thing is also semi-justified in that ghosts are commonly associated with cold. And Vlad specifically says that Danny shoots a beam of ectoplasmic energy.
- Nice Job Breaking It Hero: Danny gets manipulated into screwing up a few times. It almost always turns out all right and the one time it didn't found someone hitting the Reset Button. Ironically, he messed up all by himself that one time. It ended up destroying thousands, if not millions of lives... which made the Reset Button required.
- Sam had a moment herself in "Memory Blank".
- Nice Job Fixing It Villain: Let's see: Vlad letting out Pariah Dark so he can get the Crown of Fire and later mismanaging the effort to avoid the Disasteroid just to embarrass Jack Fenton. The most ironic and tragic example is where he really is trying to help - he separates Danny from his ghost half (at Danny's own request, chillingly) which leads to Danny's ghost half stealing Vlad's, killing his human half and just about everyone else afterwords. Someone hit the Reset Button on that.
- Nightmare Fuel: Dark Danny just before he kills his human half in "The Ultimate Enemy". Actually, the whole episode will suffice. Spectra and Bertrand also qualify.
- This is Nocturn's whole schtick.
- No Celebrities Were Harmed: Does Technus remind you of Gilbert Gottfried? Exactly.
- No Holds Barred Beatdown: Plasmius' introduction. Oh, but what an introduction.
- Does it again in "Kindred Spirits."
- Noodle Incident: The Backwash Incident involving the college trio (Vlad, Jack, Maddie).
- Not So Different: Danny and Plasmius, more than Danny would like to admit.
- Off Model: Sprinkled throughout the series, most notably during a period in the first season (and the beginning of Season Two) where the entire cast turned rubbery in a few episodes. Hartman has since "removed" those people.
- The Omniscient Council Of Vagueness: The Observant High Council.
- Omnicidal Maniac: Dark Danny, apparently. No onscreen death actually occurs, however. He's also the only person who has actually committed murder.
- Omniscient Morality License: Clockwork, who does some very questionable things. It turns out okay, but still... (Paraquote: "So he grows up to be the most powerful being on the planet. What do you want me to do about it?")
- Also, the Observants may count, though their perception of time is not as dynamic as Clockwork's. They were willing to kill a fourteen year old kid, but only then to save thousands of lives.
- Orbital Kiss Danny and Sam in "Phantom Planet", complete with Foot Popping.
- The Other Darrin: Voice-acting example: The Lunch Lady is voiced by Patricia Heaton in the pilot episode, and Kath Soucie in her later appearances. Michael St Patrick voiced Skulker in three episodes, before being replaced by Kevin Michael Richardson. Also, when Valerie took a level in badass, she switched from Grey Delisle to Cree Summer.
- Our Ghosts Are Different: Danny, and every ghost who appears in the cast. Seriously.
- Out Of Sight Out Of Mind: Several antagonists, but notably Dark Danny who, unfortunately, does not return ever again thus wasting good episode potential. (*sigh*)
- Pair The Spares: "I am Box Lunch, daughter of the Box Ghost and the Lunch Lady!"
- Once, when Danny began dating Paulina who was of course a ghost disguised as Paulina, Sam got unwillingly paired up with Kwan while Tucker began dating Star. Finally, Star and Kwan hooked up with each other, allowing Sam and Tucker to both be single once more.
- Ember and Skulker. Seriously, what?
- The Paolo: Paulina to Sam, Gregor to Danny.
- People Jars: The clones in "Kindred Spirits".
- Perky Goth: Sam, especially during the winter holiday season.
- Periphery Demographic: "Boy's Action Show"—ya right, Hartman. The fangirls of mostly the teenage and college age variety eat this show up.
- Phantom Zone: The Ghost Zone; also served as Sealed Evil In A Can.
- Pick On Someone Your Own Size
- Ping Pong Naivete: Danny
- A Pirate 400 Years Too Late: Youngblood and his pirate crew
- Playing Against Type: Ron Perlman as
Fat Howie Mandel Mr. Lancer, who is neither a villain nor a monster.
- Plot Induced Stupidity
- Plot Sensitive Items
- Positive Discrimination: Namely, "Women are better than Men," though not as prominent as in The Fairly OddParents. Most prominently seen in Maddie and Sam, but does show up elsewhere.
- Post Dramatic Stress Disorder: Rather often, starting in the first episode with Danny saving Tucker and Sam from the Lunch Lady, only to collapse afterward. Subverted in the climax of "Ultimate Enemy". Eventually, he grows out of this as he gets used to his powers and develops them further.
- Power Degeneration: The fate of the Danny clones, and almost that of Dani when overextending her powers.
- Power Glows
- Power Incontinence: A common theme for Danny in early season one, and again in "Memory Blank" in season two.
- Possibly Vlad pre-series. He got his powers in 1981, but got his money in 1986.
- Power Levels: implicitly done with Color Coded For Your convience; Green, Blue, Purple, Red.
- The Power Of Rock: Ember is a villainous version of this.
- Power Trio: Danny (Ego), Sam (Superego), Tucker (Id)
- Puberty Superpower: Well, Danny is a growing 14-year-old boy with ghost powers.
- Rape As Comedy: Hinted at with the Ghost Writer.
- Recycled INSPACE: Danny is Peter Parker WITH GHOST POWERS!
- Red Eyes Take Warning
- Relationship Upgrade: Danny and Sam. No spoilers because you should have seen this coming.
- Required Secondary Powers
- Reset Button: "Reality Trip"—considered a bane for many fans who finds this to be a Moral Dissonance/Status Quo Is God moment for an otherwise continuity-heavy series; because he erased his parents' memories for no apparent reason.
- Otherwise justified. His privacy had been utterly destroyed, and the GIW wanted to experiment on him.
- Reunion Revenge: Vlad subverts it in that he threw the reunion at his mansion in order to get back at Jack for the accident that gave him powers and for marrying the girl of his dreams who never noticed him at all in the first place apparently.
- Rich Bitch: Paulina is the common example, but Sam is a nice subversion—her family's rich, but she does everything she can to hide it and be accepted for who she is.
- Valerie also started as one.
- Right Hand Cat: Vlad's cat Maddie in Season 3. Subverted at first in that it's an adorable kitten and ironic in that the suggestion in getting a cat set him to a This Is Sparta yell.
- Ripple Effect Proof Memory: Averted. Any time history is rewritten, the character doing so will explicitly request that their memories are kept.
- Rogues Gallery: Quite a large one at that.
- RPG Episode: "Teacher of the Year", set in the MMORPG "Doomed".
- Rule Thirty Four: Oh boy, Dark DP of several hentai forums practically pioneered it in the show's exact artstyle!
- Rule Of Cool: Some of his attacks don't even make sense. For example, in "Urban Jungle" he creates a snowball—with Eye Beams, no less—then puts some ghost energy in it, and throws it at the villain, which pops a hole in his chest. Fair enough. But then the villain, almost immediately after healing himself, explodes from the inside with ice energy...and all of this from one snowball?
- Rushmore Refacement: Freakshow did this in "Reality Trip."
- Scooby Snacks: Played literally with Kitty Krunches. Of course, this came from the "Groovy Gang," a painfully obvious parody of the Scooby Doo gang.
- The Scrappy: Some fans attribute this to Danielle, but Your Mileage May Vary.
- Screwed By The Network: Was it ever.
- Screw Destiny: Danny in The Movie, in which he is shown a future where he's the Big Bad. Chillingly, he doesn't mind until he finds out that his whole family, his friends, and (far less importantly) his English teacher died because of him. He changed his tune right quick, then.
- Screw The Rules I Have Money: Vlad
Masters Plasmius....Who obtained this money through less-than-legal means using his ghost-powers.
- Screw This, I'm Outta Here: Ember pulls this in Pirate Radio.
- Sdrawkcab Name: The DALV Company, backwards for its head, Vlad.
- Sealed Evil In A Can: The Fright Knight, Pariah Dark, and later Dark Danny.
- Arguably, any ghost trapped in the Fenton Thermos. Temporary, but still sealed away.
- Sealed With A Kiss
- Secret Identity
- Secret Keeper: Sam and Tucker; Jazz is the asymmetrical version for a while.
- Sending Stuff To Save The Show: Five rallies from DP Fans have been held for three years in various official Nickelodeon/Viacom areas to get the show back for another season. No dice.
- Don't forget all the "Save Danny Phantom" fanart people drew and sent in to the studios!
- Serious Business: The fandom itself. Seriously. Take Our Word For It.
- Set Right What Once Went Wrong: "Masters of All Time", only to end up changing the change back to the way things were. Also the point of "The Ultimate Enemy" from Clockwork's point of view.
- She Cleans Up Nicely: Sam, if Tucker's reaction to seeing her all dolled up was any indication.
- She Is Not My Girlfriend: Danny and Sam were in serious denial about their relationship through most of the series, and straight-out used the phrase several times, starting in the first episode.
- Shipping: And how!
- Ship To Ship Combat: The infamous "True-Fan VS Anti-Fan" wars which basically boiled down to "Canon" (Danny/Sam) VS "Fanon" (Danny/Anyone Else) and/or "Heterosexual Pairings" (IE: Danny/Sam, Danny/Valerie) VS "Slash" (Danny/Vlad, Danny/Dash, and even Danny/Himself *Don't ask*).
- Shipper On Deck: Tucker, for Danny and Sam.
- Actually, even Mr. Lancer refers to them as "love birds" fairly early in the series.
- Valerie too, before she developed feelings for Danny.
- Ember actually helped them see it.
- Everyone seemed to think they were an item, or should be. Even The Libby.
- Shout Out: To comic books, crewmembers, The Fairly Odd Parents, and of course, Star Wars.
- Sidekick Glass Ceiling: Tucker, possibly Valerie too.
- Sixth Ranger: Jazz joins "Team Phantom" later in the series, though she isn't accepted so easily at first.
- Skunk Stripe: shown in many characters (mostly in the Rogues Gallery), but the most prominent is Vlad. Danny's is like this as well temporarily in "Phantom Planet."
- Small Name Big Ego: "I TECHNUS, MASTER OF ALL THINGS ELECTRONIC AND BEEPING!" Keep in mind that he is also the one who came closest to suceeded in his plans.
- Likewise, there's Ember.
- Vlad, unfortunately, falls under this during Season Three.
- Alas, the fandom itself became a war of Small Name Big Egos. The only side that "won" (And that's putting it very loosely) was the side that didn't care either way and just wanted to enjoy the show.
- What, the Fenton Family themselves don't count? Or at least Jack - EVERYTHING they make has a "Fenton" somewhere in it, and half his inventions have his face on them somewhere. He even has a toaster that makes toast SHAPED like him!
- Snapback: In conjunction with many a Broken Aesop.
- Soap Box Sadie: Sam
- Sorting Algorithm Of Evil
- Sounding It Out
- Space Whale Aesop: Remember kids—if you cheat on tests, you will turn evil!
- Speculative Fiction
- Spider Sense: "Ghost Sense"
- Spy Speak
- Star Spangled Spandex: Nocturne.
- Start Of Darkness: For Vlad via flashbacks in "Bitter Reunions."
- It can also be argued that "Splitting Images" up to "The Ultimate Enemy" is a Start Of Darkness for Danny. If you believe you can't fight fate, then the entire series is this for Danny.
- Steven Ulysses Perhero: "Hello, Danny Fenton, Danny PHANTOM."
- Don't forget Frederick Isaak Showenhower.
- Stock Superpowers
- Strapped To An Operating Table This happens to Danny on several occasions, most notably by Maddie in "Masters of All Time."
- Stuffed Into A Locker: Danny, Tucker, Dash (in opening theme), etc.
- A first-season episode revolved around the ghost of a nerdy kid who was stuffed into his locker so often as a student that he now haunts it.
- Suicidal Overconfidence: Many times. Technus - most of the time.
- Super Hero
- Super Hero Origin: Covered in the theme song, with "Memory Blank" filling in the gaps.
- Sympathetic POV
- Talking To Himself: Several members of the cast play various roles throughout the episodes as well as their own main character roles.
- Technopath: Technus
- Valerie, somewhat, after Technus upgrades her busted suit.
- Temporal Paradox: "The Ultimate Enemy".
- Possibly present in "Memory Blank", as it's explicitly stated and shown that the Fenton Portal was never activated, and yet Desiree is still roaming free.
- Likely inverted as it was her power which made the alternate future to begin with.
- Ten Minute Retirement: Jack in "Mystery Meat" and "The Million Dollar Ghost", Danny in "Phantom Planet"
- There Are No Girls On The Internet: In "Teacher of the Year", Tucker and Danny don't believe girls play online games. They're extremely surprised to find out the player Chaos, who routinely kicks their butts, is none other than Sam. (She did admit to using "loads of cheat codes and secret power ups" though.)
- Thick Line Animation
- The Knights Who Say Squee: Inverted in a sense — Vlad (the villain) is a huge Packers fan.
- The Only One Allowedto Defeat You: Whenever he's forced to team up with Danny, Skulker only does so to be able to continue hunting him.
- "Now go! Defeat him! So I'll be free to hunt you another day!"
- Theme Tune Cameo: Tucker's cell phone's ringtone in "Double Cross My Heart".
- Danny plays it on giant-robot-Technus' chest in "Attack of the Killer Garage Sale".
- They Would Cut You Up: Even Danny's own parents want to do this to his ghost half. And let's not forget the Guys in White, and their famous quote from Reality Trip:
- This Is Sparta: Several times throughout the series.
- This Loser Is You
- Three Amigos: Danny, Tucker, and Sam
- Time Travel: "The Ultimate Enemy," "Masters of All Time", and "Infinite Realms".
- Token Trio: Danny, Tucker, and Sam.
- Too Dumb To Live: Invariably Danny and Tucker, followed by a reproachful Sam.
- Too Good To Last: Debatable. Some were happy to see the third season end before it got worse.
- Took A Level In Badass: Valerie, after she gets used to her ghost-fighting gear, and Danny himself by the end of the series.
- Does anyone remember the Box Ghost in the Dark Danny timeline? I'd say that qualifies.
Beware.
- Top Heavy Guy: Vlad. Masters not so much, but it's glaringly obvious when he fights as Plasmius.
- Totally Radical: Executed mercilessly. Sam has even used the word "radical" on at least one occasion.
- Training From Hell: Sam did this to Tucker in "Micro-Management". Well, it's pretty hellish when you take into consideration he doesn't have superpowers and is only training to pass a school fitness test.
Tucker: [while climbing up a rope] Like chinning up to a killer bird's nest on a tree branch of empty lies!
- Transvestite: Sam wears Danny's clothes twice. Sure, it was all for distraction purposes, but in two episodes? Somebody's got some 'splaining to do. Also Tucker in "Control Freaks" who seemed to enjoy wearing Sam's clothes. And Danny at one point in "Splitting Images". Again, in "Teacher of the Year", Mr. Lancer's "sister" is actually just him in a dress. Is Hartman a fan of crossdressing or what?
- Trick Dialogue
- Triple Shifter: "Of course it was a late night. Every ghost I know — and about a million I don't — are loose!"
- Truth In Television: Vlad can't buy the Packers because "...the city of Green Bay...won't sell them me!" The Packers franchise is collectively owned by most of the population of Green Bay, and their original contract (which was grandfathered in and isn't allowed anymore) specifies that no single person can ever own more than 5 percent of the team and that the only way to change the ownership by-laws is to disband the team.
- Two Guys And A Girl: Vlad, Jack, and Maddie; also Danny, Tucker and Sam.
- Two Teacher School
- More like three: Mr Lancer, Ms Tettslaff, and Mr Faluca.
- Though in the first episode, we get a brief glimpse of more staff members at the Teachers Lounge All-Meat Buffet.
- Well, technically there's also Principal Ishiyama, but she does less teaching and more trying to run a school in the midst of ghost chaos...
- TV Teen
- Tyke Bomb: Danielle
- Unfortunate Implications: Youngblood and Box-lunch are dead kids. Also, what your afterlife will be like.
- Justified for at least Box-lunch, as she was born as a ghost, being the daughter of the Box Ghost and the Lunch Lady. Youngblood's case is still up in the air; one Nick Mag tie-in comic shows him under the legal protection of two monstrous ghosts who may or may not be his actual parents.
- Untrusting Community: Danny had a serious public image problem through most of the series. This changes by the end, though - not only is his ghost half accepted as a hero, he has rabid fans. And plushies.
- Unusual Euphemism: Mr. Lancer uses book titles, while Vlad uses snack-foods.
- Victorious Childhood Friend: Guess who and the first two don't count.
- Villain Decay: Vlad by Season 3.
- Possibly justified by the fact that Maddie has rejected his advances and Danny and Jazz refuse to side with him. Now he's just a lonely, bitter man who can't have what he wants.
- Villain On A Bus: Fright Knight
- Villain With Good Publicity: Vlad is a billionaire celebrity and later becomes mayor of Amity Park. Granted, he possessed the voters to win, but he keeps his position for the reminder of the season.
- Villainous Breakdown: Vlad in the Season 2 Finale.
- Vocal Evolution: Danny, Vlad, etc.
- Voice Of The Legion
- Wake Up Go To School Save The World
- Weapons That Suck: The Fenton ghost thermos.
- There's also the Ghost Weasel and the Extractor, both of which are essentially high-powered ecto-vacuums.
- We Can Rule Together
- Weird Science: Almost nothing in this show even resembles real science but does have a logic (or lack thereof) all its own.
- Well Intentioned Extremist: Valerie. Oh, Valerie...
- We Will Meet Again: Vlad and other various antagonists.
- One of Wulf's only English lines.
- Wham Episode: Public Enemies While Danny's exploits up to this point were mostly low-key, below the radar, and ignorable, now the entire town is aware of his existence, and ghosts have become very real for them.
- What Could Have Been: Mentioned on the page there, but basically, Danny was supposed to be a teenaged Ghostbuster on a motorcycle with a pet owl and a psychic link to Sam. Then the idea was tweaked into what it is now.
- This could apply to the entire third season, as Steve Marmel allegedly wanted to get Darker And Edgier, following along the lines of "The Ultimate Enemy". There was even a fan project on imagining what it would be like, only it never got off the ground because they couldn't get details from Mr. Marmel.
- What Measure Is A Non Human: To convince Valerie to help him save Danielle from Plasmius, Danny tries to make her see she can't in good conscience harm her because she's half human.
Valerie: She is a ghost, and I destroy ghosts.
Danny: Fine, destroy ghosts! But can you really take part in destroying a human?
- Where Does He Get All Those Wonderful Toys: Danny gets all his ghost hunting needs in his own basement. One episode shows his own house has a weapons' vault, a possible other source.
- White Haired Pretty Boy: Gregor/Elliot.
- To some, Vlad. He was not originally white haired.
- And Danny himself
- Why Did It Have To Be Snakes: Tucker says this word for word in "Pandora's Box".
- With Great Power Comes Great Insanity: Dark Danny, arguably. Though the whole thing about watching helplessly as your family and friends get blown up and getting your super-powered ghost half removed did give a good start... but he only started a murderous rampage after getting separated from his human half. His past self is extremely horrified.
- Vlad may also apply as he seemed to be largely content with his life before the accident.
- Poor Tucker gets this twice. To be fair, it really wasn't his fault the first.
- Wrong Genre Savvy: Valerie.
- X Meets Y: Spider-Man meets Ghostbusters.
- Xanatos Gambit: Vlad's preferred MO.
- Xanatos Sucker: And what Danny usually ends up as.
- You Can't Fight Fate: ...according to Danny's future self (and a few fans), anyway.
"...me? I'm inevitable."
- You Cannot Please Everyone: Story of Danny's life.
- "You Look Like You've Seen A Ghost...or something really scary that we don't see every day!"
- You Meddling Kids Tucker: "Sweet! I always wanted to be a Meddling Kid!"
- Your Mileage May Vary: The series fits this. One side view it as a wonderfully written coming-of-age superhero story with character driven plots, the other sees it as a poorly conceived attempt at the superhero genre with difficulties balancing drama and comedy. Also, some people assume the improvement in the terms of character design is worse than before.
- Some of the best fanfiction writers for the series take one look at the show and it tends to make them feel... well, queasy is too loose a term...
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