Danny Phantom top ten episodes.

[I.R Joey]

Now that the series is over I figured that I'd start a thread to see what everyone thought were the best of the best in DP. Even though the movies technically can't as two episodes, they'll be included here.

1. The Ultimate Enemy: I'm with the majority of Danny Phantom fans on this one. Just a great, fun story with a lot of emotion, a cool premise, and some of the best boarded action the show ever did. The first two minutes alone was great, and to that some of the other parts and you just had good tv. Jazz coming clean was great, the ghost wail was a unique new feature, and of course Clockwork (who could have been used better in later episodes.)

2. Reign Storm: A very close number two for me. This was the first TV movie and when it aired it blew us all away with just how cool and epic it was. Pretty much near perfect charecterization of every major charecter (Vlad was so bad in this episode loved to hate that guy), connections to every storyline the series had. It had humor, action, adventure, romance and pretty much none of DP's sometimes annoying flaws. For crying out loud it made me like and understand Val, s charecter I had always thought bland and uninteresting. Plus that last battle with the Ghost King was all diffrent kinds of awesome.

3. My Brother's keeper: This one has a special place in the heart of alot of DP fans because it showed that this cartoon series could actually take risks that most of it's peers wouldn't. Danny's sister finds out about his secret, and keeps it to herself. No big memory erase, no "just kiddings." Sadly the series would fall victim to this in future episodes, but still that last scene of Jazz watching Danny fly away still makes me smile. I know it made some people into fans of the show.

4. Fanning the Flames just had a very special place in my heart. Didn't add much to the plot (beside definatively putting the Danny/Sam romance out in the open), but it was just very cool. Plus it had Ember, the one charecter who for some inexplicable reason makes most DP fans love what would otherwise be a lackluster episode. I mean come on we all love the song Remember right?

5. Phantom Planet: Honestly it wasn't the best of the movies, but in some ways it was the most satisfying. Vlad getting what was coming to him, Sam and Danny finally getting together, the public accepting Danny. I just had a good feeling coming away from it, a great cap to the series.

6.Public Enemies: It was just a rather shocking episode as all of Amity park suddenly becomes aware of Ghost's. While it wasn't morbid, it was alot darker than most Nicktoons would ever go. Danny being seen as a meance at the end of the show had a distinctly "Spider-manesque" feel that I really liked as well. I remember alot of people being bowled over by that one.

7. Flirting with Disaster: After coming to like Val in Reign Storm this episode really hit the spot for me Sam's angst, Val's attraction to Danny but hatred of his ghost self, and a very cool space battle.

8. The Fright Before Christmas: Fun, fun episode, another one where you just walked away with a huge smile on your face.

9. Urban Jungle: One of the best episodes of season 3. Strange, strange airing decision by Nick but it was a solid episode. Ice powers rocked, plus evil Sam was great (Grey Delisle, when she gets the chance, does evil well as any Avatar fan can tell you.)

10.Memory Blank: I felt this was a really cool charecter study of my personal favorite charecter Sam. A cool opening to season 2 ( in my opinion early season 2 was when the show was at it's best.) I also have fond memories of the week long Q and A thread Butch Hartman made after the episode came out.

There were of course alot of other cool episodes I enjoyed Lucky in Love was a good one (Goth's simmer and all.) Shades of Gray was a very fun episode for the Danny/Sam dynamic and it features on of my favorite moments from the show in "the fake out makeout!" spot. Good ridance those two needed to get together bad:p. That being said though, those are my top ten at the moment. Might change them up in the future, but who knows.

Anyone else?

[magicdog]

My top 10 list almost matches yours I.R Joey except I would have included as also rans:



"Control Freaks" - Seeing Danny fighting Freakshow for control of his very being and Sam refusing to give up on him really made it for me. Plus - seeing Danny have two close calls rescuing Sam from a big fall was dramatic.


"What You Want" - Makes you appreciate that Danny was best suited to have the ghost powers, as Tucker is far more easily corrupted (although some might blame that on Desiree's influence). It's also a nice examination on how even a supportive pal like Tucker can actually be jealous of Danny and have it nearly lead to his downfall!


"Teacher Of The Year" - I loved seeing Technus get that much more street cred as an adversary (culminating in "Flirting with Disaster") and Danny having to tackle a non superhero issue - a major English Lit exam! Plus I also liked Lancer more in this ep - he seemed less like the jock favoring jerky teacher we met in "Mystery Meat" and "Splitting Images" and became a teacher who really cared about his students and wanted to see them succeed while they were in his classroom. He turned out to be quite the gamer too!!


I guess I should have a top 13 list!

[Darklordavaitor]

I can only think of a top 5.

5: Kindred Spirits- Poor Vlad, all he wanted was someone to love. But a "Jack-bot"? Wha?
4: Fanning the Flames- Ember, my guilty pleasure.:D
3: Bitter Reunions- The shows' turning point. Before hand, it was merely average. Vlad Masters changed all of that IMO.
2: Reign Storm- Excellence. To bad most fo the series afterwords couldn't keep up.
1: The Ultimate Enemy- 'Nuff said

[I.R Joey]

I can only think of a top 5.

5: Kindred Spirits- Poor Vlad, all he wanted was someone to love. But a "Jack-bot"? Wha?

Correction he wanted someone to manipulate. Was I the only one who shuttered a bit when he told Dani that he loved her like a daughter but she had to do something for him to kind of earn it?

[magicdog]

Was I the only one who shuttered a bit when he told Dani that he loved her like a daughter but she had to do something for him to kind of earn it?

Not surprised as Vlad didn't really see Danielle as a daughter but a [failed] lab experiment. He used her like a tool but then again Danielle didn't know any better and like kids in general - it's their nature to want to gain their parent's affection and praise.

[Neo Yi]

Ooh, I remember doing an old one of this a while back here. Good to see it up again as my opinions have changed since. Copied and pasted from my website, baring in mind some edits because I don't want to fill up the whole thread:

10. Phantom Planet: There are SO, SO, SO many things wrong with “Phantom Planet” that I won’t be able to list them all here even if it was used as a leeway because it is the last episode, but the major point why I’m so impressed by the episode to (nearly) ignore the bad ones is simply the level of continuity they were actually able to wrap up pretty well while putting on a grand finale type of ending. Yes, a couple of things weren’t revealed, but that’s a minor price to pay to an episode that could have been so much worse, but wasn’t. That'll do Danny, that'll do.

9. Reign Storm: HERE’S an example of an epic series finale-ish story that could have worked for “Phantom Planet” on a more serious Lord of the Ring-ish scale; dealing with a big bad that’s not an inanimate giant rock about to crush Earth (which is still threatening, just lacking much in character). Pariah Dark is a hardcore ghost, doesn’t have too big of a personality, but his actions speak louder then his words as every single main character have to work together to fight a large foe, one of my favorite elements in a story. Danny, Valerie, Vlad, the ghosts, and the folks of Amity Park all lend their hands one way or another to save their beloved hometown(s). It’s a heartwarming idea, even if some of the characters’ intentions aren’t selfless. From Danny’s world saving (that gained majority of Amity Park to praise him like their Avatar) to Valerie relentless ghost kickin’ to Vlad’s dark plans that triggered this whole event (yet still managing to hide a trick or two up his sleeves) to Sam trying to reveal her love for him (which has more chemistry between her and Danny then anything Season Three ever did to them), the episode in whole plays around with the major story arcs of the main characters in one full hour and makes it work.

8. Eye for An Eye: This episode serves as a double edge card for the entirety of Season Three for me because it defines Vlad’s personality of what he’s going to be for the rest of that season: Typical world dominating one-dimensional villain with little depth. The episode is still good in the Vlad/Danny angle. They clearly don’t say it, but you can tell Vlad’s justification for revenge towards the ghost boy is not just petty jokes, but to pay him back for what he did in “KS”. The chemistry of animosity the two exhibits always works so brilliantly in their ever-growing game of Chess, but more importantly, it brought the return of Mature Danny, which was SERIOUSLY lacking by the latter half of Season Two when he logically should have had it.

It also introduced Naked Vlad and that’s all right in my book.:D

7. Flirting With Disaster: Danny’s interaction with Valerie over the episodes have caused the two to get romantically involved which Technus further plays to keep the ghost hybrid busy while he attempts world domination while Sam and Tucker figure out his evil plot as well as spy on Valerie and Danny to make sure the latter is not within gunpoint (especially Sam who is obviously jealous). All of this mixed into a brilliant solid plot stuffed with enough tension to fill a Stephen King novel. Not to mention the entire wordless scene of Danny accidentally knocking Valerie unconscious during their battle in space. Him looking in horror over what he did to her is one of the most powerful scenes in DP.

6. Control Freaks: I feel sorry for Sam. In the beginning, she was prominent as both Danny’s friend and love interest, by Season Three, all she had going for her is the latter with the other just there as a obligatory and not a necessity. This is why I appreciate “Control Freaks” more then I should, because it shows Sam is not just the girl Danny likes romantically, but that she’s available to him as a rebellious, but well-meaning best friend. There’s absolutely no mention of her romance with Danny and instead it’s her and Tucker trying their darnest to save him from Freakshow, proving how useful she can be as a good buddy then just a potential piece of eye candy.

5. Bitter Reunions: The episode that started it all: The start of one of the best and most important character of the entire show, Vlad Masters/Plasmius. I cannot even attempt to explain without making giant paragraphs on the pinnacle of greatness of this wonderful man and his excellent personality and development, so I’ll leave it by stating how fantastic the episode is and how great of a first impression the man gave.

4. Pirate Radio: While Youngblood and Ember’s plans captivated me enough to wonder what the doozy they were up to, what really set this episode for me was Danny. Fresh from his start from “Public Enemies”, by “Pirate Radio”, he tread his path as Mature Danny, able to retain reasonability and level headedness without resorting to any stupidity or acting completely naïve. While every single one of his peers--including the usually rational Sam--partied during the mysterious absence of their parents, Danny took it upon himself to figure and worry why all of a sudden, all the over thirties decided to amscray over to a Disney Cruise. He was focused the ENTIRE time, eventually leading his teenaged teams to save their family and stop the baddie with such awesome leadership and fighting skills (the latter which for some reason he lacks by “Micro Management” despite showing ample amounts of capability against ghosts as a human in here).

3. My Brother's Keeper: In my opinion, there is nothing, NOTHING more sentimental then “My Brother’s Keeper” throughout the entirity of Danny Phantom. There is nothing more heartfelt then Jazz’s concern over Danny no matter how many times he shuns him, nothing more trying then Danny’s struggling emotions and lack of confidence that Spectra cleverly uses for her own, nothing more beautiful then Danny and Jazz slowly patching up and continuing to grow. The ending (aside from being my all-time favorite episode finale) sums up both Danny and Jazz’s character in whole: a protective older sister watching the guardian of Amity Park. It's beautiful.

2. Kindred Spirits: I hate Danielle with a heated passion, I hate Danny’s requirement of immaturity that seems so fake and tacked on as an excuse to put in Tucker and Sam, I hate Tucker and Sam’s subplot which was pointless and unneeded, but I love Vlad’s emotions here so much it not only made this episode worth the 22 minutes, but trumped over all the flaws I just listed above. Picture this; Vlad sets about his most desperate plan to obtain Danny as his son through events calculated since “Shades of Gray” by creating a perfect clone version of him through months of spying from Valerie’s suit. He eventually flies to get the real deal in order to sample his mid-morph DNA as his last recipe. Danny merely toss out Vlad, thinking he’s the same deal, but nuh-uh, “Funny, joke around Vlad isn’t here today.” Then he gets serious…

To say how much he fears loneliness that he creates a duplicate and is willing to kill the real deal to live a life of happy delusions with a fake is sick enough, but his personality goes completely insane when his failed clone Danielle betrays him and teams up with Danny to deliver the goods on the man, causing him to crash-land on the perfect clone’s tube and destroying him. There we bare witness to the most angriest, craziest Vlad ever and dang it, it was gut-wrenching as he-ain’t-playin’-Vlad witnesses his prime clone--nay, his son--ache for his help as he dissipates in his eyes, letting Vlad give off the biggest “NOOOOOOOO!” this side of Darth Vader, except he’s was honest and compelling. In my opinion, This is one of the most emotional--if not THE most emotional point of the entire entire show; It’s the greatest emotional and turning point for Vlad that defined who he’d become come Season Three--which, on a whole wasn’t good, so I take it upon myself to state this episode is truly the last great portrayal of Mr. Masters.

1. The Ultimate Enemy: I know how horribly overrated this episode is, but for all intents and purposes, “The Ultimate Enemy” deserves it and then some, it’s appropriately dark, emotional, engaging, and powerful and ultimately sold me onto the show. The protagonist faces his biggest nightmare (his evil future self) while dealing with the fact that he CAN (and if not for Clockwork, will) turn into this guy and kill his beloved friends and family in one full circle time traveling contraption this side of a Delorean. It’s scary to see your own future turn so crappy, but even more so that he can’t share his lack of comfort with his friends and family cuz’ they be dead and there ain’t no ghost versions to cuddle him. Everything in this disdain future has radically changed with only Valerie remaining the same aggressive ghost hunter she was ten years back, except she’s just as much on the losing side as the rest of the lot because Phantom came out as the victor by not only being a hardcore monster (Malicious, ruthless, powerful, rotten to the core--in every true sense of the word) he started the entire change of events that lead to this outcome and succeeded, killing off the people he once submitted his heart to and even his own self, making fast enemies with those who oppose him, or in Vlad’s case--doing the near impossible: Giving him a heart big enough for even Danny to feel an ounce of pity for.

What makes this extra special is that this is the only time we will ever see a redeeming, guilt ridden Vlad to it’s fullest extent who played an accidental part in creating this mess. Topped with Danny (at his highest point of maturity during this scene) who has clearly shown he can see the gray underneath the black and white, he forgives Vlad in his most sincere tone in a defining and moving scene that unfortunately never turns up anywhere throughout future Vlad episodes (for shame). To me, this is Danny Phantom at its highest peak, one it never reached again.

And for the heck of it, considering this came from my Top 20 list, the other ten episodes I liked were:

11. Public Enemies
12. Forever Fenton
13. Shades of Gray
14. Secret Weapon
15. Claw of the Wild
16. What You Want
17. Parental Bonding
18. Fanning the Flames
19. Lucky in Love
20. Identity Crisis

[FriendlyMushroom]

Sorry if my thread stole your idea a bit... I didn't notice this one. But mine is at least different, with a poll for the best special.

My favorite episodes (non-special)
are:

Bitter Reunions
Kindred Spirits
Shades of Gray
Identity Crisis
Secret Weapons