- "It Came From Locker 724!"
Produced 2003, aired in U.S. on 4/23/04
Production order: 5 (1-5)
Fed up with all the bullying he endures at school, Danny finally starts using his ghost powers to get back at Dash and his Jerk Jock posse. His actions awaken the vengeful ghost of a bullied student named Sidney Poindexter, who mistakes Danny for a bully and switches bodies with him, sending Danny back to a 1950s version of Casper High in the Ghost Zone while taking over as Danny Fenton in the human world.
Starting with this episode, the dimension ghosts come from will always be referred to as "the Ghost Zone."
This episode provides examples of:
- Ambiguous Situation: Poindexter's classmates being with them in the Ghost Zone. Are they truly the spirits of his classmates while alive, or are they simply manifestations who exist to torment Poindexter in the afterlife?
- Batman Gambit: Danny tricks Poindexter into undoing the body swap by threatening to smash the mirror that leads back to the present, even though that would strand them both in Poindexter’s ghost school. Poindexter then tries to stop him by possessing him, allowing Danny to take his body back and escape back to his own world.
- Book Ends: Another episode that begins and ends with an appearance by the Box Ghost.
- Broken Aesop: The Aesop for this episode is supposedly "Getting revenge on bullies makes you a bully." By that logic, Danny is a bully for messing with Dash. Therefore, Poindexter should be just as much of a "bully" as Danny, as he also uses his powers to punish bullies, and a kid he thinks is a bully. Danny is portrayed as in the wrong for giving the real bullies a taste of their own medicine, but Poindexter is treated as in the right for giving Danny a taste of his own medicine. Danny concludes that what Poindexter put him through "serves me right," even though he and Poindexter did the exact same thing with the exact same motive. If Danny was wrong, Poindexter should have been wrong, too. Conversely, if Poindexter's actions were justified, Danny's should have been, too. The double standard is very stark.
- And technically speaking, Poindexter's actions in this episode make him far more of a bully than Danny. With his motive being to punish anyone who's a bully, and with this episode's Aesop stating that committing the same actions against a bully makes you a bully, Poindexter does that to the jocks and Paulina, as well as Danny since Poindexter thinks he's a bully. The only person Danny gets back at is Dash. None of his actions against Dash really go too far into warranting the Grand Theft Me that Poindexter pulls on him. This makes Danny's consequences in the episode unfair Disproportionate Retribution and Poindexter's lack of consequences completely hypocritical.
- Making matters worse is that befriending Dash was portrayed as the right way to handle the bullying situation, even though they only liked him because he was giving away free sodas to people. It did nothing to rectify Dash's already little character. The fact he reverted to his behavior by the end showed he was only being Danny's friend for special favors.
- Bully Magnet: Poindexter was this when he was alive. Absolutely every other student in Casper High picked on him. Since he and his classmates became ghosts, they’ve still been picking on him, until the end of the episode.
- Butt-Monkey: Poor Danny endures a lot of suffering in this episode. Sidney was also this until he escapes the Ghost Zone, as he was bullied by everyone in his school, and continued to get bullied by them after they died and became ghosts.
- Curb-Stomp Battle: Surprisingly enough, the Box Ghost manages to deliver one to Danny at the beginning of the episode.
- Disproportionate Retribution:
- This happens to Danny. Poindexter swaps Danny's body with his own and traps him in a ghost realm that's like Casper High in the 50's to be bullied for eternity. At the same time, Danny would never see his friends or family again, all because he decided to get back at Dash after getting fed up with his bullying. The problem is that none of Danny's actions against Dash really go too far into making Danny deserve to have his life taken away from him. Poindexter ironically does even worse, but he gets off scot-free in the end.
- As revealed in dialogue, Sam kicked a boy named Ricky Marsh off the monkey bars in second grade because she believed Tucker when he said he threw up in her lunch box.
- Easily Forgiven: When Sidney’s classmates respect him for “standing up to Danny Phantom”, he immediately forgives them, after decades of getting bullied by them.
- Eye Color Change: This is the first time we see Danny's eyes turn green with fury when he's still human.
- Famed In-Story: Danny now learns that the half-boy/half-ghost is famous (or infamous) in the Ghost Zone.
- "Freaky Friday" Flip: Poindexter switches bodies with Danny to give him a taste of his own medicine.
- Free the Frogs: Sam's goal in this episode.
- Grand Theft Me: Poindexter uses a ghost's overshadowing ability to swap bodies with Danny.
- Humiliation Conga: The bullying Danny goes through when his body is switched with Poindexter's and sent to the spirit world.
- Hypocrite:
- When one of Poindexter’s classmates sees him fighting Danny, he calls Danny a bully, even though he’s been bullying Poindexter for decades.
- Poindexter calls Tucker a nerd multiple times in the episode, even though he's even nerdier than Tucker.
- I Can Explain:Danny: (to Lancer after everything that happened) I can explain...Actually, I really can't.
- Idiot Ball: After switching bodies with Danny and forcing Danny through the mirror’s portal back to his ghost school, Poindexter, for some reason, doesn’t think to break the mirror so Danny has no way to escape or get Poindexter back where he came from.
- Karma Houdini: Poindexter doesn't really suffer any consequences for his actions, and later episodes show that he even manages to escape from his 50s Casper High prison. Also, Poindexter’s classmates get no punishment for all the torment they put Poindexter and Danny through.
- Laser-Guided Karma: Danny uses his powers to get back at Dash for bullying him. Sidney likewise uses his telekinesis to punish Kwan, Paulina, and Dale for bullying nerds.
- Magic Mirror: Serves as the portal between the two Casper Highs.
- Mis-blamed: Poindexter sees Danny pulling a prank on Dash and thinks Danny is the bully picking on an innocent kid, and refuses to believe Danny when he tells him he has it backwards.
- Nonchalant Dodge: Danny fights Poindexter at the end Airbender-style, simply moving his head every time Poindexter throws a punch.
- Not Me This Time: Pointdexter starts taking revenge on the popular kids shortly after Danny does.Sam: (hearing Kwan, Paulina, and an unnamed bully talk about the bad things that happened to them) Apparently, someone’s been busy.Danny: It wasn't me, I swear!
- Plot Hole:
- Poindexter somehow concludes Danny is the bully and Dash and his friends are innocent, even though he interferes in several of the jocks' attempts to bully other kids. There's no logical reason, if his observations of the school led him to think Danny was a bully, that he could have missed all the other real bullies at work, as well.
- When Tucker sees Poindexter for the first time and tells Danny that he used to have Locker #724, it's followed by Tucker saying "In your face, Mr. Skeptic!" to Danny. Danny was never skeptical of Poindexter's existence, he just simply didn't know at first about the legend of Locker #724 which is why he questioned Sam and Tucker why that locker was such a big deal.
- Portal Slam: After he gets back to the human realm, Danny breaks the mirror, destroying the portal to Poindexter’s ghost school.
- Red Eyes, Take Warning: Sidney’s eyes turn red before he starts attacking Danny.
- Secret-Keeper: Apparently, when they were in second grade, Tucker made Danny promise not to tell Sam he was the one who threw up in her lunch box. When Danny reveals this to her, Tucker starts nervously gesturing for Danny to stop talking.
- Shout-Out: One of the background characters in the 50s Casper High towards the end is modeled after Marty McFly who, incidentally enough, was voiced by David Kaufman in the 90s animated series.
- Small Role, Big Impact: The Box Ghost only shows up at the beginning and the end of the episode, but his fight with Danny in the school leads to Danny getting Locker 724. Also, it's one of the few times he actually wins against Danny.
- Something Only They Would Say: Danny, while stuck in Poindexter's body in the Ghost Zone, contacts Sam and Tucker through the mirror in his locker to help him out. Since he looks like a green-eyed Poindexter, Sam tells him to prove his identity.Danny: In second grade, Tucker threw up in your lunchbox, but he told you Ricky Marsh did it.
Sam: What?! I kicked him off the monkey bars for that! (glares and points at Tucker) It was you?! (gasps in realization)
Sam and Tucker: Danny? - Stuffed into a Locker: Poindexter was stuffed into his high school locker several times when he was alive, and his classmates still do this to him as ghosts. Danny also suffers this, courtesy of Dash.Tucker: [Pointdexter] got stuffed into his locker so many times, it's believed his spirit still inhabits it to this very day.
- Sure, Let's Go with That: When Lancer suspects the first incident with Poindexter was a distraction so Sam could steal the frogs, she goes "Right... of course."
- Team Rocket Wins: The Box Ghost is actually able to beat Danny at the beginning of the episode. Even at the end, he gets away without being sucked into the Fenton Thermos.
- Throw the Dog a Bone: Sidney was bullied in high school by every other student, and after dying, he spent decades getting bullied by his classmates as a ghost. After switching bodies with Danny, he gets to enjoy being popular. Then, after Danny switches their bodies back, his ghost classmates finally respect him for fighting Danny.
- Time Stands Still: The first time we see an area of the Ghost Zone that works like this.
- Totally Radical: Poindexter uses a lot of 50’s slang.
- Unskilled, but Strong: In Poindexter’s realm, Danny’s body still has its ghost powers while Poindexter’s body doesn’t, but even after swapping bodies with Danny, Poindexter still has trouble fighting Danny because he has no idea how to use Danny's powers.
- Wedgie: Danny gets one from one of Poindexter’s bullies while he’s in Poindexter’s body.
- You Look Like You've Seen a Ghost:Danny: (to Tucker and Sam) Guys, what's wrong? You look like you've seen a ghost. Or... something really scary that we don't see every single day.
- You Wouldn't Hit a Guy with Glasses: Danny (in Poindexter's body) jokingly tries this on Poindexter, since he is currently wearing glasses. Poindexter still tries to hit him, but he misses.Danny: You wouldn't hit a guy with glasses? (Dodges Poindexter's punch) You couldn't hit a guy with glasses! (Dodges another punch) In fact, you couldn't even hit the broad side of a barn!
Poindexter: (annoyed) Hold still!
