Danny Phantom
A 14-year-old turns half-ghost in an accident with his parents' ghost portal, gets an alter ego, and starts protecting his town — all while his own ghost-hunting parents think he's the enemy. The theme song is one millennials still recite word for word.
Danny Phantom was created by Butch Hartman — already the man behind The Fairly OddParents — for Nickelodeon, and premiered April 3, 2004, airing right after that year's Kids' Choice Awards. It followed Danny Fenton, an ordinary 14-year-old whose life changes when he steps into his parents' malfunctioning portal to the "Ghost Zone."
The accident turns Danny into a human-ghost hybrid, and as the alter ego "Danny Phantom" he uses his new ghost powers to defend his hometown from ghostly threats. The running tension: his own parents are dedicated ghost hunters who regard the mysterious Phantom as a menace, forcing Danny to keep his double life hidden.
The series ran three seasons and 53 episodes, concluding August 24, 2007. It built a devoted following that long outlasted its original run — powered in no small part by that instantly hummable theme song, which laid out the whole origin story in about a minute and lodged itself permanently in a generation's memory.
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