I wanna see Vlad’s reaction to the fact that what kept Dani stabilized, was not only an invention by Jack Fenton. But a failed invention by Jack Fenton, a thing he made on accident. On complete accident Jack made the very thing that Vlad couldn’t at all figure out how to create in order to keep his clone experiments from being a total failure. I know his ass had to have been mad as hell.
Hi! I just wanted to ask on ur opinion of Dani . Like I don't really see much of a point to her but that's just me. Maybe I'm not reading into her character enough wbu? What do u think of Dani as a character?
Truthfully, I think she exists because the writer's thought having a genderbent version of Danny would be good for ratings. Hard to argue with that logic, since she's a pretty popular character despite getting only two episodes. However, I do think there's a point to her character, or at least a role she could've served if the writers had wanted to explore it further.
I'll get into this more in D-Stabilized, but Dani (or Ellie, as I prefer to call her to avoid confusion) is someone who is like Danny that he can actually care about. Danny has pretty low self-worth. He's self-sacrificing to a fault and puts a lot of pressure on himself. On top of that, he struggles with feeling like he doesn't fully belong in either the human world or the ghost world. He clearly cares about people, which is why he started the whole hero thing in the first place, and over the course of the show (and now in the comics), he meets ghosts that teach him that they're also worth saving. However, Danny himself is still a bit of an anomaly, and the only other person like him in the world, at least initially, is Vlad, who is. Not a good person. And Vlad's really intent on turning Danny into his protege.
Ellie is a person who has even less of a place in the world than Danny does. She's a half ghost and a clone of Danny. She was created to be a replacement for him, and she was deemed a failure. Despite all that, Danny never even considers the possibility that she isn't a person worth saving just as much as anyone else. He refuses to fight her because he doesn't want to hurt her. He's willing to trade his freedom to Valerie for the chance to save her. He sees her as family. She's kind of like a little sister to him, even though he doesn't know her very well. He cares about her.
This isn't really talked about in the show, but all of that shows that Danny wouldn't have these doubts about another person. It's only because of his lack of confidence that he feels the way he does. Giving him someone he can care about who's just like him could make it a lot easier for him to accept himself. I'm not saying Ellie's only purpose is to further Danny's character arc, of course. There's a lot about self-discovery that can be explored with someone like her who has nowhere she's meant to belong. She also does a lot to show how far Vlad is willing to go for his goals. The fact that Danny's able to love her so easily is a pretty compelling reason to have her exist, though. Why wouldn't Danny have a place in this world if he's so quick to argue that she does?
Saying season 3 of Danny Phantom was a disappointment would be an understatement. Between unfortunate changes and bad decisions, the final season of Danny Phantom promised to be a nice conclusion to the show yet completely failed to deliver. Something that has haunted (I'm so funny) the Phandom for almost 20 years.
There is much to criticise: the mostly episodic formula as opposed to the overarching plot from previous seasons, the introduction of very interesting, albeit less deep, ghosts only to treat them as a one-time thing, flawed execution...
However, there is one particular criticism that I can't help but feel it's not entirely accurate. And that is how the show suffered for supposedly focusing so much on Danny and Sam's relationship.
Now, I will admit I am an Amethyst Ocean shipper myself, so I naturally don't have much problem with this development nor will I bite the hand that feeds me. But I can understand how it wouldn't be as neat for non-shippers, especially if these two are constantly being shoved in your face.
However, I have rewatched season 3 enough times to confidently say that piece of criticism isn't really on point. With the way people talk about it, you'd think season 3 had a ratio of 3 non-Amethyst Ocean episodes vs 10 Amethyst Ocean ones. However, that is just not true, and I would like to explain why.
First of all, I would like to mention my personal hot take regarding Danny and Sam's relationship in season 3, and that is that it was Danny's "She Fell First, He Fell Harder" arc.
It's easy to see where I'm coming from, right?
For most of the show, despite those moments of mutual ship tease, Sam is the one who'd been giving off the strongest romantic vibes. As I said, there are many instances where Danny's shown to be receptive to the idea of he and Sam being an item, but at the same time, the fact that he also spent seasons 1 and 2 crushing on Pàulina and Valerie could also be interpreted as his romantic feelings for Sam not being as "deep" (for lack of a better word) as hers were for him yet. So, yeah, between that and all the "clueless" jokes, it can be concluded Sam fell first while it took Danny a while to catch up.
(By the way, I'm not trying to ignore or reject Sam's crush on Gregor/Elliot and paint Danny as the only one who "kept his options open", so to speak. It's just that Sam's feelings for Gregor were both a one episode thing and superficial enough that she had no trouble moving on from him; as opposed to Danny's arcs with Paulina and especially Valerie).
And speaking of Gregor, he is the very catalyst for Danny going from a few bashful moments with Sam charged with romantic tension here and there to full on pining like he does in season 3. Because Gregor forced Danny to confront the fact that he could lose Sam at any moment if he didn't snap out of it and made a move, with the aftermath being all over season 3.
Because, let's face it, whether you ship it or not, it can't be denied that Danny was down horrendously bad for Sam all throughout the season. As I said, Amethyst Ocean is an example of the "She Fell First, He Fell Harder" trope that they had to speedrun because they were running out of time.
And that is precisely why I think there's this misconception that the Danny and Sam subplot ended up overtaking the show.
As we all know, season 3 was 13 episodes long as opposed to the usual 20. They didn't have as much time as before to pace their relationship out as they would have had with a bigger episode count. And that, combined with the fact that most Amethyst Ocean content came from the second half of the season since they had to pave the way for them becoming canon in Phantom Planet (sorry for bringing it up), thus giving us less time to breathe between episodes and making us feel like we were bombarded with content of them, is why I think people tend to accuse the ship of overtaking the season.
What we fail to take into account, however, is that Danny and Sam's relationship isn't the focus all that much.
Again, season 3 is only 13 episodes long. Now, let's see how many of those episodes actually focus on Danny and Sam, shall we?
The answer might surprise you.
For starters, the very first two episodes, Eye for an Eye and Infinite Realms, were focused entirely on Danny and Vlad's rivalry, with no focus on Sam beyond her usual role as his best friend and sidekick.
Episode 3 is Girls' Night Out which, as the name indicates, focused exclusively on the ladies of Team Phantom, specifically Sam and Jazz's relationship (forced as the conflict between them was), while the only Amethyst Ocean mention was Jack asking Danny about her.
Episode 4 is Torrent of Terror, where Danny is shown still fantasising over Paulina despite how long it's been since he supposedly got over her, while there is a single simulation showing him out on a picnic with Sam that's supposed to make him happy.
Then we have Forever Phantom, where Sam, Danny and Tucker spend all episode as far away from each other as possible because they have to find Amorpho and distract the Fentons long enough to keep Danny's secret safe.
It's not until Plant Sam is introduced in Urban Jungle, episode 6 out of 13, that the Amethyst Ocean content starts to really kick into gear. And even then, the focus isn't always on them. Despite everything, due to Plant! Sam being more of a puppet than an antagonist in her own right like Danny and Tucker were when they were brainwashed, the real point of the episode was Danny's cryokinesis.
(As evidenced by all the heavy promotion Phantom Freeze got back in the day).
Without getting into too much detail, Living Large focused on Danny's newly acquired narcissism thanks to his newfound fortune, while D-stabilized was all about Danny, Dani, and Val, with Sam and Tucker only getting a brief scene in the entire episode.
Even though I admit Math isn't really my strong suit and I could always miscount, that would mean that 7 out of 13 episodes have nothing to do with Amethyst Ocean.
And even then, 2 of those 6 remaining ones only have very subdued hints, like them growing flustered in Boxed Up Fury or the aforementioned picnic from Torrent of Terror.
Out of the 4 remaining episodes, I'd say the only one that might have not needed the focus in their relationship was Claw of the Wild, since the goal was to help their classmates and Wulf, which honestly deserved all the attention it could get since we'd been waiting for his return since season 1.
However, it should also be pointed out that, in context, the focus on them actually makes perfect sense. Because, what is the episode previous to that?
That's right, Frightmare.
I've seen comments about how the episode became all about Danny and Sam as soon as she woke up, but that's not entirely true, either.
The episode was established to be all about them since the very beginning, since it officially confirmed Sam is Danny's dream girl (both literally and figuratively).
In fact, that confirmation of his feelings from his subconscious is precisely what woke Danny up in the first place, because he still wasn't quite ready to admit his feelings for Sam to himself, most likely out of fear of ruining their friendship if Sam didn't feel the same way.
But Sam did feel the same way. And that is why this episode being about them is so important, because the dreamwalking gimmic and Danny finding out that Sam wants the same thing was what gave him, gave them, the push they needed to act on their feelings.
And that is actually why, even though it could have been executed better and Tucker deserved better than to be sidelined all season, it makes sense that Claw of the Wild would feature their romance. Because, while they didn't really admit their feelings until Phantom Planet, by that point both of them knew what they felt wasn't a one-sided crush, and the episode has them being more open about their feelings while still not making things official.
They acted more romantic because circumstances had changed, so wearing their hearts on their sleeve wasn't as risky anymore.
Summing up, while it is true the way the season was arranged made it seem like it was too much Amethyst Ocean content all at once, the truth is it was actually only about 6 episodes in the entire season, less than half of it, meaning that, no, Danny and Sam's romance didn't overtake the plot. In the end, it was all a matter of mishandled pacing due to having less episodes to work with.
what if d-stabilized but instead of vlad melting danielle bc he only wants the research data he’s doing it because he thinks there’s no way to save her and that it would be merciful to kill her instead of letting her continue to suffer the way she has been.
this is his mess, his fault she’s suffering, so it’s only fair he’d be the one to put her out of her misery right? the empty darkness of death must be so much more pleasant than the constant pain. after all, he knows what it’s like to have something incurable ravage your body like that. anything must be better than that constant agony.
Danielle starts speaking less often after the episode "D-stabilized," as the experience of being tricked and betrayed for the second time, by someone who is working for Vlad no less, caused her to become more private and elusive in an effort to better protect herself.
#project hail mary
#lana del rey
