- "Out Of This World Terror!"
Produced 2005, aired in U.S. on 1/13/06
Production order: 30 (2-10)
It's a typical day in Amity Park – Tucker and Sam are hanging out at the mall, Valerie and Star are grabbing a bite to eat in the food court, and Danny Phantom is busy fighting Technus, who may have a new look but is still his same old annoying, hammy self. Everyone in the mall runs for cover when the two ghosts come crashing in and continue their battle. Valerie automatically reaches into her backpack for her weapons, only to remember that her dad took all her ghost-hunting gear and locked it in his lab after he discovered his daughter's dangerous new hobby. Technus' next attack goes wide and blasts her off her feet, which sends Danny into a rage.
While Danny's blind with fury, Technus grabs him by the throat, gives him a powerful shock, and tosses him into a tower of boxes that collapses on him. The Ghost Master of Technology takes this opportunity to disappear, hiding in Valerie's cell phone. She pushes her way through the crowd to confront Danny Phantom, only to find Danny Fenton lying in the pile of boxes. It seems the sparks that were ignited in "Reign Storm" are still flying, as they're both pleased to see each other... and Technus is pleased to find Danny's new weakness.
Technus' Evil Plan of the episode doesn't become clear until the students of Casper High take a field trip to Axion Labs, where Valerie's father is giving them a tour. While he pulls Danny aside for a private word, Tucker exposits about the lab's newest projects: the X-23 booster rocket, a jetpack designed to launch a single person into space in 2 minutes; and the CyberTron megacomputer, powerful enough to control every computer in the world. In fact, the lab only contains a hub that connects to the processing unit of the main computer itself, a satellite floating safe in outer space – the only way to access the computer is through the hub, with a 10,000 digit security code. Valerie doesn't find the subject as interesting as Tucker and begins wandering through the lab (looking for something of hers, perhaps...?). After she walks through a doorway into a side room, Technus leaves her cell phone and briefly takes control of the door, locking her inside, before flying into the hub, causing some interference on Tucker's PDA as he passes.
Back in the entrance hall, Danny's oblivious to what's going on, having his hands full getting the If You Ever Do Anything to Hurt Her... ultimatum from Valerie's dad. Not that Mr. Gray is giving him a hard time – he thinks Danny's a good kid and is happy that Valerie likes him... he'd just better keep his "family's ghost weirdness" away from her. Right on cue, Danny's ghost sense goes off, and Valerie blasts through the ceiling, fully clad in her ghost-fighting suit, riding her jet sled, and shooting randomly at everyone in sight.
While the students and teacher panic and run, Danny ducks into another room, goes ghost, and flies out as Danny Phantom, prepared to fight. To his surprise, Valerie doesn't even look at him but flies away out of sight. Danny chases after her just as Mr. Gray appears to find the lab trashed. Again. Valerie, back in her regular clothes, now stumbles out of the room she was locked in earlier. Her confusion about what's going on only deepens when her dad drags her away. Technus is left inside the hub; with Danny gone, he's free to begin trying to crack that 10,000 digit access code... which, he concedes, will take a while. Which will give Danny Phantom plenty of time to find him and mess things up. He needs a distraction; fortunately, he has the perfect one...
That night, when she and her dad are back at home, Valerie insists that it wasn't her at the lab today, that someone else must have taken her suit. Her father doesn't believe her, and she ends up stomping to her room in a huff. She knows it wasn't her, but then who was it? She's lying on her bed puzzling over the mystery when she hears the beep of an incoming IM on her computer. It's Danny asking if she's okay... except, at this very moment, Danny's in his room having a webcam chat with Sam and Tucker, meaning it's really Technus playing Cupid. Danny's wondering about "Valerie's" strange behavior today, ignoring Danny Phantom, whom she's obsessed with destroying, and never saying a word, when he gets Valerie's reply. Since Tucker has to sign off now anyway before his mom catches him online again, Danny happily signs off with Sam as well.
Danny and Valerie spend the rest of the night IMing each other, which his friends immediately deduce by how tired he is at school the next morning.
Both of them think he's making a huge mistake, falling for a ghost hunter who's bent on destroying him, but Danny can't bring himself to share their concerns. He doesn't care that Valerie has it in for his alter ego – he really likes her. It's clear that the feeling is mutual, despite Star reminding Valerie that he comes from a family of "ghost hunting freaks." The two ignore their friends' objections, however, and begin spending more time together.
A montage shows the new couple going on several dates over the next few days – eating out, a baseball game, the amusement park – with Technus always adding an extra romantic touch, like trapping them on a Ferris wheel for a while. It's clear they're thoroughly enjoying every minute of it, to the great displeasure of Sam, who's been watching them like a jealous hawk. Tucker, however, is more concerned about why his PDA has been acting strange at random times ever since the battle with Technus. He finally figures out why the night he and Sam follow Danny and Valerie to the amusement park – his PDA acts wonky in response to the interference thrown off by Technus, meaning every time it's gone on the blink, it was picking up Technus doing something near them. To Sam, this means Technus has been arranging things to push Danny and Valerie together. Tucker bursts into laughter at the suggestion that Technus is interfering in Danny's love life and expects Danny will feel the same.
Danny proves him right the next day before school, when he laughs his head off after being told that Technus set him up with Valerie. Sam tries to make him see that the mechanical ghost is using the human trait he hates most – emotion – to get to Danny. Even Tucker apparently has started to think the things that have been happening to Danny and Valerie can't be a coincidence and are obviously the work of a shipper arranging things for them.
Sam gasps when she sees that Valerie arrived just in time to hear that last part. Unfortunately, the boys don't; when Tucker's about to mention Technus again, Sam changes the conversation by loudly (and very reluctantly) assuring Danny that they're happy for him and will be glad to make room for Valerie in their group. An oblivious Danny hurries off to meet Valerie before class, unaware that Sam's currently enduring a hug of gratitude from the girl, who's thrilled that their rivalry over Danny is now apparently over and that his friends have accepted her.
Danny continues to laugh over the thought of Technus shipping him with Valerie until he's ambushed by Valerie's suit, complete with gun and jet sled. He guesses that Valerie isn't in there, which Technus confirms by pointing to her walking towards them. Since Danny can't transform in front of her, he does the only thing he can do: run. Valerie sees her suit chasing him and dumps the contents of her backpack out, frantically looking for something she can use as a weapon. She finally grabs a stick and runs after them.
Danny, running from Technus and dodging his fire, realizes Sam and Tucker were right about his latest plan – not that it does him any good, as he's still in plain sight of not only Valerie but a surveillance camera and can't go ghost. Technus is ready to stop his interference with his plans once and for all when Valerie joins the fight. She chucks a milk carton at the suit and then, armed with nothing but her bare hands and a stick, jumps at it, knocking it to the ground. She tells Danny to run, which he does. While he ducks around the corner out of sight and transforms, Valerie continues to battle her possessed suit, and does a pretty good job of it; even Tucker's impressed by her combat skills. Technus eventually gets the upper hand, though, and is poised to blast her head off when Danny Phantom flies in and knocks him away from her. The two ghosts take the fight to the air until Danny vaporizes the jet sled with one powerful energy blast.
The already-damaged suit crashes into the ground, where Danny also lands and, since he knows Valerie's not wearing it, realizes there's no need to hold back. He fires energy blast after energy blast at the suit, knocking its limbs off, leaving a gaping hole in the chest, destroying it piece by piece, until it finally stops fighting. And blows up. Valerie, who watched the whole brutal fight, now comes out and picks up what's left of her suit. She says nothing but gives Danny Phantom a very discouraging look. Danny silently holds her gaze until the bell rings and he flies away – what else can he do?
A deeply disturbed Valerie thinks, "He was trying to do that to me. That could have been me! But it wasn't..." And the good news is, she now has proof. She shows her father the security camera footage later, proving that it was never her in the suit. Her dad apologizes for not believing her, and, even though he's not happy about her jumping in to fight that ghost, since she was just trying to protect her friend, he says he'll let it go. Valerie knows he's only saying that because the suit's destroyed and she has no chance of ever fighting ghosts again.
Meanwhile, Team Phantom are in Danny's room putting the proverbial pieces together. Since Technus stole Valerie's suit, he must have been behind the attack at the lab, which means he must be trying to hack into the computer satellite so he can use it to control every computer in the world. Danny, however, doesn't find this news half as troubling as what happened with Valerie today; he knows by the look on her face that she's sure Danny Phantom was trying to kill her, and there's no way he can explain things to her, no way he can make her understand his alter ego is not her enemy, not after that. There's no way she could ever accept his ghost half, no matter how much she may like his human half. It's now clear to Danny that if he wants to be with Valerie, she can never know he's Danny Phantom. Having settled that, he pushes his anxiety over that issue aside for the moment and resolves to take care of Technus before he does any more damage.
Unfortunately, that'll have to wait until he after he and his very excited dad have a chat about his new "girlfriend." Despite Jack Fenton's warning that it'll be "awkward," it's surprisingly heartfelt. He sincerely advises his son that, if he likes this girl, he should let her know, and give her something to back it up. He even gives Danny a ring for that very purpose. For his part, Danny seems significantly cheered up by the support and the gift.
Unsurprisingly, Danny makes his exit shortly after that.
Team Phantom arrive at Axion Labs later that night for the showdown with Technus. Danny leaves Tucker and Sam on lookout outside, with the Fenton Phones so they can tell him if they see Technus leave, and flies inside, invisible and intangible. He sees Valerie and her father having the same chat he and his own dad just had, over identical bowls of ice cream, even. Danny smiles when he hears Valerie say she likes Danny Fenton enough to give up ghost hunting. He's pulled back down to Earth by Sam checking in and flies on, not realizing Valerie and her dad heard them.
Danny heads to the computer hub, where he can see from the binary code flashing on the screens in the room that Technus is still inside trying to crack the code. Valerie and her dad, armed with some kind of laser/ecto weapon, show up right behind him. After dodging a blast Mr. Gray fires at him, Danny tries to tell them that an evil ghost is trying to hack into their computer satellite, but the only evil ghost they see is him. Technus, watching the confrontation from inside the hub, is trying to figure out how to get rid of them while he finishes cracking the code; Valerie reminding to her dad that this is why she needs to hunt ghosts ("They think they can do whatever they want, but somebody has to stop them!") gives him an idea. He fires a blue burst of energy at Valerie, who floats up and spins around like Sailor Moon while pieces of red and black metal, under Technus' influence, envelope her. Danny watches in horror as Valerie emerges in a new, much more high-tech, much more powerful suit of armor.
While Valerie gloats over her new upgrade, Technus finally completes the security code, gaining access to the main computer. Leaving Valerie to take care of Danny Phantom, he beams himself up to the satellite, which transforms into his likeness, becoming a body with him as the brain. Knowing there's only one way he can stop him now, Danny takes the X-23 booster rocket and helmet and launches himself into space, phasing himself through the building on his way out. Valerie, on the other hand, simply blasts her way out. Ignoring her dad's order to stop and armed with a new hover board and new arsenal of even more dangerous weapons, the cat chases after her flying mouse.
After briefly reveling in the fact that he's living his dream of being an astronaut, Danny hears Sam's warning that he's got company. Valerie fires at him all the way through the atmosphere, but he manages to dodge it all. They're both thrown off balance when they reach the zero gravity of outer space, where Valerie tumbles away and Technus is using the satellite to make copies of himself emerge from machinery all over the world and terrorize people. Danny shoots his energy blasts at the satellite, but they ricochet off without causing any damage.
Valerie now returns, flying so fast at Danny that she traps him in the forked front end of her board. She shoots an electrical current at him through the board that makes him stiffen and groan in pain. Danny powers up his hands with energy and, with tremendous strain, manages to lean forward. With no other way to break free, he blasts Valerie once in the chest, forcing them apart. Horrified by what he's just done, he looks in anguish at Valerie, dangling unconscious from her board, and then turns to Technus with murder in his eye. Enraged by what he was forced to do, Danny turns up the speed on the jetpack until it overloads, then flies straight towards the ghost's satellite-body. At the last minute, he turns intangible, while the pack keeps flying... right into Technus' mouth. Technus realizes what Danny tricked him into doing a split-second too late, right before the jetpack explodes from the overload, taking the satellite with it.
Machines around the world turn back to normal, to the cheering crowds' delight. Valerie's awoken by debris from the satellite bouncing against her helmet. Looking unharmed, unfazed, and as determined as ever, she flies through the rubble but can see no sign of her quarry. She finally gives up the search and flies back to Earth, unaware that an invisible Danny has hitched a ride home by hanging onto her board.
With that mission accomplished, there's only one more loose end for the hero to tie up. In spite of everything that just happened, he still wants Valerie to be his girlfriend, as he tells Sam and Tucker while they're gathered around a picnic table at school: "She said she'd give up ghost hunting. For me. Besides, I like her, and she likes me – isn't it supposed to be that simple?" A somber Valerie now shows up, and Danny doesn't hesitate or waste any time, telling her he has something to ask her. Tucker and Sam wordlessly Leave the Two Lovebirds Alone.
It turns out Valerie's come to a decision of her own, and she has something she needs to say first. In a pained voice, she gives Danny the horrible speech heroes dread to say: "Danny, I've had a lot of fun these last few days, but... my life's way too complicated right now for us to be anything other than... friends." Danny's completely floored by her words.
The Anti-Hero can't abandon her mission to hunt Danny Phantom and all other ghosts who threaten to ruin lives just like he ruined hers, but after what happened with her old suit the other day, she's decided she can't risk putting Danny in any more danger. Danny doesn't argue with her – what could he say in the face of such tragic irony? Valerie smiles when she gives him one last good-bye kiss on the cheek, but she's frowning and hanging her head when she walks away. An utterly heartbroken Danny sits back down at the table, crushed by the abrupt end to all his hopes, while Valerie steps around the corner of the school and transforms into her new suit. She gives Danny one last despairing look before turning away and closing her eyes; when she opens them, they're narrowed in hatred and determination, all traces of regret and pain gone.
Love is supposed to be that simple, Danny...but when you're a superhero with a Secret Identity Dating Catwoman, love is never simple.
This episode provides examples of:
- Amazon Chaser: Danny towards black belt Valerie.
- An Arm and a Leg: Towards the end of the battle with Valerie's suit, Danny blows off its weapons arm and its left leg before finishing it off with a blast to the chest.
- Answer Cut: When Sam realizes that Techus is pushing Danny and Valerie closer, she declares they have to tell Danny, leading to this.Tucker: (Chuckling) You wanna tell Danny that Technus is playing matchmaker? How do you think he's gonna react to that?
(Cut to next day with Danny laughing uproariously after being told) - Bittersweet Ending: Danny defeats Technus but loses Valerie.
- Characterization Marches On: When exactly was it shown before that Technus hated emotions?
- Chick Magnet: Danny not only has Sam and Valerie interested in him, but even a nameless background character.Background Girl: Do you think he likes brunettes?
- Class Trip: To Axion Labs.
- Continuity Nod: Valerie doesn't care nor question where her new suit of armor and weapons came from; she didn't care nor question where they came from the first time last season, either.
- Dating Catwoman: Danny learns that this is never easy.
- Destruction Equals Off-Switch: Danny fails to stop Technus from reaching the satellite, so he just destroys the satellite. It works.
- Did Not Get the Girl: Despite Danny's belief it should be simple seeing as how he likes Valerie and she likes him back, the episode ends with Valerie wanting to be Just Friends, to his dismay.
- Do Not Adjust Your Set: One of the results of Technus' mass computer takeover.
- Emotion Bomb: Like Ember, Technus uses love as a distraction, except with purely traditional means of manipulation instead of magical means.
- Everything Is Online: One computer satellite can connect to every computer in the world.
- Fighting Your Friend: Danny (Phantom) fights Valerie in space.
- Improvised Weapon: Valerie uses a stick, a lunch table, and her house keys during her battle with her suit.
- I'm Standing Right Here: After badmouthing Danny, Star and Valerie see him standing in front of them. Star attempts to apologize... but quickly says she meant it before walking away.
- Inherently Funny Word: Valerie's favorite fruit is Kumquat because it's a funny word.
- Irony: The Anti-Hero breaks up with the hero to protect him. So she can hunt his Secret Identity.
- It's Not You, It's My Enemies: This is why Valerie ultimately chooses to break up with Danny, completely unaware his alter ego is one of said enemies.
- I Want My Beloved to Be Happy: Sam tries to assure Danny and Valerie she feels this way – and maybe honestly does try to feel this way – but it's clear she doesn't.
- Just Friends: What Valerie ultimately decides to be with Danny.
- Loved I Not Honor More: Valerie likes Danny a lot... but somebody needs to stop ghosts.
- Loves My Alter Ego: The feelings/target are reversed, but the principle is the same – Valerie breaks up with Danny Fenton so she can hunt his alter ego Danny Phantom.
- Manipulative Bastard: Technus shows himself to be this for the first (and only) time.
- Married to the Job: Valerie decides she can either be with Danny or be a ghost hunter but not both. She ultimately chooses the latter.
- Never Say "Die": This episode probably contains the show's most egregious repeated use of the euphemism "waste" for "kill."
- No-Holds-Barred Beatdown: This is what Danny's fight with the possessed suit looks like to Valerie, who thinks that he thinks he's killing her.
- Nothing Can Stop Us Now!: Technus says this right before Danny follows him into space.
- Not Me This Time: Valerie's dad doesn't believe it, however, until she produces video evidence.
- Not What It Looks Like: Danny never would have destroyed the suit had Valerie been inside it, but she doesn't know that.
- Offscreen Teleportation: Defied – for decades, all masked and costumed heroes need to change into their costumes, no matter how elaborate, is a few seconds off-screen. Valerie's only off-screen for a few seconds before someone appears in her suit and gear, and then reappears a few seconds after the same figure disappears... but it's not her, and it couldn't have been her.
- Parents as People: Both Danny and Valerie gets plenty of useful romantic advice and genuine support from their parents, in sharp contrast to most parents in animation (not least of all, Butch Hartman's animation) when it comes to their kids' love lives.
- Password Slot Machine: Technus trying to crack the Cybertron megacomputer's 10,000 digit security code is shown like this, picking out individual digits while floating in Cyber Space. Him playing cupid and setting Danny and Valerie up with each other is part of his plan to buy time while he cracks the password.
- Plot Hole: As Valerie was right in front of Danny Phantom when he joined the fight, she had no reason to think that he couldn't see that she obviously wasn't wearing the suit when he destroyed it. Danny also shouts, "Valerie's not in there... Which means I'm not HOLDING BACK!" loudly enough for someone across the block to hear him, yet Valerie hiding three feet away behind a trash can somehow doesn't hear it.
- Running Gag: During the episode, various people call Danny clueless about Sam's obvious crush on him. This includes his own dad, who normally is not this observant about such things.
- Shipper on Deck: With Damon on Team Valerie and Jack Fenton on Team Sam.
- Shipper with an Agenda: Technus is pushing Danny and Valerie together to keep Danny from interfering with his plans.
- Shout-Out: The Cybertron Mainframe.
- The episode title might be one to the Molly Hatchet song of the same name.
- Totally Radical: Tucker lampshades how teenaged boys these days don't give girls rings like they did when the writers were teenagers.Danny: She's not my girlfriend until I give her the ring.Tucker: What is this, 1955?
- Violently Protective Girlfriend: Valerie doesn't hesitate for a second to rush into battle to protect Danny... or to Break His Heart to Save Him.
- Wrong Genre Savvy: Valerie honestly thinks she's The Hero, who needs to sacrifice her own happiness like romance for the sake of her mission, and that the heroic Danny Phantom is not only evil but her Arch-Enemy.
- Xanatos Gambit: The fight with Valerie's suit is this for Technus. Either the suit defeats Danny and finally gets him out of Technus' way, or Danny destroys the suit and Valerie thinks that Danny was trying to do that to her, crushing her and thus him.
