Reality Trip

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"Reality Trip"
Danny Phantom episode
Reality Trip title card "Are We There Yet?"
Season 2
Number 37/38
Prod. code -
Airdate June 9, 2006
Writer(s) Marty Isenberg, Steve Marmel, Sib Ventress
Directors Wincat Alcala, Butch Hartman, Kevin Petrilak, Gary Conrad
Villain Appearances Freakshow
Ghost Appearances Lydia the Tattoo Ghost
Abbreviation RT
Previous episode
Masters Of All Time
Next episode
Double Cross My Heart

Reality Trip is episodes thirty seven and thirty eight of the TV-series Danny Phantom. Danny, Tucker, and Sam are getting ready for summer vacation, however when Freakshow arrives and kidnaps their parents, they must find the Reality Gems for the Reality Gauntlet in order to save them!

Contents

[edit] Episode Summary

Danny hastily wakes up and gets ready for the last day of school, using his ghost powers to get there in time, happy summer vacation has finally started.

As the ghost boy flies, he passes by the Amity Park Penitentary where Freakshow is still in prison from his previous episode, being interrogated by the Guys in White. He is questioned about the Reality Gauntlet to which he denies any knowledge until they show off the captured Lydia and their plans to use the glove to eradicate all ghosts, including Danny Phantom.

Desperate to get revenge on the ghost boy, Freakshow is freed from his chains and goes off to explain the gauntlet to the best of his ability, placing the Reality Gems in the compartment on the glove (The Gem of Life; with the ability to bring anything to life, The Gem of Form; which can change the shape of anything, and The Gem Of Fantasy; able to make your dreams come true). Placing the 4th and last gem, the power source (located as one of his earrings), Freakshow uses the Gem of Life, causing the Guys in White's weapons to come alive and twist themselves around them. However, the Gauntlet cannot be used to its full extent unless the wearer operates the gems in the correct order. As Freakshow does not know the order, he has limited power. He escapes with Lydia whom he frees, vowing to take over the world with him as their ringleader.

Danny pilots a space shuttle brought to life through the Gem of Life.
Enlarge
Danny pilots a space shuttle brought to life through the Gem of Life.

Meanwhile, Danny, Sam and Tucker are excited on their cross country summer vacation together; Danny is going to Cape Canaveral for the space program, Tucker is going to the San Diego Sci-Fi and Comic book Convention, and Sam is going to Gothapalooza in the Nevada desert. But first, they plan to go to a Dumpty Humpty concert located near their school. Jazz then accidentally bumps into Danny who is making a thesis on ghost envy for her college entry.

Their summer vacation starts off wrong afterwards when Lydia attacks the Dumpty Humpty concert with her tattoos. Danny manages to fend them off, then goes after his friends who are taken by two of Lydia's tattoo. There they reunite with Freakshow. Danny swiftly fights him, but is put at a disadvantage by the Gauntlet when he creates monsters out of two oil trucks through the Gem of Form and bringing them to life through the Gem of Life. As Danny fights the two, the Guys in White appear as well, causing Freakshow to create a marshmallow-like human from a cloud to crashland on both the Guys in White and the oil truck monsters. Afterwards, Freakshow makes his escape with Lydia via a Circus Gothica train, using the gem to make it sprout wings and fly off. Danny then takes his friends back to the concert, much to Sam's complaint, merely stating he's on vacation and the Guys in White can handle Freakshow.

Through the Gem of Form, the Gothapolooza is a happy themed park.
Enlarge
Through the Gem of Form, the Gothapolooza is a happy themed park.

Back at the concert, Sam and Tucker research the Reality Gauntlet in a book apparently written by Freakshow, however Danny is more concerned on his summer vacation and the concert. The concert starts with the giant egg on stage opening only for it to be alive in itself, created by none other than Freakshow who comes up on stage. Lydia again kidnaps Sam and Tucker while Danny again fights. All this is being shown on the news, watched by the Fenton parents and Jazz (who doesn't want to go on vacation and instead work on her thesis). After Freakshow creates a spider out of a drum set, Tucker and Sam both grab onto a part of the gauntlet, Danny later joining in, each of them touching one of the three gems, accidentally activating it's true power. As they struggle to hold on to the Gauntlet, Sam remembers reading that the Gauntlet has a self-defense mechanism- if someone who is touching a Gem thinks about hiding it, it will disappear and re-appear somewhere else. After Danny, Sam, and Tucker hide the Gems, they all fall back on stage. Freakshow leaves with Lydia while Danny, too weakened is forced to transform back to his human state- in front of hundreds of people, including the TV where his family were watching.

Sam and Tucker's parents enter the Fenton household where the parents blame each other for the current mess that is going on until Lydia captures them all. Back at the concert, the kids are all shocked Danny is the ghost boy. Even more chaos comes when the Guys in White arrives by jetpack, hoping to take in Danny to experiment on. Danny flies Sam and Tucker away, but quickly turns human again, his ghost powers apparently screwed up from the Reality Gauntlet. Sam however gets them away from the Guys in White via a moss pit, the kids now cheering for Danny. They run off and are eventually rescued by Dash, Paulina, Kwan, and the rest of the football team, all of them willing to help Danny and his friends (since he has saved the world many times before). While the Guys in White search, Danny, Tucker, and Sam (disguised as a football player, school mascot, and cheerleader respectively) are lead by their peers into a forest.

Danny and his friends make it back to the Fenton household, planning to get rid of the gauntlet Freakshow wears, but once inside, they are hounded by the Guys in White and their cohorts. As they interrogate Danny, Lydia (currently invisible) sends three of her tattoos to hide in each of the trio to keep watch. Afterwards, Danny activates the Fenton emergency button which literally causes the inners of the house to attack their enemies. The trio make their way to the Opt Center afterwards and activiate the Fenton blimp. The Guys in White catches up, however Danny activates a button causing the blimp to turn into a jetplane which they use to escape (Danny turning it invisible to give them a further advantage), unaware of a tracking device the Guys in White managed to place on the plane.

The next day, Danny gets a contact from the Fenton jetplane. Thinking it's his parents, he gets ready to confess about him being half ghost, but ends up getting a message from Freakshow. He blackmails Danny into getting the Gems back, as he and his friends know where they are, in exchange for their parents' (and Jazz's) lives, and to be dramatic, they are only given three days. With no choice, the trio states where they hid the gems and begins their quest to find them, starting at the space center in Cape Canaveral, Florida.

Geeks turned supervillain cortesy of the Gem of Fantasy
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Geeks turned supervillain cortesy of the Gem of Fantasy

.

In the space center, a child finds the Gem of Life (activated by touch), but he throws it when it burns him, causing a space shuttle to come to life and attack the Fenton Jetplane. Danny goes ghost, turns invisible, and reaches the Gem of Life from the pilot's seat, turning the shuttle back to normal, but now falling from midair. Danny, having had a space simulation in his computer uses his knowledge to perfectly land the space shuttle before it could cause any damage. The Guys in White then appears via jetplanes, using missiles to destroy the Fenton Jetplane. Luckily, Tucker and Sam escape via Fenton dune buggies and after Danny places the gem inside the Fenton Thermos for safety, the three make their escape. They make a pitstop at a diner where it's reported everyone is on the lookout for Danny and his friends, including the cops, so they quickly make their escape (their dune buggies now hovercrafts for faster travel).

Back in Freakshow's lair, Jack and Maddie lament over their son as half ghost, getting an answer from Jazz on why he never told them. Afterwards, Freakshow comes over to taunt them, but Jazz declares he is merely suffering from Ghost Envy to which he vehemently denies.

Meanwhile, Danny and his friends make it to Gothapalooza, only for them to find it a cutesy world of happiness and teddy bears. Inside, while Sam retches in disgust, Danny merely asks in a nice manner for the Gem of Form to which they easily give. Danny stores the gem in the thermos, but not before restoring Gothapalooza back to what it was before (much to Sam's relief). The Guys in White attack once more, this time in tanks, again sending missiles. They escape and hitch a ride on a truck delivering newspapers, the front cover showcasing Danny and friends. They head to their last destination with less than 24 hours left to save their family.

Back in Freakshow's lair, Freakshow confesses he indeed, possesses Ghost Envy, stating everyone, even in some cases, himself, loved ghosts more than him, something Jazz relates to. The trio meanwhile make their way to Hollywood where news on Danny as the ghost kid has already reached it's peak, so upon being sighted, Danny and his friends are swarmed by cameras. The trip escape into a subway system where they meet kids dressed as Danny Phantom and Sam Manson (But no Tucker Foley outfits which Tucker laments on in annoyance), heading for a train to the comic convention in San Diego. Inside, three nerds have found the Gem of Fantasy, causing them to turn into three supervillains from a comic book they dressed up as (a crystal monster, samurai, and wolf/cat hybrid anthro respectively). Danny fights off all three as well as the Guys in White until he gets the gem back. With all three, they vow to stop Freakshow, however Lydia arrives, enwraps the trio with her tattoos, then warps them back to Freakshow.

Freakshow as a ringleader.
Enlarge
Freakshow as a ringleader.

Back in his lair, Freakshow masters the Reality Gauntlet and turns Earth into his own world of chaos, becoming their ringleader (complete with ringleader outfit). Afterwards, he sends the trio's parents as well as Jazz, Sam, and Tucker on a deadly roller coaster ride. Danny tries in vain to save his loved ones, now in front of a live audience that Freakshow created. Danny quickly is turned into jello by Freakshow, causing the roller coaster to run him over and apparently end his life. Freakshow then goes about turning every part of the world into his own creations. Danny is restored back to normal where he goes back to rescuing the others. There, Jazz tells Danny to use psychology for he has Ghost Envy.

Danny does so, teasing Freakshow with his powers, causing him more jealously and ultimately to turn himself into a ghost. Using his Fenton Thermos, Danny then easily traps Freakshow. He quickly then uses the Reality Gauntlet to save his friends and family from falling into a pit of acid. Afterwards, Lydia attacks, but Danny uses the gauntlet on her causing her to run off scared. He then turns Earth back into what it normally was.

Jack and Maddie then comes over and expresses joy over their son, still accepting him despite his half ghost powers. Despite that, Danny still turns everything back to the way it was three days prior with only his two friends knowing of the events that has happened.

Danny then takes Freakshow back to the Guys in White as well as erase their memories on their knowledge of who the half ghost is, then heads home where the trio confess they rather not cross country due to all the excitement they had previously. Agreeing, Danny destroys the gauntlet, then flies off to continue the rest of his summer vacation.

[edit] Allusions

  • Gothapalooza is a spoof of the Lollapalooza music festival.
  • Dumpty Humpty may be a parody of Digital Underground, who had a hit single titled The Humpty Dance, and Humpty Dumpty, as shown by the Egg on their souvenir shirts and a remark by Freakshow in (Reality Trip).
  • There are also several homages to Batman, most notably the resemblance between Freakshow and the Joker. This is also evident when Freakshow exclaims: "Look what the bat dragged in" - A qoute frequently uttered by the Joker.
  • The comics convention that Danny goes to is called the "San Diego Comics Fab", based off of the San Diego Comic Con, but most likely changed for legal reasons.
  • The trick Danny used to capture Freakshow in the end is essentially the exact same trick used to defeat Jafar at the end of Disney's Aladdin.
  • Danny's comment on the lifeless Robot Train cars, "What're they gonna do? Rust on me?" is a reference to a line said by King Arthur to the Black Knight after cutting all his limbs off in Monty Python and the Holy Grail; "What're you going to do? Bleed on me?"

[edit] Trivia

  • Introduced Ghost Powers: Teleportation.
  • This is the first Danny Phantom movie that features a main villain that had previously been a main villain in the show before.
  • This episode's original name was School Spirit and was promoted as School's out, Ghouls out on Nickelodeon.
  • The official series timeline places Reality Trip before "Double Cross My Heart" and "Kindred Spirits", however Nick aired it after the two, possibly to coincide with school ending for the summer.
  • There are several references to previous episodes:
    • The Emergency ham from "Pirate Radio" turns out to have a use, as it releases a jet from the Op Center, and Tucker comments that Danny's dad "really needs to replace that ham," while in the same episode ("Pirate Radio"), the alarm for the Op Center says, "Also... the ham has spoiled."
    • Sam also again remarks that "Goths don't sweat, they simmer," as she said before in "Lucky in Love".
    • Danny also expresses interest in becoming an astronaut, as was said by by Valerie Grey in ("Flirting With Disaster"), and even earlier by Danny himself in ("Mystery Meat").
    • The goths transform into stuffed bears similar to the ones from "Attack of the Killer Garage Sale".
  • This is the first Danny Phantom episode/movie where absolutely NO major ghosts appear (except Lydia, but she's only a minion). This also the first episode/movie in which we never see the Ghost Zone.
  • This is the third time that Danny's parents have found out his double identity without having an impact on the series. The first time was in "The Ultimate Enemy" (the knowedge was erased when Clockwork rewound time at the end) and the second time was in "Masters Of All Time" (which was in an alternate timeline).
  • In this movie, it's revealed that Danny has a Space Shuttle Simulator on his computer.
  • When Tucker and Sam's parents enter Danny's house, Jack blames Sam for being the cause of Danny getting his powers. In a way, he's right (as the events in "Memory Blank" can attest to).
  • Vlad Masters, Clockwork, Danny, Sam , Tucker and Jazz are the only people who remember Danny's secret however Vlad Masters and Clockwork are not mentioned.
  • "Reality Trip" is considered the least popular of the three TV movies; although fans don't tend to find the overall movie that disappointing, it's typically considered mediocre in comparison to Reign Storm and "The Ultimate Enemy", and the deus ex machina ending and improperly concentrated plot irked a small section of the fan community, who were underwhelmed by the minimal consideration that was given to one of the central draws of the movie (Danny's secret identity being revealed); particularly Danny erasing his parents memories despite accepting his ghost self, along with never seeing Valerie's reaction to Danny's secret.

[edit] Goofs

  • When Freakshow takes off his earring, he has one left. In the next shot, he has 2, then 1, then none at all, and for the rest of the movie, he has 2 earrings.
  • The Reality Gauntlet switches between having 3 or 4 bands for the gems, as evident in the pictures featured on this page.
  • It's interesting to note that although Freakshow is a (former) ghost-controlling human, he glows just like ghosts do when in reality, he isn't suppose to. Note that in "Control Freaks" he didn't glow.
  • When Freakshow takes the Reality Gems out of the Fenton Thermos, you can see that it opens like it has a hinge. However, in every other episode, it doesn't have one (and even in the other times in this episode).

[edit] Quotes

  • (Danny accidentally transforms in front of everybody)
    Danny: Uh... nobody saw that, right?
    (Back at the Fenton Home, Jazz and her parents also see the revelation)
    Jazz: You didn't see that, right?
  • Guy in White #2: You're coming with us for questioning.
    Guy in White #1: And experiments! Lots and lots of PAINFUL experiments!
  • Guy in White #1: Activate White Fang Tracking Device!
    Guy in White #2: White Fang?
    Guy in White #1: I don't name this stuff.
  • (Freakshow turns train cars into robots)
    Danny: (laughs) What're they gonna do? Rust on me?
    Freakshow: And Freakshow says "Let there be life"
  • (Freakshow imprisons the audience)
    Danny: Show's over, Freakshow!
  • Freakshow: Au contraire. That's French for "I bet this hurts.
  • (The Guys in White went to Freakshow)
    Guy in White # 2: I hope you've been enjoying your stay with us, Freakshow.
    Freakshow: Ooh. The Guys in White. Top secret ghost catchers, who can't actually catch ghosts!
    (Guy in White # 2 pushes a button and shows a tatooed ghost lady)
    Guy in White # 1: Care to revise that last statement?
    Freakshow: Lydia!
    Guy in White # 2: No longer under your control.
  • (Freakshow catches Danny with a spider)
    Freakshow: Any last words? May I suggest "Ooh. Freakshow! Don't hurt me!"
  • (Freakshow talks to Lydia what to do)
    Freakshow: What we should do with our newfound freedom? Dinner? Movie? Make myself ringmaster of all reality? (laughs hysterically)
  • (Freakshow gets frustation of ghosts)
    Freakshow: I will not...be upstaged by ghosts!
  • (After Danny made the jet invisible)
    Tucker: We should contact your parents.
    Danny: And tell them what? "I'm sorry I've been lying to you, and please don't tear me apart molecule by molecule"? Besides, if they have anything to say, they can always contact me.
  • (Freakshow talks to Jazz angrily)
    Freakshow: Ghosts, ghosts, ghosts! You have no idea what does it take to live in the shadow of ghosts on your life.
  • (Freakshow contacts Danny, Sam, and Tucker)
    Freakshow: Oh, hello. I'm hoping I'm not interrupting the worst day of your life ever. It seems I need your help.
    Danny: You miserable freak, why would I ever help you.
    Freakshow:I'm sorry. Did I say "need"? I meant "demand"! (laughs and shows Danny, Sam, and Tucker's parents)
    Sam: He's got my parents!
    Tucker: (Looks at Sam) He's got all our parents!
    Danny: Mom! Dad!
    Freakshow:Why look. I have something you want. You know the location of something I want. My gems, which you three fools will retrieve if you want to see your families alive again! Oh, and just to keep it dramatic, you have three days. (laughs maniacally)


  Danny Phantom  This box: view  talk  edit 
Main Characters Main Ghosts
Danny Phantom/FentonTucker FoleySamantha "Sam" Manson
Jack and Maddie FentonJasmine "Jazz" Fenton
The Lunch Lady GhostThe Box GhostSkulkerTechnusDesiree
WalkerSpectraEmberJohnny 13Fright KnightWulf
LydiaCaptain YoungbloodPariah DarkDark Danny
ClockworkPrince AragonUndergrowth
Recurring Characters Special Episodes
Mr. LancerDashPaulina
Valerie GrayGuys in WhiteDani Phantom
Vlad Masters/PlasmiusFreakshow
Mystery MeatFright NightMemory BlankReign Storm
The Ultimate EnemyThe Fright Before ChristmasReality TripUrban Jungle
Lists Misc
EpisodesCharactersVillains and Ghosts Amity ParkGhost ZoneThe Ultimate Enemy (video game)
Urban Jungle (video game)
Nicktoons Unite
Nicktoons: Battle for Volcano IslandReality Gauntlet