Danny Phantom Online Community

[Darth-Frodo]

I'm liking the sound of that a lot. It makes logical sense and keeps all the characters in-character. It also gives both Tucker and Sam a little bit of time to freak out over what happened and get control before Danny wakes up so they can be there and supportive of him like they need to be. Because honestly, I don't know who wouldn't have an 'Oh my God oh my God!' moment when something like that happens to your best friend...

[imperfect]

Firefury Amahira @ 05 Jan 2008 04:39 pm wrote:

Could be a combination of freaking out and being supportive. How long should Danny be unconscious after getting zapped? If he's out for more than a few seconds, I suspect his friends would have done what any good friend should do after a potentially harmful incident- go get the parents. If he's out for just a few seconds, he could get their attention before they call for help.

Here's my idea for that scene: Danny's out for a few seconds, long enough to send Tucker or Sam upstairs to fetch Jack and Maddie. Danny comes to briefly, has a spaz about his appearance, transforms back in front of whichever of his friends didn't run upstairs, and passes out again. Then when the other Fentons get down there, they only see their son unconscious and not as a ghost.

Then for whatever reason, Sam and Tucker don't tell the entire story about what happened: After all, Danny's appearance went back to normal, so maybe it was just a temporary thing, right?

ooh like that idea.

and maybe have whoever stayed down there, when danny comes to, try and touch him. There we can have a intangibility moment. To show them that it wasnt just his apperance that chaged.
apperance change is freaky, but not bad. Becoming intangible, way more freaky.

[Kismet]

Or invisible. I know it's cliche, but having him go invisible and him not realizing it...

Sam/Tucker: GASPHOLYSNAP!
Danny: lolwut?

Quote:

1. Danny and Sam (or Tucker) in the lab as he wakes up in ghost form.

2. Tucker (or Sam) tries to get Maddie & Jack's attention while they're dealing with the aftermath of the failed demonstration. Parents are too upset to pay attention to pleas for help.

Then leading into, 3. They DO pay attention (whilst Danny goes human), and come downstairs conveniently after he has phased back, leading into their shocked reaction.

[Bluemoonalto]

Quote:

Then leading into, 3. They DO pay attention (whilst Danny goes human), and come downstairs conveniently after he has phased back, leading into their shocked reaction.

Are you from England, Kismet? The only other person I've ever known to use "whilst" was English. And when she explained the difference between "while" and "whilst" to me, I was totally floored.

On a scale from 1 to 10, 1 being "total recovery" like we saw in Memory Blank and 10 being "start CPR," how badly is Danny hurt? Remember, there must have been some physical injury or Jazz wouldn't have called it "the accident" in My Brother's Keeper.

[Kismet]

Well, he's in a lot of serious pain. I mean his molecules got all rearranged, that's gotta hurt even if no visible signs of damage may be seen. Pain plus being near dangerous equipment is enough reason for a parent to be wrought with worry.
I'm guessing.... 7-8 on the pain scale, 4-5 on the harm scale.

And, no, I'm Texan. Big surprise there, isn't it?

[imperfect]

well i do think he got hurt, but not to bad because i dont think going to the hospital was needed, or thought to be needed. Im sure doctors woulda notice his power randomly triggering themselves.

like kis said more pain then damage, like a papercut (bad example)
hmmm 6-7 on pain, harm...im gonna agree with kis 4-5.

also, when do we thinkthe accident occured as far as school year? was it before semester or during.

either way his parents, would most likey tell him to stay in bed, while they are dealing with the finaincial people. That will keep them busy while danny works on keeping his powers under control. By the time MM rolls around he seems ok on transforming and flying. Ive always thought that right after the accident he probably would randomly transform (thats how he learns it wasnt a fluke that day).
And in doctors disorders, sam is shown having issues with not floating. Danny probably struggled with that too.

[Darth-Frodo]

I agree with Kismet's 7-8 pain scale. Take it from a molecular geneticist, it takes a lot and I mean a lot to pull apart and rearrange molecules and DNA. It would hurt. The stuff we use in my lab to do genetic manipulations is really really bad stuff and we can't even get a little drop of it on our skin. now that kind of pain, in every single molecule of your body, would be extremely painful. So yeah, no outward harm, but lots and lots of pain since it's all internalized.

And I'm not so sure on whether or not Danny would necessarily have flying problems, at least not while he's human. I don't know how other people feel about this theory, but I've always believed that Danny can't fly while a human since he's just too dense. Go intangible and then fly: yes, but I don't think he can just get up and fly while a human, and there is no canonic example where he can do it in any of the episodes without first going ghost or intangible. But I think flight problems would be awesome when he's a ghost ^^

[imperfect]

...hmm could have sworn there was one where he flew as a human.....but its been a while since ive seen any. they never come on TV anymore D:

your probably right though. my memory is terrible xD

[Darth-Frodo]

Well if there is I'd love to stand corrected =D

[docarrol]

Re: Pain scale - I actually had a nurse in an emergency room ask me to rate my pain on a scale from 1 to 10 where 10 was "being mauled by a tiger." I was slightly shocky at the time, but even so, that struck me as an enormously stupid question, never having been mauled by a tiger for comparison, having a slightly higher than average threshold/tolerance and so was aware just how subjective a judgment like that is, and in any case not feeling the true extent of it due to the shock. So I proceeded to tell her so. The nurse was decidedly unamused. (thinking about it later, I decided it hurt more than my broken toe, but less than the hyper-extended wrist. So where does that falls on a 10 point scale?! - Yeah, I was an injury prone kid ;) ) ...Moving on...

Re: ghost form/change back: If I remember the early episodes, Danny pretty much always changed back automatically if he got knocked out, took too much damage, or just expended too much energy while in ghost form (foreshadowing Dani's later problems?). So I don't think Danny would wake up, and then change back; it'd probably happen automatically. It seems odd that he'd wake up actually in ghost form; maybe he just wakes up to discover the ability?

Re: Seeing more of Sam and Tucker - Oh, yes please. I personally would really like to see Sam and Tucker's involvement here in the early days. And the way they both stand by Danny, instantly jump to protect his secrets, his transformations, are willing to take the fall, etc., I've been thinking there was one specific moment where Sam and Tucker actually and deliberately made a promise, vow, whatever, out loud and everything. Maybe a spit&shake, or something to seal it.

Re: flying - I don't remember seeing him fly as a human (although, I too have not watched the episodes recently), but I think I remember him jumping into the air for an improbably long hang time as he's doing the catch phrase and transformation, so maybe.

Re: invisibility - Danny gets up the next morning, still groggy and not entirely awake, and makes it all the way into the bathroom to begin his morning routine on autopilot, never noticing his current state. Until ::Dun-Dun-Dun:: he catches sight of himself (or rather fails to catch sight of himself) in the mirror as he's brushing his teeth.
Or maybe just part of him fades out, the way he was having partial intangibility in MM. Maybe just his head, leaving his night shirt standing there with all the mouth full of lather and toothpaste visible hanging in the air.

Random other thought - I don't remember the canon well enough; is it too early to introduce the Ghost Zone? Something along the lines of: Got too close to the now active portal, puts a hand out to catch his balance (he's gotta be shaky in the immediate aftermath) and got sucked in or something? Maybe just a brief accidental foray, a quick glimpse of endless depths, strange shapes floating, and a bewildering disorienting lack of gravity? Maybe it was only his head that made it through before Sam and Tucker grab his legs to pull him back through (although that wouldn't square with the idea of the Portal as a short tunnel with one end in each reality, that facet is often ignored in the show)

Really random thought, and a nod to the bathroom humor that occasionally crops up (and my own lack of maturity sometimes) - Remember Danny's first (re)attempt at an ecto blast in MB? What if he did much the same thing the first time around? Accidentally transforms while in the restroom while using a stall, or in the bathroom at home, and lets loose. Have some appropriate patsy/straight man drop a line about not going in there for a while, or asking what he had for lunch, or something.

(Tangent - Hm, never thought of it before, but Danny's ghostly flatulence didn't passed right through the jumpsuit with no effect, just as his normal blasts don't affect his gloves in any way. I shall have to ponder this...)

Re: Timing of the episode - The early episodes cover Danny's unique problems at school pretty well. It might be interesting to set the accident in the last few days before the school year starts. That feeling of freedom quickly slipping away, being on the brink of a whole new life/world in starting high school - that might explain why the three of them were down in the basement poking around and why Danny was thinking so fondly of exploring a whole other world (or whatever he described it in MB).

Re: first mention of the accident - I thought Jazz brought it up in MM, just before she drags Danny off to school, while she's exhibiting her own emotional issues and berating their parents?

And, um, yeah. That's everything I can think of at the moment. It's a cool project, a lot of good energy bouncing around here. I don't know how much help I can be, but maybe I can toss out the occasional odd idea.

docarrol

[Bluemoonalto]

The closest thing I can think of to flying while human was in Fanning the Flames. Just after he and Sam escaped from Lancer, Danny phased them through a wall. It wasn't very fast but they were definitely off the ground and moving through the air. I've always thought of that as "floating" rather than "flying," but it did have purposeful motion to it.

My take on the scene is that Danny can move while floating intangibly in human form, but not with any particular speed. I think of Sam's buoyancy in Doctor's Disorders as a completely different "power" because she was not intangible and she couldn't control her position in space. It wasn't a matter of lack of practice; in a different scene we saw Nathan float through the hospital walls much in the same way that Danny and Sam had done in the scene I mentioned earlier.

Which reminds me of Danny's apparent "hang time," as Docarrol mentioned. It happens quite a lot, but always just before or just after a transformation, but I'm pretty sure that's just a side effect of the transformation at best, or perhaps just a bit of artistic license. In my episode rewrite project I referred to it as "...the kind [of leap] he only ever made when he had no intention of coming back down again."

He can also form a spectral tail in human form if he is intangible, as seen in the opening credits. That one actually gives me pause, as something must happen to his skeleton, not to mention certain vital organs. :oops:

Back to the topic. I'm in favor of him being thrown out of the Portal already unconscious, waking up still in ghost form, then fainting and transforming back to human just as the parents come downstairs. We could have some discussion/argument between the Fentons and Sam & Tucker about whether he should go to the hospital or not; Jack's and Maddie's desire to check out their functioning Portal should weigh in their decision that Danny's injuries aren't bad enough to merit a trip to the emergency room. In fact, they may need to do some technobabble stuff to stabilize the Portal, since there was apparently a mysterious "contaminate" inside during start-up.

So I'm in favor of serious pain, but Danny unconscious so he can't show his parents how much it hurts. That, along with their being distracted by the portal, should be enough to avoid a call to 911. The damage is mostly internal, but perhaps he can show some burns, bruises or signs of electric shock so the event will come to be known as "the accident" rather than "the day Danny fainted."

Definitely want to see some conflict between Sam and Tucker about taking Danny to the hospital. Should it be Tucker in favor and Sam against (because she's usually the one who's right)? Or Sam in favor and Tucker against, because of his canonical phobia about hospitals?

[Kismet]

Well, when confronted with Ghost Acne, the Fentons seemed to set up their own personal hospital. A normal hospital at the time this takes place would probably turn away any patients accused of being in a ghost portal -- or reccommend the parents to the psychiatric ward. Maddie and Jack are the only two people who'd know anything about it, so I'm sure they'd handle it.

[Bluemoonalto]

So, if Danny's injuries involve some kind of glowy-greeny effect, Maddie and Jack would immediately assume it's up to them to treat him? That could work! But no ecto-acne (darn!) because if Danny had suffered from that ailment even briefly, it surely would have been mentioned in Bitter Reunions or Masters of All Time.

Edited to add: If we are willing to strain credibility, we could arrange for Danny's pediatrician to make a house call-- thus establishing that Maddie and Jack are not actually neglectful parents.

[imperfect]

Quote:

Really random thought, and a nod to the bathroom humor that occasionally crops up (and my own lack of maturity sometimes) - Remember Danny's first (re)attempt at an ecto blast in MB? What if he did much the same thing the first time around? Accidentally transforms while in the restroom while using a stall, or in the bathroom at home, and lets loose. Have some appropriate patsy/straight man drop a line about not going in there for a while, or asking what he had for lunch, or something.

(Tangent - Hm, never thought of it before, but Danny's ghostly flatulence didn't passed right through the jumpsuit with no effect, just as his normal blasts don't affect his gloves in any way. I shall have to ponder this...)

thats a great idea, but danny doesnt get that power till what you want.

[Kismet]

Yeah, Danny cannot have Ghost Acne because it was caused by the impurity (diet cola) in the Proto-Portal. We can't even consider using that.

[Darth-Frodo]

I'm not so sure that a pediatrician making a house call would be the best idea. I mean, having a doctor come brings up a whole bunch of half-ghost anatomy questions and I don't know if we necessarily want to go there. I think Jack and Maddie would be better off dealing with it themselves, especially since they know it's related to the ghost portal and thus, from their perspective, they think they'll know more about his condition than a pediatrician. And I don't know if it's fully established in MoAT but it seems like they have some kind of medical background if they were able to treat Vlad for the ecto-acne. So unless we want to open up the can of worms of Danny's half-ghost anatomy (which I know there are a million and one different theories on) I think we should just not bother with a pediatrician.

[Firefury Amahira]

Oh, if the doctor makes a house call, then one of the scenes in Act I could be the checkup- with Danny in a situation where he probably won't have Sam and Tucker to help as he tries to keep his powers secret from the doctor.

If I also recall right, Lancer mentions in MM several instances of Danny dropping glassware, and thus being forbidden to handle lab equipment. Perhaps if Episode Zero goes into the school year at all, one scene could be Danny earning that particular ban?

[Bluemoonalto]

Darth-Frodo, I concede that the house call could raise questions we would rather not answer, but nowhere near the kinds of questions that would come up in a hospital visit. As writers, I think we can keep the information fairly simple and neutral: blood pressure a little high (stress), pulse a little fast (ditto), temperature a little low (exposure to the energies of the ghost zone), bruises from the accident, prescribe bed rest and Tylenol. In fact, it would be an excellent opportunity for exposition as well as random ghost-power problems.

And as Firefury pointed out, it's a scene--and we still need a whole bunch of those.

We could incorporate the Fentons' attitude that they can provide better ecto-medical care than any mere MD by having Jazz be the one to call the doctor. She's the responsible adult in the family, right? More conflict = more drama. And maybe it would turn out that "bed rest and Tylenol" was what the parents would have done anyway. :wink:

Firefury, I'm reluctant to retell stuff we already know, but if you (or somebody) can come up with a sufficiently clever spin on the beaker-breaking thing, I'll consider it.

[Firefury Amahira]

Perhaps playing with the contents of those beakers- something slightly volatile... maybe a bunsen burner, to add flammables to the "whoops, broken glass!" factor? An incident that nearly catches part of the school on fire would certainly justify being banned from handling the lab stuff =p

[Bluemoonalto]

Okay, you've sold me. I'll pencil that scene in about halfway through the second act, pending other scenes being proposed.

Checking the transcript, I see that Lancer read it this way from Danny's file: "Thirty-four dropped beakers in the last month, banned for life from handling all fragile school property, but no severe mischief before today." So nix on the fire, unless Danny is clearly blameless for that--or it would have been in his file along with the beakers.

Could we set it up that all thirty-four beakers got broken in the same massive chain-reaction disaster? Because that would be SO COOL. And it would fly in the face of the natural assumption that Danny just let 34 different beakers drop through his intangible fingers in 34 separate incidents.