| Danny Phantom | |
|---|---|
Danny Fenton aka Danny Phantom in his ghost form on the title card of the eponymous show. |
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| Format | Animated television series Action Adventure Comedy Romance Superhero Science fantasy |
| Created by | Butch Hartman |
| Voices of | David Kaufman Grey DeLisle Rickey D'Shon Collins Colleen O'Shaughnessey Rob Paulsen Kath Soucie Cree Summer Martin Mull |
| Opening theme | "Danny Phantom" by Butch Hartman and Guy Moon |
| Ending theme | "Danny Phantom" (instrumental) |
| Country of origin | United States |
| No. of seasons | 3 |
| No. of episodes | 45 + 4 Specials (List of episodes) |
| Production | |
| Executive producer(s) | Butch Hartman Steve Marmel (season 1-2) Mark Banker Marty Isenberg (season 1-2) Kevin Sullivan (season 3) |
| Running time | 22 minutes |
| Production company(s) | Billionfold, Inc. Nickelodeon Animation Studios |
| Distributor | MTV Networks (Domestic) Nelvana (International) |
| Broadcast | |
| Original channel | Nickelodeon (2004-2007) YTV (Canada) The N (2005-2009) Canal 5 (Mexico) |
| Picture format | 4:3 |
| Audio format | Stereo |
| Original run | April 3, 2004 – August 24, 2007 |
| Chronology | |
| Related shows | The Fairly OddParents T.U.F.F. Puppy |
Danny Phantom is an American animated television series created by Butch Hartman for Nickelodeon, produced by Billionfold Studios. The show was about a teenage half-ghost boy, who frequently saves his town and the world from ghost attacks, while attempting to keep his ghost half a secret. It was distributed by the Canadian animation company, Nelvana similar to its sister show, The Fairly OddParents. The series has developed somewhat of a cult following.
Contents |
Danny Phantom centers on the life and adventures of 14-year-old Danny Fenton, an unpopular but good-natured boy attending Casper High School (reference to Casper the Friendly Ghost) in his small American hometown of Amity Park. He lives with his eccentric ghost hunting parents, Maddie and Jack, and an overbearing 16-year-old sister, Jazz (short for Jasmine). Upon pressure from his best friends, Sam and Tucker, he decides to explore his parent's Ghost Portal. They had created it with the intent of finally bridging the real world and the Ghost Zone (the ghostly parallel universe of Earth), but upon plugging it in, it failed to work. Once inside, he accidentally presses the "On" button, (something that his naïve parents failed to do), subsequently activates the portal, and due to him being inside it at that moment, it infuses his DNA with ectoplasm, transforming him into a half ghost boy, nicknamed "The Halfa" by the rest of the ghost community.[1]
A simple, but fitting saying for Danny's transformation is "going ghost". Danny and his friends use this saying the most. Danny, who calls himself 'Danny Phantom' in ghost form, develops the ability to fly, become invisible, and turn his body intangible at first and throughout the timespan of the series learns other powers such as his ghost ray, ghostly wail and cryokinesis. Danny panics over his newfound powers and initially has little control over them, but he soon realizes that he can use his powers to protect his town from ill-meaning ghosts. After the defeat of a Lunch Lady Ghost in the first episode, Danny turns to the life of a superhero, using his powers to rid his hometown from the various ghosts that plague it.[2] Danny's best friends, technophile meat-loving Tucker Foley and goth-minded ultra-recyclo vegetarian Samantha (Sam) Manson support Danny and help him with his ghost fighting.
Danny's ghost self is a polarization of who he was when he entered the ghost portal. When he goes ghost, his black hair turns white, his blue eyes turn green and the white jumpsuit he was wearing during the accident is now black. Fortunately, in an episode, Sam removes the Jack Fenton logo on Danny's jumpsuit before the accident. If she had not, it would be part of Danny's ghost form every time he goes ghost. In the second season Sam accidentally wishes for her and Danny to never have met, and by the work of a malevolent ghost called Desiree, it comes true, and Danny loses his ghost powers as a result. In the end she convinces the 100% human Danny to reenact the accident in order to regain his powers, but before that happens, she puts her newly designed logo on the jumpsuit, giving him the new Danny Phantom logo when he goes ghost. The logo is a white "D" with a "P" inside it on Danny's chest. The intro also added the logo for seasons 2 and 3.
Aside from a variety of ghosts, Danny faces threats of many calibers, including vengeful ghost hunter Valerie Gray, who for a certain period of time becomes his love interest,[3] other half ghost/rival Vlad Masters/Plasmius, an old friend of his father's and considered to be his true arch-rival,[4] and even his own parents—being ghost hunters, they view Danny Phantom (and any ghosts) as a menace to society. In addition, Danny tries to keep his secret safe from his classmates, teachers, and family. Throughout it all, Danny slowly realizes his own potential and his purpose, while his worlds - both the Ghost Zone and Earth - slowly begin to accept him as their defender.[5]
Danny Phantom first appeared on DVD in the Nick Picks DVD sets, appearing in all five volumes[19][20][21] and the Christmas special.[22] Nickelodeon and Amazon.com later struck a deal to produce DVDs of various Nickelodeon shows. Amazon made the discs, cover art, and disc art themselves. On Amazon.com, Danny Phantom Season One and Two were released on Sept 16th.[23]
Despite its claim, each set only contained thirteen episodes each—the first set including the first thirteen episodes; the second set carrying on with the next thirteen. The third Danny Phantom DVD was released on June. 9th.[24] This set contains the entirety of Season Three, rather than the previous thirteen episode sets, skipping over the rest of Season Two. Later editions of the first two seasons contained the entire first and second seasons of Danny Phantom and was released in Nov. 2009. Those, and all the other episodes, can be found on iTunes.
Amazon has now discontinued the Create Space DVD Releases with the announcement of Shout! Factory releasing their own DVD sets.
On March 22, 2011, it was announced that Shout! Factory had secured the rights to the series.[25] They released Season 1 in a 4 disc set on September 13, 2011.[26]
| Shout Factory Releases | Release Date | Discs | Episodes |
|---|---|---|---|
| Season 1 | September 13, 2011 | 4 | 20 |
| Season 2 | TBA, 2012 | 4 | 20 |
| Season 3 | TBA, 2012 | 2 | 13 |
There have been two video games released for the series. Danny Phantom: The Ultimate Enemy (for the Game Boy Advance) was made to promote the then upcoming special "The Ultimate Enemy" with the main gameplay consisting of events from the TV movie. It is a 2D platformer and was released in Sept. 8, 2005.[27] Danny Phantom: Urban Jungle for both the Game Boy Advance and Nintendo DS was to promote the Danny Phantom episode "Urban Jungle". It is loosely based on the episode and is strictly a shooter game. It was released Sept. 19, 2006.[28]
Danny and other characters have also been featured in other Nickelodeon video games: Nicktoons MLB, Nicktoons: Summer Camp, Nicktoons Basketball for the PC, and Nicktoons Movin' Eyetoy for the (PlayStation 2). He is a playable character in the kart racer Nicktoons Winners Cup Racing (PC) and the latter Nicktoons Nitro developed by Raw Thrills for the arcade.[29] Nicktoons: Freeze Frame Frenzy for the (Game Boy Advance), and Nicktoons: Android Invasion (Leapfrog). Danny plays a key role as one of the main heroes in the Nicktoons Unite! series, appearing in all four games and their subsequent handheld counterparts. Danny Phantom has appeared in two mobile games, Nicktoons Mini Golf (USA, www.nick.com) and Danny Phantom: El secuestro de Jazz, available only in Chile.
On January 24 2006, Nickelodeon announced that it has ended support for new episodes of the series. Butch Hartman has said that although no new episodes would be made, the show would still continue to be broadcast "for years to come". Fans of the show expressed outrage at the cancellation, citing Butch Hartman's admission on his forums that he wished to create more episodes, however his initial public statement on his personal forum that he is willing to make more episodes if the show is picked up again. The series ended with the episode Phantom Planet.
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