YMMV / Danny Phantom: A Glitch in Time

• Alternative Character Interpretation: There are several possible motivations behind Vlad's road to redemption. He could have initially wanted to "fix his past" just so he could regain everything he lost from the Disasteroid incident, until Dark Danny's return served as a wake-up call to him. Or perhaps, deep down, he just saw helping Danny and getting his own power boost as an opportunity to actually get everything he lost back, still seeing it as a chess game. Then there's the ending where Clockwork giving a newly reincarnated Dark Danny to Vlad as his responsibility. Given how badly he treated his former "daughter" (whom he saw as a disposable clone and tried to melt her alive), what are the chances he could actually raise Dark Danny as his own "perfect son"?
• Salvaged Story:
  • While debatable if the novel is a Loose Canon to the main series, the novel delves deeper into the connection between the Ghost Zone and Earth, and how they became flipsides.
  • The inevitable consequences of tying up all the loose ends to a single one-hour finale are put on display. For example, Tucker's mayor stint only lasted two days.
  • As previously referenced once by Maddie in "Public Enemies", ghosts are "ectoplasmic manifestations of post-human consciousnesses". The novel properly explains what this means, as most of the ghosts (like Ember, Desiree, Spectra, etc.) are manifestations of real human emotions. While ghosts can exist forever, many become less human and more malevolent if they lose the emotions that humanity gave them.
    "Earth without spirit lacks life, and the spirit without earthly tether will lose sight of the truth. Time will only worsen the divide. Take heed: Find yourself, or be lost to the abyss."
    • This may also be the author's way of promptly handwaving Butch Hartman's previous interpretation of ghosts, which was about all ghosts being "inter-dimensional monsters/creatures" instead of "spirits of the dead". However, Hartman's interpretation could qualify for ghosts who are purely native to the Ghost Zone (such as Undergrowth, Vortex, and Nocturn).
  • The novel also brings to light Character Development in the main characters — Danny and Vlad most of all — that the third season practically lacked.
    • Vlad goes from being a callous, petty Jerkass to more of a Jerk with a Heart of Gold in the novel (which we've seen from Alt!Future Vlad in The Ultimate Enemy). During the battle with Dark Danny, he finally accepts responsibility for his actions and willingly allows Dark Danny to merge with him until he finds him a suitable vessel to reincarnate in (namely his Danny clones).
    • Danny, meanwhile, begins questioning his status as a ghost hunter after receiving his Happily Ever After, especially since ghost hunters have become more prominent in Amity Park (thus giving him no reason to hunt ghosts, and is one of the factors of his Psychosomatic Superpower Outage). He also comes to understand ghosts a lot more, that many of them are beings created from real human emotions. After defeating Dark Danny, he declares himself a ghost helper instead of a ghost hunter and vows to act as a "bridge" between humans and ghosts, as well as protect/heal both worlds from the rift (and each other if need be).
• They Wasted a Perfectly Good Plot:
  • Although the events of Phantom Planet were divisive, the ending of the graphic novel rewriting time so Danny and Vlad's involvement in the Disasteroid incident and their status as half-ghosts never became public knowledge means many plot points created by the incident are never followed up on (and are hoped to be brought up in potential sequels).
  • While Vlad's cloning experiments were explicitly mentioned, Danny's Opposite-Sex Clone Danielle isn't even so much as referenced in passing, so the effects of Danny's new status as a world hero on her aren't established. The fact that the story is set in a two-year Time Skip after Phantom Planet, which featured her as a cameo after her last proper appearance in D-Stabilized, only further raises questions what became of her.
  • The Guys in White, a government-sanctioned ghost-hunting team, are only mentioned in a single line speculating what’s causing Danny’s powers weakening. Beyond that they have no role to play in spite of the story potential of having to contend with a Halfa being the Earth’s protector.
  • Jack and Maddie having finally learned Danny's secret in Phantom Planet opened up a number of possibilities, particularly seeing their interaction with the rest of Team Phantom and how they would've fought alongside their son. The fact that their memories ended up being erased^note  again comes across as a big waste of potential, especially when they could've just as easily been involved in the clash with Dark Danny and thus retained their memories^note which in turn could've paved the way for them to interact with Vlad after finally knowing what kind of man he is and see if reconciliation with him was possible.
  • We don't get much insight into how Valerie feels about Danny after learning of his secret identity since the two never get a chance to interact. Since it's heavily implied that Valerie retained her memories of the original timeline, a potential sequel can still explore this topic.
  • Despite Danny and Sam undergoing a Relationship Upgrade at the end of Phantom Planet, the two have little change in their dynamic. Besides Sam kissing Danny on the cheek at the end (which could even be read as a platonic gesture), there’s little to indicate that the two are even still a couple. Whether or not this was due to the backlash the pairing had received from said special is unknown.

---