Fanning the Flames

"Fanning the Flames"
"A Symphony of Doom!"
Season	1
Episode	11
Overall	11
Production code	011
Airdate	October 8, 2004
Abbreviation	FtF
Credits
Written by	Marty Isenberg Steve Marmel
Directed by	Wincat Alcala Butch Hartman Juli Hashiguchi
Appearances
Ghost(s)	Ember McLain (1st) Klemper (1st)
Additional content
Transcript
Gallery
Episode Chronology
Previous	"Shades of Gray"
Next	"Teacher of the Year"

"Fanning the Flames" is the eleventh episode of the TV series Danny Phantom.

Overview

Ember, a rock star ghost, uses her music to take over the world. To keep Danny Phantom from interfering with her plans, she puts a love spell on him so that he falls madly in love with Sam.

Episode Recap

Danny fights off a ghost named Klemper during his mission to map out the Ghost Zone, while Tucker and Sam watch from the Specter Speeder. Using the Fenton Phones (which filter out ghost noises), the two keep in touch with Danny (although Tucker very much would prefer to listen to music with it while singing way off-key).

Danny fights off Klemper, sending him to a frozen wasteland, and then reunites with his friends inside the Specter Speeder. Cold, Danny tries in vain to warm his hands, only for Sam to volunteer to warm his hands by holding them.

The two blush before being interrupted by Tucker's off-key singing, then they head back home. A new singer named Ember McLain is all the rage with their peers at Casper High, including Tucker. Only Danny and Sam seem to be unaffected by her music. Paulina walks in to lend an insult towards Sam's Fenton Phones to which Sam replies Danny gave them to her as a gift.

This starts a small chain reaction of various students mistaking them for a couple, much to Danny and Sam's frustration.

Later, Mr. Lancer makes note of the Northwestern 9 Standardized Test held in two days and noting how the overall grades mark points toward his job, he gives the students the Cramtastic Mark 5, a study aid machine.

When turning it on, Ember is seen on screen instead. Angered, Lancer takes out the CD only to further hear her song when Ember herself makes a live appearance with her band in front of Casper High. The students flock to her and with her guitar, she casts a spell on them to make them further worship her, even going as far as attacking the protesting Lancer.

Danny figures out she is a ghost from that act and manages to save Lancer from being run over by his students before heading for Ember. Unfortunately she has already left, leaving Lancer to gain a personal vendetta with the teen pop sensation.

By the next day, Paulina announces that Ember is giving away free concert tickets at the local music store. Tucker, being a fan despite her ghostly status, heads over to get his ticket, but instead ends up being tied up and strapped to the Cramtastic Mark V's study aid to "deprogram" him by Danny and Sam.

The two leave to stop Ember whilst Danny theorizes his ghost powers prevent him from being affected by her music while Sam assumes it's due to her utter disdain for anything popular. Before they can leave though, Lancer catches the two and drags them away in desperation to get them to study, only for Danny to use his ghost powers to slip out from his hands.

While Danny and Sam fly to the music store, Sam stares at him and begins to develop a crush on him. When Danny asks if she's okay, she quickly and nervously responds with, "It's just really nice up here, that's all. Flying's...nice." Both distracted, they fly into the giant Ember standee on top of the music store.

Inside the music store, various students cheer as Ember gives away tickets, including Danny's sister, Jazz. Sam creates a distraction while Danny tries to get Ember inside the Fenton Thermos.

Fighting on top of the roof, Danny finds out people chanting her name gives her strength. She plans to use this by hosting a live worldwide concert to put everyone under her spell, enslaving the human race.

After Ember throws Danny against a giant cardboard standee of herself, Sam runs up to the roof and orders Ember to get away from him. Seeing this act of protection, Ember quickly uses her guitar to cast a love spell on both Danny and Sam to prevent their distraction on her plans.

A big pink blast runs over both Sam and Danny, Sam screaming as she’s blown away by the blast, holding onto the edge of the cardboard before she could fall. Ember leaves afterwards, leaving Sam to witness Danny turning around and staring at her in a loving gaze, him being affected by the spell. He goes further to Sam who's on top of the cardboard Ember that's slowly tipping over as he steps closer to her. The cardboard tips and Sam finally falls, only to be caught and saved by the SWAT team, sent in by Lancer who places every student on house arrest.

Danny and Jazz are taken home where their parents refuse to let them go to the midnight concert. This prevents little when Jazz and the other kids escape from their rooms to sneak into the concert.

Danny, however, is in his room, thinking of nothing but Sam, who coincidentally sneaks in and tries to get Danny to stop Ember, but he is far too into her to fight. Sam then realizes the Fenton Phones are what caused her to be unaffected by Ember's music.

Now suddenly remembering they left Tucker back in school, they manage to free him from his confinement. Having been exposed to the Cramtastic, Tucker randomly blurts out random useful facts for the Northwestern Standardized testing.

He however seems more concerned with Danny's obsessive love for Sam to which she replies it's nothing but a love spell, even though a part of herself is enjoying it very much. With only fifteen minutes left until the concert starts, the trio heads over to the stadium where Tucker tries to kill the power, accidentally speaking into the microphone while doing so. Ember, overhearing this while getting ready, sends security guards (Dash and Kwan) to stop them. With all three captured, Ember starts her worldwide concert. Danny refuses to leave Sam's side to fight Ember, so with nothing left to lose, she makes a desperate move to break Danny's heart by kissing Dash.

With the spell and Danny's heart broken, he takes his anger out on Ember where the two of them fight on stage (which the audience thinks is part of the entertainment). With her name being chanted all over the world, Ember’s powers are far too strong for Danny.

Desperate, he orders Tucker to sing on stage, which he does. His horrible singing breaks Ember's spell on the audience and the viewers watching her from all over the world, quickly reducing her strength, making her an easy target for his Fenton Thermos. Everybody cheers regardless while Danny flies backstage where he and Sam hug.

By the next day in Mr. Lancer’s class, Tucker's perfect grade brings everyone else's poor grades up to school average, so while he's free to go, the rest of the students unfortunately must make up for their grade loss. Elsewhere, Ember deals with an annoying Klemper (who keeps chanting her name) back in the Ghost Zone.

Casting

• Story by
  • Steve Marmel
• Written by
  • Marty Isenberg
• Storyboard by
  • Ray Angrum
  • Chris Graham
• Art Direction
  • Bob Boyle
• Music by
  • Guy Moon
• Directed by
  • Wincat Alcala
  • Juli Hashiguchi
  • Butch Hartman
• Voice cast
  • David Kaufman as Danny
  • Rob Paulsen as Jack Fenton
  • Kath Soucie as Maddie Fenton, Kid
  • Rickey D'Shon Collins as Tucker Foley
  • Grey Delisle as Sam Manson
  • Scott Bullock as Dash Baxter, Klemper
  • Colleen O'Shaughnessey as Jazz
  • James Sie as Kwan
  • Maria Canals as Paulina
  • June Angela as Principal Ishiyama
  • Tara Strong as Ember
  • Ron Perlman as Mr. Lancer

Series continuity

• In the beginning of the episode two ghosts say "What on Earth is that ghostly wail?" This could likely be an allusion to a future power Danny learns later on in "The Ultimate Enemy" - the Ghostly Wail.
  • Or it could possibly be a hint that the song actually comes from a ghost.
• Danny and Sam have many awkward moments, possibly because they kissed in the previous episode, "Shades of Gray."

Trivia

• Allusions: See List of allusions
• Goofs: See List of goofs
• Because of Ember's concert, this episode ended up in 34th place during the "Top 100 Greatest Moments in Nicktoon History."
• Colleen O'Shaughnessey is credited as "Colleen O'Shaughnessy."
• In a video on his YouTube channel, Butch Hartman listed "Fanning the Flames" as one of his top 5 favorite Danny Phantom episodes.
• It's revealed in this episode that Fenton Works has another basement under the lab, designed to look like a medieval dungeon with torture equipment. This is its only appearance in the series.

Gallery

Click here to view the gallery.