List of allusions/Season 1

Episodes

Mystery Meat

• Title: "Mystery meat" is a term often used to describe meat in cafeterias, usually implying a poor quality meat source.
• Mr. Lancer's personality, and his yelling at Danny, Tucker, and Sam for the mess at the school is clearly based on Richard Vernon's personality, and yelling at John Bender, and the other five students from the 1985 film, The Breakfast Club.

Parental Bonding

• Title: "Parental Bonding" refers to a person attempting to get along and "bond" with their parents.
• The Abyss store, which was selling the fleecy tees Paulina wanted, is a parody of the clothing store, Gap.
• When Danny (overshadowing Jack) tells Mr. Lancer, "It's just in this light, I thought you were George Clooney," he's referring to the actor/director/producer, known for his dashing looks.
• In Sam's room, there is a poster for the film A Clockwork Orange.

One of a Kind

• Title: "One of a Kind" is a phrase used to describe something unique and unlike anything else in the world.
• While Sampson is attacking Skulker, Danny, Sam and Tucker watch while showing expressions of exclamation at the ferocity of Sampson's attack. In one shot, they are each covering either their ears, eyes, or mouth, parodying the concept of See No Evil, Hear No Evil, Speak No Evil.
• The game displayed on the PDA when Skulker is waiting for Danny to show up appears to be PONG.
• The names "Sampson" and "Delilah" refer to the biblical story of Sampson.
• The ring tone for Tucker's PDA is the "William Tell Overture" composed by Gioacchino Rossini.
• When talking about the Genius Magazine Maddie Fenton cites the feminist slogan "Beside every great man, there's a great woman" a little bit inside out: "I think that beside every genius woman, there is a genius man."
• When Tucker captures the Box Ghost into the Fenton Thermos, he says, "Goodnight, everybody," a reference to the 1993 cartoon Animaniacs, which featured Rob Paulsen as the one of the main characters, Yakko Warner, who would often blow a kiss at the audience and say, "Goodnight, everybody" after an innuendo.

Attack of the Killer Garage Sale

• Title: "Attack of the Killer Garage Sale" is possibly a reference to the movie Attack of the Killer Tomatoes.
• Portals XL is likely a reference to Windows XP.
• When Technus uses the remote control he turns Danny into a few different forms, one of those being Spock from Star Trek.
• In Sam's home cinema, there are posters of Citizen Kane, Planet of The Apes, and Jaws.
• Above Dash's desk in his bedroom, he has a poster of a basketball player with number 23, which is an allusion to the NBA legend Michael Jordan.

Splitting Images

• Title: The show's title may be a reference to the old phrase "splitting image", which is where one looks remarkably like another. Considering Poindexter and Danny are each stuck in the other's body for a majority of this episode, it can be inferred that each one is a splitting image of the other.
• The "I can't believe it's not a frog cadaver" is a spoof of the product "I Can't Believe It's Not Butter."
• The "Save the Frogs" campaign is a parody of "Save the Whales."
• When Danny first encountered the Box Ghost in this episode and was flung to the auditorium, he was attacked with "costumes and props from the Broadway classic, My Fair Lady."

What You Want

• Sayonara Pussycat is a parody of the popular Hello Kitty franchise.
• In the flying car scene, Danny says to the driver, "Slow down, Jeff Gordon!" This is a reference to 4-time NASCAR champion Jeff Gordon. Gordon has also appeared in Nickelodeon Magazine several times.
• In the movie theater scene, Tucker and Danny are behind an arcade game. The game is actually "Crash Nebula" from another Butch Hartman-directed cartoon, The Fairly Odd Parents.
• During the football game, one of the announcers exclaims, "Holy Mark McGwire!" referring to the famous baseball player.

Bitter Reunions

• When Danny says "You really are one seriously crazed-up fruit loop", this is a reference to Fruit Loops, a Kellogs Cheerios-like cereal.

Prisoners of Love

• The game Tucker plays after saying he has a webcam is Space Invaders.

My Brother's Keeper

• Title: "My Brother's Keeper" is a reference to a quote in the Biblical story of the brothers Cain and Abel. When God asks Cain where his brother Abel is, Cain replies "Am I my brother's keeper?"
• While chasing the ghost hornet, Danny says "Somebody call for an exterminator?" This could be a reference to a Starcraft unit, called the Ghost, who says this line.
• The scene where Bertrand tries to fight Danny in ninja form, and is taken down in one shot may also be a reference to Indiana Jones and the Raiders of the Lost Ark, in which a low-ranking bad guy attempts to show off his prowess with a weapon, only to be taken down by a single shot from the hero.

Shades of Gray

• Title: The "Gray" in "Shades of Gray" refers to Valerie's family name. As a whole, the title could refer to the phrase "shades of gray," which means a "medium" state. This usually means in between good (white) and bad (black).
• Danny's brief nickname for the ghost dog "Cujo" is based on Stephen King's horror novel and movie of the same name.
• Danny references the song, "Who Let the Dogs Out?" by Baha Men, when he jokes, "Who let the dogs in?" after Cujo breaks into the Casper High cafeteria.
• Sam calling Valerie "Valerie the Ghost Slayer" may be a reference to the movie and TV show Buffy the Vampire Slayer.

Fanning the Flames

• Title: The "Flames" in the title refer to Ember, or more specifically, her hair. As a whole though, "fanning the flames" means to arouse or ignite somebody's feelings for someone else.
• When Danny tells Ember, "Do you take any requests? How about 'Beat It?'" he is referring to Michael Jackson's hit song.
• At Ember's concert, the Crimson Chin is shown in the audience, a character from The Fairly Odd Parents.

Teacher of the Year

• Title: "Teacher of the Year" is a phrase used to praise a teacher. In this episode, this refers to Mr. Lancer.
• The outfits in Doomed resemble the outfits from the movie Tron and the video game Virtua Cop. Tucker's helmet in particular looks identical to the one worn by Sark and Tron.
• The Game Doomed is a parody of the hit video games Doom.
• The Level 0 glitch is most likely a reference to the infamous Minus World from the original Super Mario Bros.
• All the 13 levels that Tucker shows Technus are based on all eight worlds from the 1990 NES video game, Super Mario Bros. 3.

Fright Night

• The Bat logo on the title card is similar to the Batman logo.
• The name of the street on the sign on the stop-sign-turned-light-post (Elm Street) is a reference to the 1984 movie Nightmare on Elm Street.
• When Danny and the Fright Knight are fighting on the roof, Danny says, "Way to whiff, Mr. October." "Mr. October" was the nickname given to baseball player Reggie Jackson, who was known for his clutch hitting in the postseason.

13

• Title: The number "13" is considered bad luck in many cultures. The same also applies to Johnny's nickname being Johnny 13.

Public Enemies

• When Danny and Kwan are fighting on the side of a building, it is similar to the fights between Spider-Man and Doc Ock in Spider-Man 2.
• When Paulina called Danny Phantom a friendly ghost, she made a reference to Casper the Friendly Ghost.
• The Ghost-keteers are an allusion to the Mouseketeers of The Mickey Mouse Club.

Lucky in Love

• In the title card, Danny carrying Paulina in his arms is a reference to the book and movie Gone with the Wind.

Maternal Instinct

• Title: "Maternal Instinct" refers to the special intuition mothers are believed to have.
• When Jazz uses the Jack o' Nine Tails for the first time, she screams a battle cry similar to that of Xena, Warrior Princess from the TV show of the same name.
• The double-ended device Maddie uses is similar to Darth Maul's double ended light saber; almost exactly with the only exception being the color (Darth Maul's being red in color while hers is green).
• The Jack o' Nine Tails plays on the name of the traditional weapon, the Cat o' Nine Tails.
• Vlad reads a book "Romance for Rich Creepy Dimwits," which is based on the For Dummies how-to books.

Life Lessons

• Skulker's thrill of the hunt chase after two (mostly similar) people echoes/pays homage to that of Richard Connell's 1924 short story, "The Most Dangerous Game."

The Million Dollar Ghost

• Title: This might be an allusion to either the term "the million dollar question," the television series The Six Million Dollar Man, or the Oscar-winning movie Million Dollar Baby.
• Groovy Gang and Scaredy Cat is a parody of the popular Scooby-Doo series, the Guys in White are a parody of Men in Black, and The Extreme Ghostbreakers are a parody of Ghostbusters (and its spin-off series, Extreme Ghostbusters).

Control Freaks

• Title: A "control freak" is someone who is extremely bossy, meddling, or controlling.
• When Danny traps Mr. Lancer in the janitor's closet, Mr. Lancer mentions a cask of amontillado, a reference to the book The Cask of Amontillado by Edgar Allan Poe. Mr. Lancer is in a very similar situation to Fortunato, one of the characters in the story.
• When Tucker and Sam enter the Circus Gothica train, one of the stolen paintings is the famed Mona Lisa.
• Jack calls Jeremy "Thurston" after Jeremy apologizes to him and Maddie. The name "Thurston" is a reference to the Gilligan's Island character, Thurston Howell III, a millionaire.
• Freakshow acts very similar to the Joker from the Batman comics due to his similar laugh and appearance.