- "A Blast From The Past!"
Produced 2003, aired in U.S. on 5/7/04
Production order: 7 (1-7)
The episode starts with Danny speeding home one night on his scooter, glad to be home before curfew for once without being held up by any ghost attacks. Faster than you can say "Tempting Fate," his ghost sense goes off as he looks up to see three ghost vultures flying in and out of several houses as if they’re looking for something. So much for being on time... "Going ghost!"
Danny flies after the vultures, who ignore him for a while before finally deciding to ask him for directions. They show him a picture (actually, the ripped corner of a photograph) of the target they’ve apparently been sent to kill: Danny’s dad. For obvious reasons, Danny doesn’t tell them where they can find him. A short fight/chase scene ensues that ends with the three would-be hitmen flying out of town in defeat. Danny catches the photo they dropped and starts to wonder why they were after his father... but no time for that! He’s late getting home again, and his parents aren’t happy.
Back at home, Danny tries to hide the fact that his arm’s turning intangible while sitting through a lecture about how he’s been neglecting his schoolwork and his chores and is always late coming home. Jazz, as usual, has to join in and starts ranting about how their parents don’t communicate with Danny enough so, of course, he doesn’t think they can understand him! Danny tries to warn her to back off, but it’s too late. Jack agrees and decides they need to spend more time with their kids. How? By taking them along for their college reunion, being held by their old friend Vlad in Wisconsin! Way to go, Jazz...
They make the trip in the Fenton Family Ghost Assault Vehicle – an RV loaded with so many ghost weapons that Danny accidentally zaps several innocent birds and covers Jazz in ectoplasmic goo just by trying to open the window. (Jazz is also kind enough to inform us that, wherever Amity Park is, it’s a four day drive from Madison, Wisconsin.) Jack stops for the night to exposite about his old friend, roommate, and research partner from college, Vlad Masters, who’s since become a famous billionaire. Apparently, Vlad, Jack, and Maddie were best friends in college twenty years ago; according to Jack, they did everything together... until the day the aspiring ghost hunters completed their first attempt at a portal into "the ghost dimension." Vlad, who insisted it wouldn’t work, was standing near it when Maddie discovered the calculations weren’t right, just as Jack fired it up for the first time. Sure enough, there was an explosion, and Vlad took the full force of an ecto-energy blast to the face. When it was over, his face was covered with "ecto-acne," which sent him to the hospital for years and pretty much ended their friendship. Even though they haven’t spoken since that accident, Jack’s confident his old friend will have forgiven him after twenty years. Danny, however, looks uneasy about the eerily-familiar story...
They meet the wealthy, suave, smooth-talking Vlad Masters the next day at his castle, where Jazz is weirded out by the green and gold football and cheesehead décor. It turns out the billionaire is a huge Packers fan. Jazz sarcastically wonders why he doesn’t just buy the team then.
"Because the Packers are owned by the city of Green Bay, and THEY WON’T SELL THEM TO ME!" After his brief outburst, Vlad quickly regains his cool, and calmly adds, grinning at Maddie, "One of two things my wealth has not – as of yet – been able to acquire..." Danny can’t help but notice that the guy is hitting on his mother, but since she’s not flirting back, Jazz doesn’t care. Maddie, however, looks a little uncomfortable, and goes to let her husband in, who had the door slammed in his face. Once they come back, it’s obvious that Vlad still holds a grudge against his supposed old friend for putting him in the hospital for years, although he once again restrains himself and finishes by thanking Jack for the opportunity it gave him to chart out a course for his life and become the rich man he is today. Maddie thinks it’s time for them to go, but Vlad insists they stay with him until the reunion tomorrow. Jazz is all too eager to stay anywhere that’s not their RV, but Jack isn’t too keen on the idea until Vlad tells him that the ghost of the last Wisconsin Dairy King is rumored to haunt the castle.
The Fentons take Vlad up on his offer, and Danny is woken later that night by his ghost sense. He goes ghost and finds his sleepwalking dad being stalked by the same three vultures from earlier. Danny phases his dad down one floor to safety and then flies back up to the hallway to take care of the birds, who turn around, take one look at him, scream in fright, and disappear. A confused Danny comments, "Okay – that was almost too easy,” only to hear a voice behind him reply, "Ah – bright boy."
Danny turns around to find himself facing a sinister-looking new ghost with a goatee, fangs, a Devilish Hair Horns, and a long white cape – Plasmius. Unconcerned, Danny prepares to fight his new opponent like any other ghost, only to be stunned by how the guy effortlessly rebuffs his first two attacks and addresses him as Danny Phantom. "You... you know me?"
Plasmius knows more than his name, too – he phases through the wall into the next room, where Danny follows him, and taunts him about how he uses his powers to protect people, asking him why he doesn’t try sucking him into his thermos like he always does. Danny tries to say he doesn’t want to fight, only to be blasted across the room. He fires back, but Plasmius, unimpressed, raises a shield that easily deflects his attacks. Once Danny gives up on that, he gets another surprise when Plasmius, continuing to tease him about his inexperience, splits into four clones of himself, surrounding him. They all blast him at once, and Danny screams in pain as he falls to the ground.
We’re then taken back to the hallway where we’re treated to the sounds of Danny getting the crap beat out of him on the other side of the wall. When he phases through the wall again, he’s in bad shape, too weak and in too much pain to even move. He loses consciousness just before Plasmius comes after him, right on time to see him revert back to his human form. Plasmius is intrigued to find that Danny Phantom is Jack’s son, and promptly powers down to his own human form: a highly amused Vlad Masters.
Danny’s screaming in terror when he wakes up and finds himself back in his bed, in human form, in his pajamas, seemingly uninjured, with no sign of a ghost. He’s wondering how he got here when Vlad comes in and asks him if he’s all right. Danny pleads a nightmare due to jet lag and apologizes for the scare, but Vlad simply remarks, "Oh, what’s a little scare between friends, son?" and tells him to sleep tight, indulging in an Evil Laugh once he’s outside the door.
Danny joins his parents for the reunion the next day, seemingly untroubled by his encounter last night, perhaps truly believing it was All Just a Dream, but Jazz decides she’d rather watch a marathon of Packers’ games than "watch a bunch of old fossils pogo to New Wave music" and keeps her distance. Danny no doubt regrets he didn’t do the same, as his dad proceeds to set a new standard for Amazingly Embarrassing Parents that night; even an old friend of his, Harriet Chin (or Harry, as Jack calls her... Harry Chin), is as mortified as Danny is when Jack starts jumping... er, pogo-ing around the room with his wife, knocking over everything and everyone in his path.
Unsurprisingly, Danny ends up sitting a table alone, sulking for who-knows-how-long, most likely counting down the hours until this torture is over, when Vlad approaches him: "Well, son, you’re looking much better. I was wondering if you could do me a huge favor?" Danny says, sure, but asks him to call him Danny, not "son." Vlad apologizes and then asks Danny to go to his lab and bring down a present for his father. The completely unsuspecting Danny heads off to get it, while Vlad leers at Maddie standing across the room, vowing to change tonight what that lab accident ruined for him twenty years ago.
Danny makes his way to the lab but doesn’t see a present anywhere. What he does see is a framed photo of Vlad, Maddie, and a third person with no head. Suspicious, he puts the torn photo of his dad in the corner and finds that it fits. But if this came from Vlad’s picture, then... the implications are still sinking in when his ghost sense goes off. He goes ghost just before being hoisted into the air by a tentacle. He fights off the two ectopusses, whom he recognizes as the first two ghosts he fought, only to get snared and shocked by a net courtesy of another old friend: Skulker.
Danny breaks free and kicks Skulker across the room. He asks how he got his suit back and how he got here; in reply, the hunter tosses a small cube across the floor. It lands at Danny’s feet and promptly expands and unfolds into a much bigger box that builds itself around him, enveloping him until only his head is sticking out. Danny tries to phase out of it, but the box glows a ghostly green as it prevents him from escaping. Skulker presses a button on his wrist that makes it shock him, as well, which doesn’t stop until Danny powers down. Skulker ejects a blade from his wrist and seems ready to slit his captive’s throat, until they’re interrupted by Vlad, who angrily reminds Skulker he didn’t free him to kill the boy. The hunter is called away by his schedule and is flown off to the library to check out a book on purple-back gorillas (AGAIN!), leaving the two humans alone.
Danny is too flustered to figure out what’s going on. Vlad explains that he was the one who sent the ectopusses – and other ghosts – after his father, never expecting they’d be stopped by "the second ghost hybrid" Jack’s invention created. Danny is confused by what he means by "second"... until Vlad transforms into the same ghost he fought last night. The same type of Freak Lab Accident gave him the same powers as Danny twenty years ago! Danny tries to go ghost again but can’t. After mocking his battle cry, Vlad informs him that Skulker’s Spectral Energy Neutralizer stops him from transforming or using his powers.
- Danny: Let me out of here!Vlad: Why? So you can go back to stumbling through your adolescence, desperately trying to get control of your powers? Powers, by the way, that I’ve had for twenty years...
While showing off each of his abilities, Vlad brags about his experience and the money and power he’s obtained using his powers, not for foolish heroism, but for personal gain. Danny could be that powerful, too, with the right training. He offers to make Danny his apprentice, take him under his wing, teach him everything he knows, inviting the ghost boy to renounce his father and join him. Unfortunately for Vlad, Danny’s no more interested in that offer than Robin, calling him "one seriously crazed-up fruit loop" for thinking he would even consider it. Vlad’s undeterred, thinking he’ll change his mind once his father’s out of the way. Vlad disappears in a swirl of green energy and another Evil Laugh, leaving Danny trapped with no way to stop him.
Vlad returns to the reunion, where he possesses Jack and begins causing chaos. Jack tries to fight him from within, but can't do more than tell Maddie to run. She does, dragging Harriet to the RV while the other guests flee in terror.
Meanwhile, Danny is struggling futilely to escape the box when the ghost of the Dairy King appears. Danny expects him to attack him, but all he does is push the button that opens the box, freeing him. Danny thanks him and asks if he’ll help him fight Plasmius, too, but the king declines – not all ghosts are evil, but some of them do want to be left alone. He disappears, and Danny goes ghost and flies downstairs, where Maddie is also on her way with the RV and Vlad is doing his best to terrorize everyone so that they’ll blame it all Jack.
- Vlad (in Jack’s body): If you live to tell the tale, remember that big, fat Jack Fenton did this to you!Danny: Guess again, cheesehead!
Danny turns intangible and flies right through his father, pushing Vlad out of him. They phase through the wall into an adjacent room and begin fighting again. Vlad sincerely tries to tell "Daniel" to stop and think about the opportunity he’s throwing away – he shouldn’t be fighting him, he should be joining him! Together, they could rule the galaxy as father and son! (Okay, that last part isn’t said, but it’s definitely implied.) Danny turns him down again, shooting another energy blast for emphasis. Vlad simply reflects it back at him, grinning smugly, completely unthreatened by his teenage opponent. Danny protects himself with a shield of his own this time and reminds Vlad he knows his secret and can tell everyone. Vlad, however, points out he knows Danny’s secret, too, leaving them at a blackmail stalemate – neither of them can expose the other without exposing himself as well.
Danny has no response for that – how can he possibly beat this guy? Before he can think of anything, his parents burst in with the RV, causing the combatants to separate. Vlad decides to go after his other target now; he phases through the roof, grabs Maddie, and pulls her out, vowing never to let her go. Jack races out after his wife, and Danny phases into the vehicle, driving it while invisible. He fires weapon after weapon at Vlad, who holds Maddie with one hand and backhands each blast away with another... until Danny hits the ectoplasmic goo, which, as Jazz can testify, is not so easy to avoid. Vlad drops Maddie as he gets Covered in Gunge, and Danny flies forward and overshadows his dad, making Jack catch her.
Still in his dad’s body, Danny sends Maddie back to the RV to check on Harriet while he takes care of the ghost. Based on what he knows about Vlad, there’s only one way he can think of to stop him. He tells Vlad to give up, or he’ll go ahead and expose them both right now. Vlad thinks he’s bluffing, but Danny makes him see why it’s not an empty threat: "My parents will accept me, no matter what! But if I expose you... well, what would my Mom think of you? You’ll be miserable and alone for the rest of your life unless you call a truce."
Vlad realizes he’s right... and admires such an expert display of cunning and manipulation: "Using your opponent’s weaknesses against him... I am teaching you something after all. Very well – truce." He doesn’t mind. "Eventually, you will join me by choice – you and your mother.” For now, he’s perfectly satisfied with today’s outcome, and overdramatically declares Jack’s victory for the benefit of the crowd without batting an eye. After he’s made it sufficiently clear that Jack is a hero, he disappears... but not before telling Danny, "Until next time, son..."
Danny releases his dad, his job done for now. But the battle between him and Vlad Plasmius has only just begun.
This episode provides examples of the following tropes:
- Affably Evil: Subverted. Skulker has this brief moment with Danny before going right back to intimidating him.Skulker: (holds a green glowing arm blade up to Danny's throat)
Danny: (nervous laughter) Uh, the glowing blade is new.
Skulker: (cheerfully) You like it? I've had some upgrades! - Always Chaotic Evil: The first time this is subverted: The Dairy King's ghost lets Danny out of the cube.
- Always Night: Almost the entire episode, including all the fight scenes, takes place at night.
- Arch-Enemy: Danny gains his in this episode.
- Armor-Piercing Question: Danny, while overshadowing Jack, gives one to Vlad when he threatens that he’ll expose the both of them unless Vlad agrees to a truce.Vlad: You're bluffing.
Danny: No, I'm not. My parents will accept me, no matter what! But if I expose you... well, what would my Mom think of you?
Vlad: (Has a look on his face that clearly says, "Oh Fudge Buckets, you're NOT bluffing, are you?") - Bad "Bad Acting": Vlad when he loudly surrenders, giving Jack credit for defeating him.
- Bait the Dog: Vlad tricks Jack into staying at his castle for weekend by saying the Dairy King's ghost could haunt the place, so Jack could be vulnerable for Vlad's vulture ghost minions to kill him.
- Be Careful What You Say: Nice going, Jazz...
- Call-Back: The Ectopuses from the very first scene of the first episode make a return, along with Skulker, who's still bound to the schedule in Tucker’s PDA.
- Danny even demands how Skulker got his high-tech battle armor fixed, as it was previously destroyed by Delilah the purple-back gorilla and revealed Skulker's true tiny blob form. It's heavily implied Vlad had a part in restoring it.
- Can't Catch Up: Danny is no match for an enemy who has the same powers he does, and has had them for twenty years. He only gets Vlad to back off for the episode by threatening to expose both of them.
- Cassandra Truth:Danny: I can’t believe they fired Harriette.Jazz: Of course they fired her. She tried to file some crackpot story about ghosts.
- Chekhov's Gun: Specifically, the one that fires ectoplasmic goo.
- Chekhov's Gunman: The Wisconsin Dairy King, though it's implied at first that Vlad made him up so Jack would stay at his castle long enough for Vlad to kill him.
- Cool Car: The Fenton Family Ghost Assault Vehicle – no ghostbusters should be without one.
- Covered in Gunge: Done to Jazz (twice) and Vlad.
- Curb-Stomp Battle: Danny is no match for Vlad.
- Darker and Edgier: The tone of this episode is much darker and more serious compared to its predecessors.
- Don't Touch It, You Idiot!: Jazz warns Danny not to press ANY buttons in their parents’ RV. He doesn’t listen, and Jazz ends up getting green slime splattered on her face again.Jazz: I'll get you for this.
- Evil Mentor: Vlad wants to be this for Danny, who insists he’s not interested. However (as Vlad points out), by the end of the episode, he’s already learning something from him.
- Fictional Earth: Harriet mentions she covered a guerilla uprising in a place called "Rumackistan". This appears to be a fictional country set in Danny's universe, as there's no real-world location by that name.
- Fighting from the Inside: Jack manages to fight off Vlad overshadowing him for a moment, long enough to warn Maddie that he is being possessed and to run.
- Foreshadowing: Vlad's college accident being similar to the one Danny had when he got his ghost powers is no coincidence.
- Going for the Big Scoop: Harriet, a reporter for the Milwaukee Journal, is thrilled to have found a great story about ghosts and ghost hunters at her college reunion...which gets her fired.
- Gory Discretion Shot: We get to hear Vlad’s No-Holds-Barred Beatdown on Danny but not watch it.
- Graceful Loser: When Danny threatens to expose him and Vlad, Vlad backs off and praises him for exploiting his enemy's weakness.
- Guile Hero: The first time we see this side of Danny.
- Here We Go Again!: Skulker exits the episode getting a notification that he needs to go to the library and get a book on a purple-back gorilla. He is clearly not happy that this is still a problem and has an annoyed look as he blasts away against his will.Skulker: (reading from PDA) I've gotta go to the library and check out a book on a gorilla. AGAIN!
- Hidden Depths: Maddie implies that Danny used to be a good student when she states that his grades are slipping.
- Horrible Judge of Character: Jack never catches on that his “best friend” is trying to kill him and steal his wife and son. He won't until the very end of the series.
- Mid-Season Twist: First appearance of Vlad Plasmius. Not quite the middle of the season (episode 7 out of 20, to be accurate), but it still counts.
- Murder the Hypotenuse: Vlad’s goal is to kill Jack and marry Maddie. Danny manages to stop him, but there’s always next time.
- Never My Fault:
- Jazz blames Danny for being cramped in the Fenton RV for four days, even though it only happened because of her comment.
- Harriet blames Jack for ruining her career as a reporter, when it was she who decided to do a story about Jack being a Ghost. Luckily, after the existence of ghosts becomes public knowledge, she gets her job back and becomes News Anchor.
- New Super Power: After seeing Vlad do it, Danny learns how to create ecto-shields of his own in this episode.
- No-Holds-Barred Beatdown: Forms Plasmius’ Establishing Character Moment.
- No-Sell: Vlad, as a half-ghost, doesn't trigger Danny's ghost sense.
- "Not So Different" Remark: Vlad attempts to use this on Danny as an incentive to join forces with him. Of course, Danny refuses with good reasons.
- Out-Gambitted: Danny forces Vlad to call a truce at the present moment by threatening to reveal both their identities to his parents, knowing that his parents will accept him for who he is, but Maddie won't do the same for Vlad.
- Out of Focus: As the episode puts a little more importance on Danny's parents than just being the ones to invent the Ghost Portal, this causes Sam and Tucker to be unnecessary to the plot and therefore not even so much as being mentioned.
- Plot Hole: How did Danny learned Vlad's ghost name was Plasmius before he even mentioned it?
- Real After All: It turns out Vlad wasn’t lying about the Dairy King's ghost – who knew?
- The Reveal: Vlad is one who sent the Ectopuses and other ghosts, including Skulker, that Danny faced in previous episodes to test Jack's skills.
- Scared of What's Behind You: Unlike most heroes, Danny doesn't smugly assume the vultures were afraid of him and wonders why they flew off so fast (before he learns Vlad was behind him).
- Secret-Keeper: Danny and Vlad both know each other’s secret, which cancels out any potential use for blackmail unless one of them is willing to reveal their own Secret Identity.
- Small Role, Big Impact: The Dairy King only has a few minutes in this episode, but by freeing Danny from the trap he's in, the Dairy King has Danny realize not all ghosts in the series are evil.
- Stating the Simple Solution: When Jazz learns that Vlad is a Green Bay Packers fan, she asks why he doesn't just buy the team instead of a bunch of memorabilia. Vlad angrily replies that the city of Green Bay stubbornly refuses to sell the Packers to him.
- Tempting Fate: Harriet thought reporting news about the ghost happenings at Vlad's mansion would boost her career. According to a cut scene, she was fired. Subverted in the long run as once the public realized ghosts do in fact exist, she ended up being an anchorwoman by the end of the season.
- Terms of Endangerment: Vlad’s insistence on calling Danny "son." He’s also the only person in the series to call him "Daniel."
- Toilet Humor: Danny tells the ghost vultures at the beginning to not leave any droppings on any windshields. So, what do they do? Drop one on Danny's head instead.
- Trailers Always Spoil: A promo for the episode already revealed to the viewers that Vlad Masters and Vlad Plasmius were one and the same.
- Truth in Television: The Green Bay Packers are indeed owned by the City of Green Bay and impossible to buy.
- Villain: Exit, Stage Left: The most Danny can do is get Vlad to call a truce for now.
- We Can Rule Together: Upon learning that Danny's also part-ghost, Vlad tries to make this proposition. Naturally, Danny refuses.Vlad: You, Danny Phantom, and I, Vlad Plasmius – together, we could rule!
- We Will Meet Again: While giving his big dramatic speech about how Jack “defeated” him, Vlad quietly mutters that he and Danny will see each other again someday.
- What Happened to the Mouse?: The Dairy King. Despite Vlad living in what was once his home, he's never seen again. We don't even know what happened to him after the final fate of the mansion in season 3.
- You're Insane!: "Dude, you are one seriously crazed-up fruit loop."
- You Are Better Than You Think You Are: In contrast to the villain Vlad has become, Danny lauds Jack as an awesome ghost-hunter, a decent father, and an all-around good person.
