Western Animation / Packages from Planet X

From outer space, mysterious packages meant for alien hands come to me — Dan Zembrowsky! And only I can open them! Sometimes they work, sometimes they hurt, but they always blow my mind!

—Opening Narration

Packages from Planet X is an American-Canadian animated sci-fi comedy series created by American illustrator Jeff Harter that began airing in 2013 on Disney XD in the United States and later came to Canada in 2014 on Teletoon. Produced by American Greetings Entertainment (later renamed Cloudco Entertainment) and DHX Media, it ran for a total of 26 episodes over a single season.

Dan Zembrosky is a charismatic 15-year-old from the Quirky Town of Iron Bay who suddenly receives strange and cryptic packages from an unknown alien planet. These packages come in various forms, ranging from mixers and underpants to weapons and far stranger forms of technology. Dan and his two best friends, Amanda Highborn and Troll Moko, use these alien gadgets to their own advantage, whether it be to make the soccer team, pass a test to avoid summer school or get out of trouble. However, with each small gain of abilities or coolness, there's generally a price to pay: An underwear that makes people very smart also overheats to the point where it detonates a school, and a cooking gizmo accidentally creates a meatball made of monsters. Regardless however, the trio must keep their mysterious contraptions out of the hands of Copernicus, an evil alien with the human guise of an elderly scientist who is plotting to use the different packages to take over the world. But they manage to muddle through somehow, and it's all smiles and one-liners at each episode's end.

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Tropes from Planet X:

• Affectionate Nickname:
  • Dan is often called “Dano” by Amanda and/or Troll.
  • Amanda is often called "Mandy Pants" by Dan and/or Troll.
  • Troll has a lot of affectionate nicknames; his two most notable ones being "Trollster" and "T-Roll" respectively.
• Aliens Are Bastards: Copernicus is definitely this.
• All Cloth Unravels: Troll pulls a thread on Dan's shirt and hoodie and Dan is left topless. He fixes this by using a fast food bag. This later happens with a couch.
• Alliterative Name: Some of the packages have names like this.
  • The Weather Whacker package from "What Goes Down, Must Come Up".
  • The Death Defier package from "Do Over Dan".
  • The Siezing Suds from "Bubble Trouble"
• All Webbed Up: A lot of the packages or Copernicus' schemes involve neutralizing the human population by cocooning them.
• Ambiguously Brown: Troll, though he seems to be something along the lines of either a Pacific Islander or South Floridian, he could be Hawaiian, Samoan, Filipino, Native American, or Hispanic, as evidenced by the following:
  • As seen in "For Whom the Bell Trolls", Troll once had a dream-catcher heirloom (similar to what most Pacific Islanders own).
  • Troll's dad is often seen wearing a shirt with flowers (similar to what most Hawaiians and South Floridians wear).
  • Although NEVER seen speaking Spanish, Troll seems to understand Dan's lone Spanish quote in "Feast Beast" when the latter begs a Lava Ball monster to not eat the duo.
• Amusing Injuries: The hijinks of the alien packages leave all of the characters suffering from these, but usually Dan is a particular example. Especially in "Dan TV", where his injuries keep viewers watching to see what stupid stunts he will perform - and fail at - next.
• And Call Him "George"/Cuddle Bug: Dan and (on rare occasions) Amanda often have to endure Troll's big, very tight, and almost suffocating hugs whenever they either show the true meaning of friendship, or when Troll gets really excited.
• Anthropomorphic Food: Of the evil monster variety.
• Attack of the 50-Foot Whatever:
  • Our trio had to contend with a large Lava Ball monster in "Feast Beast".
  • Dan grows into a muscular hairy giant in the episode “Big Dan on Campus”.
• Awesome, but Impractical: The alien packages often fall under this.
• Be the Ball: In “Truth or Scare”, Troll wore an inflatable blowfish costume and in addition to inflating his costume whenever he’s either frightened, scared, or startled, he would even come to inflating his costume just for the fun of it. And whilst Troll was an alien, Amanda used him like a dodge ball to free him from his alien control, save herself and Dan, and fight Copernicus.
  • Interestingly, Amanda actually liked Troll’s blowfish costume even more than Dan’s “Prankenstein” costume since even though Dan’s costume was more scarier, Amanda thought Troll had totally nailed his costume even more than Dan.
• Beauty Contest: Amanda joins one when a package reveals that one of the people competing might be an alien.
• Berserk Button: Amanda goes through this a lot. Reasons include her fear of dolls, someone trash talking about her Uncle Rory, someone taking and/or losing her uncle's journal, Calimary getting ready to fight, planet Earth being in very grave danger, and Dan's irresponsibility.
• The B Grade: Amanda did not enjoy getting that in first grade. And when she learns she was wasting her time (using a Package power) due to them no longer giving out letter grades... she was not amused. It's also implied that her initial reaction to that grade back then is the reason why they stopped using grades. And as shown in the very beginning of the episode “Astro Blasters”, she even goes so far as to complain about an A not being an A+.
• Big Bad: Copernicus.
• Big Beautiful Man: Troll is definitely this considering that he's very strong and handsome-looking despite his weight.
  • It’s possibly hinted (though never mentioned) in the episodes “Bad Hair Day”, “Truth or Scare” and “Off Road Rage” that Amanda could possibly have a crush on Troll, notably because of his high athleticism, his strong sense of honor, and also because the fact that even though Troll can be goofy at times, he’s a bit more concentrated than Dan, which could possibly also explain why Amanda is more nicer with Troll than she is with Dan.
• Body Horror: "Fitness Crazed" has a really tame example as the package at first gives people muscular forms and later it mutates their bodies so that they have huge tumor-like growths for certain body parts.
• Breaking the Fourth Wall: Troll has done this a couple of times:
  • Towards the end of "Dooley Noted", he mentions the episode's title after Amanda reminds everyone to get back to detention hall before Mr. Dooley does and doubles their detentions.
  • At the end of “Bug Spray”, he winks at the viewers during the Gassy Lights.
• Brown Note: Troll on the Bagbone.
• Butt-Monkey: Dan, all the time.
• Catchphrase: WAH-BAM!
  • Dan usually says "Sweetness" when a new package arrives.
  • Amanda's mother will usually end up saying, "Amanda! You're embarassing... whoever your mother is."
• Character Development: Troll was a bit goofy for the first half of the series, but became a bit more mature (though still retained his goofy personality) for the second half of the series.
• Charles Atlas Super Power: Troll may look fat, but he's really strong and athletic as hell since he can lift any object no matter how big or heavy it is.
  • It’s likely that Jeff Harter (the show’s creator) wanted Troll’s design to be Simple, yet Awesome.
• Christmas Episode: "Christmas Evil", in which Dan receives an alien package that's a huge bag of toys. The said toys are actually Mind Control devices that Copernicus uses to make the townsfolk (including both Amanda and Troll) attack Dan.
• Circling Birdies: Dan sees circling soccer balls after a hard fall during a soccer game.
• Clone Degeneration: One of the packages makes copies of things it scans, but though the copies look like the original they are severely lacking in flavor for food and intelligence for living things.
• Clothing Damage: Happens sometimes in the show, "Big Dan on Campus" has this happen to Dan.
  • "Fitness Crazed" has minor damage.
  • "Brain Briefs" and "Squirelly Dan" both feature Dan only wearing his underwear by the end.
  • “Party Out of Bonds” has Troll tearing his shirt apart by the end.
• Cloudcuckoolander: Dan is definitely this, with Amanda being more of an Only Sane Man and Troll being caught in the middle, though the latter two (usually Troll) can fall into this as well.
  • In the episode “What Goes Down Must Come Up” however, the tables were turned between Dan and Amanda; Dan was acting like an Only Sane Man when showing great concern for Troll being stranded on the airbone Weather Whacker package, while Amanda was acting like a Cloudcuckoolander when becoming obsessed in exposing the alien invaders.
• Creepy Doll: Amanda has a fear/hate of dolls due to being traumatized by her doll whose eyes glow red in the dark.
• Combat Tentacles: Calamary has these.
• Cool Shades: Troll wears a set of gray shades in "Troll's BFF", and a set of black shades in "Birthday Bounty" (flashback only), "True North Strong & Freezing" (at the end of the episode) and "Squirrely Dan". Dan also dons a set of black shades of his own in both the aforementioned "Birthday Bounty" (again, flashback only) as well as at the very end of "Dooley Noted".
• Crossdresser:
  • Copernicus once disguised himself as a female cop writing tickets to spy on them.
  • For some reason, Troll was dressed as a cheerleader (relax, he's wearing shorts).
• Deadpan Snarker: Amanda
• Dartboard of Hate
• Disappeared Dad: Of the three main cast members' parents, only Amanda's father has not been seen. Amanda's uncle might also count, if she saw him as father figure.
• Does Not Know His Own Strength: Troll falls into this almost all the time, though generally in terms of hugging his friends (especially Dan) (see And Call Him "George"/Cuddle Bug above). When Dan and Troll switched bodies, Dan was surprised when he punched a hole in the wall with Troll's arm.
• Face–Heel Turn: Copernicus can induce this by touch on any sentient package.
• Fan Disservice: In "True North Strong & Freezing", Copernicus is in a pink speedo.
• Fire-Breathing Diner: Amanda invokes this trope in a attempt to expose Copernicus, but due to Package hijinxs the whole town was breathing fire. She does this again to both Dan and Troll in a cartoon short.
• Fond Memories That Could Have Been: Dan and Troll had these with the school mascot.
• "Freaky Friday" Flip: The mind licorice switches the two minds of whoever eats it.
• The Ghost: Amanda's Uncle, who appears to have been an old enemy of Copernicus and seems to have knowledge of some of the packages. We finally see his face in "Return to Sender".
• Gilligan Cut: In "Feast Beast", Dan proudly proclaims that he is not useless in the kitchen, only to display in the scene just how useless he is in the kitchen.
• Glowing Eyes: Amanda's doll when she was younger had this, causing her to fear/hate dolls.
• Grumpy Old Man: Copernicus' human guise.
• Halloween Episode: “Truth or Scare”, in which during a Halloween Truth or Dare, the trio breaks in to Copernicus’s lair on a dare to take a picture with Copernicus whilst he’s asleep, but both Dan and Amanda soon wish they hadn’t after learning that Troll was captured earlier by Calimary and was turned into an alien.
• Harmless Electrocution: Poor Dan gets zapped by many of his alien packages, or by Copernicus, with no lasting damage.
• Harmless Freezing: Played straight when everyone (including Dan, Troll, CuRT and Corpernicus, but excluding both Amanda and Calimary) eats some alien snow cones in "Brain Freeze".
• Hartman Hips: Amanda.
• Hiccup Hijinks: One short, "Hiccup Yours", had Dan getting hiccups on the same day as a school play. Troll and Amanda try various packages to cure him, but no luck. They also end up catching them. Fortunately, everyone still liked the play regardless.
• Homicide Machines: One package contains alien speakers that broadcast a signal that causes every audio device in town to start attacking people.
• Hostile Terraforming: A pogo stick package (while fun) inadvertently planted alien plants (who attack people and are quick healers).
• Humanoid Abomination: Copernicus.
• I Am A Cephalotarian: Copernicus thinks squid is delicious, something Calamary (who is part squid) does not like.
• Impact Silhouette: Troll made one in the episode “Mind Licorice” when he couldn't process the thought of summer school. He does this again alongside Amanda in the episode “True North Strong & Freezing”, and Dan would do a couple of his own in both “Return to Slender: Part 1” and "Party Out of Bonds".
• Improbable Weapon User
• Jerk Jock: Terrence. In a variation from the western norm, his sport of choice is soccer.
• Jerk with a Heart of Gold:
  • Dan can be a bit of an irresponsible jerk sometimes, but his heart is in the right place.
  • Amanda may be strict, no-nonsense and hot-tempered, but she cares a lot for her friends. And when dealing with the boys' mischief, though she easily looses her cool with Dan, she does have a soft spot for Troll.
  • Calimary may be evil, but in the series finale, "Mission to Planet X", she befriended Troll^note but NOT Dan and Amanda, due to them having no trust with the squibbon after Copernicus got recalled to Planet X, and Duane (Dan's father who (at the time) was being taken over by an alien much stronger than Copernicus named Xanthicus) refused to take her in as a sidekick. After Troll was captured by Duane and tied to a chair in preparation for cocooning, Calimary came in and helped Troll escape, untying him from the chair. In the end, Calimary considered joining Dan's group as repayment for all they've done, but Troll, seeing that Copernicus needed her more than them, let Calimary return to serving her master. Luckily, given how heartwarming their farewell was, it's likely that Calimary and Troll are still on good terms with each other^note even though Copernicus still leaves the trio with an evil farewell.
• Jerk with a Heart of Jerk: Copernicus and Terrence.
• Jetpack
• Kill It with Water: Averted:
  Copernicus: Agh! you find my one weakness, common tap water.
  Dan: Really?
  Copernicus: No, not really.
• LEGO Body Parts: Dan used a sticker package to swap his leg to get better results at soccer tryouts.
• Limited Wardrobe: Lampshaded in "The Iron Crown Affair", where a male stylist accuses Troll and Dan "wearing the same tired outfit for months".
• Living Shadow: In "Shadow Boxers", the package creates these that attack the original.
• Made of Iron: Out of the heroes, Dan is the obvious choice (especially in "Dan TV" where he hurts himself on many occasions and receives an electric shock from a floating alien camera whenever he loses a viewer), but all of the characters (even Amanda) take their share of abuse - and shake it off - at some point.
• MacGuffin: The packages of course.
• MacGuffin Guardian: A heroic example as The Hero keep the Packages away from Copernicus (with them even having a vault filled with packages).
• Mars Wants Chocolate: The main reason why the aliens of Planet X haven't just blown up the Earth instead of trying to take it over is because they love saltwater taffy.
• Metaphorgotten: In "Truth or Scare" Copernicus tells Dan that he doesn't plan on cutting the head off of his golden goose, then says that he already made that mistake once; the camera then pans to the head of a literal golden goose mounted on the wall.
• Mix-and-Match Critters: Calamary is this, and Copernicus's plan was to do this to an entire zoo.
• Ms. Fanservice: Amanda.
• Near-Death Experience: Troll nearly got killed in a powerline explosion, but was saved in the nick of time by a bunch of birds in the episode "What Goes Down Must Come Up".
• Nice Guy: Though he loves messing around with the packages as much as Dan, Troll is more a straight up nice guy than a Jerk with a Heart of Gold. He is friendly, caring, fun-loving, and sometimes takes Amanda's advice into consideration. Being the one to step in between Dan and Amanda's occasional arguments in episodes following "Crash Course", he tries to convince them to set their differences aside and work together. He also respects nature and animals (except raccoons due to the fact that one of his ancestors was a raccoon hunter). And in his defense, most of Troll's impulsive moments usually come moreso from either the competitiveness between himself and Dan, and/or being fed up with Dan's habit of hogging the use of the packages. At the very least, Troll does his best to HIDE his impulsive personality from Amanda, unlike Dan who usually SHOWS his impulsiveness. In any case, Troll's heart is always in the right place.
• Nice Job Breaking It, Hero: Happens a few times, a major one being Amanda damaging CuRT, the first package they ever got, and he's been a bit screwy ever since.
  • Many packages are destroyed by the end of the episode. Sometimes though, the packages are shown to be destroyed by the trio on purpose for good, likely due to the severe amount of consequences the packages can have.
    • There are some episodes though where the package(s) (even some of the most dangerous ones) do remain intact by the end of the episode.
• No Celebrities Were Harmed: Dan was being interviewed by Ron Burgundy in "Squid Pro Quo".
• Non-Indicative Name: Troll is not ugly or troll-like in looks, or even has troll-like behavior. But then again it may be a nickname since his real name in-series is unknown.
• Only Sane Man:
  • Amanda is definitely this, although being a Jerk with a Heart of Gold, she takes her fair share of abuse.
  • Troll may enjoy messing around with the packages, but being a Nice Guy, he's not as impulsive as Dan and there have been some times where he too is against taking part in Dan's antics. Following the events of "Crash Course", whenever Dan and Amanda argue and have disagreements, Troll is usually the one to break up their fights and convince them to put their differences aside and work together.
  • Dan may be irresponsible and impulsive, however, despite being a Cloudcuckoolander, his wacky ideas do end up saving the day. And in the episode "What Goes Down Must Come Up", after Dan forgets his obsession about reward he was hoping to win, Amanda became obsessed x4 over sezing the oppurtunity to expose the alien invaders. With Troll being stranded on the Weather Whacker airbone balloon, it was Dan's turn to try to get her back in order.
  • If all three at once are being immature Jerks with Hearts of Gold, then either Amanda or Troll will be the first to probably come to their senses by the end of the episode to fill the role.
• Paper-Thin Disguise: Averted since Dan only impersonated someone with the same build. Played straight when Troll impersonates Copernicus to get past Calamary. Copernicus even says this since aside from the face, they don't even have the same build.
  • Copernicus often wears one when he learns of a new package. As Dan and his friends rarely seem to notice him, it seems to work. Calamary also counts, to Dan and Troll but NOT Amanda.
• Planetary Relocation: The episode "Astro-Blasters" has Dan be given an alien telescope that has the power to relocate astral bodies, which is done by looking through it at whatever the user wishes to manipulate. Planets, moons, stars, the telescope can move all of them.
• Plot Coupon: "Return to Sender" has this in the form of the device that brings the package and the rare material it needs to fix it.
• Power at a Price: A lot of packages that directly enhance their users and some that don't have debilitating side effects. For example, one that grants Healing Hands at the cost of Rapid Aging.
• Power Fist: Copernicus was able to get these and was ready to go on a rampage. Luckily, the heroes got to him first and were able to destroy the package before he got there.
• Power Trio: The main characters, of the Token Trio and Two Guys and a Girl variants.
• Prehensile Hair: A hair monster created from a scissor package is a living embodiment of this trope.
• Properly Paranoid: If the first two episodes are to go by Amanda believes there might be more aliens than Copernicus in hiding, and considering that he's able to look human she might not be that far off. Averted, as this usually ends up unfounded.
• Punny Name: Calamary.
• Puppeteer Parasite: One alien was hiding itself inside a dog. It's eventually revealed that this the young of Copernicus' species, and that Copernicus himself is possessing some poor man.
• Rapid Hair Growth: One package is a pair of wristbands that absorb electricity to enhance their wearer's muscles, with the side effect of making them hairier with each change. Dan ends up turning into a giant that's so hairy to the point where he can't see past his bangs.
• Red Eyes, Take Warning: Copernicus has these in his true alien form.
  • BuRT and Captain Cuddles also get these once turned evil by Copernicus.
• Robot Buddy: CuRT.
  • BuRT started as this but became a Killer Robot.
• Shapeshifter Default Form: Copernicus's true form is a green skinned alien with long claws.
• Shrink Ray: A shrink bomb is the package Dan receives in "Squid Pro Quo".
• Side Effects Include...: This is a common problem with the packages.
  • List of Examples:
    • The Supersizer from "Fitness Crazed" gives its wearer a very muscular physique, which then turns into a large lump of mass in the wearer's body.
    • The Intergalactic Extinguisher from "Return To Sender, Part 1". It disintegrates anything it zaps, but causes the user to lose their outermost layer of skin.
    • The Universal Telescope in "Astro-Blasters" can rearrange the location of astral bodies, but causes the user's eye to morph in shape.^note Strangely, this didn't happen with Calimary.
    • The alien camera in "Dan TV", which intercepts all television broadcasts so the user is the only one on television. However, whenever someone turns their television set off, the user is zapped.
    • The alien sunglasses in "The Iron Crown Affair" exposes aliens to the wearer, but also causes temporary blindness.
    • The alien scissors in "Bad Hair Day" can allow the user to style hair in a variety of ways, but all the cut hair congregates in the sewers and becomes a monster.
    • The alien jumpsuit in "Last Dan Standing" makes its wearer able to evade any attack, but drains energy from the wearer, causing them to occasionally fall asleep.
    • The alien board game from the appropriately-named episode "The Game", allows whoever interacts with it to be able to interact with objects in real life. The side effect is that it causes the user's hands to grow in size.
    • The Re-Animator in "The Song Of The Mermoo" brings dead creatures to life, but de-animates the user piece-by-piece each time it's used.
    • The Healer Feelers in "Dr. Strangegloves" allows the wearer to be able to instantly diagnose and repair any damaged piece of technology they touch, but also cause the wearer to experience unexpected Rapid Aging.
    • The Egg-streme Age Adjuster in "One for the Ages" allows the user to make either themselves or any living thing younger or older at will, depending on how the dial is set. The side effect is that after 8 hours, its effects become permanent, meaning that anyone who stays the age they've become after the time has passed will end up being stuck at that age forever.
    • The Global Positioner in "True North Strong & Freezing" allows the user to travel to any place in the world, but also causes the user to switch their head with whoever else they send with them.
  • There are some packages though that do NOT contain side effects. These include the following:
    • The Animal Vocalizer Helmet from "Monkey Business"
    • The Vehicular Betterment Device from "Off Road Rage"
    • The Lightning Belt from "Christmas Evil"
    • The Death Defier from "Do Over Dan"

• Space Whale Aesop: In this series, there's some morals presented that have nonetheless unrealistic consequences:
  • "Mask and Ye Shall Receive" has the moral "Hiding your face in order to do questionable things, even if they are to help a friend, isn't always a good thing", but the fact it involves a Human Alien super-villain renders this questionable at best. At best there was a Lost Aesop in that episode.
  • "Dooley Noted" has a moral of "Don't troll people with conspiracy theories" but the result is ending up in detention with real aliens if you keep insisting there are some".
• Speaks Fluent Animal: Troll think he's this, but whenever he tries seem to make animals want to attack him.
• Strange-Syntax Speaker: CuRT has this.
• Sweet Tooth: The only reason Copernicus's race hasn't destroyed Earth? They like saltwater taffy.
• Temporary Blindness: A Package gives you the ability to identify aliens or alien tech. However, it blinds you for a while, preventing you from telling who it is if you're looking at a large crowd.
• They Look Like Us Now: Due to Copernicus' shapeshift to be human, the three (usually Amanda) are suspicious of some of the people in town.
  • Subverted in the episode "The Iron Crown Affair" where an alien was secretly hiding inside a dog.

• Translator Collar: The power of one of the packages was this in the form of a helmet.
• Two-Teacher School: So far, only two teachers have been seen. One calls himself Mr. Dooley, and the other calls himself Mr. Kevilin.
• Vomit Discretion Shot: Happens in the episode "Squid Pro Quo".
• Weirdness Magnet: Dan is literally this since the Packages comes his way and can only be open by his handprint.
• Why Did It Have to Be Dolls?: Amanda hates dolls ever since she was a little girl, when she had a doll with glowing red eyes.
• X-Ray Sparks: Whenever Dan gets electrocuted.

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