posted
Although it has its more skitsophrenic moments in terms of plot I think I really like this show and watching "The Ultimate Enemy" really cemented it.
Too bad its over and they fired the one writer that appeared to actually know which direction he wanted the show to go.
Firstly where to begin? Lets start with the premise, its like a new but interesting take on ghost busters fused with spiderman origin story, 14 year old kid with genius ditz parents who investigate the paranormal accidentally gets his genes fused with the shows Applied Pheltonium and becomes half ghost, fiddles around with his powers for a while eventually becomes enthusiastic about fighting and defeating ghosts that enter the human world from the "ghost zone", he has green rocks superpowers so he gains and becomes more skilled with his powers every so often episodes, I like this as it keeps boredom level at bay, the show has a simple concept so now with the proper writing can get some deep meaning out of it.
The characters: The three protagonists are Daniel "Danny" Phentom, Samantha Mason and Tucker. All three are likeable and funny, each trying to fit in. Tucker is the techno geek, Sam is the hot goth girl that actually hangs out with the nerdy main characters, Danny has the superpowers though doesn't seem to be all that book smart unless he has the time to sit down and study.
The antagonists the show mixes it up a little but averting, subverting, and playing straight many of the super hero related tropes in this regard, his main archnemesis knows Danny's identity, his parents are Ax Crazy and his Stalker with a Crush is Ax Crazy against his ghost alter ego.
We have Vlad the arch villain affably evil archetype, hes pretty nifty. We have Valery who was given weapons to hunt ghosts after Danny Phantom accidentally drove her family to desperate financial crisis and blames him and ghosts for it. His own PARENTS hunt ghosts and don't know his secret identity though they're about as competent as a creme slice. There's the usual trope of bad guys he defeats in a regular basis, they are mostly competent enough that it takes an entire episode to bring down and by mix and matching who they teamup with can give Danny a hard time, the writers I think have walked the thin line pretty well between giving believable challenging enemies and enemies he can defeat by the end of the episode.
IN order some of the ghost enemies are: Technis, hes hilarious hes a technoghost who inhabits electronics and fuses them together to some sort of mech. Then Ember a semi hot singer ghost who uses sonic based attacks, 13; a motorcycle riding sort of tough guy ghost whose main power is a shadow that follows him like a dog that can give enemies bad luck, his girlfriend who doesn't seem too powerful is more of a plot mcguffin at times.
Skulker a sort of lawful evil hunter ghost, hes interesting though I find the gimmick to defeat him a little tiring.
There's alot more but only a few are really worth mentioning.
The show is definitely written by some of the same people as Fairly Odd parents or Ill eat my hat and shares the same animation style and sense of humor though the voice acting is superb, the plot when it gets myth arcs interesting and the characters are believable and seem real and get their dead pan snarker moments each some more then others...
What I DON'T like is mostly the pacing, it seems the two primarily writers have if I am reading correctly two markedly different opinions on how the show to go, with Writer A wanting more filler ish style episodes with a comedic bent and Writer B who wanted to develop more Justice League quality Myth Arcs. Writer B was fired and the series soon canceled and thus explaining te pacing issues, I think the show was superbly well done when it seemed Writer B had more time at the helm.
Also I didn't like the Flandernization, Vlad has alot of potential to be a sympathetic anti villain but still the greedy affably evil arch nemesis but I feel alot of it is squandered in seemingly inane butt monkey moments. The sheer amount of time it took for Jazz and Daniel to share the secret took a little long though it was finally worth the wait in "TUE" but my primary problem was the large suspension of disbelief dispelling effort they went to at times to show that she (Jazz) made an effort to hide said secret.
I'm not sure how I was like when I was 14 but I'm finding it increasingly unbelievable to what extend Danny seemed to at times fallen for Paulina and willing to try to go out with her despite how shallow and cruel she actually is when it is clearly obvious even to him and admitted in the show early on that Sam might have feelings for him and him for her, must be denial at work.
But in short, I liked the characters I found the show steeped at times in cleverness and charm and if your an avid trope watcher like myself the show seems very much self aware of the tropes it plays with with many of the characters either genre savvy or dangerously genre savvy. So yes, I liked the show I felt it was well written and that alot of effort was put into it and I find it a shame that the main writer I liked is gone and the show was canceled.
But I do find it a good cartoon show.
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posted
I just imagine you as this.. like.. fat guy who doesn't understand ANYTHING about anyone. and sits around all day pirating Nickelodeon cartoons and debating D and D.
quote:Originally posted by Lanfear: I just imagine you as this.. like.. fat guy who doesn't understand ANYTHING about anyone. and sits around all day pirating Nickelodeon cartoons and debating D and D.
It just.. kills me.
I see ignorance is bliss for you. Firstly, whats wrong with DnD, its a hobby and a pass time played by millions of adults, secondly why are you discriminatory against fat people, and third why are you trying to channel Rush Limbaugh.
Life, Understanding, Decency you have been banned from it until further notice.
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Blayne Bradley
unregistered
posted
quote: Ax Crazy: Oh, Dan... let's see: the first thing he did upon "reawakening"? Steal the ghostly half of Big Bad Vlad Masters (Our Ghosts Are Different is in full force here) and then killed his human half in front of Vlad, who viewed Danny as a surrogate son. In his first scenes, he kills at least a dozen people as well and spends much of the episode killing or planning to kill some more. The fact that even Vlad refuses to tell Danny how his human half died speaks volumes to this troper. Rather unpleasant, considering what age group this is aimed at.
posted
I didn't say I had anything particularly against D&D.
What do I have against fat people? Their own inability to get off their butts and make themselves healthy.
Their desire to pawn it off as a "disease", and delude themselves into thinking its normal.
And as far as liking cartoons akin to Danny Phantom and childish anime, it's telling of the fact that you don't have real meaningful relationships in your life and instead depend on very superficial caricatures shown by children's media.
Posts: 332 | Registered: Apr 2005
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posted
First of all, Lanfear, seriously, reign that in or I'm whistling this thread. Every post you've made so far has been so far outside the realm of acceptable civil Hatrack-style conversation it's ridiculous.
Second of all... I don't really have a second of all. I could argue with you about cartoons, or Nickelodeon cartoons specifically (One word: Avatar)... but I don't want to feed your current behavior. Maybe if you switch to something resembling civil discourse.
Posts: 3580 | Registered: Aug 2005
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Blayne Bradley
unregistered
posted
quote:Originally posted by Lanfear: I didn't say I had anything particularly against D&D.
What do I have against fat people? Their own inability to get off their butts and make themselves healthy.
Their desire to pawn it off as a "disease", and delude themselves into thinking its normal.
And as far as liking cartoons akin to Danny Phantom and childish anime, it's telling of the fact that you don't have real meaningful relationships in your life and instead depend on very superficial caricatures shown by children's media.
Can you please delete every post of yours in this thread, preferably all posts made ever and never ever post again. I do not have to defend my reasons to watch either Anime or certain high quaality american Cartoons from the likes of you.
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posted
I would actually agree that this show is better than most out there. It sometimes dips into being stupid and unwatchable, but alot of the time I will choose this over alot of other stuff.
P.s. I already did whitstle, your being offensive and unruly.
Posts: 549 | Registered: Feb 2008
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quote:Originally posted by Lanfear: I didn't say I had anything particularly against D&D.
What do I have against fat people? Their own inability to get off their butts and make themselves healthy.
Their desire to pawn it off as a "disease", and delude themselves into thinking its normal.
And as far as liking cartoons akin to Danny Phantom and childish anime, it's telling of the fact that you don't have real meaningful relationships in your life and instead depend on very superficial caricatures shown by children's media.
Wow, dude, you're kind of being, well, a dick. Blayne does post quite a bit, but you don't have to read it and there's no reason to insult people. Especially since in a way extreme obesity is a complicated misunderstood disease in many people like alcoholism.
Also one of the butterflies is on the floor.
Posts: 9942 | Registered: Mar 2003
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posted
Lan--seek help. Your anger issues are not appreciated.
I've watched a few episodes of Danny Phantom. I found it amusing and even interesting.
I do want to complain about Nickolodeon's love of the Dufus Dad syndrome.
In the olden days of comics, parents were seen as a stabilizing and nurturing influence on the family. So in order for the children to have dangerous adventures you needed to kill them off as quickly as possible--hence Little Orphan Annie. (Batman, Superman, Spiderman, heck, even Huey, Duey and Luey.--all orphans.)
Today, while we are both more and less protective of our children, we still need a reason for the star of the cartoon to be off adventuring instead of living a normal safe life.
Parental deaths are either considered too traumatic, or too trite.
Divorce, too much a downer.
So we make the parents into buffoons. From Homer Simpson to Mr. Phantom, there is a generation that has as a parental role model--idiots who continually are tricked by 8 year old kids.
I am finding this trend a bit weak, and a bit disturbing.
Posts: 1941 | Registered: Feb 2003
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posted
Yeah, it's in a lot of cartoons, Disney and otherwise. I've never seen Danny Phantom before, but when I had cable I liked some of the cartoons I saw and thought some of the others were kind of dippy.
Posts: 9942 | Registered: Mar 2003
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posted
Darth: Have you seen The Secret Saturdays? Both parents on the show are portrayed as smart, strong, loving, and supportive and involved with their son.
It's quite refreshing.
While it featured an adopted parent, Disney's Darkwing Duck cartoon from the 90s featured a smart, loving, if somewhat weird father figure in the form of the titular lead.
(Don Rosa has tried for years to write the story of what happened to Huey, Dewy, and Louie's parents...but he says it always gets too depressing.)
Posts: 6689 | Registered: Jan 2005
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quote:Originally posted by Darth_Mauve: Lan--seek help. Your anger issues are not appreciated.
I've watched a few episodes of Danny Phantom. I found it amusing and even interesting.
I do want to complain about Nickolodeon's love of the Dufus Dad syndrome.
In the olden days of comics, parents were seen as a stabilizing and nurturing influence on the family. So in order for the children to have dangerous adventures you needed to kill them off as quickly as possible--hence Little Orphan Annie. (Batman, Superman, Spiderman, heck, even Huey, Duey and Luey.--all orphans.)
Today, while we are both more and less protective of our children, we still need a reason for the star of the cartoon to be off adventuring instead of living a normal safe life.
Parental deaths are either considered too traumatic, or too trite.
Divorce, too much a downer.
So we make the parents into buffoons. From Homer Simpson to Mr. Phantom, there is a generation that has as a parental role model--idiots who continually are tricked by 8 year old kids.
I am finding this trend a bit weak, and a bit disturbing.
Actually his last name is Fenton, and Danny is 14.
Posts: 1794 | Registered: Jul 2002
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posted
For the parents thing, there is another reason for neglectful-parents syndrome. In the past, kids were allowed to wander around town or wherever by themselves. See: Swallows and Amazons, Famous Five. They could have exciting adventures and be home in time for tea (or home by the end of the week, or whatever).
Nowadays, this "go out and play" attitude would be considered dangerous and neglectful. So the parents have to be this way in order to achieve the same level of freedom for the children.
Posts: 8473 | Registered: Apr 2003
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quote:Originally posted by Lanfear: I didn't say I had anything particularly against D&D.
What do I have against fat people? Their own inability to get off their butts and make themselves healthy.
Their desire to pawn it off as a "disease", and delude themselves into thinking its normal.
And as far as liking cartoons akin to Danny Phantom and childish anime, it's telling of the fact that you don't have real meaningful relationships in your life and instead depend on very superficial caricatures shown by children's media.
I am a fan of anime. I am a fan of Danny Phantom. No I do not lie around all day and no I do not have social issues. In fact I am a very dedicated rock climber, and have even taken up multiple martial arts. I also have multiple friends, the majority of which watch anime just like me. Some of them also rock climb. I'm sure Blayne and many other Otakus could say similar about themselves.
Posts: 1 | Registered: Mar 2016
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posted
Why should ppl feel bad Tom? Death is inevitable, & mean people die all the time, and dying doesn't redeem them in and of itself.
Posts: 6683 | Registered: Jun 2005
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posted
I initially wrote it using male pronouns for Lanfear and River. I changed Lanfear's after realizing my assumption. I realized my second assumption shortly after posting it but decided to roll with it.
Posts: 2054 | Registered: Nov 2005
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posted
To be fair, Lanfear's post was irrationally dickish and ignorant then and the passage of time doesn't help it any.
I have lost a hundred pounds since then and did the whole "got off my ass and did something" it doesn't make his post any better.
Posts: 12931 | Registered: Aug 2005
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