Reality Trip

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"Reality Trip" *Danny Phantom episode*
Reality Trip title card "Are We There Yet?"
Season	2
Number	37/38
Prod. code	-
Airdate	June 9, 2006
Special Guest	Jon Cryer as Freakshow
Writer(s)	Marty Isenberg, Steve Marmel, Sib Ventress
Directors	Wincat Alcala, Butch Hartman, Kevin Petrilak, Gary Conrad
Villain Appearances	Freakshow
Ghost Appearances	Lydia the Tattoo Ghost
Abbreviation	RT

Previous episode Double Cross My Heart
Next episode Eye for an Eye

Reality Trip is episodes thirty seven and thirty eight and the third television movie based on the Nicktoons series Danny Phantom. Danny, Tucker, and Sam are getting ready for summer vacation, however when Freakshow arrives and kidnaps their parents, they must find the Reality Gems for the Reality Gauntlet in order to save them! And in the chaos, Danny's secret identity is revealed to everyone!

1 Episode Summary
2 Allusions
3 Trivia
4 Goofs

Spoiler warning: Plot and/or ending details follow.

Danny hastily wakes up and gets ready for the last day of school, using his ghost powers to get there in time as summer vacation will begin afterwards. As the ghost boy flies off, he passes by the Amity Park Penitentary where Freakshow is still in prison from his previous episode, being interrogated by the Guys in White. He is questioned about the Reality Gauntlet to which he denies any knowledge until they show off the captured Lydia and their plans to use the glove to eradicate all ghosts, including Danny Phantom.

Desperate to get revenge on the ghost boy, Freakshow is freed from his chains and goes off to explain the gauntlet to the best of his ability, placing the Reality Gems in the compartment on the glove (The Gem of Life; with the ability to bring anything to life, The Gem of Form; which can change the shape of anything, and The Gem Of Fantasy; able to make your dreams come true). Placing the 4th and last gem, the power source (located as one of his earrings), Freakshow uses the Gem of Life, causing the Guys in White's weapons to come alive and twist themselves around them. However, the Gauntlet cannot be used to its full extent unless the wearer operates the gems in the correct order. As Freakshow does not know the order, he has limited power. He escapes with Lydia whom he frees, vowing to take over the world with him as their ringleader.

Danny pilots a space shuttle brought to life through the Gem of Life.

Meanwhile, Danny, Sam and Tucker are excited on their cross country summer vacation together; Danny is going to Cape Canaveral for the space program, Tucker is going to the San Diego Sci-Fi and Comic book Convention, and Sam is going to Gothapalooza in the Nevada desert. But first, they plan to go to a Dumpty Humpty concert located near their school. Jazz then accidentally bumps into Danny who is making a thesis on ghost envy for her college entry.

Their summer vacation starts off wrong afterwards when Lydia attacks the Dumpty Humpty concert with her tattoos. Danny manages to fend them off, then goes after his friends who are taken by two of Lydia's tattoo. There they reunite with Freakshow. Danny swiftly fights him, but is put at a disadvantage by the Gauntlet when he creates monsters out of two oil trucks through the Gem of Form and bringing them to life through the Gem of Life. As Danny fights the two, the Guys in White appear as well, causing Freakshow to create a marshmallow-like human from a cloud to crashland on both the Guys in White and the oil truck monsters. Afterwards, he makes his escape with Lydia via a Circus Gothica train, using the gem to make it sprout wings and fly off. Danny takes his friends back to the concert though, much to Sam's complaint, merely stating he's on vacation and the Guys in White can handle Freakshow.

Through the Gem of Form, the Gothapolooza is a happy themed park.

Back at the concert, Sam and Tucker research the Reality Gauntlet in a book apparently written by Freakshow, however Danny is more concerned on his summer vacation and the concert. The concert starts with the giant egg on stage opening only for it to be alive in itself, created by none other than Freakshow who comes up on stage. Lydia again kidnaps Sam and Tucker while Danny again fights. All this is being shown on the news, watched by the Fenton parents and Jazz (who doesn't want to go on vacation and instead work on her thesis). After Freakshow creates a spider out of a drum set, Tucker and Sam both grab onto a part of the gauntlet, Danny later joining in, each of them touching one of the three gems, accidentally activating it's true power. As they struggle to hold on to the Gauntlet, Sam remembers reading that the Gauntlet has a self-defense mechanism, if someone who is touching a Gem thinks about hiding it, it will disappear and re-appear somewhere else, namely in the location they thought of. After Danny, Sam, and Tucker hide the Gems, they all fall back on stage where Freakshow once again leaves with Lydia. Danny, too weakened is forced to transform back to his human state in front of hundreds of people, including the TV where his family were watching.

Sam and Tucker's parents enter the Fenton household where the parents blame each other for the current mess that is going on until Lydia captures them all. Back at the concert, the kids are all shocked Danny is the ghost boy. Even more chaos comes when the Guys in White arrives by jetpack, hoping to take in Danny to experiment on. Danny flies Sam and Tucker away, but quickly turns human again, his ghost powers apparently screwed up from the Reality Gauntlet. Sam however gets them away from the Guys in White via a mosh pit, the kids now cheering for Danny. They run off and are eventually rescued by Dash, Paulina, Kwan, and the rest of the football team, all of them willing to help Danny and his friends (since he has saved the world many times before). While the Guys in White search, the three (disguised as a football player, school mascot, and cheerleader respectively) are lead by their peers into a forest.

Danny and his friends make it back to the Fenton household, planning to get rid of the gauntlet Freakshow wears, but once inside, they are hounded by the Guys in White and their cohorts. As they interrogate Danny, Lydia (currently invisible) sends three of her tattoos to hide in each of the trio to keep watch. Danny activates the Fenton emergency button which literally causes the inners of the house to attack their enemies. The trio make their way to the Opt Center afterwards and activate the Fenton blimp. The Guys in White catches up, however Danny activates a button causing the blimp to turn into a jetplane which they use to escape (Danny turning it invisible to give them a further advantage), unaware of a tracking device the Guys in White managed to place on the plane.

The next day, Danny gets a contact from the Fenton jetplane. Thinking it's his parents, he gets ready to confess about him being half ghost, but ends up getting a message from Freakshow. He blackmails Danny into getting the Gems back, as he and his friends know where they are, in exchange for their parents' (and Jazz's) lives, and to be dramatic, they are only given three days. With no choice, the trio states where they hid the gems and begins their quest to find them, starting at the space center in Cape Canaveral, Florida.

Geeks turned supervillain cortesy of the Gem of Fantasy

In the space center, a child finds the Gem of Life (activated by touch), but he throws it when it burns him, causing a space shuttle to come to life and attack the Fenton Jetplane. Danny goes ghost, turns invisible, and reaches the Gem of Life from the pilot's seat, turning the shuttle back to normal, but now falling from midair. Danny, having had a space simulation in his computer uses his knowledge to perfectly land the space shuttle before it could cause any damage. The Guys in White then appears via jetplanes, using missiles to destroy the Fenton Jetplane. Luckily, Tucker and Sam escape via Fenton dune buggies and after Danny places the gem inside the Fenton Thermos for safety, the three make their escape. They make a pitstop at a diner where it's reported everyone is on the lookout for Danny and his friends, including the cops, so they quickly make their escape (their dune buggies now hovercrafts for faster travel).

Back in Freakshow's lair, Jack and Maddie lament over their son as half ghost, getting an answer from Jazz on why he never told them. Afterwards, Freakshow comes over to taunt them, but Jazz declares he is merely suffering from Ghost Envy to which he vehemently denies. Meanwhile, Danny and his friends make it to Gothapalooza, only for them to find it a cutesy world of happiness and teddy bears. Inside, while Sam retches in disgust, Danny merely asks in a polite manner for the Gem of Form to which they easily give. Danny stores the gem in the thermos, but not before restoring Gothapalooza back to what it was before (much to Sam's relief). The Guys in White attack once more, this time in tanks, again sending missiles. They escape and hitch a ride on a truck delivering newspapers, the front cover showcasing Danny and friends. They head to their last destination with less than 24 hours left to save their family.

Back in Freakshow's lair, Freakshow confesses he indeed, possesses Ghost Envy, stating everyone, even in some cases, himself, loved ghosts more than him, something Jazz relates to. The trio meanwhile make their way to Hollywood where news on Danny as the ghost kid has already reached it's peak, so upon being sighted, Danny and his friends are swarmed by cameras. The trip escape into a subway system where they meet kids dressed as Danny Phantom and Sam Manson (But no Tucker Foley outfits which Tucker laments on in annoyance), heading for a train to the comic convention in San Diego. Inside, three nerds have found the Gem of Fantasy, causing them to turn into three supervillains from a comic book they dressed up as (Crystal Leviathan, samurai, and Empress She-Wolf respectively). Danny fights off all three as well as the Guys in White until he gets the gem back. With all three, they vow to stop Freakshow, however Lydia arrives, enwraps the trio with her tattoos, then warps them back to Freakshow.

Freakshow as a ringleader.

Back in his lair, Freakshow masters the Reality Gauntlet and turns Earth into his own world of chaos, becoming their ringleader (complete with ringleader outfit). Afterwards, he sends the trio's parents as well as Jazz, Sam, and Tucker on a deadly roller coaster ride. Danny tries in vain to save his loved ones, now in front of a live audience that Freakshow created. Danny quickly is turned into jello by Freakshow, causing the roller coaster to run him over and apparently end his life. Freakshow then goes about turning every part of the world into his own creations. Danny is restored back to normal where he again tries in vain to rescue the others. Jazz quickly tells Danny to use psychology for he has Ghost Envy. Danny does so, teasing Freakshow with his powers, causing him more jealously and ultimately to turn himself into a ghost. Using his Fenton Thermos, Danny then easily traps Freakshow. He quickly then uses the Reality Gauntlet to save his friends and family from falling into a pit of acid. Afterwards, Lydia attacks, but Danny makes quick use of the gauntlet on her, causing her to turn tail and run off. He then turns Earth back into what it normally was.

Jack and Maddie comes over and expresses joy over their son, still accepting him despite his half ghost powers. Despite that, Danny still turns everything back to the way it was three days prior with only his two friends knowing of the events that has happened. Danny then takes Freakshow back to the Guys in White, turning him back into a human, as well as erasing their memories on their knowledge of who the half ghost is. He returns home where the trio confess they rather not cross country due to all the excitement they had previously. Agreeing, Danny destroys the gauntlet, then flies off to continue the rest of his summer vacation.

The Reality Gauntlet and Reality Gems are a complete parody of the Infinity Gauntlet and Infinity Gems from Marvel Comics, right down to the memory-erasure at the end.

Gothapalooza is a spoof of the Lollapalooza music festival.

Dumpty Humpty may be a parody of Digital Underground, who had a hit single titled The Humpty Dance, and Humpty Dumpty, as shown by the Egg on their souvenir shirts and a remark by Freakshow in (Reality Trip).

There are also several homages to Batman, most notably the resemblance between Freakshow and the Joker. This is also evident when Freakshow exclaims: "Look what the bat dragged in" - A quote frequently uttered by the Joker.

Lydia's name and powers are a gag taken from the song Lydia the Tattooed Lady.

The comics convention that Danny goes to is called the "San Diego Comics Fab", based off of the San Diego Comic Con, but most likely changed for legal reasons.

When Danny says to the guys in white at the end 'He's not the ghost you're looking for' (in reference to himself) it is a parody of Star Wars Episode IV: A New Hope, when Obi Wan uses the Jedi Mind Trick on a pair of stormtroopers.

The trick Danny used to capture Freakshow in the end is essentially the exact same trick used to defeat Jafar at the end of Disney's Aladdin.

Danny's comment on the lifeless Robot Train cars, "What're they gonna do? Rust on me?" is a reference to a line said by King Arthur to the Black Knight after cutting all his limbs off in Monty Python and the Holy Grail; "What're you going to do? Bleed on me?"

The space shuttle scene was probably reference to the then upcoming STS-121 mission, flown by Shuttle Discovery.

When Freakshow brings the Robot Train cars to life, he says, "And Freakshow said, 'Let there be life'!", it is an obvious reference to the book of Genesis, the first book of the Bible. This may be that he thought he was God with the Reality Gauntlet.

This episode's original name was School Spirit and was promoted as School's out, Ghouls out on Nickelodeon. Nickelodeon also aired this episode after "Double Cross My Heart" and "Kindred Spirits" despite it coming before in official series continuity, possibly to promote/coincede it for school ending for the summer.

There are several references to previous episodes:
- The Emergency ham from "Pirate Radio" turns out to have a use, as it releases a jet from the Op Center, and Tucker comments that Danny's dad "really needs to replace that ham," while in the same episode ("Pirate Radio"), the alarm for the Op Center says, "Also... the ham has spoiled."
- Sam also again remarks that "Goths don't sweat, they simmer," as she said before in "Lucky in Love".
- Danny also expresses interest in becoming an astronaut, as was said by by Valerie Grey in ("Flirting With Disaster"), and even earlier by Danny himself in ("Mystery Meat").
- The goths transform into stuffed bears similar to the ones from "Attack of the Killer Garage Sale".
- When Tucker and Sam's parents enter Danny's house, Jack blames Sam for being the cause of Danny getting his powers. In a way, he's right (as the events in "Memory Blank" can attest to).
- In the episode, "Pirate Radio", near the end, Danny (in his ghost form) says to Paulina that she should really wrap her mind around the idea of Paulina Fenton. In this movie, after everybody finds out about Danny's powers, Paulina kisses Danny and says, "Paulina Fenton! I've finally wrapped my mind around it!"

This is the first Danny Phantom episode/movie where absolutely NO major ghosts appear (except Lydia, but she's only a minion). This also the first episode/movie in which we never see the Ghost Zone.

This is the third time that Danny's parents have found out his double identity without having an impact on the series. The first time was in "The Ultimate Enemy" (the knowedge was erased when Clockwork rewound time at the end) and the second time was in "Masters Of All Time" (which was in an alternate timeline).

This is the first time someone has straight-out said that Sam has a crush on Danny.

The first (and to date, only) time Paulina has kissed Danny through her own will. The first specific time was when she was overshadowed by Kitty in Lucky in Love.

"Reality Trip" is considered the least popular of the three TV movies^{[citation needed]}; although fans don't tend to find the overall movie that disappointing, it's typically considered mediocre in comparison to Reign Storm and "The Ultimate Enemy", and the deus ex machina ending (similar to The Fairly OddParents) and improperly concentrated plot irked a small section of the fan community, who were underwhelmed by the minimal consideration that was given to one of the central draws of the movie (Danny's secret identity being revealed); particularly Danny erasing his parents memories despite accepting his ghost self, along with never seeing Valerie's reaction to Danny's secret.^{[citation needed]}

When Freakshow takes off his earring, he has one left. In the next shot, he has 2, then 1, then none at all, and for the rest of the movie, he has 2 earrings. The Reality Gauntlet also has a habit of animation misses when it switches between having 3 or 4 bands for the gems, as evident in the pictures featured on this page.

It's interesting to note that although Freakshow is a (former) ghost-controlling human, he glows just like ghosts do when in reality, he isn't suppose to. Note that in "Control Freaks" he didn't glow.

When Freakshow takes the Reality Gems out of the Fenton Thermos, you can see that it opens like it has a hinge. However, in every other episode, it doesn't have one (and even in the other times in this episode).

When the space shuttle fallls, it falls parallel to the ground. When they show it in the next scene, it's angled toward Sam and Tucker.

The Auto-Jack normally smiles showing teeth, but in the last shot showing him, he shows no teeth.

Although Freakshow wears the Reality Gauntlet on his right arm throughout most of the movie, when he's talking to Danny, Sam, and Tucker on the plane, he doesn't have the glove on.

When Danny is on the rocketship, he doesn't glow when he's adjusting the switches or pushing on the brakes.

When Danny states that only Sam, Tucker, and Jazz are the only ones who know his secret, he forgets to add that almost all the ghosts in the Ghost Zone and Vlad Masters still know as well.