History Recap / DannyPhantomS2E16MastersOfAllTime

* EvilIsSterile: Apparently, Alt!Vlad(who is still a {{jerkass}}) and Alt!Maddie didn't have any kids of their own during their marriage, despite the fact that the original Vlad did have a desire for a family of his own. This was probably done to ensure there would be no bad repercussions to restoring the timeline.

* {{Foreshadowing}}: Right after Danny pushes Vlad out of the way of the Ghost Portal and the energy bounces around the room before hitting the floor. Vlad pushes Maddie out of the way and, after coming off as aloof with him, shows gratitude for him saving her life. Jack is also notably not in sight when this happened.

Clockwork disagrees. Danny shows up at the {{Time Master}}'s lair and asks him to send him back in time to Vlad's accident so he can stop it -- if Vlad never gets his powers, Sam and Tucker will never get sick, and the world will be a safer, better place for everyone. Clockwork warns him that he's [[DidntThinkThisThrough not thinking this through]], that meddling in the past can have consequences he can't foresee, doing more harm than good, but Danny's willing to take the risk. Clockwork accepts that he's bent on learning this the hard way and [[BeCarefulWhatYouWishFor grants his request.]] He opens a portal to the University of Wisconsin twenty years ago and sends Danny through ([[PlotHole time medallion no longer required, for some reason...]]).

Everything's ready. Vlad looks more closely at the portal and tells his friends it won't work. The rest of the flashback shown in [[Recap/DannyPhantomS1E7BitterReunions Bitter Reunions]] plays out, from Maddie noticing the calculations aren't right to Jack throwing the switch to the malfunction... except, this time, Danny flies forward and pushes Vlad out of the way. The blast of ectoplasmic energy ricochets around the lab, almost hitting Maddie at one point, but Vlad pushes her down at the last second. Danny shields his eyes from the glare and doesn't see what gets hit when the explosion finally occurs. When he opens his eyes, Maddie's thanking the still very-human Vlad for saving her life. Perfect! "No ecto-acne, no Plasmius... mission accomplished."

As Danny runs from his attacks, he keeps insisting he's his son, and Jack keeps insisting he doesn't have a son. Danny finally goes ghost himself, which only makes Jack more enraged than surprised: "You're a ghost? [[BerserkButton I HATE GHOSTS!]]" Most of the living room gets destroyed as Danny dodges a barrage of energy blasts. He ends up crashing through the floor, landing in the basement, where he decides he's had enough – he's ready to go ask Clockwork to undo his undoing of the past. Only one problem: no portal. He's looking around the cobweb-covered lab when he spots a terrible, devastating sight pinned to the wall: a newspaper article on the marriage of the new Wisconsin Dairy King (Vlad Masters) to his college sweetheart (Maddie). [[MyGodWhathaveIDone What has he done?!]] Danny's horrified to discover just how badly he's destroyed the past, present, and future!

The picture doesn't make sense to Danny. He refuses to believe his mom would give up ghost hunting, no matter what universe she's in, and he flies around the castle that night in ghost mode, looking for answers. He finds the lab where Vlad trapped him after they first met back in his own timeline but nothing suspicious there or anywhere else. He finally finds what he's looking for on some floor below that: a lab with a ghost portal... pink and shaped like a heart, but good enough to get him back to Clockwork. His HopeSpot is brought to an abrupt end when Maddie, dressed in her jumpsuit and goggles, appears behind him and sucks him into the Fenton Weasel (which still exists in this universe under the moniker Maddie Weasel).

Maddie, of course, doesn't believe that any more than Jack did. She hasn't even seen Jack Fenton since the day he got his powers twenty years ago; she and Vlad had to move all the way out here to hide from him, since he blamed her for his accident. Danny's livid when he hears such a crazy story and tries to tell her that nothing could be further from the truth, that he still loves her. Before Maddie can react to this claim, Jack Fenton himself appears in ghost mode and tells her it's true. Maddie's shocked to see him.

->'''Maddie:''' But... Vlad told me you never wanted to see me again.
->'''Jack:''' I never stopped wanting to see you, Maddie, I... I just couldn't face you as the thing you despise -- a ghost.

He returns to his human form and shows her what made him come here after all this time -- Danny's photo of the two of them married with kids. Maddie chokes up at the sight, at the thought of having a family with the man she's always loved. Once she stops crying, she throws her arms around him, and he hugs her back. Maddie quickly releases Danny, overjoyed to meet their son from an alternate timeline, and the three share a family hug, Danny grateful that parents who hunt ghosts don't bat an eye at the possibility of alternate timelines or visitors therefrom.

* EvilIsSterile: Apparently Alt!Vlad(who is still a JerkAss) and Alt!Maddie didn't have any kids of their own during their marriage, despite the fact that the original Vlad did have a desire for a family of his own. This was probably done to ensure there would be no bad repercussions to restoring the timeline.

-->'''Tucker:''' I can't be a goner! I haven't even dated a [[AllGuysWantCheerleaders cheerleader]] yet!
-->'''Sam:''' Trust me, you're never gonna live that long.

* IfICantHaveYou: Vlad must know his manipulations have only succeeded in trapping both him and Maddie in a loveless marriage, but he'd rather see her miserable with him than happy with Jack in another timeline.

* {{Irony}}: Jack thinks Maddie, a ghost hunter, could never accept him now that he's half-ghost. While this is shown not to be true for Maddie in that timeline, it's exactly the same way Danny felt about Valerie in the original timeline, which is why he resolved never to let her know his secret right before they fell apart. Like father, like son.

-->'''Danny:''' You don't understand! None of this should be happening!
-->'''Vlad:''' You think I care? I ''like it'' this way!

* JerkWithAHeartOfJerk: Vlad's true nature, as showcased in this episode. It deconstructs his ''entire'' FreudianExcuse and expands more into his ''true'' origin story. Even ''before'' his accident, Vlad was already [[EntitledToHaveYou entitled to want Maddie]], failing to see that she wasn't totally infatuated with him at all and just saw him as a friend. Either way, [[GreenEyedMonster he grew jealous of Maddie falling in love with Jack]]. Even if he was human and married Maddie, he only saw her as a prize and cared more about ''[[InLoveWithLove having]]'' her.

* RescueRomance: {{Deconstructed|Trope}} -- Maddie looks smitten after Vlad saves her from the explosion, but it's clear [[AwfulWeddedLife she's miserable in her marriage]]. Whether she felt obligated to marry him out of gratitude or simply overestimated his character based on that one seemingly-noble act, rescue is not good grounds for a long-term romance in this case.

* WholePlotReference: The episode is a more serious take on the plot used in "Father Time!" from Butch Hartman's other show ''WesternAnimation/TheFairlyOddparents'' (the hero goes back in time to fix something, only to erase himself from existence by preventing his parents from ever getting together).

-->'''Maddie:''' There's only one place on Earth that knows how to treat ecto-acne!
-->'''Danny:''' Please say "hospital," please say "hospital," please say "hospital"... ''Why'' couldn't she say "hospital"?

* RescueRomance: {{Deconstructed|Trope}} -- Maddie looks smitten after Vlad saves her from the explosion, but it's clear she's miserable in her marriage. Whether she felt obligated to marry him out of gratitude or simply overestimated his character based on that one seemingly-noble act, rescue is not good grounds for a long-term romance in this case.

* BorrowedCatchPhrase: Vlad borrows Jack's "...molecule by molecule" CatchPhrase.