This is the first part of the second season of the series. The box claims it contains the first 10 episodes of the season. Unfortunately, not only does the collection not contain every episode it claims to have, but it also has them in the wrong order. In general, this last issue isn't really a problem with a series like Danny Phantom, but in this case, the collection puts the episode "Fenton Menace" before "Pirate Radio."
Just so it's clear why that doesn't work, "Pirate Radio" introduces a new ghost, Youngblood, while "Fenton Menace" is his second appearance. Having not seen these particular episodes before, I found myself highly confused when "Fenton Menace" started and there were references to Youngblood being dressed like a pirate and it even contains the pirate ship from the earlier episodes.
So, what else is wrong here? Well, the box claims the episodes are as follows:
- DIsc 1:
- Memory Bank
- Doctor's Disorders
- Pirate Radio
- Reign Storm, Part 1
- Reign Storm, Part 2
- Disc 2:
- Identity Crisis
- Fenton Menace
- The Ultimate Enemy, Part 1
- The Ultimate Enemy, Part 2
- The Fright Before Christmas
- DIsc 1:
- Reign Storm, Part 1
- Reign Storm, Part 2
- Doctor's Orders [sic]
- Identity Crisis
- Fenton Menace
- Disc 2:
- Pirate Radio
- The Fright Before Christmas
- Micromanagement
- Masters of All Time
- Beauty Marked
As you might notice, there are three episodes missing, "Marked Blank" and both parts of "The Ultimate Enemy," the latter being the first appearance of Clockwork, a critical character seen again in "Masters of All Time."
At this point, I'm going to stop harping on what isn't in Danny Phantom: Season 2, Part 1 and talk about what it does have. After all, like I said earlier, Danny Phantom is a good enough show that you could pretty much throw any handful of episodes onto a DVD and it be a good collection. The "Reign Storm" episodes are a solid pair that has pretty much every enemy Danny has faced, including his classmate turned ghost hunter, Valerie. Both "Pirate Radio" and "Fenton Menace" are also good episodes. One has the new ghost teaming up with Ember in order to enslave all of the parents in town, while the other has everyone believing that Danny is going crazy because no one sees Youngblood taunting Danny and driving him crazy.
"The Fright Before Christmas" has Danny getting irritated at the holidays and inadvertently irritating a new foe, Ghostwriter. Now, the ghost is writing a story and shaping reality as he does. Danny, along with the rest of Amity Park, is trapped in a rhyming holiday tale, all to teach Danny a lesson about the spirit of the season.
In "Micromanagement," Skulker shrinks Danny and Dash and the pair does whatever it takes to get away and regain their normal height while "Masters of All Time," has Danny talking to Clockwork so that he can be sent back in time to prevent the accident that caused Vlad to become Danny's half-ghost nemesis. Unfortunately, his meddelng has caused other changes in the present.
The final episode, "Beauty Marked," has all of the girls in Danny's school competing in a beauty contest and, for some reason, Danny has been chosen as the only judge. What no one realises is that the pageant is a hoax all designed to have Danny choose a new bride for a ghost prince.
So here's the tough part. These episodes are good. There might be some problems with the order they are laid out, but good nonetheless. The problem really comes in the fact that it claims to have specific episodes, and anyone looking for those episodes will be disappointed. A quick check at the Amazon User Reviews makes that clear. When it comes to DVD reviews, we here at Game Vortex have always strived to consider the whole product, not just the film or show itself. This is why we make sure to discuss the special features (if there are any), or the audio/video quality (if there is something of note). In this case, the product has quite a few problems. Had the box correctly listed what was on the discs, I would have mentioned something about the wrong order of some of the episodes, but it wouldn't have been too big of a hit on the DVD's score. As it is, most of the difference between this score and the score of the first season's release is because of the misleading packaging. I can only hope that the missing episodes will find their way into Danny Phantom: Season 2, Part 2.
