Danny Phantom



""I'm going ghost!""

A Superhero series on Nickelodeon by Butch Hartman, the creator of The Fairly Odd Parents.

The series revolves around the adventures of Danny Fenton, the son of parents who are professional ghostbusters. (No, not those. Or those.) While generally less than competent, their engineering skill is phenomenal, allowing the creation of such inventions as the Fenton Portal, a machine that opens up a path to the "Ghost Zone", apparently an odd kind of afterlife where ghosts are either beings of the dead and/or monsters from another dimension. At the urging of his good friend, Sam Manson, Danny explores the portal and accidentally activates it, imbuing his molecular structure with ectoplasmic energy.

Now with a set of formidable ghost powers, Danny eventually decides to use them to protect humanity from various spectral threats. Unfortunately, since most of the town (including his own parents) fears and hates his Danny Phantom identity, Danny has to keep his ghost powers secret. Fortunately, his best friends, Sam and Tucker (and his own sister, who quietly knows Danny's secret as well), are his constant companions, who give him vital practical and emotional support in his self-appointed role.

Despite the comical tone, this series is a surprisingly well-conceived and endearing narrative of a boy growing into his true calling while the world gradually comes to accept him, much like a variant of Spider Man at that franchise's best.

Following its initial nine episodes (known affectionately as the Magnificent Nine by longtime fans), the show began to become more and more "FOP-ish" and began to borrow heavily from its predecessor. This was all but embraced in the latter seasons, which saw an increase in gags, gross humor, and Deus Ex Machina endings. However, the series also grew its beard by Season 2, ending in a mostly mixed Season 3.

Before reaching half-way through the second season, Butch Hartman announced the decision made by Nickelodeon to cancel the production of the show, making it 53 episodes in three seasons. Dedicated fans orchestrated various petitions and small organizations to overturn the decision, but despite these protests, the production of Danny Phantom finished in February 2007, with no plans for future episodes after 53. However, at least the series had enough lead time to create a Grand Finale.

The complete first season was released on DVD on September 13th, 2011 by Shout Factory, the first part of Season 2 released on April 3, 2012, with the second part and Season 3 to be released at a later date.

This series has a character sheet.
Now has a Best Episode Crowner.

This series contains examples of:
"Tucker: Looks like we're gonna miss the movie. Sam: Unless we find some way to ignore all speed limits, red lights, and certain laws of physics. Closeup on Danny looking sly. Cut to: ...the kids in an RV going about 120 miles an hour, driven by Danny's dad.
 * Aborted Arc: The news that the series would only have three seasons caused a lot of planned story arcs to simply disappear without a trace. What deal did Vlad and the Fright Knight broker? What role does Dani end up playing? What did Valerie do after she discovered the existence of halfas, and Vlad's identity? Does Dark Danny escape and make a return appearance, as is hinted at in "The Ultimate Enemy"? We'll never know now.
 * Accidental Hug
 * Action Mom: Maddie is a ninth degree martial artist!
 * Acquired Situational Narcissism: Danny in the episode where he became filthy rich. Tucker in the episode where he was made King of the world.
 * Adorkable: Danny. Also Tucker
 * Added Alliterative Appeal: Super Danny has one of these as a power.
 * Affably Evil: Most villains. Especially Vlad, who's the Big Bad no less. How can you take him seriously as a villain after you see his Green Bay Packers cheesehead?
 * All Animals Are Dogs: Or the Sphinx is, anyway.
 * All Guys Want Cheerleaders: Danny constantly moons over the egotistical and vain Paulina,
 * All of the Other Reindeer: Danny is patronized by his family, bullied at his school and feared and hated in his superhero identity by both most mortals and ghosts. Fortunately, his best friends help keep him steady while the world, starting with his sister, begins to gradually come around.
 * All Powerful Bystander: Clockwork.
 * Alter Kocker: The "ecto-American" vulture ghosts.
 * Always Need What You Gave Up:
 * On a much darker note, cheating wasn't a good idea either. Nor was begging his archrival to remove his humanity. It backfired horribly.
 * Similarly in "Phantom Planet",
 * Amulet of Concentrated Awesome: The amulets that Dora and Aragon wear to turn them into dragons.
 * Ancient Keeper: Frostbite
 * Anime Hair: Danny, Plasmius, and Dark Danny, just to name a few. Must be a halfa thing. Also: Ember and Spectra.
 * Anticipatory Breath Spray: Tucker.
 * Vlad as well, in Maternal Instincts.
 * Anticlimax Cut: "Identity Crisis":

Tucker: Couldn't you've just flown us?

Danny: The way my dad drives, this is faster."

"Mr. Lancer: Tucker Foley. Chronic tardiness, talking in class, repeated loitering by the girl's locker room. (Tucker gives a sly smile)"
 * Anti-Villain:
 * Sydney Poindexter
 * Johnny 13 and Kitty. Johnny's main goal is to be left alone with Kitty. Kitty rarely does any harm unless Johnny's hurt or is eying other girls.
 * Amorpho, who just likes to pull pranks, but takes them too far.
 * Arbitrary Skepticism: Parodied/played for laughs in The Fright Before Christmas. Maddie takes genuine issue over the scientific implausibility of the existence of... wait for it... Santa Claus. Jack, on the other hand, firmly believes he exists. Both of them, are the two "leading" experts and hunters of ghosts in the world, and are arguing this in front of children waiting to see a shopping mall Santa.
 * Danny has a moment of this when he can't believe that his body is generating extreme cold energy.
 * Arch Enemy: Danny and Vlad Plasmius. It's recognized by both of them almost immediately, and the rivalry only grows as the series goes on. See Evil Counterpart and Not So Different below.
 * Skulker and Valerie both qualify as close contenders, but their respective pursuits of Danny were used less and less as the writers chose to focus on the Danny/Vlad conflict.
 * Arson, Murder, and Jaywalking:
 * "Mystery Meat":

"Jazz: You've ambushed me, suffocated me with smoke, and worse, I was pulled away from Spike before he had his breakthrough!"
 * Later, after Jack and Maddie capture Jazz while she was trying to counsel a goth boy:

"Danny: Plagues, pestilence, boy bands ... wow, this is one evil box."
 * In "Boxed-Up Fury", the list of what's in Pandora's box:

"Jack: You three are in a world of trouble! Skipping school, stealing and wrecking the Spectre Speeder... Lancer Calling me OLD MAN..."
 * When the kids get in trouble in "Kindred Spirits".

""Taking my map, destroying my satellite, mocking my mental health..."
 * Vlad's...

also:

"I've forgiven him for many things... causing the accident that ruined my life, stealing you, the backwash incident...""

"Danny: What happened? Tucker: You passed out. We took you home. You've been asleep for four days. Danny: Four days?! Tucker: (laughs) Nah, it's only been a couple hours."
 * Art Evolution: The main characters don't look like stick figures and actually gain muscles in latter series; the colors also get more vibrant.
 * Asleep for Days: Subverted.

"Vlad: You have a battle cry, hilarious."
 * An Asskicking Christmas: The Fright Before Christmas.
 * Audit Threat: Used by a Government agent against students' parents in "Doctor's Disorders" and by the Guys in White against Mr. Lancer in "Double-Cross My Heart".
 * Author Appeal: Hartman incorporates space themes (he loves Star Wars) through Danny who wants to be an astronaut.
 * 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 own 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. Rather unpleasant, considering what age group this is aimed at.
 * Backstory: While we do know the basics of how Danny got his powers from the Expository Theme Song, it isn't until the episode "Memory Blank" that we actually learn it was Sam that persuaded him to enter the portal in the first place.
 * Back-to-Back Badasses: Danny and Skulker in "Prisoner of Love".
 * Badass: Long list, including Vlad, Skulker, and a purple-backed gorilla.
 * Badass Family: Danny may be the one with superpowers, but Jazz, Maddie, and even Jack have proven capable of fighting ghosts.
 * Baddie Flattery: Vlad to Danny, in conjunction with Not So Different.
 * Bad Future: The premise of "The Ultimate Enemy".
 * Bad Job, Worse Uniform: Valerie works at Nasty Burger--as its mascot.
 * Baleful Polymorph: Technus uses some sort of remote control to turn Danny into a cowboy, a model, and Spock.
 * Batman Gambit: Vlad's preferred MO, although he's not always as good at predicting responses as he thinks he is. He also occasionally pulls a Xanatos Gambit when the writers want to hand him a win.
 * He's not the only one who pulls it off. In "D-Stabilized", Valerie used Danielle in order to capture Danny.
 * There's also Clockwork who pulled one off so perfectly in "The Ultimate Enemy", no one was aware he was a good guy until the end.
 * Battle Cry: "I'M GOING GHOST!"

"Vlad: What an amazing, unexpected, and totally unplanned surprise! Personalized gift baskets?"
 * "FOR BEARBERT!"
 * Battle Ballgown: Sam makes one out of a wedding dress in "Beauty Marked".
 * Beam-O-War: Danny and Vlad with ectoplasmic rays in "Kindred Spirits".
 * Beard of Evil: Vlad, Dark Danny, Ghost Writer, Skulker; minorly subverted with Ghost Writer, who isn't evil, just mad at Danny for destroying the poem and does what he does to teach Danny a lesson about being a scrooge.
 * Beat It by Compulsion - Ghosts' typical behavior makes them vulnerable to this. A notable example is Desiree granting every wish she hears, even ones that work against her goals.
 * Be Careful What You Wish For: "What You Want", "Memory Blank"
 * Bedsheet Ghost: Danny tries to pull this off on Halloween, though he'd probably be better off going as himself, seeing as how he's an actual (sorta) ghost and, for the majority of the series, is feared by everyone who doesn't want to outright beat him down.
 * One of his clones, however, pulls this off in the best way.
 * Berserk Button: "Do--not--call--me--a--LOSER!"
 * I. WILL. NOT. GET. A. CAT!.
 * Danny's eyes glow green uncontrollably if his berserk button is so much as touched, much less pushed.
 * Special mention goes to Dark Danny, who's eyes flashed red when.
 * Although they glow brighter when he's more annoyed, like in Fanning the Flames.
 * "NOBODY MAKES MY BODY A MEAT PUPPET!"
 * Beware the Nice Ones: Jack is usually extremely oblivious and very much a Gentle Giant. Vlad made a miscalculation and underestimated him by far. He proceeds to beat up Vlad, which Danny himself has not been able to do, even at the end by himself.
 * Vlad also fits - while the audience knows he is bad to the bone, most other characters think he is a saint.
 * Most definitely Maddie. She kicks some serious butt.
 * Arguably Danny himself, who is laid back and kind of lazy... when he's human (or, rather more accurately, pretending to be). It's when he's not that you need to watch out, as many lesser foes found out, as did Vlad, if in a Bad Future. Luckily for him, Clockwork hit the Reset Button on that timeline... or maybe not so lucky.
 * Big Bad: Vlad "Plasmius" Masters.
 * Big Badass Wolf: Wulf, a Werewolf-like ghost prisoner who was originally sent by Walker to hunt Danny and his friends but befriends them when they try to set him free.
 * Big Damn Kiss: An orbital one at that in the Grand Finale. You can already figure between who.
 * Big Fancy House
 * Vlad's residences.
 * The Fenton brief family's home in "Livin' Large".
 * Subverted by Manson family's home; looks normal on the outside. It's still fancy, however.
 * Big No: Tucker, upon finding out that the flour babies were baked into cookies by his mother.
 * And by Vlad in "Kindred Spirits" when Doubles as a Tear Jerker.
 * And by Danny when the vat of Nasty Sauce all the important people in his life (and Lancer) are attached to... explodes.
 * Big Ol' Eyebrows: Butch Hartman's trademark. His other show The Fairly Oddparents, also, invokes this trope
 * Bilingual Bonus: Season 1, Episode 6 "What You Want" gives us Sayonara Pussycat, an Expy of Hello Kitty. Sayounara/さようなら (with a long 'o' sound that is often ignored in English) is Japanese for 'goodbye'. Danny even shouts "Bye-bye kitty", as a One-Liner.
 * Nearly all of Wulf's lines are in Esperanto.
 * Black Best Friend: Tucker.
 * Blatant Lies: From "Maternal Instincts":
 * Blatant Lies: From "Maternal Instincts":

"Jazz (imitating Jack): I know! Let's catch the ghost and rip it apart mmmolecule by mmmolecule! You guys are so understanding."
 * The Blank: Amorpho, a shapeshifter whose default form is faceless. Also, possibly Fright Knight.
 * Blessed with Suck: Early in the series Danny has little control of his powers and has started sinking through floors and making his pants intangible so that they fall down. He also got banned pre-series from bearing anything breakable while on school grounds.
 * Body Horror: Happens every time Danny tries to split himself.
 * Most extreme by far: Identity Crisis. He starts out with two heads, one of which sprouts another head, whose tongue forms the neck for another head. Then, from the main torso sprout two extra feet, a bug eye, a mouth with a bug eye on its tongue, and three more heads, one of whose tongue is a forearm and hand, which sprouts a head on each finger. It just keeps going from there.
 * Book Dumb: Danny (and Tucker).
 * Book Ends: In the first episode, Danny and Sam are vehemently denying that they were boyfriend and girlfriend. In the Grand Finale, their Relationship Upgrade is complete.
 * A Boy and His X: "A boy and his dog. Somehow, it's not supposed to be this weird." The dog in question was a ghost dog that alternates between being cute, and large and vicious.
 * Used again in "Infinite Realms": "Awww, a boy and his snow monster." (Both were said by Sam, come to think of it...)
 * Brainwashed: Both Ember and Freakshow use this against Danny.
 * Bragging Theme Tune: He could walk through walls, disappear and fly! He was much more unique than the other guys!
 * Breather Episode: After the heavy-handed "Reign Storm" dealt with character developments and important story arcs, the next episode aired was the lighthearted (possibly THE most lighthearted DP episode), "Identity Crisis". There was also "The Ultimate Enemy" which was just gruesome, but the episode that aired after was a light and fluffy Christmas Episode.
 * Brought Down to Normal: Danny involuntarily lost his powers thanks to Literal Genie Desiree in "Memory Blank".
 * Brought to You by The Letter "S": Danny's costume gets a stylized DP chest symbol on his costume. An episode exists to explain where it comes from, using a Cosmic Retcon so that everyone but Sam and Danny believes that it's always been there.
 * Bully Hunter: Poindexter, the ghost of a bullied nerdy teen who lived in the 50's, who unfortunately combines this with Horrible Judge of Character, who now as a ghost targets Danny when he thinks he is bullying Jerk Jock Dash Baxter.
 * Bumbling Dad: Jack Fenton may be a brilliant inventor, but otherwise he's an idiot.
 * Bunny Ears Lawyer: See Bumbling Dad.
 * Butterfly of Doom: Cheat on your CAT, and the world gets boned.
 * Butt Monkey: Tucker. He's dumped on quite often despite saving/helping Danny more than once and yet, he barely gets thanked. Several times in the latter portion of the series, he is often the butt of the joke or virtually ignored.
 * It becomes part of the plot in "What You Want" when Tucker, after routinely getting pummeled every time Danny ditches him to save the world, wishes for ghost powers.
 * "I AM THE BOX GHOST!"
 * Calling the Old Man Out: Jazz in Reality Trip.

"Danny: Oh, great, I blend in."
 * Calling Your Attacks: Occasionally employed. Usually with Fenton gear.
 * Can't Get Away with Nuthin': Remember, kids, cheating on a test will cause you to turn evil and destroy the future
 * Can't Get in Trouble For Nuthin'
 * Caretaker Reversal: In the beginning of one episode, What You Want, Sam is sick and Danny and Tucker try to take care of her. Guess which 2 characters get sick at the end?
 * Carnival of Killers
 * Catch Phrase:
 * Danny: "I'm going ghost!", "You don't know the half of it."
 * Tucker: Ya got that right!
 * Technus: I, Technus (insert outdated slang here).
 * Box Ghost: "I AM THE BOX GHOST!", "BEWARE!"
 * Mr. Lancer: *insert title of classic book here*!
 * Desiree: So you have wished it, so shall it be.
 * Various characters: "For the record, I blame you." "Survey says..."
 * Character Development: Everyone of the main characters get some form of character development.
 * Celestial Body: Nocturne, the ghost of sleep, has his entire body except his eyes and face-mask as stars in space.
 * Changed My Jumper: Subverted in the episode Masters Of All Time where Danny's time travel to the 1980's reveals that his black jumpsuit is actually fitting for that time period.

"Danny: I don't understand... Vlad: What? That I used two 14-year-old pawns to turn a knight and topple a king? It's chess, Daniel. Of course you don't understand. But then, you never really did."
 * Chef of Iron: The Lunch Lady Ghost.
 * Chekhov's Boomerang: The Boooomerang, first used in "The Ultimate Enemy" to find Danny, gets used again in "Kindred Spirits". Bonus points for being an actual boomerang.
 * Chekhov's Gun: Many of the Fenton Gadgets.
 * The Tucker-bot from "Livin' Large", later used in "Phantom Planet". Also, Valerie's first ghost hunting suit, first appearing in the tenth episode. We later find out in the fortieth episode why Vlad gave her the gear!
 * The Chessmaster:

"Maddie Holograph One: Your resolution is too low and your bandwidth is too large! Maddie Holograph Two:"*gasp* Why you holographic- *Violence Ensues*""
 * Chew Bubblegum
 * Chew Out Fake Out: Happens in "13", when Danny intentionally lets himself get caught spying on Jazz and Johnny.
 * Chronoscope: The various time-windows in
 * City of Adventure: Amity Park.
 * Clark Kenting: A running joke from episode one.
 * Unless you want to say that Danny's ghost form inhibits mundanes' perception of him or some other Techno Babble, we're asked to believe that changing his hair and eye color is enough of a disguise for him. He doesn't even bother to change his first name.
 * For that matter, neither does Vlad with his name, though his ghost form is immensely different in looks then Danny is with his, so it may be Justified.
 * Dark Danny in "The Ultimate Enemy" lampshades this, mocking everyone by pointing out how obvious it was.
 * There was also the episode where Danny and Dash get shrunk and need to get to the Ops Center before Danny's powers fizzle completely as he continues getting closer to being Danny Fenton every minute.
 * Lampshaded by Danny. "Good thing Dash is a total moron..."
 * And then there was the whole mess in "Double Cross My Heart": where the Guys In White were aware of this trope, but they pinned Danny Phantom's disguise on the wrong guy
 * Cloning Blues: "Kindred Spirits".
 * Color Coded for Your Convenience: Interesting switch with Vlad and Danny. It's played straight when they're in human form: Danny wears white and Vlad dons black, but in ghost form, the hero is predominately black while Vlad wears a near all-white suit.
 * Also played straight with their transformation rings: Danny's being white while Vlad's is black.
 * As well as with their hair.
 * And with their eyes, energy blasts, and skin colors in ghost form (no, not like that. It's blue, as in the exact negative of Danny's).
 * Comes Great Responsibility: And the Spider-Man parallels don't stop there.
 * Coming of Age Story: In his definite Character Development Arc, Danny starts off as a naive boy who is looking for his place in the world, uncertain of the big decisions thrust onto him. By the end of the series, he has grown into a mature lad who continuously handles big burdens displayed before him. By the ending, said burdens and responsibilities are even bigger, but he's grown up enough to face the task.
 * A smaller meta-arc would be Jazz's coming of age, going from a nosy sullen kid growing up too fast to someone who appreciates her age and knows when not to get involved.
 * Compressed Vice: All too frequently.
 * Continuity Drift: In one episode a nerdy friend of Tucker's is mentioned as "Nathan". In a Season 3 episode he shows up again, but gets called "Lester", although it might just be his last name.
 * Continuity Nod: Mostly the Fenton inventions, but several elements from prior are mentioned in latter episodes (and even move the plot forward). Justifies the great continuity this show has.
 * In episode 16, "Maternal Instinct", Vlad Masters is shown to have one of the large yellow monster trucks which will later show up in "Memory Blank".
 * Speaking of Memory Blank, it contains multiple shout-outs to earlier Season 1 episodes.
 * Danny brings up Sam's "great ideas" of changing the school cafeteria menu (episode 1), releasing the purple-backed gorilla (ep. 3), and selling his dad's old junk at a garage sale (ep. 4). She counters by asking whether he would also like to blame her for puberty, which was used multiple times as an excuse for his "voice change" in episode 5
 * Sam's photo album contains the picture she took of Danny and Tucker hugging during episode 3.
 * Danny also pulls a Fake-Out Make-Out on Sam, which she had originally pulled on him in the episode where
 * At one point Danny phases down through the floor of the school, noticing the large store of meat in the basement that was discovered in the first episode.
 * Paulina is wearing the same dress at her Quinceañera (15th birthday party) that she wore to the dance with Danny in episode 2, while at the same time Sam comments that she looks "almost human", possibly in reference to Paulina's ghost-dragon transformation from the same episode.
 * During Danny's flashback/remembering sequence, special attention is given to him sneaking into the girl's locker room with his ghost powers, which happened in episode 6, the same episode Desiree was introduced.
 * When trying to act ghostly in order to get Jack to chase him, Danny yells "Fear me!", something a ghost translator from an early episode appended to every sentence spoken by Danny.
 * The emergency ham shows up in the episode "Pirate Radio", before being revealed to be useful for something in "Reality Trip".
 * Also in "Pirate Radio", the easy-listening Ear Worm that's on every radio station is
 * Even later in the series, Skulker still has an appointment to check out a book on purple-backed gorillas.
 * In the episode "Reign Storm", Tucker mentions that Danny caught Skulker and Ember and sent them back to the Ghost Zone together. In the episode "Girl's Night Out", it's revealed that . Too much time in the Thermos together?
 * In the episode "Forever Phantom", Maddie mentions the time Danny Phantom supposedly "attacked the mayor" ("Public Enemies") and when he "stole" everyone's Christmas presents ("The Fright Before Christmas").
 * Cool Car: The Fenton Family Ghost Assault Vehicle (otherwise known as just "the RV").
 * Cosmic Entity:
 * Crazy Prepared: Fenton Works.
 * Curse Cut Short: From the Phantom Planet Finale:

"Sam: We haven't seen Danny or Valerie in hours! Jack: Ah, they're fine. They've been up in Danny's room! Alone! For hours! Sam drops her tea."
 * Dating Catwoman: Danny and Valerie briefly.
 * A Day in the Limelight: Tucker ("What You Want", "King Tuck") and Jazz ("The Fenton Menace", "Secret Weapons").
 * Deadly Training Area: Despite being jury-rigged, Danny's homemade training area in his parent's basement includes lasers among other, less lethal, hazards.
 * Deadly Upgrade: The EctoSkeleton increases the user's power 100 times, while slowly killing them.
 * Deadpan Snarker: Sam.
 * Defanged Horrors: The Ghost Zone (somewhat).
 * Deflector Shields
 * Department of Redundancy Department: "Once again, I, Techus, master of all things electronic and beeping, am free once again to conquer this world!"
 * Description Cut: Used just as much as Hypocritical Humor.
 * Deus Angst Machina: Danny's alternate future. Twisted in that "fate" was really just Clockwork manipulating the time stream to produce what was the worst possible future ever to scare Danny away from his Face Heel Turn.
 * Did Mom Just Have Tea with Cthulhu?
 * Did You Just Punch Out Cthulhu?: Well, to a lesser degree. In one episode, Jack and Danny go fishing when they are attacked by some kind of sea dragon monster. Jack kicks it's ass pretty easily.
 * Disaster Dominoes: In Valerie's father's lab while Danny tries to catch the rampaging ghost dog.
 * Dish Dash: In the series' very first episode. Danny protects Sam from death by flying dishes by catching them all. Unusual for the trope, he gets all the dishes safely put away!
 * Disposable Superhero Maker
 * Distaff Counterpart: Dani Phantom, Danny's Opposite Sex Clone.
 * Does This Remind You of Anything?: Overshadowing looks really, really similar to possession albeit benign. It would be prime candidate for Insistent Terminology if anyone connected the dots.
 * Sam, Tucker, and Jazz trying to convince Danny to let them help him sort out his problems and that in "Phantom Planet".
 * The Dragon: Fright Knight seems to love this as he fights for both Pariah Dark and
 * Drama Bomb: "The Ultimate Enemy." Period. The show had, for one and a half seasons, chugged along its storyline with a fairly cheerful and optimistic tone. Then "The Ultimate Enemy" aired and was, hands-down, the most serious and disturbing episode in the entire show, leaving many viewers speechless upon its first airing.
 * Dramatic Wind: Parodied in "Identity Crisis" by the pure superhero version of Danny, who has this going at all times, befitting his Large Ham status.
 * Dream Weaver: Nocturne, the Ghost of Sleep, demonstrates the power to manipulate dreams in "Frightmare."
 * Drop What You Are Doing:

"Jack: So, Danny! You and your little friends want to hunt ghosts... Danny: Uh, a-actually, Dad, I wanna be an astronaut. Sam: Sorry Mr. Fenton. I was into ghosts, but they’re so mainstream now; they’re like cell phones. Tucker: Waste these looks and all this charisma hunting ghosts? Criminal."
 * Dropped a Bridge on Him: In the "Ultimate Enemy", a memorial statue of Tucker, Sam, and Danny's family says "Gone But Not Forgotten", while a statue of Mr. Lancer a few feet away only says "Gone."
 * Dungeonmaster's Girlfriend: Jazz.
 * Earn Your Happy Ending: After having lot of trouble during the whole series, in the last episode "Phantom Planet", things end well for Danny and his friends.
 * Easter Egg: In one episode, Danny and Tuck are playing a Crash Nebula arcade game. Crash Nebula is one of Timmy Turner's favorite superheroes in Butch Hartman's other cartoon, The Fairly Odd Parents
 * Egg Sitting: Danny and Valerie, Dash and Paulina, Tucker and Sam all are in the same "this bag of flour is your baby" project for health class in "Life Lessons".
 * Enemy Mine: Danny and Vlad in "Reign Storm" (against the Ghost King) and "Torrent of Terror" (against Vortex).
 * Danny and Dash had to work together against Skulker in "Micro-Management", as did Danny and Valerie in the Chained Heat episode, "Life Lessons".
 * "Reign Storm" also takes this a step further by
 * Done again in the Grand Finale when
 * Episode Title Card: Done in the fashion of 50's horror movies, no less, with the Grand Finale as the only exception.
 * Establishing Character Moment: The first episode's Cold Open gives little ones to each of the main characters in the form of their responses to Jack.

"Sam: It's -- nice. Flying is nice."
 * Eternal English: You would think that someone who died 1600 years ago would not be speaking Modern American English. Also, the one non-English speaker speaks modern Esperanto.
 * Even Evil Has Standards: All of Danny's ghost enemies hold an annual truce with any and all other ghosts (including half-ghosts like Danny) so that they can celebrate Christmas. When they discover the Ghost Writer broke the truce, they are not happy, teaming up with Danny to stop him, and save Christmas.
 * "Everybody Laughs" Ending: "Attack of the Killer Garage Sale", "Public Enemies", "Double Cross My Heart", Danny Phantom is riddled with this.
 * Everyone Can See It: Danny and Sam, despite their vehement denials.
 * Everything Is Online: and therefore vulnerable to being hacked via one of Tucker's PDAs.
 * Evil Albino: Freakshow.
 * Evil Counterpart: Plasmius and Dark Danny both qualify.
 * Evil Diva: Ember.
 * Evil Laugh:
 * Dark Danny has a rather nice one.
 * Vlad's done a couple during his time. The most striking would be the beginning to "Kindred Spirits".
 * It is debatable if Ghostwriter's "maniacal/evil nerd-laugh" counts.
 * Evil Makeover: Danny, Sam and Vlad each get one. Fans really dig how their looks (and voices) turned out. Wow. Evil Is Sexy indeed.
 * Evil Plan: While the particular episode's ghost(s) might have their own agenda, Vlad's plan stays the same until his Villain Decay in Season 3: Kill Jack, make Maddie his wife, and make Danny his son.
 * Expendable Clone: No one, least of all Danny, seems particularly bothered when Danny destroys the less-human looking clones. Only the human-looking Danielle gains his sympathy. This is subverted, however, by the fact that Danny also doesn't seem to be bothered when he destroys the so-called "perfect clone" of himself, which would be, in theory, at least as "human" as his Opposite Sex Clone Dani.
 * This is Justified by the face that the previous clones weren't fully sentient and if the "perfect clone" awoke, Vlad would've taken out the original.
 * Vlad himself only considered the "perfect clone" human, even rejecting the only person who probably loved him. Nice Job Fixing It, Villain.
 * Exposition: Particularly awkward, repetitive uses of As You Know, Tell Me Again, Talking to Themselves, Postponed Question, etc.
 * Mr. Exposition: Frostbite's only sole character trait.
 * Expository Theme Tune
 * Expy:
 * Star is Veronica Star from Fairly Oddparents, all grown up. Same name? Check. Blonde? Check. Satellite to a non-white Rich Bitch? Check. A cheerleader? Check. The only major difference is that she is voiced by Tara Strong, not Grey Delisle.
 * Dash is an expy of Flash Thompson of Spider-Man: bullies Fenton, admires Phantom and he's a jock.
 * Tucker is an expy of Steve Urkel from Family Matters, only without the annoying nasal voice.
 * The Guys In White are a pretty obvious expy/parody of the Men in Black comic/film series, replacing aliens with ghosts.
 * Vlad Masters is clearly an expy of Norman Osborn. He's rich, he's a crazed lonely man, he's got a dual identity, just give him a son and you've got the complete package. His origin, meanwhile, is a direct reference to Victor Von Doom's, with Jack standing in for Reed Richards.
 * He could also be considered an Expy for Dracula. His appearance, fact that he lives in the castle, and even shares the same first name as the historical Vlad Dracula III (AKA "Vlad Tepes"/"Vlad The Impaler"). Originally, Vlad WAS going to be a vampire until Executive Meddling declared the concept "too occult" and made him a half-ghost instead. Both women that Vlad and Dracula fall in love with have names that start with the letter "M" (Dracula falls in love with Mina Harker and Vlad falls in love with Maddie Fenton.) Oh, and they also at one point use a backward-spelled "alias" of their own name" (IE: Vlad has "Dalv" and Dracula has "Alucard".)
 * Lancer is possibly an Expy of J. Jonah Jameson from Spider-Man.
 * Freakshow and Lydia are seen as parallels to The Joker and Harley Quinn, respectively. Not surprising, as Butch Hartman seems to be a fairly big fan of superhero comics.
 * It's likely that Desiree, the Literal Genie, is an expy of Jeannie.
 * Hobson from "Livin' Large" has the same job, appearance, personality, voice, and name as John Gielgud's character from Arthur.
 * Just look at Danny and try to say that he doesn't remind you of Chip Skylark, Timmy, or Cosmo.
 * Some people have also noticed similarities between Danny and Spider-Man himself.
 * Dark Danny seems to be one of both the Mastero (The hero's future self is an evil madman bent on ruling the world) and Onslaught (taking out his archenemy's dark side and being a combination of it and the hero's).
 * Does Ember remind you of another girl with blue hair in a ponytail, a short fuse, and a great singing voice?
 * The aforementioned Sayonara Pussycat. Also see Bilingual Bonus.
 * Fail O'Suckyname: Before he tells the entire population of Amnity Park that his name is Danny Phantom, the name that the public used for Danny's ghost form was "Inviso-Bill".
 * Fake-Out Make-Out: Danny and Sam coined the term, and are quick to uncomfortably realize their own reactions were more sincere than either suspected.
 * Fallen Hero: Danny's future self most definitely, irrevocably, very disturbingly and with extreme violence and prejudice.
 * Fallen Princess: Valerie.
 * Family-Friendly Firearms
 * Family-Unfriendly Death: . So much so that Vlad refuses to divulge any of the details.
 * Family-Unfriendly Violence: What Danny's future self did to everybody. Many ghosts have been crippled or otherwise permanently injured, and Valerie's dad lost an arm and an eye.
 * Fangs Are Evil: Vlad, evil Danny.
 * Somewhat subverted and lampshaded with Ghostwriter's "Piranha-fangs".
 * Fantastic Racism: Most ghosts don't like humans and most of the human cast are terrified of ghosts. It gets creepy when Danny hears about his parents discussing what to do with his alter ego's remains if they ever caught him.
 * Fat Idiot: Jack Fenton, or so Vlad would claim. (Jack is actually a subversion.)
 * Fight Unscene: Economy animation causes lackluster fighting scenes in what is otherwise an Action/Comedy series. This improves somewhat starting around the second half of Season 2 due in part to storyboarder George Goodchild.
 * Flaming Hair: Dark Danny and Ember McLain.
 * Flanderization: By Season 3, many suffered from this.
 * Flight of Romance: Foreshadowing the finale.

"Tucker: That may be the hottest geek I've ever laid eyes on. (The wolf lady transforms into a more feral-looking wolf). Sam: Yeah? How about now? Tucker: Yeah. Still hot."
 * Flying Brick
 * Flynning: That sword fight between Danny and Vlad in "Infinite Realms".
 * Fog Feet: Danny often had a ghost-like tail.
 * Foreign Exchange Student: One episode has a Hungarian transfer student coming in to be Sam's Romantic False Lead.
 * Foreshadowing: Loads. A lot of it is really subtle and hard to catch until you rewatch things, but two good examples: the ectopusses Danny fights in episode 1 are sent by Vlad (who only shows up in the seventh). In the background, Valerie says "Mrs. Spectra says I worry too much about material possessions" in "My Brother's Keeper." The next episode, it's the loss of her material possessions that drives her to become a very aggressive ghost hunter.
 * Forgot About His Powers: Danny tends to forget about his ability to become intangible.
 * Forgotten Anniversary: When the anniversary gift goes to the ghost world...guess what happens.
 * For Halloween I Am Going as Myself: Danny (though Sam was very unimpressed).
 * Four-Temperament Ensemble: "Team Phantom" - Danny is Choleric for good leadership skills, but highly emotional personality, Tucker is Sanguine because he's fun-loving, Jazz, though not depressive is Melancholic for her kind, but perfectionist persona, and Sam is Phlegmatic because she's a responsible Stoic Goth.
 * Freak Lab Accident: "But then Danny took a look inside of it. There was a great big flash, everything just changed. His molecules got all rearranged."
 * Freaky Friday Flip: Between Danny and Poindexter.
 * Friendless Background
 * Friendly Enemy: Vlad implied in one episode that his relationship with Danny is like this, stating "I'm sorry, but funny, joke-around Vlad isn't here today" before attacking him. This is a relationship Vlad saw with Danny during most of the series' run, on account of the villain's desire to have Danny as his surrogate son, his role as an Unwitting Pawn notwithstanding.
 * Debatable. "Jokes" are not necessarily an indication of "friendliness" per se. Vlad might see it that way, but Danny tends to see it more as "head games". "Aren't you going to say some deliberately provocative and insulting things about my parents (because you know it pisses me off)?" "No, I don't have time to screw around with you just for my own amusement right now." Because he's planning to do something worse.
 * Played with in the Alternate Timeline in "Ultimate Enemy."
 * By the end of the series, Danny was frenemies with most of the recurring ghost characters. When dealing with a problem bigger than he could handle on his own, he'd often turn to one of the ghosts for help. The fact that he was able to convince cemented that status.
 * Funny Foreigner: Subverted with Gregor. He's not funny at all,
 * Furry Fandom: In "Reality Trip", Tucker admits aloud that he finds a wolf lady to be "hot".

"Sam: I've been looking for you. Danny: Where, in Gregor's locker? Sam: Whoa. Thank you, Joe Hostility."
 * Future Badass: The Box Ghost.
 * Future Me Scares Me: Danny's future-self isn't exactly what he'd hope it to be. Then again, not many people want to grow up to be a rampaging sociopath.
 * Gadgeteer Genius: Tucker, though Jack and Maddie actually make all their own gear.
 * Gas Mask Mooks: Most non-operative GIW hunters wear masks that resemble gas masks.
 * GASP!: In the finale, among other places.
 * Geek: Tucker (technically a "Techno-Geek"), Mikey, Nathan/Lester, etc.
 * Geeky Turn On: Whenever Maddie shows her Action Mom or ghost hunting skills, Jack's usual response is "Man that's hot!".
 * Ghostly Goals: Which (if any) ghosts have "unfinished business" and will pass on after completing it is up for debate, considering the show never addressed afterlife beyond the Ghost Zone; however, almost every ghost Danny fights is the "attack the living" type.
 * Girls' Night Out Episode: Aptly titled "Girls' Night Out", featuring Jazz, Maddie and Sam stopping Spectra, Kitty and Ember from making all the men disappear.
 * Glowing Eyes of Doom: Danny's eyes glow green even in human form when he gets too angry.
 * Gondor Calls for Aid: "Reign Storm" where Danny, Vlad and Valerie have to ally to stop a Big Bad
 * "Phantom Planet", where Danny has to enlist much of the population of the Ghost Zone (both friends and enemies) to save the world from
 * The Good, the Bad, and The Evil: Team Phantom - good; Vlad, Valerie, and some of Danny's ghostly enemies - bad; most of Danny's Rogues Gallery - evil.
 * Gosh Dang It to Heck
 * Gosh Hornet: In "13", when Tucker disturbs a beehive in the middle of lunch period and chaos ensues.
 * Goth: Sam is said to be goth and goes between Perky and Gloomy, but more often comes off as an activist hippie who wears black.
 * Gotta Catch Them All: "Reality Trip" (and even the series' theme song).
 * Grand Finale: "Phantom Planet".
 * Grand Theft Me: See Freaky Friday Flip. Also Kitty's possession of Paulina--in both instances, the ghost attempts to impersonate the human.
 * Great Big Book of Everything:
 * "Fright Night" - The Token Trio use a book to learn about the Fright Knight.
 * "Reality Trip" - The trio use a book to find out about the Reality Gauntlet and find out it was written by the Evil Albino.
 * "Infinite Realms" - Vlad mysteriously has a book with information about the Infi-Map in it.
 * Green-Eyed Monster: Sam gets really annoyed whenever Danny starts drooling over Paulina.
 * In the episode 'Double Cross My Heart', Danny grows increasingly irritated about Sam's crush on the new transfer student.

"Spectra: Look at you? What are you? A ghost trying to fit in with humans or some creepy little boy with creepy little powers? Danny: Both! …Neither! I don't know! Spectra:You’re a freak! Not a ghost, not a boy! Who cares for a thing like you?"
 * Green Eyes: Danny in ghost-mode and Jazz normally. Also (for some reason), all the non-white characters have green eyes.
 * Green Thumb: Undergrowth in "Urban Jungle".
 * Groupie Brigade: One episode focused on this when Danny Phantom (by this point, a well known hero and celebrity) is on the run from screaming teenage fans; most of which come from his own school. He had to secretly turn human to get away from the crazed mob.
 * Half-Human Hybrid: Apparently, the accident turned Danny into a "half-ghost", which is refered to as "halfa".
 * Hammerspace: One exactly one occasion, Danny is shown carrying the Fenton Thermos by a shoulder strap. The rest of the time, he just pulls it from behind his back, seemingly out of nowhere.
 * Hand Blast: While not really a thing ghosts usually do, Danny can fire ectoplasmic blasts or "Ghost Rays" from his hands.
 * Hand Wave: Various.
 * You could say that the entire concept of a "half-ghost" is this. The mechanics behind it is never really explained, and many a fan has tried to figure out how being half-dead really works.
 * Hannibal Lecture: Vlad and Spectra.

""Man, that's hot!""
 * Happily Ever After:.
 * Happily Married: Jack and Maddie Fenton.
 * Hartman Hips: Maddie, Valerie, Paulina, etc... it is a Hartman series...

"Danny: He's not the ghost you're looking for.
 * Sam in "Urban Jungle", but otherwise she's quite trimmed.
 * Heh Heh, You Said "X": In "Pirate Radio", after Youngblood and his pirates swipe the Fenton Ghost Shield, Youngblood turns to his parrot for the term, to which he says 'booty'. Youngblood, his crew, and even Tucker giggled at the word.
 * Hero with Bad Publicity: Poor, poor Danny...
 * Heroic Willpower: Displayed, surprisingly enough, by none other than Jack Fenton in Bitter Reunions. At the time of the episode, he was the only individual without ghost powers to ever stave off an overshadowing, even if for a short period.
 * Hey, It's That Voice!: This show had not only a multitude of popular voice actors in its regular lineup, but often hired famous Hollywood actors to voice the villains. (Yep, even Undergrowth.)
 * Hidden Agenda Villain: Vlad: The purpose for getting the Skeleton Key isn't revealed until another episode - which in turn holds another hidden agenda, While the first is dealt with, the show's abrupt end never showed the conclusion/purpose of the latter. Also fitting the ghost-hunting equipment he gives Valerie,
 * High School
 * Hoist by His Own Petard: Happens to Vlad more often then not, but really comes to a head in the series finale when
 * Hollywood Nerd: Danny, especially when standing beside Tucker.
 * Homage: Multiple. The Goth Bookstore showcases George McFly's book from Back to The Future on its shelves. When Danny collapses from cold in "Urban Jungle", he wakes up floating in his underwear in a water tank a la The Empire Strikes Back. Then there's "three for the OpCenter" as they "beam up" to the upper level of the Fenton house. And those are just the really obvious ones. There's more than a few examples in dialogue as well.

GIW: He's not the ghost we're looking for."

"Skulker: Err...Guys, there is a problem... my nose is itching."
 * To add into the "Back to the Future" references, "Masters of All Time" has a blink-it-and-you'll-miss-it" cameo of Marty McFly in the group shot of the 80's college student (wearing his infamous red "life jacket") and an even cooler homage: the clock tower on the school reads 10:04. Awesome.
 * Adding yet again to the "Back to the Future" references, the first reference is found in "Splitting Images", the fifth episode of the first season. Marty can be found this time as one of the kids in the 50s version of Casper High.
 * And hilariously, Danny and (Animated) Marty are voiced by the same person!
 * Vlad's mansion being empty of servants may be a reference to Dracula, who likewise had a huge, (mostly) empty castle.
 * Many references to Star Wars are seen throughout the series, as creator Butch Hartman is a major fan of the franchise.
 * After a ninja whirls his nunchucks about, Danny deadpans "I so don't have time for this", and sucks him into the Fenton Thermos rather than fight him.
 * The same happens again in Public Enemies, sans the one liner, and he actually blasts the guy instead of using the Fenton Thermos.
 * The Groovy Gang and Scaredy Cat.
 * The gang goes to Comic Con in one episode. If we list specifics, we'd be here all night, so let's just say that all the basics and more are covered.
 * Horned Hairdo: Both Vlad and Spectra sport this.
 * How Do I Shot Web?: Whenever Danny develops a new power. Or, in the case of "Memory Blank", has to relearn how to use them.
 * A couple of times, it's more How Did I Just Shoot Web?
 * Hugh Mann: Amorpho.
 * The Hunter: Valerie.
 * Hunter of His Own Kind: Danny. Also Skulker, in a subversion: he doesn't do it for the greater good, he just does it for the sake of hunting them.
 * Hunting the Most Dangerous Game: Basic plot of "Life Lessons", combined with Egg Sitting. Also defines Skulker's character to a tee.
 * Hurricane of Puns: Probably more prominent in "Beauty Marked" than any other episode, as Danny found at least a dozen for his ax-wielding opponent.
 * Hypno Trinket: Freakshow's staff in "Control Freaks".
 * Hypocritical Humor: Sam got upset with Danny for using his powers to spy on her and Gregor, but when Danny was spending time with Valerie, Sam wasn't exactly keeping her nose to her own business.
 * An Ice Person: Season 3 Danny.
 * I'd Tell You, But Then I'd Have To Kill You: "You three have seen too much. You must be eliminated before you permanently alter the time stream."
 * Idiot Ball: Vlad grabs it firmly in Reign Storm
 * I Just Want to Be Special: Tucker.
 * Amorpho, though not so much "special" as "noticed, good or bad".
 * "I Know You're in There Somewhere" Fight: Danny to Tucker in "What You Want", Sam to Danny in "Control Freaks".
 * Impairment Shot: Danny wakes up to see Vlad and out of focus in "Kindred Spirits".
 * Improbable Hairstyle: many of the ghosts have this, but this is averted with most of the humans. Except for Danny. What kind of hairstyle is that, a reverse mullet?
 * Inconvenient Itch: In one episode, Danny and Valerie end up in the Ghost Zone and are forced to team up against Skulker. After a while, they end up trapping him, tying him up, and leaving him on the floor as they exit the zone. At that point Skulker exclaims:

"Hey, another "ax" pun!"
 * Incredibly Lame Pun: Danny is a master of really bad puns. Also lampshaded once in "Shades of Gray" and "Beauty Marked".

"(A giant Nutcracker appears) "'Nuts!' Danny cried as he started to run." (Beat) "Must we end every scene with a terrible pun?""
 * Puns are used as lead-ins to commercial breaks with alarming frequency. As narrated by Ghost Writer:

"Danny: (noticing Box Lunch) A ghost? Here? (to Jazz) Now get out of my room! Jazz: We're in the kitchen... (also noticing Box Lunch) ... but if that's your attitude, then I don't want to see you ... or ... anything you do in here for the next ... several minutes! (exit stage left)."
 * I Need to Go Iron My Dog: Danny often has to come up with excuses (sometimes involving Suspiciously Specific Denial) on the fly so that he can get away and transform. His friends and sister will also up with some strange ones to cover for him.

"Vlad: You have a battle cry; hilarious!"
 * Infant Immortality: Averted hard in "The Ultimate Enemy" which shows the only cold-blooded murder committed in the series and the accidental deaths of . Sidney Poindexter may also be an aversion, but he's already a ghost. An annoying one at that.
 * Informed Judaism: Actually averted, if you pay attention - Grandma Manson occasionally uses Yiddish words when she's otherwise speaking English, and Manson is a fairly common Jewish last name. Ironic since Sam's parents are characterized as WASPs.
 * Invocation: Danny's "Going Ghost!" is just a habit to say when he changes, it's not necessary.
 * Lampshaded the first time he meets Vlad.

"Walker: Orange? (offers it to Ghostwriter). Ghostwriter: GET THAT THING AWAY FROM ME!"
 * Ironic Echo: Future Badass Box Ghost: "Beware."
 * Ironic Echo Cut: Borrowed from FOP.
 * It's Not You, It's My Enemies: Ironically, Valerie severs her relationship with Danny (Fenton) before it can start because she doesn't want him to get hurt because of her job hunting ghosts, including Danny Phantom.
 * The Jailer: Walker.
 * Jerkass: Vlad, especially in
 * A bit of Alternative Character Interpretation can cause the Ghostwriter to be this. He causes the whole world to torture Danny because Danny accidentally incinerated a Christmas poem he wrote. Sure, he considered it his Magnum Opus, but what self-respecting writer considers a Christmas poem his greatest work? And if it really was that important, he just could've used his power to rewrite reality and make it so that Danny never incinerated it. In order to torture Danny, he breaks an annual Christmas truce that EVERY ghost follows.
 * Jerk Jock: Dash and Kwan are insufferable that way.
 * Though Kwan gets Hidden Depths by portraying his bullying as a way to get friends--shallow or not--because he doesn't feel like he belongs anywhere. In a way, he's like Danny, who at the beginning was also trying to find his place.
 * Jive Turkey: The second episode has Mr. Lancer trying to speak rap using a "How to Talk Slang" book.
 * Hey Technus, your language is FAR OUT, but your execution is FUNKY FRESH.
 * Journey to the Center of the Mind: Danny invades the dreams of his friends in order to snap them out of Nocturne's control in "Frightmare".
 * Just a Kid: Danny gets this a lot. His in-universe nickname is "Ghost Boy". More notably, Vlad does this twice, once almost calling it out ("Bitter Reunions"), the other as more of an insult ("Reign Storm"). Clockwork also does this once, but it's justified - he's trying to explain the nature of time and his own existence to someone who's probably flunking high school math. ("Why am I bothering? You're fourteen.")
 * Valerie also remarks this about herself when her ghost-hunting benefactor reveals himself. "But why me? I'm, like, fourteen."
 * Kick the Dog: "Besides, shouldn't you be failing a test, kicking a puppy, or beating up somebody weaker than you now?"
 * Kid From the Future: Box Lunch, daughter of The Box Ghost and The Lunch Lady.
 * Even Heroes Have Heroes: Inverted in a sense -- Vlad (the villain) is a huge Packers fan.
 * Lampshade Hanging: "Jazz, take it easy. There's a rhythm to these things. Ghost attacks, we exchange Witty Banter, I kick ghost butt, then we all go home having learned a valuable lesson about honesty or some such nonsense." Also used by Dark Danny to his parents (so very justified) and subtly by Clockwork.
 * Large Ham: Oh, where do we begin? Box Ghost, Technus, Super Danny in "Identity Crisis", arguably Jack, and especially Undergrowth's "I AM EVERYWHEEEERE!"
 * Last-Minute Hookup: After episodes of conspicuous "hints" towards it, Danny and Sam's relationship gets serious only in the concluding two episodes of the series.
 * Lawyer-Friendly Cameo: In Eye For An Eye, we get Vlad overshadowing Bill Gates and selling himself Microsoft - no, pardon, Mastersoft.
 * An episode later, Vlad flips through channels, and mentions an "embarrassing celebrity arrest." Don't blink when the camera shows the tv, or you'll miss Michael Jackson.
 * Least Rhymable Word: In the Christmas episode, everyone was forced to speak in rhyme as someone narrated the entire episode. That is, until someone picked up an orange, prompting him to remark irritably that nothing rhymes with orange.
 * Later, in Ghost Jail...

"Skulker: I won't tell anyone about this if you won't. Danny: Deal."
 * Yet he still wears a purple coat...
 * Tucker believed that the reason Danny in the Finale was because nothing rhymed with Phantom.
 * Let Us Never Speak of This Again: In "Boxxed Up Fury" when Danny saves Skulker from killer unicorns:

""If you upset my daughter, we are going to have a very violent talk""
 * Limited Wardrobe
 * Literal Genie: Desiree.
 * Locked Into Strangeness:
 * Danny's change of hair-style in "Phantom Planet".
 * Logical Weakness: Ever tried screaming really loud for a really long time? This is why the ghostly wail is only ever used by Danny as a last resort, as it completely drains him and deactivates his ghost form.
 * Look Ma, No Plane: Danny has phased through at least one plane.
 * Lost Forever: The original "Fright Before Christmas".
 * Love Makes You Evil: Story of Vlad's life. Somebody hit the Reset Button.
 * Which they did in "Masters of All Time". It got worse. . In an interesting subversion of this trope, Vlad was still evil regardless.
 * Loves My Alter Ego: Pauline idolized Danny Phantom and typically dismissed Danny Fenton.
 * And then happens in reverse with Valerie, who loves Danny Fenton but hates Danny Phantom! Boy just can't win.
 * Made of Iron: Danny. Even putting it down to a ghostly Healing Factor, Danny gets shocked, blasted, and slammed into walls so often any ordinary superhuman would at least fracture something. Even disregarding the title character, the ordinary human characters survive at least crippling falls without even bruising.
 * Magic Skirt: Sam, Kitty, and Spectra.
 * Magnetic Plot Device: The Ghost Portal.
 * Make a Wish: Desiree.
 * Make Me Wanna Shout: Danny and Dark Danny's "Ghostly Wail".
 * Mama Bear: Maddie Fenton can get rather aggressive if either of her children are in danger.
 * Manipulative Bastard: Vlad.
 * Man of Wealth and Taste: Vlad in his black suit. Hoo boy...!
 * Man Hug: It's brief and goes without comment, but Tucker hugs Danny at one point in "The Ultimate Enemy".
 * The Masquerade Will Kill Your Dating Life: Danny and Valerie.
 * Mass Hypnosis: One of Ember's main abilities.
 * Master of Delusion: Valerie, unfortunately.
 * Danny, with regards to Jazz knowing his double life. "Danny! Go somewhere I can't see you and get help!" "Are you hiding here? Then I'll hide way over there where I can't see you."
 * Master of the Mixed Message: Danny.
 * Marilyn Maneuver: It's really brief, but when the Sphinx roars at Tucker in King Tuck, Tucker's loincloth flies up into this trope.
 * Meaningful Name: Most ghosts' names give clues as to some aspect of their appearance or what they can control. Example: The Box Ghost can control boxes and other cube-like objects.
 * Desiree, a genie ghost who grants wishes and lived her life trying to fulfill them for others, is simply another way to pronounce desire.
 * One of Freakshow's ghosts, Lydia The Tattooed Lady.
 * The kids all attend Casper High. Can they really complain about the constant ghost attacks?
 * Also they live in Amity Park Amity being a Reverence to Amityville Horror.
 * Kwan, a name Korean in origin, meaning "strong".
 * Some of the episodes use punny names to hint at villain reappearances like or  referring to
 * Mercy Lead: Valerie in "D-Stabilized". Subverted in "Maternal Instinct" by both Vlad and later Danny.
 * Merry Christmas in Gotham: The show has an all-round Christmas Spectacular as Danny who is trying to spoil the event. Unusually for a children's show, Danny loathes Christmas, but with good reason.
 * Me's a Crowd
 * The Men in Black: Somewhat inverted with the Guys In White.
 * Mickey Mousing
 * Mind Rape: Vlad's attempts to get Danny over to his side. Done later on when Vlad tries to remove Danny's human emotions (at Danny's request, chillingly). That it backfired is putting it mildly.
 * Mood Lighting: Seems to represent a drop in temperature comes with the presence of a ghost.
 * Mundane Utility: In "Prisoners Of Love", Danny is shown using his ghost powers to vacuum high parts of walls, and clean the lab.
 * Murder the Hypotenuse: Vlad will do absolutely ANYTHING to claim Maddie for his own. Luckily for Jack, Danny's powers have saved him from demise more than once.
 * Musical Assassin: Ember McLain.
 * My Friends and Zoidberg: Lancer in "The Ultimate Enemy." Jack, Maddie, Jazz, Sam and Tucker are all "gone, but not forgotten." Lancer is just "gone".
 * Myth Arc: Danny's coming of age as a superhero and struggle with his darkness, his deepening relationship with Sam, and the world's gradual acceptance of him - and that's just the main character.
 * Jazz's arc where she slowly and eventually accepts her parents' ghost hunting habits and eventually getting into the life style; she also learns to embrace her childhood instead of acting like an adult all the time.
 * Valerie's growth from a shallow, popular teen in the background to a fierce ghost hunting warrior who starts to see a world beyond what she perceived while she was spoiled.
 * Vlad's continuous desire for Maddie and especially Danny that culminated in his Villainous Breakdown.
 * Names to Run Away From Really Fast: Vlad Masters/Plasmius, Skulker, Pariah Dark, Fright Night, and.
 * Narrative Poem: most of the "Fright Before Christmas".
 * New Powers as the Plot Demands: Kind of justified since it serves as a more physical metaphor for his character growth (his powers grow as Danny himself does).
 * New Super Power: After establishing the basic ghost-related abilities, Danny gets newer, less-ghostly, energy-based powers about every other episode. One notable gain occurred in "Urban Jungle", where Danny develops ice- and cold-generation powers just in time to fight a plant ghost who is particularly vulnerable to cold. However, at least the producers were classy enough to foreshadow this new power; Danny's ghost sense is said to be a by-product of it. Furthermore, the episode used that power as the springboard to show the deepening friendship with Danny and Frostbite as student and mentor.
 * The ice thing is also semi-justified in that ghosts are commonly associated with cold (see Mood Lighting). And Vlad specifically says that Danny shoots a beam of ectoplasmic energy.
 * Nice Job Breaking It, Hero: Danny gets manipulated into screwing up a few times. It almost always turns out all right and the one time it didn't found someone hitting the Reset Button. Ironically, he messed up all by himself that one time. It ended up destroying thousands, if not millions of lives... which made the Reset Button required.
 * Sam had a moment herself in "Memory Blank".
 * No Celebrities Were Harmed: Does Technus remind you of Gilbert Gottfried? Exactly.
 * No-Holds-Barred Beatdown: Plasmius' introduction. Oh, but what an introduction.
 * Does it again in "Kindred Spirits".
 * Non-Linear Character: Clockwork. He always shifts through kid, adult, and old man appearances.
 * Noodle Incident: The Backwash Incident involving the college trio (Vlad, Jack, Maddie).
 * Not So Different: Danny and Plasmius, more than Danny would like to admit.
 * Oddly-Named Sequel 2: Electric Boogaloo: Played for laughs. When the family temporarily gets filthy rich, they move. Jack wants to call their new home "Fenton Works 2: This Time, it's Personal".
 * Off-Model: Sprinkled throughout the series, most notably during a period in the first season (and the beginning of Season 2) where the entire cast turned rubbery in a few episodes. Hartman has since "removed" those people.
 * Omnicidal Maniac: Dark Danny, apparently. No onscreen death actually occurs, however. He's also the only person who has actually committed murder.
 * The Omniscient Council of Vagueness: The Observant High Council.
 * Omniscient Morality License: Clockwork, who does some very questionable things. It turns out okay, but still... (Paraquote: "So he grows up to be the most powerful being on the planet. What do you want me to do about it?")
 * Also, the Observants may count, though their perception of time is not as dynamic as Clockwork's. They were willing to kill a fourteen year old kid, but only then to save thousands of lives.
 * The Only One Allowed to Defeat You: Whenever he's forced to team up with Danny, Skulker only does so to be able to continue hunting him.
 * "Now go! Defeat him! So I'll be free to hunt you another day!"
 * OOC Is Serious Business: Christmastime is the only time of the year when Sam's actually cheerful. Unfortunately, everyone's so use to her sulkiness that they see it as a sign of the apocalypse.
 * Orbital Kiss, complete with Foot Popping.
 * Our Ghosts Are Different: Most of the ghosts diverge from mainstream paranormal expectations.
 * Out of Order: "The Fenton Menace" aired after "The Ultimate Enemy" but was set beforehand.
 * As did "Identity Crisis". Furthermore, despite being set afterwards, "Double Cross My Heart" and "Kindred Spirts" aired before "Reality Trip". In addition, "Urban Jungle" was the first episode of the third season to premiere, even though it was number six. The Season 3 premiere didn't even air in the U.S until after the following seven. Honestly, Nick didn't handle new episodes very well.
 * Out of Sight, Out of Mind: Several antagonists, but notably Dark Danny who, unfortunately, does not return.
 * Out of the Inferno: While fighting Danny, Dark Danny is weakened by the Spectre Deflector and hit into an oil truck, which the fire from his hair ignites. Danny walks away... Only for Dark Danny to emerge out of the blaze, unscathed and clutching the now-useless device. He then proceeds to beat the crap out of Danny.
 * Overprotective Dad: Paulina's father:

"Jack: It's the Ecto-Exodus Alarm! Danny, Sam and Jazz: The Ecto-whaty-what?"
 * Also, Valerie's dad, Damian, to a lesser extent. He's okay with Danny and Valerie being together, just so long as none of Danny's parents' "ghost weirdness" rubs off.
 * Pair the Spares: "I am Box Lunch, daughter of the Box Ghost and the Lunch Lady!"
 * Once, when Danny began dating Paulina, Sam got unwillingly paired up with Kwan while Tucker began dating Star. Finally, Star and Kwan hooked up with each other, allowing Sam and Tucker to both be single once more.
 * . Seriously, what?
 * Maybe she's into heavy metal?
 * Parrot Expowhat:

"Roses are red, Violets are blue... Once these fry, I'm guessing This lame poem is... through?!"
 * People Jars: The clones in "Kindred Spirits".
 * Perky Goth: Sam, especially during the winter holiday season.
 * Phantom Zone: The Ghost Zone; also served as Sealed Evil in a Can.
 * Pick on Someone Your Own Size
 * Ping-Pong Naivete: Danny.
 * A Pirate 400 Years Too Late: Youngblood and his pirate crew.
 * Plot-Sensitive Items
 * Positive Discrimination: Namely, "Women are better than Men", though not as prominent as in The Fairly Odd Parents. Most prominently seen in Maddie and Sam, but does show up elsewhere.
 * Post Dramatic Stress Disorder: Rather often, starting in the first episode with Danny saving Tucker and Sam from the Lunch Lady, only to collapse afterward. Subverted in the climax of "Ultimate Enemy". Eventually, he grows out of this as he gets used to his powers and develops them further.
 * Power Degeneration: The fate of the Danny clones, and almost that of Dani when overextending her powers.
 * Power Dyes Your Hair: when Danny first gets his powers and, subsequently, whenever he "goes ghost", his hair turns white.
 * Power Glows
 * Power Incontinence: A common theme for Danny in early Season 1, and again in "Memory Blank" in Season 2.
 * Possibly Vlad pre-series. He got his powers in 1981, but got his money in 1986.
 * Power Levels: implicitly done with Color Coded for Your Convenience; Green, Blue, Purple, Red.
 * The Power of Rock: Ember is a villainous version of this.
 * Power Trio:
 * Danny - Ego
 * Sam - Superego
 * Tucker - Id
 * Puberty Superpower: Well, Danny is a growing 14-year old boy with ghost powers.
 * True, but puberty was not the cause of his powers; a Freak Lab Accident was.
 * Punctuated! For! Emphasis!: Several times throughout the series.
 * Recycled in Space:
 * Danny is Peter Parker WITH GHOST POWERS!
 * And Jack Fenton is Dr. Reed Richards, fatter and uh...not so bright.
 * Dark Danny is often compared to Venom.
 * Red Eyes, Take Warning
 * Relationship Reset Button: The beginning of Season 2, when
 * Relationship Upgrade: Danny and Sam. No spoilers because you should have seen this coming.
 * Required Secondary Powers
 * Reunion Revenge: Vlad subverts it in that he threw the reunion at his mansion in order to get back at Jack for the accident that gave him powers and for marrying the girl of his dreams who never noticed him at all in the first place apparently.
 * Rich Bitch: Paulina is the common example, but Sam is a nice subversion--her family's rich, but she does everything she can to hide it and be accepted for who she is.
 * Valerie also started as one.
 * Riding Into the Sunset: Done in the very last scene of the Grand Finale.
 * Right-Hand-Cat: Vlad's cat Maddie in Season 3. Subverted at first in that it's an adorable kitten and ironic in that the suggestion in getting a cat set him to a Punctuated! For! Emphasis! yell.
 * Ripple-Effect-Proof Memory: Averted. Any time history is rewritten, the character doing so will explicitly request that their memories are kept.
 * Rogues Gallery: Quite a large one at that.
 * Romantic False Lead: Paulina to Sam, Gregor to Danny.
 * Roses Are Red, Violets Are Blue: When Danny in "The Fright Before Christmas":

"Ember: So...where's the splat?"
 * RPG Episode: "Teacher of the Year", set in the MMORPG "Doomed".
 * Rule of Cool: Some of his attacks don't even make sense. For example, in "Urban Jungle" he creates a snowball--with Eye Beams, no less--then puts some ghost energy in it, and throws it at the villain, which pops a hole in his chest. Fair enough. But then the villain, almost immediately after healing himself, explodes from the inside with ice energy...and all of this from one snowball?
 * It's Ice-Nine?
 * In Livin' Large, Danny takes a jump and Goes Ghost mid-spin then flies to go save the Ghost Zone. Because he can.
 * Rushmore Refacement: Freakshow did this in "Reality Trip".
 * Save Both Worlds: There have been moments where Danny has to save both the Earth and the Ghost Zone, most notably in two of the movies.
 * Screens Are Cameras: Danny videochats with Sam and Tucker with no visible webcam.
 * Screw Destiny: Danny in The Movie, in which he is shown a future where he's the Big Bad. Chillingly, he doesn't mind until he finds out that his whole family, his friends, and (far less importantly) his English teacher died because of him. He changed his tune right quick, then.
 * Screw the Rules, I Have Money: Vlad Plasmius....Who obtained this money through less-than-legal means using his ghost-powers.
 * Screw This, I'm Outta Here: Ember pulls this in Pirate Radio.
 * Sdrawkcab Name: The DALV Company, backwards for its head, Vlad.
 * Sealed Evil in a Can: The Fright Knight, Pariah Dark, and later
 * Vlad seems particularly fond of releasing these - he released Pariah Dark unintentionally, and then later on intentionally releases Vortex on the world and then quickly loses control of him.
 * Arguably, any ghost trapped in the Fenton Thermos. Temporary, but still sealed away.
 * Sealed with a Kiss
 * Secret Identity
 * Secret Keeper: Sam and Tucker; Jazz is the asymmetrical version for a while.
 * Secret Secret Keeper: Jazz for a time; and graduates to regular Secret Keeper.
 * Serious Business: The fandom itself. Seriously. Take Our Word for It.
 * Set Right What Once Went Wrong: "Masters of All Time", only to end up changing the change back to the way things were. Also the point of "The Ultimate Enemy" from Clockwork's point of view.
 * Shapeshifter Mode Lock: caused by the Plasmius Maximus, as well as a few others.
 * She Cleans Up Nicely: Sam, if Tucker's reaction to seeing her all dolled up was any indication.
 * She Is Not My Girlfriend: Danny and Sam were in serious denial about their relationship through most of the series, and straight-out used the phrase several times, starting in the first episode.
 * Shipper on Deck:
 * Tucker, for Danny and Sam.
 * Actually, even Mr. Lancer refers to them as "love birds" fairly early in the series.
 * Valerie too, before she developed feelings for Danny.
 * Ember actually helped them see it.
 * Everyone seemed to think they were an item, or should be. Even the Alpha Bitch.
 * Shout-Out: To comic books, crewmembers, The Fairly Odd Parents, Doom, and Star Wars.
 * Also, after forcing Danny to Walk the Plank from Youngblood's flying pirate ship:

"Paulina: So you're like, a friendly ghost?"
 * The name of the male who wears the amulet to become a dragon is  Aragon.  (Possibly a shout out to the popular book series Eragon?
 * More likely Lord of the Rings
 * The high school is named Casper High School.

""You're coming in for questioning-" "-and experiments. Lots and lots of really painful experiments.""
 * The movie posters in Sam's basement: Citizen Kane, Planet of the Apes, Star Wars, A Clockwork Orange and Jaws. In the same episode, see Baleful Polymorph above.
 * "Darn! Right at the part where he says, 'you complete me.'"
 * "Man, when she sings 'Wind Beneath My Wings', I just go to pieces."
 * At the end of Pirate Radio, some very familiar music plays: Popeye The Sailor Man's theme.
 * From "Fanning the Flames": Take any requests? How about "Beat It?"
 * At the end of "Reality Trip", Danny tells the Guys in White to leave his human self and his family alone, because he's not the ghost they're looking for, complete with a wave of his hand (which is currently sporting a reality warping gauntlet) to make them believe it.
 * Sidekick Glass Ceiling: Tucker, possibly Valerie too.
 * Sixth Ranger: Jazz joins "Team Phantom" later in the series, though she isn't accepted so easily at first.
 * Skunk Stripe: shown in many characters (mostly in the Rogues Gallery). Danny's hair is like this as well temporarily in "Phantom Planet".
 * Slasher Smile: The majority of Danny's enemies enjoy showing these off, but Freakshow has a particularly evil one.
 * Small Name, Big Ego:
 * "I TECHNUS, MASTER OF ALL THINGS ELECTRONIC AND BEEPING!" He is also the one who came closest to succeeding in his plans.
 * Ember.
 * Vlad, unfortunately, falls under this during Season 3.
 * The Fenton Family themselves. Or at least Jack - EVERYTHING they make has a "Fenton" somewhere in it, and half his inventions have his face on them somewhere. He even has a toaster that makes toast SHAPED like him!
 * The Box Ghost, Master of all things Cardboard and Square.
 * Snap Back: In conjunction with many a Broken Aesop.
 * Soapbox Sadie: Sam.
 * Sorting Algorithm of Evil
 * Sounding It Out
 * Space Whale Aesop: Remember, kids--if you cheat on tests, you will turn evil!
 * That is, turn evil, murder all the people close in your life (and your English teacher), and create a Crapsack World where nearly every place on earth is a pile of rubble, thanks to you.
 * Speculative Fiction
 * Spider Sense: "Ghost Sense".
 * Spy Speak
 * Stalker with a Crush: Vlad for Maddie...
 * Stalker Without a Crush: ... but he is also willing to spy on and learn everything possible about her son Danny, who he'd just love to have as a son himself.
 * Star-Spangled Spandex: Nocturne.
 * Start of Darkness: For Vlad via flashbacks in "Bitter Reunions".
 * It can also be argued that "Splitting Images" up to "The Ultimate Enemy" is a Start of Darkness for Danny. If you believe You Can't Fight Fate, then the entire series is this for Danny.
 * Stereo Fibbing: Danny and Jazz do this in "Secret Weapons. "You two know each other?" "No/Yes!" "Yes/No!" "Sorta!"
 * Steven Ulysses Perhero: "Hello, Danny Fenton, Danny PHANTOM."
 * Also Frederick Isaak Showenhower.
 * Stock Super Powers
 * Stop Helping Me!: Jazz to Danny in one episode, where her attempts to help Danny (including hacking into his laptop to read all the files he has on the ghosts he's fought and then complaining about him not telling her, giving names to the ghosts whose names Danny already knows, and getting in his way while trying to fight said ghosts) and then she actually has the nerve to get upset after Danny yells at her for being interfering.
 * Strapped to An Operating Table This happens to Danny on several occasions, most notably by in "Masters of All Time".
 * Straw Vegetarian: Goth girl Sam tries to get meat banned from the school café in favor of her parody vegetarian diet of turf (yes turf, as in grass) -- the result is mass protests from both sides. In this case, though, the trope is invoked as one half of an affectionate parody of Meat Vs Veggies.
 * Stuffed Into a Locker: Danny, Tucker, Dash (in opening theme), etc.
 * A first-season episode revolved around the ghost of a nerdy kid who was stuffed into his locker so often as a student that he now haunts it.
 * Sudden School Uniform
 * Suddenly Bilingual: Tucker with Esperanto. Semi-justified in that geeks often DO use it as a secret language and it does come back a few times in later episodes.
 * Sugar Bowl: One of the Reality Gems alters "Gothapalooza" into one of these temporarily.
 * Suicidal Overconfidence: Many times. Technus - most of the time.
 * Superhero
 * Super-Hero Origin: Covered in the theme song, with "Memory Blank" filling in the gaps.
 * Superheroes Wear Tights: Danny, in ghost form.
 * Suspiciously Similar Song: One of Herman's Hermits' "I'm into Something Good" during a montage in "Double Cross My Heart".
 * Harold Faltermeyer's "Axel F" as Danny surveys his parents' very 80s college campus in "Masters of All Time".
 * Sympathetic POV
 * Technopath: Technus.
 * Valerie, somewhat, after Technus upgrades her busted suit.
 * Temporal Paradox: "The Ultimate Enemy".
 * Possibly present in "Memory Blank", as it's explicitly stated and shown that the Fenton Portal was never activated, and yet Desiree is still roaming free.
 * Jossed in Infinite Realms. There are natural ghost portals that randomly open and close.
 * Likely inverted as it was her power which made the alternate timeline to begin with.
 * Actually, her spirit never came from the Ghost Zone. She was originally trapped in a bottle in her first appearance and her release was not caused by Danny, therefore, she would be unaffected by the change.
 * Ten-Minute Retirement: Jack in "Mystery Meat" and "The Million Dollar Ghost",
 * That Didn't Happen: Sam and Tucker's Accidental Kiss.
 * Theme Tune Cameo: Tucker's cell phone's ringtone in "Double Cross My Heart".
 * Danny plays it on giant-robot-Technus' chest in "Attack of the Killer Garage Sale".
 * Actually, that was more of a case of Mickey Mousing than anything else. Technus didn't have any musical instruments on his chest.
 * There Are No Girls on the Internet: In "Teacher of the Year", Tucker and Danny don't believe girls play online games. They're extremely surprised to find out the player Chaos, who routinely kicks their butts, is none other than Sam. (She did admit to using "loads of cheat Ing codes and secret power ups" though.)
 * They Would Cut You Up: Even Danny's own parents want to do this to his ghost half. And the Guys in White, and their famous quote from Reality Trip.

"Tucker: Long night... Sam: Of 'flirting with disaster'?"
 * Thick Line Animation
 * This Loser Is You
 * Three Amigos: Danny, Tucker, and Sam.
 * Time Master:
 * Time Travel: "The Ultimate Enemy", "Masters of All Time", and "Infinite Realms".
 * Title Drop:

"Beware."
 * Token Trio: Danny, Tucker, and Sam.
 * Too Dumb to Live: Invariably Danny and Tucker, followed by a reproachful Sam.
 * Took a Level In Badass: Valerie, after she gets used to her ghost-fighting gear, and Danny himself by the end of the series.
 * Does anyone remember the Box Ghost in the Dark Danny timeline? I'd say that qualifies.

"Tucker: [while climbing up a rope] Like chinning up to a killer bird's nest on a tree branch of empty lies!"
 * Top-Heavy Guy: Vlad. Masters not so much, but it's glaringly obvious when he fights as Plasmius.
 * Totally Radical: Executed mercilessly. Sam has even used the word "radical" on at least one occasion.
 * "Stellar" has also been used a few times.
 * Training From Hell: Sam did this to Tucker in "Micro-Management". Well, it's pretty hellish when you take into consideration he doesn't have superpowers and is only training to pass a school fitness test.

"Ms. Spectra: Can I help you? Danny: No, I'm sure you can't."
 * Tranquil Fury: Danny entered a very coherent rage during his first true confrontation with Spectra.

"Curse this infernal messy room! This looks like a job for... the vacuum cleaner!"
 * Trick Dialogue
 * Triple Shifter: "Of course it was a late night. Every ghost I know -- and about a million I don't -- are loose!"
 * Truth in Television: Vlad can't buy the Packers because "...the city of Green Bay...won't sell them to me!" The Packers franchise is collectively owned by most of the population of Green Bay, and their original contract (which was grandfathered in and isn't allowed anymore) specifies that no single person can ever own more than 5 percent of the team and that the only way to change the ownership by-laws is to disband the team.
 * Two Guys and a Girl: Vlad, Jack, and Maddie; also Danny, Tucker and Sam.
 * Two-Teacher School
 * More like three: Mr. Lancer, Ms. Tettslaff, and Mr. Faluca.
 * Though in the first episode, we get a brief glimpse of more staff members at the Teachers Lounge All-Meat Buffet.
 * Well, technically there's also Principal Ishiyama, but she does less teaching and more trying to run a school in the midst of ghost chaos...
 * TV Teen
 * Tyke Bomb: Danielle.
 * Undeathly Pallor: Averted/played with: Danny's skin colour sometimes changes when he goes ghost, but to a healthy tan, not a sickly pale.
 * Untrusting Community: Danny had a serious public image problem through most of the series. This changes by the end, though - not only is his ghost half accepted as a hero, he has rabid fans. And plushies.
 * Unusual Euphemism: Mr. Lancer uses book titles, while Vlad uses snack foods.
 * In one episode, Vlad also gives a "what in the name of evil?"
 * Unwitting Pawn: What Danny usually ends up as.
 * Uptown Girl: Danny and Sam, though Sam doesn't really care much about her family's comically vast fortune, rarely tells anyone about it, and the series itself only occasionally draws attention to it. Despite that, it's pretty clear that Sam's parents don't exactly like her friends, and the various unexplainable ghost related hijinks that happen over the course of the series don't help much.
 * Victorious Childhood Friend: Three guesses who and the first two don't count.
 * Villainous Breakdown: Vlad in the Season 2 Finale.
 * Villain Takes an Interest: Vlad to Danny.
 * Villain with Good Publicity: Vlad is a billionaire celebrity and later becomes
 * Vocal Evolution: Danny, Vlad, etc.
 * Voice of the Legion
 * Wake Up, Go to School, Save the World
 * The Walls Are Closing In: Happens during the first Halloween Episode, Fright Night.
 * Weapons That Suck: The Fenton ghost thermos.
 * There's also the Ghost Weasel and the Extractor, both of which are essentially high-powered ecto-vacuums.
 * We Can Rule Together
 * Weird Science: Almost nothing in this show even resembles real science but does have a logic (r lack thereof) all its own.
 * Well-Intentioned Extremist: Valerie. Oh, Valerie...
 * Vlad before his Villainous Breakdown could be interpreted as one of these as well. All he wanted was love and a family...and to get them, he resorted to the most drastic of means.
 * Undergrowth's was understandably angry over too much destruction of nature, but unfortunately, how he decided to handle the situation wasn't any better.
 * We Will Meet Again: Vlad and other various antagonists.
 * One of Wulf's only English lines.
 * Wham! Episode: "Public Enemies". While Danny's exploits up to this point were mostly low-key, below the radar, and ignorable, now the entire town is aware of his existence, and ghosts have become very real for them.
 * What Do You Mean It's Not Awesome?: Jack Fenton is made of this. When split into "hero" mode and "slacker" mode, hero!Danny is too.

"Valerie: She is a ghost, and I destroy ghosts. Danny: Fine, destroy ghosts! But can you really take part in destroying a human?"
 * What Happened to the Mouse?: In the opening scene of "Control Freaks", Danny fights off a horde of ghostly tattoos by creating an energy sphere around himself; the sphere breaks out and swats the tattoos away. We never see this power on the show again.
 * Due to the series being cut off while in its prime, we never found out what became of the Crown of Fire Vlad obtained after Danny defeated Pariah Dark.
 * What Measure Is a Non-Human?: To convince Valerie to help him save Danielle from Plasmius, Danny tries to make her see she can't in good conscience harm her because she's half human.

""...Me? I'm inevitable." "I'm still here. I still exist. That means you still turn into me.""
 * Where Does He Get All Those Wonderful Toys?: Danny gets all his ghost hunting needs in his own basement. One episode shows his own house has a weapons' vault, a possible other source.
 * White-Haired Pretty Boy:
 * Danny Phantom himself.
 * Gregor
 * To some, Vlad. He was not originally white haired.
 * Wholesome Crossdresser: Sam wears Danny's clothes twice. Sure, it was all for distraction purposes. Also Tucker in "Control Freaks" who seemed to enjoy wearing Sam's clothes. And Danny at one point in "Splitting Images". Again, in "Teacher of the Year",
 * Why Did It Have to Be Snakes?: Tucker says this word for word in "Pandora's Box".
 * Wicked Cultured: Vlad fits this to a T.
 * With Great Power Comes Great Insanity: Dark Danny, arguably. Though the whole thing about watching helplessly as your family and friends get blown up and getting your super-powered ghost half removed did give a good start... but he only started a murderous rampage after getting separated from his human half. His past self is extremely horrified.
 * Vlad may also apply as he seemed to be largely content with his life before the accident.
 * When we see him without his powers in "Masters of All Time" he's a pretty normal guy, but seeing Maddie's Ghost hunting gear sends him into a rage.
 * Poor Tucker gets this twice. To be fair, it really wasn't his fault the first time.
 * Wrap It Up: Due to the series having its plug pulled, Phantom Planet was designed as a last minute Grand Finale. [Athough many found it to be an epic ending, others felt that there were a few loose ends left untied.
 * Wrong Genre Savvy: Valerie.
 * X Meets Y: Spider-Man meets Ghostbusters.
 * With Batman style gadgets.
 * And Pokémon. "Gotta catch 'em all", y'know.
 * It's also somewhat like D.N.Angel.
 * You Can't Fight Fate: ...according to Danny's future self (and a few fans), anyway.

"Tucker: Sweet! I always wanted to be a Meddling Kid!"
 * Seemingly subverted by the Observants at the end, when they state that Dark Danny "exists outside of time" and, as such, does not require a Stable Time Loop to justify his existence.
 * You Look Like You've Seen a Ghost: Or something really scary that we don't see every day!"
 * You Meddling Kids: