TITLE: Reality Trip
LOGO: "Are We There Yet?" (If you kids say that ONE MORE TIME, I’m TURNING THIS GODDAMN FENTON FAMILY ASSUALT VEHICLE AROUND)
EPISODE #: 37/38
SEASON: 2
AIRDATE: Jun. 2006, 2006
DIRECTOR: Butch Hartman, Wincat Alcala, Gary Conrad, Kevin Petrilak
WRITERS: Steve Marmel, Marty Isenberg, Sib Ventress
STORYBOARD: Butch Hartman, Wincat Alcala, Ray Angrum, Shaunt Nigoghossian, Robb Pratt, Fred Reyes
ART DIRECTIONS: George Goodchild
MUSIC: Guy Moon
APPEARANCE: Various Guys in White, Diner people, Geeks, and hundreds more (1st), Danny, Tucker, Sam, Jazz, The Fenton Folks, The Foleys, the Mansons, Freakshow, Operative M and O, Paulina, Dash, and other popular kids, Concert dwellers
GHOST APPEARANCE: A shitload of inanimate objects come to life—Two Septic Tank ‘Bots, Scary Ass Cloud Monster, Spider Drum set, Space Shuttle with TEETH, cutesy diarrhea inducing teddy bears, three nerds turned Badass Nerds, and clowns, also a scarecrow (1st), Lydia the Tattooed Ghost
FENTON GADGET APPEARANCE: The entire Fenton Works! The [Fenton] Jet Plane (1st appearance), Fenton Blimp (that turns into the Jet Plane)
LESSON: What happens in summer vacation stays in summer vacation
SUMMARY: "Oh, crud! Of all days to oversleep!" Danny cries as he struggles to dress himself, "Can’t have Lancer keep me on the last day of school." To make sure he gets to class on time, he takes the aerial way out. Unable to get his mind off of ghosts even during a shower, Jack nearly blasts Danny with a Fenton weapon from the goddamn shower! Also the only time where Jack Fenton gets fanservice. "It’s summer! Starting at 3:30, I don’t have to listen to anyone for a long, long time!" I don’t know how school systems work over at the midwest lands (which is where I suspect Amity Park is), but normal high school hours end at 2:30. Over here, it does. Then again, schools used to start on September...
Bypassing the Amity Park Penitentiary, Freakshow mopes in chains until the Guys in White (oh, those unnecessary incompetent jerks) arrive. So, besides the obvious "animators-were-lazy" route, all that good law money must go nowhere because they couldn't afford to buy a prisoner outfit for Freakshow. Any who, the Goth Clown tease their lack of ghost hunting skills...until the Operatives present to him their captured victim: Lydia. Er, ya know, the silent tattooed ghost from "Control Freaks"? She just has a name now. Using her as blackmail, the Guys in White ask for Freakshow’s knowledge of ghostly artifacts to identity the Reality Gauntlet. This is suppose to be a based on the Infinity Gauntlet and judging by the Wiki article I linked, it serves the same function, but how well they use it as homage is lost on me (sorry, folks, I’m a DC chick). Unleashing him, Freakshow observes and ask if he can simply and innocently try it one. Naturally, being the complete doofuses that they are, the Operatives let him with the excuse that it doesn’t work anyway. Hey, dumbasses, if you have a guy who knows what the fuck the gauntlet do, what are the chances it WILL work?
"Joy!" Freakshow squeals, complete with gay arm movements. He takes each of the three gems in display and explains the kinks: the red one is the Gem of Life, able to make anything come alive (no, really?!). The yellow is the Gem of Form, able to transform anything into anything else. And the blue is the Gem of Fantasy—it can make your dreams real. Anyone wanna bet Nocturn had his hands on the last one? When touched in proper sequence, the wearer would be able to recreate and bend all reality to his will. But it’s useless with its power source. Ahh well, time to call it a night—whoa, waaaaait a minute. Freakshow whips out one of his earrings which turn out to be said power source. What a lovely coincidence that out of all the ghost items the Guys in Dumbasses brought, it was the Reality Gauntlet. Bravo, losers, Bravo. The Guys in White react, but not good enough. He lets out a taste of the Gem of Life and causes the gun to wrap themselves around the Guys in White. I can only assume they were suppose to be alive? Freakshow may know of the gauntlet, but not the proper sequence for the purpose of plot, otherwise this 44 minute special would have ended way earlier. Freeing Lydia, she flies Freakshow off to make himself "Ringmaster of all Reality."
School’s finally ended and the trio provides exposition on their cross-country tour: Danny to Cape Canaveral in Florida for Space Camp, The Comic Book, Sci-Fi, and Fantasy Expo in San-Diego for dear ol’ Tucker, and Sam’s Gothapalooza in the Nevada Desert. But first, they’ll witness the live Dumpty Humpty concert situated in the back of Casper High, because the teachers are cool like that. Is Dumpty Humpty suppose to be a more independent band, otherwise Miss "Not-Mainstream-Savvy" Sam wouldn’t be attending. Bah, maybe this is one of her few exceptions. With her eyes in a book, Jazz bumps into Danny and gets a literature full of Ghost Envy, her essay for college, baring in mind the large year and a half gap. As she explains, Danny cuts her off. (look at that, could his hand on hips pose be anymore girly?) No more school works, no more ghost hunting. He’s really taking this vacation idea far, but I’m personally annoyed as hell. (SEE: many paragraphs DOWN BELOW). Sam finally asks what’s been on her mind for a good while: how did he convince her parents to let her travel with the Fentons? Flashback to Danny overshadowing the both into Fenton-accepting puppets. Other then the serious ramifications of power abuse (come on, Danny, I thought we learned this lesson), I don’t understand why the Mansons would have any reason to dislike the Fentons. I thought they patched up in "Control Freaks"? Or was that purely for the purpose of Circus Gothica? I’m not too bothered; it throws away their growth, but with their differing ideals, I doubt they’d work well together in extensions anyways.
Danny’s so wrapped up in his flashback that he finds his buddies nowhere and the rest of the students screaming, Lydia sends her tattooed creatures to life, two of which who kidnapped Tucker and Sam.
Sam: Remind me again why did we hang out with a kid who has ghostly enemies?Tucker: Because you have a crush on him?
Sam: *glares*
Oh, Tucker, you can be so empathetic when you need to be. Danny transforms and bats off the numerous creatures off the civilians. This is also the first time you see Danny clearly has moved beyond Paulina. She praises him, but all he gives is a smile. Not even a seductive one or a longingly gazed one, just a genuine, "I’m glad you’re alright" smile. Subtle, but a vast growth in his love life. Meanwhile, Sam and Tucker reunite with Freakshow ("in the anemic flesh") before Danny shortly does. Freakshow displays his gem’s power by first wrapping the ghost boy with caged fences, then creating robots out of two septic tanks. Old, rusty, and clearly not alive, Danny laughs it off until Freakshow brings him back to life. TRANSFORMERS, ROBOTS IN DISGUISE! They snap and toss Danny to Freakshow (who’s disappointed that they didn’t eat him like he commanded—needs more practice) before the Guys in white arrive. Both are in the midst of blaming one another while on pursuit, then Freakshow brings a cloud to life, turning it into a clown monster that crash-lands on the two. Alright, that Cloud Monster’s face is bar none the scariest shit I’ve seen. It’s got "I wanna rape you" over it, which it pretty much does with the Guys in White. Ahhh, Nightmare Fuel!
Freakshow is about to do other number on Danny, but ghost boy Ectos him away. Then Lydia pummels him. Being smart, Freakshow makes his escape with Lydia via a Reality Gauntly-made Gothic Train that flies! Whee. Pissed, Danny takes Sam and Tucker away, unwilling to counter Freakshow. "Let the Jerksicles handle it." By which he means the currently freezing Guys in White. Danny proclaims. He’s more focused on the Dumpty Humpty. Also, does anyone else notice how the battle quickly changed the afternoon sky to NIGHT? What games be Clockwork playing? But who cares when the episode has bigger problems? Danny NOT CARING about his superhero duties. Hell, even Tucker is more concerned, studying a ghost artifact book with Sam on the Reality Gauntlet (which coincidentally is written by Freakshow with his real name...or a complicated pseudo one; either way,m I'm sure it got him beaten up as a youth). But Danny still doesn’t care. ARGH! GODDAMN IT!
The band begins, introducing them by coming out of a giant egg, but the egg comes to liiiiiiiiiife, trapping the four in yolky goodness. Freakshow arrives on cue, gets Tucker and Sam get kidnapped AGAIN, and Danny, thoroughly pissed, hides under the bleachers to go ghost. "Will this vacation EVER start?!" Consider it karma for being a dick, Danny. Thirsty for the spotlight, he traps the audience by...seat belting them to the bleachers. With buckles. Buckles they can undo. Freakshow, you were smarter when you were running away to plan something better then this. All of this is apparently being broadcast when news gets wind of it and with it, the individual attention of the Fenton Folks (and Jazz) and the Guys in White. Freakshow then creates a spider out of a Drum Set which arguably looks cool. There’s a quick shot of the audience during this portion and I’m intrigued to find old people at the concert. Damn, the band sure reaches wide demographics.
While he’s web tangled, Tucker and Sam starts kicking ass cuz’ they don’t settle for the kidnapping deal. The two then pound on Freakshow, trying to pry the glove off of him. Danny joins afterward and the three accidentally end up unlocking the proper sequence to power the gem. Well, damn. But Sam, proving she’s read her materials, says they have much control of the glove as Freakshow does as long as they’re in contact with it. Okay, I want everyone to pause and LOOK at this particular shot.
Look at the SIZE of that gauntlet. That should not be. Freakshow’s arm wasn’t that big even with the gauntlet, suddenly it's Shaq-sized. Sam typically provides more exposition and says they need to wish the gems away. So they do...then they explode. No, seriously they do, but they got better. Spider Drum is back to normal and the kids are seat belt free (so much for safety rules), leaving Freakshow embarrassed. To make up for it, he and Lydia flee dramatically. Danny crashes onto the stage like a flaming blue comet, turning human in the process and subsequently in front of the entire student body, the Guys in White, the news crew, and the viewers watching the live broadcast, Fenton Family included. "You didn’t see that, right?" Denying reassure of the century, kid.
Paulina: And he’s totally infatuated with me. This makes things so much easier!
Hate to break it to ya, girlfriend, but he ain’t. That ship has sailed. All the students pile onstage like hypnotized cronies while Danny, still in shock, can’t do anything but prepare himself for the hassle about to arrive. Luckily Tucker and Sam take this with better ease and protect him. "It could have been worse?" Sam puzzlingly asks. Yes, it always can the minute someone spouts those age old words. The Guys in White are here. In Fenton Works, Jazz tries to calm the equally shocked Jack and Maddie, but shit hits the fan when the Foleys and Mansons get in the mix. Goddamn it, who left the front door unlocked? Answer me or get pineapple slapped! The trio of fathers can be best summed up as, Jack hates Jeremy, Jeremy hates Jack, Maurice is the referee. The Foley/Manson ladies are silent. Did their husbands replace them with perfect obeying wives? Either way, none of them wants to pin the blame on their own kids nor does the Fentons on their ghostly activities, stating they never harmed the Foleys and Mansons in anyway with it. Bad timing, Lydia arrives and wraps them in tattoo goodness. Jack huddles his family close to him during the process: love that. Protective and securing the well-being of his loved ones. And people claim he’s a bad father.
The Guys in White forcibly tell Danny they’re coming with him for questionings and painful experiments. Danny flies them off as the crowd cheers for their hero ("Dude, you’re a rock star!"), but quickly turns human. Danny concludes the Reality Gauntlet fucked up his powers, a plot point that never actually goes anywhere! Maybe if they had revealed it was only a temporary thing or something. Taking Freakshow’s book, Sam forms an idea (*sigh* Of course) and gets them to safety via moss pit. The Guys in White give chase, but they loose them in the crowd. The trio runs to a small housing for sports equipment. They are quickly pulled inside from the popular folks. Surprised at their helpful spirits, they reason that their admiration for Danny’s heroism was more then enough to contribute. *places hand on shoulder* You have our popularity. AND MY AXE! Awww. Paulina plants a kiss on Danny and everything, but true to Danny’s growth, he only makes a passing smile. Sam however expresses subtle jealously. The populars dress them in a football gear, the school mascot, and a cheerleader respectfully as they lure them to the woods. After a small tiff between Paulina and Sam, the trio is on the move.
They manage to sneak to Fenton Works, all three probably tired as hell (it’s daylight now). He plans to sneak in, get his stuff, and run faraway from home until he finds the goddamn gauntlet and change the preceding events that have happened thus far. The sneaky approach does not work when they enter to greet Operative M and O AND their team of soldiers. Tucker and Sam get kidnapped AGAIN ("For those still counting, that’s three times we’ve been grabbed today"). Danny accuses the Guys in White for his family’s disappearance, unaware of an invisible Lydia who puts three of her bat tattoos inside the trio. How long did the gauntlet affect Danny's power that he can’t sense ‘em? He’s boned. And I don’t mean the good kind. They’re about to arrest Danny, but he warns the Guys in White his house is a full set of cards.
Pushing back a purple curtain that was never there before, he breaks the emergency glass and pushes the big red button. What we get is the house becoming a LITERAL WEAPON, attacking anything that involves Ecto and since the Guys in White has that in abundance; they get their shit kicked hilariously. But for the rare moment that the writers remembered Danny can be smart, they quickly reduce him to idiocy by making him go ghost briefly for an unneeded joke. COME ON! Danny JUST explained the Fenton Work’s purpose and THEN he goes ghost?! He can’t have a memory span that bad! Fortunately they make up for it by showing Danny’s savvy skills with the Fenton tools. He leads his friends to the Opt Center (wow, Jack and Maddie’s bed has changed since the last I saw it—hell, their whole room looks nice...and purple) and brings out the Fenton Blimp. Except the Emergency Ham has been relocated from the kitchen to the Opt Center. Overall, it makes a lot more sense; better to have access inside the vehicle of choice instead of on the out. Oh, but it gets better. Danny pushes a button located under the ham, turning the Fenton Blimp into a sleek, Fenton Jet plane. Holy Crap, where the hell do they get the funding? I’m supposed to believe patent pending did all that?! I’m supposed to believe Danny’s family has an average income!? With money to blow off on a FUCKING jet plane, Danny should theoretically be as rich, if not RICHER then Sam—possibly Vlad. There is no way they can’t NOT have money for inventions AND enough to pay the bills unless they go"do something." Didn’t you just hear what he said!? He said he can’t do anything, woman! But then he does do something: he commences Auto-Jack, a rubbery Jack duplicate doll who can fly it. Apparently this is supposed to be a reference to the Airplane! movie, but I’ve never seen it. I’ll reveal later down the line why Danny's inability to pilot bothers me.
The Guys in White are close behind, armed with their own jet planes, ultimately planting a tracking device on the vehicle before Danny completely phases it out. He manages to hold it till tomorrow. Really? For 24 hours?! Is his power really that advance at this stage? T-That’s actually, impressive. With confidence they lose the Guys in White, Tucker tells Danny he should speak with his family. Too fearful of what they will do to him, he coincidentally gains contact, but it ain’t his folks. It’s Freakshow who somehow knew Danny was in the jet plane. Methinks the Reality Gauntlet would have pointed out the way if not for the fact that it lost its powers! Whatever. Freakshow demands the three to fetch him the gems cuz’ he’s got blackmail on his side: their family. Oh, come on! Those cage bars are skinny enough for everyone but Jack to squeeze through! Wait, not EVEN squeeze through, just walk out! To make it more dramatically, Freakshow gives them three days. Considering he wants the gems so badly, why the fuck would he impose a time limit outside of said drama? Freakshow, you’re a living idiot.
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Article written in: Apr. 5, 2009
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