- "It's WORTH Every Penny!"
Produced 2004, aired in U.S. on 6/3/05
Production order: 19 (1-19)
Vlad Masters' ghost portal explodes (taking his entire castle along with it) just as he's about to get some magic key in the Ghost Zone he desperately wants. He decides to steal the Fentons' ghost portal. To keep Jack and Danny busy while he removes and steals the portal from their basement, he anonymously offers a $1,000,000 reward on Public Ghost Enemy #1 in Amity Park — Danny Phantom. The 3 best known ghost-hunting teams show up for the competition: the Groovy Gang and Scaredy Cat, the Extreme Ghostbreakers, the Guys in White, and...that's it. Apparently, there are some ghost-hunters you just do not mock. Now, Danny has to escape them all, keep his dad from embarrassing himself, stop Vlad, and change the ecto-filtrator before the Fenton portal explodes.
This episode provides examples of:
- Bait-and-Switch: As the countdown to the Fenton's ghost portal blowing up nears its conclusion, Danny and Jack juggle the new filtrator after almost dropping it and manage to catch it just in time, right before the scene cuts to showing the Fenton's home blowing up. Then the screen zooms out to reveal this is just a simulation on a laptop Jack is showing Danny to demonstrate what would happen if they don't change the ecto-filtrator every six months.
- Bait-and-Switch Comment: After Vlad's ghost portal explodes and takes his mansion with it, he examines the damage and shouts "My house!" in horror... before claiming he can always just buy another one and exclaims in equal horror that without his portal he can't get the key.
- Calling Parents by Their Name: Danny and Jazz both call Jack by his name instead of "dad" at different points. Danny does it as Danny Phantom to keep his secret identity, and Jazz accidentally does it while shouting with Maddie to let them out of the weapons vault. They both comment "Man that's cool" over calling their dad by his first name.
- Chekhov's Gun: That key Vlad was after. Its purpose will be revealed in Reign Storm.
- Chekhov's Gunman: Unlike the other ghost-hunters who are never seen again, the Guys In White would become recurring villains in future episodes.
- Cold Blooded Electric Torture: For seemingly no reason except to mock him, Vlad grabs Danny and shoots an electrical charge through him for several seconds while the boy screams in agony. He only stops when he sees Danny's about to pass out and revert back to his human form, since he doesn't want to expose his Secret Identity yet.
- Continuity Nod: Jack recognizes Plasmius as "the Wisconsin Ghost".
- Crouching Moron, Hidden Badass: Jack shows that even if he is a goof and embarrasses himself and his family sometimes, he is still a professional ghost-hunter and can be a badass when he needs to be. This is best shown in the climax when he singlehandledly defeats Vlad and his vulture ghosts, and still has time to help Danny change the ecto-filtrator before the ghost portal explodes.
- Didn't Think This Through: As invoked by Sam, Tucker learned the hard way that dressing as a ghost in a parking lot full of ghost hunters was a bad idea.
- Eaten Alive: The episode ends with Behemoth swallowing Vlad whole.
- Enemy Mine: From Jack's point of view. He releases Danny Phantom so the latter can help him save his family from "the Wisconsin Ghost."
- Exact Words: As Danny noted, being the best known ghost hunters doesn't mean they're the best.
- Foreshadowing: Vlad's mansion exploding shows what would happen to the Fenton Portal if the ecto-filtrator wasn't changed in time. Unlike Vlad, the Fentons can't survive the explosion by going intangiblenote .
- Gone Horribly Right: Danny tries to cheer his father up by letting him capture Public Ghost Enemy #1. He really gets captured (by Maddie), and can't escape just as he's realized what Vlad's really up to.
- Let's Get Dangerous!: The climax shows just how much of a badass ghost hunter Jack can be when he's got the right motivation.Jack: I might be a goof, I might mess up, but when my family’s at stake the gloves are off!
- Lifesaving Misfortune: Danny forgetting to change the ecto-filtrator on the ghost portal, despite his dad reminding him to do it five times, ultimately motivates Jack to stop feeling sorry for himself and go save his family, from both Vlad and the ensuing explosion. They lampshade this in the climax when they finally get around to changing the filtrator seconds before the portal blows.Danny: Uh—I probably should've done this any of the five times that you told me to.
Jack: I’m sort of glad you didn’t. - Macguffin Guardian: Behemoth, the large red monster ghost who tries to stop Vlad from getting the Skeleton Key.
- Misplaced Retribution: Earlier on during a ghost drill at school, Jack foolishly mistakes Mr. Lancer as a real ghost, and then uses the Fenton Ghost Peeler on him reducing him to nothing but his underwear. Humiliated, he retaliates by giving Danny detention and a lot of extra work.Mr. Lancer: I can't give you detention, but someone named "Fenton" is staying after school.Jack and Jazz: (Pretending to look at their watches) Whoa! Look at the time!
- Mood Whiplash: Played for Laughs. Even though Vlad succeeds in getting the key he was after, he still ended up getting Swallowed Whole by the Behemoth.Vlad: (In the Behemoth's stomach) Oh, butter biscuits!
- No-Sell: When Jack wrangles Vlad in the Fenton Fisher, Vlad effortlessly breaks free of it, despite it supposed to be impossible for ghosts to get loose.
- Oh, Crap!: Danny gives a small "Uh oh" when Vlad mentions that a ghost portal explodes if you don't clean out the ecto-filtrator, something he has neglected to do.
- Vlad's smug smirk gets wiped right off his face when Jack prepares to use the Fenton ghost gloves on him.
- Right Behind Me:Danny: Did you see the way all those ghost-hunters were laughing at him? How embarrassing! We're all gonna have to live with my dad's goof-ups for the rest of our lives. (Sam clears her throat) He's right behind me, isn't he?Jack: Yes, I'm afraid he is. If you need me, I'll be upstairs, doing something wrong...
- Screw This, I'm Outta Here: When Vlad's ghost portal is about to explode, Behemoth gives him a taunting grin before fleeing back into the Ghost Zone.
- Shallow Parody: Surprisingly, there's nothing about the Extreme Ghostbreakers besides their name that indicates they're supposed to be a parody of the Extreme Ghostbusters. Perhaps a more accurate representation would have been awkward, given how Sam and Tucker seem inspired by two characters from that show.
- Shout-Out: The demonstration Jack shows of a ghost portal exploding looks strikingly similar to a containment unit exploding.
- Shut Up, Hannibal!: Danny tries taunting Vlad about losing "the love of your life" to his dad. Vlad responds by painfully shocking him.
- Skeleton Key: A literal version is what Vlad is after. According to him, it can open anything locked in the Ghost Zonenote .
- Spoofy-Doo: Many ghost hunter teams try to catch Danny for Vlad's proposed reward. One of those are the Groovy Gang and their mascot Scaredy Cat.
- Stating the Simple Solution: As Vlad and his ghost vultures spy on Jack making a fool of himself, they ask him why he doesn't just snatch the portal now.Vulture Ghost #1: I don't get it. If you just wanna steal the portal, why not do it now while the Fentons aren't home?
Vlad: Dismantling that portal will take time. And while tearing down the portal, I can tear down young Daniel’s respect for his father. Assuming he has any. You know what to do. - This Is Gonna Suck: Downplayed. When Vlad's portal blares out an alarm that it was going to explode because he forgot to change the ecto-filtrator, he gives out an annoyed "Fudgebucket!" before going intangible.
- What Happened to the Mouse?:
- This is just one of several episodes where Valerie's conspicuous absence makes no sense — given her situation, she logically would have been the first to sign up for a competition to capture the Ghost Boy for a reward of $1,000,000, so what happened to her?
- The last we see of Sam and Tucker is when their bike goes down a hill after the ghost hunters break off from them.
- With My Hands Tied:Vlad: (while he's doing it) Oh, please, Daniel, must I actually defeat you with one hand behind my back?
- Xanatos Gambit: Vlad only wanted the Fentons' portal to get to that mysterious key. If he succeeds in stealing the portal, he can get to the key. If he fails, however, the Fentons return all ghosts they capture to the Ghost Zone, which is what happens, allowing him to get the key anyway.Plasmius: Oh, Jack Fenton, even in success, you fail.
