Fun
Frisky
Nostalgic
Intense
Adventurous
Choked Up
Curious
Romantic
Weird
When we talk about streaming culture, we’re usually enthusing about what’s new, but one of the best things about streaming is how it’s made old and obscure cult hits available to a new generation. Presenting Cult Corner: your weekly look into hidden gems and long-lost curiosities that you can find on streaming.
Whether you watch them seriously, as a nostalgic throwback, with your children, or while you’re enjoying a certain not-fully-legal substance, we all have opinions on cartoons. For years, Nickelodeon has been one of the undisputed rulers of the animated world, and the network has produced some largely agreed upon animated classics. Rugrats, Hey Arnold!, and SpongeBob SquarePants all fall into this category. However, there’s one great Nicktoon that never received the praise it deserved — Danny Phantom.
Created by Butch Hartman (The Fairly OddParents), the three-season show was more of an animated teen dramedy with ghosts than anything else the network has released. Danny Phantom takes place in a world where ghosts are real and follows Danny Fenton, a socially awkward teenager who develops superpowers after an accident with the Ghost Portal. It’s a classic reluctant-hero-coming-into-his-own story but with quips and a parallel dimension full of dead spirits. The series always balanced its two sides well. On a plot level, the show existed in a complicated otherworldly universe full of nefarious villains, deception, and secret plans. In that way, it was very much like a comic book or an installment of Final Fantasy. However, viewers were led into this universe by three friends who wouldn’t be out of place on Freaks and Geeks. Danny was an everyman and an insecure hero, his best friend and occasional love interest Sam was a fierce goth chick who was unapologetically her own person, and his other best friend Tucker was a tech geek who often served as the show’s comedic relief. It was a winning combination that should have appealed to both Nickelodeon’s core audience and older viewers.
Perhaps because it was a bit too genre-savvy for its time or perhaps because Nickelodeon had a competitive slate of shows from 2004 to 2007, Danny Phantom never took off the way other Nicktoons did. This wasn’t for lack of trying on Nick’s part. The series was heavily advertised, and Danny can be seen in many Nickelodeon ads as well as tie-in games and merchandise from this time period. The show ended after its third season, an epic departure from past episodes that pitted Danny, his best friends, his sister, and his clone against the biggest bad guy the series had ever seen. More than any other plot line, Danny’s fight against Vlad revealed the series’ ability to be an intense and deeply fun superhero show.
Danny Phantom may have ended before reaching its full potential for awesomeness, but there’s still hope for fans. In February of this year, Nickelodeon released a short featuring all of Hartman’s characters that was closely attached to Danny Phantom. Not only that, but Hartman released a YouTube video a few months ago, showing what the three main protagonists would look like as adults. Typically, I’m opposed to reboots, but it’s hard to argue against Danny and co. fitting in in today’s superhero-obsessed world. But until that reboot announcement (hopefully) comes, we still have the original series. If you’re a fan of classic Nicktoons but are looking for something you may have missed, check it out. It’s worth it if only for the Box Ghost.
