"Sleep Tight, little badger..."


TITLE: Bitter Reunions..."And on the Eighth Day Seximus was born and all was good and prosperous."
LOGO: "A Blast from the Past!"
EPISODE #: 7
SEASON: 1
AIRDATE: May 8, 2004
DIRECTOR: Butch Hartman, Wincat Alcala, Juli Hashiguchi
STORY: Steve Marmel
WRITERS: Steve Marmel, Sib Ventress
STORYBOARD: Ray Angrum, Butch Hartman
ART DIRECTIONS: Bob Boyle
MUSIC: Guy Moon
APPEARANCE: Vlad Masters/Plasmius, Harriet Chin, Twenty years older College students (1st Appearance), Danny, Maddie, Jack, Jazz, Tucker and Sam as Sir/Madam-Not-Appearing-In-This-Episode
GHOST APPEARANCE: Vulture Ghosts, Dairy King (1st Appearance), Skulker, Ectopusses
FENTON GADGET APPEARANCE:Fenton RV (1st appearance), Fenton Tank Heater Thing
LESSON: Sorry, Vlad, not until Danny is at least 18...

SUMMARY: A desperate Danny rides his motorized scooter home before his curfew, just a few minutes before that inevitable dial hits the "10" while refusing to use his flying abilities for some annoying reason. His early arrival is shot when he catches three Vulture Ghosts with fez hats (I’m dead serious) whizzing into people’s houses. And by whizz, I mean fly...fly, n-not pee-pee. Danny goes ghost and catches them inside a public bus. Inside he endures the complaints and arguments of the three vultures over directions (complete with Yiddish accents) before eventually sucking in their pride (men and their maps, amarite?) and asking Danny where they can find the man in a ripped photo they pull out from their feathery...pockets? It’s a picture of Jack twenty years younger: their mission, search and destroy. Naturally, Danny wouldn't let three overgrown pigeons kill his old man, so he Ecto Blasts the birds. They in turn circle around him in dizzying speeds, but Danny flies away, causing the birds to collide with one another. The birds give chase, all of them flying towards and circling the clock tower (where it is almost ten, much to a complaining Danny). Coming up from behind, Danny grabs one of the birds, gives him a good twirl, and smacks the other birds away. They chicken out. "Don't go messing up any windshields on the way outta town!" Yeah, that’s right! You tell ‘em, Danny! The photo they held accidentally falls, hovering conveniently towards Danny who grabs it and ponders why they were after his father. He’ll have to muse later, the clock strikes ten and Danny is in a world of trouble. He returns home to meet with two not-so-pleased parents. As a final insult to injury, he gets bird-poo’ed by the Vulture Ghosts. Well, that’s just prime.

In the living room, a seemingly unassuming Jazz reads while Maddie and Jack handles Danny’s constant lateness issue. Danny tries to point out his argument without revealing his secret, with little success, then pulls out the dreaded kid card:

Danny: You two have no idea what it's like to be a kid today!
Maddie: Come on, Danny, that's the oldest excuse in the book. There's nothing you're going through that your father and I didn't go through when we were your age.
Danny: *hiding an unexpected phased arm* Yeah? Well, I beg to differ.

Jazz, having heard all this (of course) interrupts by pointing out the way into Danny's mind is for the Fenton folks to talk more about their own childhood. Danny embarrassingly tries to shut her up, but the easily influenced Jack gets a light bulb and hops in with his invite of his and Maddie’s college reunion, taking place in Vlad manor—Jack’s chummy ol’ buddy. What a perfect opportunity to drag their kids to Wisconsin to mingle during their heydays. Jazz isn't pleased on the thought of going to Wisconsin and even less pleased when Jack's latest Fenton gear spills Ectoplasmic goo all over her.

The next day or some other day after, they're off via the Fenton RV. "How does this happen? You goof up and I have to spend four days jammed in the Fenton Ghost RV?" Jazz complains. Hey, you’re the one who mentioned the idea. Needing air, Danny accidentally triggers...ALL the weapons of the RV, creating chaos and damage to passersby, as well as another Ecto-goo to Jazz’s face. In a rare form for her character, she angrily threatens Danny.

Later that night, Jack tells his family to rest up so they can meet "Masters tomorrow". Putting two and two together, Jazz figures out Jack's old friend is THE Vlad Masters, a well know billionaire figure. Proudly, Jack relates the tale of him and Vlad during their college days during the early 1980's, a time of very questionable, but exotic fashion sense and the mullet.

Mandatory flashback time! Vlad and Jack were the best of friends; they shared everything together, including backwash. Along with Maddie, the duo experimented with a portable ghost portal in their college lab one day. A young, pessimistic Vlad expresses his concern and lack of faith towards the machine while Jack confidently boasts it'll work. Maddie says the calculations aren't right though, but Jack operates the device using what looks to be an RC remote controller, too late to hear her words. Vlad does the stupid mistake of sticking his head near the portal beforehand and gets face-raped by the portal’s wave of green ectoplasm. When the portal’s done burninating Vlad’s face, Jack and Maddie are left to see the horrifying result: white hair and Ecto Acne. Considering this is suppose to be a dramatic turn of events for Vlad, of all the ailments to give him, it’s acne? Acne?! What, the Ecto Flu, Ecto Cholera, or Ecto Yellow Fever not good enough? Jack wraps up his tale and the family rests for the night. Not Danny, he puts on a worried look for some reason. Of course, Vlad’s not the only one who got bamboozled by a Fenton portal...

(Three) day(s) later, the family finally reaches Vlad’s manor in all its green and yellow glory. And the cheesehead doesn’t stop there. Vlad appears from the shadows (cliché, but dramatic) and all but lavishes attention on Maddie. He lamely eyeballs Jack and completely ignores the kids. What a friendly hospitable man. He quickly invites them in, purposely closing the door on Jack, not that the buffoon knew of his malicious intentions. Immediately the family is greeted with more yellow and green and numerous matching Packers memorabilia. I think I have a pretty clear view of what his favorite football team is. Jazz rags on about Moneybag’s poor taste in interior decoration while Danny admires the décor, including his signed autographed football (by real life Packers player, Ray Nitschke). He tells Jazz that Vlad is a "Packers fanatic", only for the man to correct such a vulgar term (the word "fanatic" that is, in all its irony) and quickly mood swings over his frustration that Green Bay won’t let him buy the damn Packers. Then he hastily soothes and coos himself over Maddie.

Danny: Is he hitting on mom?
Jazz: As long as he's got working toilets and mom says "no", who cares?

Like Danny, camping doesn’t seem to be Jazz’s forte. Jack later gets in and tackles Vlad down as a welcoming present. Vlad is beyond pissed, takes his beloved football back, and tells Jack off, almost revealing his true intentions before he finally calms down and thanks him for leading him into his billionaire path. From that brief act of tantrum, Maddie suggest they go before he does more weird shit, but Vlad insists they stay, ultimately winning by mentioning the Dairy King (previous owner of Vlad's manor) whose ghostly form could be haunting his halls. That’s enough incentive for Jack to stay. I still don’t know what the fuck a Dairy King’s purpose is. Maybe this is a Wisconsin thing.

Later that night (an innumerable amount of days pass by real quick here), Jack sleepily gets out of bed to find a potty, unaware of the Vulture Ghosts sneaking behind to kill him as he walks a long hallway, complete with rows of doors. They once used this spot to shot a chase scene with the Scooby-Doo gangs. Danny wakes up from his ghostly senses. "Oh, great, just what I need, a working vacation." He turns ghost, easily finds his old man, delivers him down to a bathroom, and then finds the Vultures for Round Two. Except those chickens shriek and fly away. Danny rightfully admits it was too easy. Indeed, he meets someone else from behind: ENTER THE PLASMIUS. Danny makes the first move and delivers a punch, only for the mysterious ghost to grab said fist and fling him back. Seeing what a threat this ghost can be, he goes up to battle again, only for Vlad to grab him by the neck and fling him down, all silently with a confident smile. Sexy. Vlad finally speaks and delivers general insults/intimidation, acknowledging him as the ghost boy. He phases into a wall, causing a briefly shocked Danny to follow. In his private study, Vlad pesters Danny, the latter too flabbergasted on how much this non-sparkling vampire-ish ghost knows so much about him, "You're the ghost boy who uses his powers for gooooood. How quaint. Aren't you going to try and shove me into your ridiculous thermos?!"

Dem's fightin’ words. Only a minute into his introduction and he already has Danny in jitters. Danny's nervously replies, "I-I don't want to fight you!" Honey, that would have worked before you tried and punched him. Vlad retaliates with a sarcastic insult and attacks Danny, countering the other’s puny little Ecto Rays. To up the ante, Vlad duplicates into four forms and drives the boy to unconsciousness with the added power. Now it’s Vlad’s turn to get a gasped face—Danny Phantom is Danny Fenton. WOW. I SO did not see that coming! Ever the quick thinker, Vlad has a brand new and improvised plan, complete with a scheming face.

Danny wakes up from a nightmare (memories of his fight), now back in his room. Vlad makes another shadowy appearance, only in a creepier setting cuz’ he just watched a fourteen-year-old struggling in his sleep like some deranged stalker (SUBTEXT). He asks what’s all the commotion to which Danny casually lies that it ain’t nothing. Vlad "believes him" and walks off with all the libido a man who hadn’t had sex in twenty years could do. Now here’s the main question I have: if everybody is sleeping, why on Earth is Vlad still in his suit? A night owl? Animatiors too cheap to make him a set of PJs? He dressed up during his rendezvous as Plasmius? The mystery will forever churn its wheels.

The night of the reunion finally arrives and adults in their 40’s enter and chat about Madonna, Mr. Belvedere, Rubik Cubes, Flash dances, the first Nintendo, the Atari, Back to the Future, Michael Jackson (back when he was still respected), leg warmers, The Breakfast Club, The downfall of the Berlin Wall, the Cold Wars, the Cola-Pepsi Wars, Prince before he was formerly-named-the-formerly-named-the-Prince, Scythpops, the launch of MTV, the panic over AIDS, hammer pants, ET, Indiana Jones, Luke was Vader’s son, Alf, Pac-Man, headbands, and yo-yos.

Danny, dressed in his Sunday best takes a quick stop over to where Jazz is. She’s hidden herself in Vlad’s theater room watching a documentary on the Packers. She refuses to associate herself with the old fogies and leaves Danny to his fate as the only grade school kid in the reunion. For further embarrassment, Jack and Maddie still arrive in their jumpsuits, though the former had the good sense to don a tie. Between this and Vlad’s night suit, I’m beginning to think the animators were lazy. Jack is understandable, but Maddie? The first thing Jack does to Danny is introduces him to Harriet "Harry" Chin, a news reporter who has nothing but disdain for Jack. Then he goes off and pogo dances with his wife, mortifying Danny.

Danny spends the next God-knows-how-long sitting on a table in sheer boredom, not even having the decency to bring a magazine or a game boy or something to keep him company. Fortunately for his assumed ADD-ish mind, Vlad approaches Danny, places a hand on his back (SUBTEXT), and asks him for a favor.

Vlad: Well, son, you're looking much better. I was wondering if you could do me a huge favor?
Danny: Oh, sure, Mr. Masters, but call me "Danny". "Son's" what my dad calls me."

That’s a good, subtle underlying of Danny and Vlad’s entire relationship in the series, what Vlad wants to call him and what Danny prefers. It’s thrown back later in the episode and pretty much serves as a brief foreshadowing between the two. After my unnecessary analysis, Vlad asks Danny to go get him a present in his lab so he could give it to his old man. Potentially to avoid further tedium does Danny agree because if I were in his position, I’d question why he couldn’t get it himself—it’s his house. While Danny obeys, Vlad drools over Maddie (who for some reason is peeved at Jack’s mad Pogoing skills) finally getting that chance to win her over. He also sports that goddamn unibrow. Ugh, UGGGGGGGGGH! The animators luckily avoided this in future episodes. UGGGHHHHH! We shall never talk about this again!

Danny enters what I assume is a lab in the upper levels of his castle cuz’ the one we see is strictly situated in his basement. Instead of a gift, he finds a photo of Young Vlad and Young Maddie with an unknown third person, having been ripped. Temporarily gaining the ability of a rocket scientist, Danny takes out the ripped photo he got (really? He just had it the entire time, what kind of uncanny spider-sense does this kid have?) and pieces it together. The match is perfect and Danny is less then pleased; Vlad Masters is the attempted murderer. Getting his own reunion, Danny is greeted by the Ectopusses, his first ghost opponents. He easily kicks their tentacle tendons, so poor Vladdie doesn’t get to watch (or join) Danny getting frisked by them. I’m just a wee bit surprised the censors let Danny literally smush one of the Ectopusses on the floor. I mean, OW. After a forceful revisit, the reunion continues with special guest star, Skulker. He easily nets him, then boxes him in a cube of sorts, encasing him all but his head. As an added bonus, Skulker electrocutes the hell out of the kid, turning him human before getting ready to slice his neck with his newest weapon.

Danny: The glowing blade is new!
Skulker: You like it? I've had some upgrades.

Skulker makes the cutest face EVER. Vlad interrupts the wayward hunter before the bloody decapitation. Knowing he went too far, a bashful Skulker tries to excuse his way out. Thankfully his gauntlet does it for him, saying he has to find more info on Purple Back Gorillas. I find it hard to believe that he upgraded, but has yet to remove Tucker’s PDA schedule. It’s a nice continuity, just clumsily executed.

After he flies off, Vlad reveals he was the one who sent the Ectopusses way yonder back as well as Skulker, both as means to test Jack’s (lack of) skills. Until recently, he wasn’t aware they were done in by Danny’s hand, let alone that he was another half ghost. A confused Danny turns baffled when Vlad then turns into his ghostly counterpart. Gasp! It’s the same ghost that kicked his ass earlier. WOW! I did NOT see that coming! Danny tries to go ghost, but can't due to the box (Spectra Energy Neutralizer, made by Skulker, paid for by Vlad, not available in stores near you). He demands Vlad free him, but is predictably refused as Vlad goes on a typical villain speech (read: rant). In Vlad’s defense, Danny literally isn’t going anywhere and can’t do anything to stop him from yakking, so might as well.

Vlad: Why, so you can stumble throughout adolescence desperately trying to control your powers? Powers, by the way I've had for twenty years. I have experience, my child and the money and power to obtain through using those powers for personal gain, you see. I could teach you, train you everything I know, and all you'd have to do is renounce your idiot father.
Danny: Dude, you are one seriously crazed up fruit loop.

The "fruit loop" is a book end. Yay. Danny refuses to team up with him, so Vlad skips to the next phase in his plan, teleporting out dramatically. Back at the party, Harry bores Jack with a news coverage she did, only calling him out when she notices his disdained face. She doesn’t berate any further because Vlad possesses Jack and makes him the designated party pooper, including calling Maddie out. He didn’t count on Jack briefly gaining his mind to warn her nor him flying into the goddamn air that finally sets Maddie into accepting that he’s overshadowed. Apparently Danny taking over his body and mind is no problem, but when Vlad does it, it isn’t cool. Maybe he senses a bigger hostility or some other bullshit hand wave. As the people run and scream, Maddie grabs an excited Harriet (who sees the existence of ghosts a chance to up her career) and takes her to the RV.

At this point, Danny struggles to break free and is eventually rescued by the ghost of the Dairy King. Yep, he’s real and he’s a dues ex machina. Danny asks for his help, but DK prefers to stay neutral and flies off, saying "Kings don't fight". Asshole. Danny goes ghost and promptly flies off to kick sexy billionaire ass. Meanwhile, Maddie starts the RV as Harriett interviews her on Jack's current situation as a ghost. Maddie drives the RV straight into the manor (much to Jazz's dismay) while Danny frees Jack from Vlad. Jack ain’t too pleased with this development, "Nobody uses Jack Fenton as a human meat puppet!"

Danny tackles Vlad to the private studies. Vlad again urges Danny to join forces, but the answer is the same, "No. Until I get to be on top." Prideful Vlad would never have that, damn it! As Vlad attacks, Danny ghost shields himself and threatens to reveal his secret to everyone. It backfires when Vlad vows to do the same. Er, um, so Plan B. The Fenton RV crashes immediately after. Well, alright, that’ll do. Vlad takes his cue and grabs Maddie while a frantic Jack chases after them. Danny takes advantage and enters the vehicle while invisible and drives it towards Vlad’s direction, much to Harriet’s excitement. Suddenly capable of using the Fenton RV’s weapons (ignoring the fiasco from earlier); Danny uses a variety of energy beams and whatnot at Vlad, finally succeeding with the Ectoplasmic Goo. It’s like a video game boss pattern weakness. The goo gets Vlad, causing him to drop Maddie. Danny quickly possesses Jack and rescues her, much to her satisfaction. There’s gonna be some hot sex when they get home. Still in his body, Danny!Jack tells Maddie to check on Harriet while he settles with Vlad mano-a-mano.

Danny (in Jack): How's it going, V-Man?
Vlad: *sarcastic* Ooh, you overshadowed Jack, I'm so scared! Now what's next, a card trick?
Danny: Listen to me, I swear I'll walk out of my dad right now and expose us both unless you agree to a truce!
Vlad: You're bluffing.
Danny: No, I'm not. My parents will accept me, no matter what, but if I expose you…well, what will my mom think of you? You'll be miserable and alone for the rest of your unless you call a truce.
Vlad: Using your opponent's weaknesses against him; I am teaching you something after all, very well...truce. Eventually you will join me by choice, you and your mother.

With that said and done, Vlad makes yet another dramatic exit. You know how characters will often poorly act so the audience will know it’s all a rouse? Vlad does the opposite and overacts which is still a breath of fresh air because at least I can accept that his enemies would believe he’s doing this for real. He ends with his last words, "Until next time, son", then vanishes. This would be the throwback part. Danny leaves Jack’s body and both Maddie and Harriet praise him, the latter especially by apologizing for calling him a "crackpot". She has bright hopes for her future.

Jazz tells Danny she’s promptly fired for "making up" a story about ghosts a scene cut later. "It's the Milwaukee Journal, not the National Enquirer." Jazz quips. Jack laments his disappointment that he and Vlad didn’t get that chummy friendship they had earlier. Harriet is back to blaming him, too. Danny attempts to cheer him up, "Oh, whatever. Who cares what you were when you were younger, it's who you grew into that makes you who you are." Wise words for someone who has broken this several times throughout the series.

Danny: Hey, if you can cause that much damage in college and still turn out to be this cool, ghost butt kicking adult, well, maybe there's hope for me yet.
Jack: Thanks, son, but your curfews still ten.
Danny: Awww, man.

Trust me, kid, it’s not always fun to stay up as late as 3AM. Sleeping is a lot better then it sounds.

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