"King Tuck" is the thirty-fifth episode of Danny Phantom. Tucker's campaign to run for school president goes wrong when no one pays attention to him, including his friends. Fate shines upon him when he meets a mummy ghost who offers him a scepter that'll give him an edge, but could there be more to it than meets the eye?
Episode Recap
Tucker tries, but fails, to capture the attention of the students at Casper High as he attempts to run for school president. His friends, Danny and Sam, aren't very helpful either, practically ignoring Tucker's voice as they put together his campaign for him against his wishes. They suggest he speak about something other than technology but Tucker wants his voice to be heard, with Danny and Sam leaving reluctantly to write Tucker's speech.
Meanwhile, Dash (the other candidate) manages to persuade the student body to vote for him by threatening to bully anyone who refuses. Presently, Tucker spots a giant one-eyed iguana ghost and tries to warn Sam and Danny, but they are far too busy brainstorming for Tucker's speech.
Only when Danny's ghost sense goes off (and he is attacked by the giant lizard) he does jump into action, but not before demanding why Tucker hadn't warned them. Needless to say this frustrates Tucker, quickly becoming another example of how he is constantly ignored. Later on, the class takes a field trip to the Amity Park museum to see the Egyptian exhibit - specifically, the Pharaoh Duulaman.
Inside, Tucker's lack of popularity once again makes him helpless against Dash's campaign. However he and his friends are quickly distracted, finding themselves rather shocked when they notice the pharaoh’s effigy looks exactly like Tucker. Mr. Lancer then makes note of the pharaoh's scarab scepter as well as a mirror set in the front of a sarcophagus that happens to be holding Duulaman's loyal servant, Hotep RA.
Legends speak that he will rise when Duulaman's face is reflected in the mirror. As the class leaves to explore the rest of the exhibit, Kwan makes a joke about Tucker's face (claiming that he has a pimple) and walks off, leaving Tucker to eye the mirror and see if what Kwan said was true.
Since Tucker bears Duulaman's likeness, Hotep-Ra rises from the dead and Danny is left to fight with him. When the fight escalates and all seems lost for Danny, Tucker steps in and immediately Hotep-Ra stops, falling to his knees to praise him. Danny takes the opening and blasts the mummy away, much to Tucker's dismay.
The next day as the trio walks to school, Tucker notices several posters bearing his likeness that were made by Danny and Sam. Finding the slogan on the posters offensive, Tucker demands that Sam and Danny take down the posters and listen to him for once, which they begrudgingly do.
While they tear down the posters, Hotep-Ra appears from behind Tucker (apparently hiding beforehand so Tucker's friends would not find out the two are working together) and serves him by feeding him grapes and flying him to school. Once there, Tucker tells him to hide, which Hotep-Ra questions.
He states that the entire school could be Tucker's domain, a notion that intrigues Tucker. After Tucker leaves to go to class, Hotep-Ra (holding the scepter) states in secret how he plans to usurp the throne from the techno-geek soon.
A bit later, Hotep-Ra (hiding in Tucker's locker) gives Tucker the scepter. Upon contact, he is instantly influenced by its powers. He even goes as far as to yell insults at his best friends (who quickly notice the specter from the museum), still angry about the fact that they tend to not listen to him.
He storms off to the auditorium, where he is supposed to present his speech onstage as Sam and Danny carry on with worry. Tucker quickly notices that his speech isn't being listened to and so in a fit of rage, he slams his scepter down, destroying the podium before him.
Hotep-Ra then appears, evoking even more panic from the students and Lancer. Danny goes ghost and tries to pry the scepter out of Tucker's hand; instead, Tucker sends the ghost boy into a physical manifestation of ancient Egypt, specifically to a coliseum where he finds himself riding on a chariot ready to battle against a Roman ghost.
Afterwards Tucker turns the entire auditorium into an ancient Egyptian realm, where all the students and Lancer must serve as his servants, vowing as he does so to finally make everyone listen.
While the students perform manual labor for him (building a sphinx bearing Tucker's likeness, scrubbing his feet, etc.), and carry out other orders, Danny continues to battle his opponent. Meanwhile, Hotep-Ra waits until the sphinx is finished to carry out his plan. Finally, Tucker and his servants go to greet the winner of the coliseum match.
It seems as if the armored foe Danny fought has won; however, it's actually Danny himself donning his opponent's armor to surprise Tucker. As Danny leaps out from the armor and takes the scepter, Tucker is pulled out of his tranced state.
Finally it is time to strike as Hotep-Ra grabs the scepter and begins to do things his own way; namely, bringing the sphinx statue to life to take care of Danny. He tries to fight the beast but in vain; not even his Ghostly Wail can destroy it. Hotep-Ra then brings to life hieroglyphics - a bird, a jackal, and a giant scorpion - to help the sphinx with its job.
While Danny continues to do battle, Hotep-Ra gets sick of waiting and personally goes after Tucker himself. Sam and Paulina stop Hotep-Ra by grabbing onto a loose bandage and unwinding him, but he rapidly regenerates himself and commands the sphinx to attack.
Danny convinces Tucker to try and get the sphinx to listen to him, since the sphinx must obey the pharaoh and technically Tucker still held the title. After Tucker extracted an apology from Danny, he commands the sphinx to stop and then to go after Hotep-Ra.
Afterwards Tucker uses the scepter to return everything to normal, prudently making everyone forget the event save for himself and his two friends. Back in the school auditorium Tucker withdraws from the race, making Dash the class president by default.
Once that's over, his friends apologize again but quickly leave when Tucker begins to ramble on about technology and accidentally manages to catch the attention of Star and Paulina, who mishear "hand-made in Japan" as "handmaiden." That, for reasons they can no longer remember, drives them into a furious rage, and they quickly give chase.
Series continuity
- Tucker being chased away by Star and Paulina at the end mirrors closely to the ending of "Beauty Marked."
Trivia
- Allusions: See List of allusions
- Goofs: See List of goofs
- The sphinx is the first enemy that the ghostly wail is ineffective against.
- This episode is the second that Tucker acts as a antagonist, the first being "What You Want."
- This is the second Butch Hartman cartoon to feature a living sphinx turned evil. The first was in The Fairly Oddparents! movie "Abra-Catastrophe!" when Timmy fights Crocker.
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