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"Mystery Meat" is the premiere of the television series Danny Phantom.

Plot[]

Danny has recently gained ghostly powers and is still learning to use them. Sam has convinced the school to change its lunch menu to one that suits her ultra-recycle-vegetarian tastes, angering both other students and a ghostly lunch lady.

Synopsis[]

S01e01 ruckus in background

Danny fights the ghosts (off-screen)

The episode starts with Jack explaining ghost hunting to his son, Danny, and Danny's friends, Sam and Tucker, in the lab basement. While Jack is showing off his inventions and explaining how they work (or do not work), the Fenton Ghost Portal mysteriously opens, releasing two ectopuses. The ghosts grabbed Sam and Tucker, Danny quickly goes ghost off screen, defeats the ghosts, they retreated, and transforms back before Jack sees anything. After that, Jack blabbers about his history.

At breakfast the next morning, Danny is having trouble controlling his powers. Danny's right arm became intangible from eating cereal. Maddie and Jack tests the newly completed Fenton Finder, which "mysteriously" directs to ghosts. It start detecting Danny unexpectedly, leading them to think it must be malfunctioning.

This prompts Danny to attempt to tell his parents his secret, but before he can, Jazz interrupts and tells them that their ghost hunting is bad for Danny's development and offers to drive Danny to school. Because Jazz never drives Danny to school, Jack assumes that she must be a ghost pretending to be Jazz.

S01e01 falling through the floor

Danny accidentally phases through the floor.

At school, Danny continues to have difficulty controlling his ghost powers. He gets worried about this problem and wishes his parents would invent something that can make him a normal human again. Sam assures Danny his powers are good because they are unique, just like her being an ultra-recycle-vegetarian. Tucker gets ready for his all-protein diet; however, Sam reveals that she has successfully convinced the school board to change the lunch menu. To everyone else’s dismay, ultra-recycle-vegetarian food is now being served in the cafeteria; they all have to eat grass on buns.

S01e01 Lunch Lady out of the portal

Lunch Lady Ghost

Meanwhile, in the lab of Fenton Works, the Lunch Lady Ghost escapes through the Fenton Ghost Portal, sensing that someone has changed the menu, and escapes to the school kitchen. Meanwhile, Maddie and Jack still think Jazz is a ghost; they plan to ambush her with the Fenton Xtractor when she gets in the house.

At school during lunch, Mr. Lancer thanks Sam for giving the cafeteria a brand-new experiment. Tucker scents meat near, but Lancer assures him that word of the teachers having an all-steak buffet in the teachers' lounge is purely rumor. Danny and Tucker sarcastically thank Sam for making them have to eat "garbage". Then Danny's ghost sense goes off. Just then, Dash wrongfully blames Danny for the food (which was the fault of Sam, who Dash mockingly calls Danny's girlfriend) and tries to force him to eat it.

Danny starts a food fight to escape from Dash and he and his friends escape into the kitchen, where they meet the Lunch Lady Ghost. She asks if the menu has been changed, and Tucker tells her that Sam is responsible. The Lunch Lady Ghost suddenly becomes hostile, and Danny has to "go ghost" to protect his friends.

Danny and his friends escape into the halls. The Lunch Lady uses the meat from the all-steak buffet in the teachers' lounge to turn herself into a meaty monster. She captures Sam and flies away.

Danny and Tucker try to follow them, but they are interrupted by Mr. Lancer, who blames them for starting the food fight and takes them and Dash to his office. Dash is the school's star quarterback and thus exempt from punishment, but Mr. Lancer aims to punish Danny and Tucker very heavily. Mr. Lancer and Dash walk out for a moment, so Danny uses his intangibility to escape the office with Tucker.

Tucker, with his enhanced meat-sniffing abilities, finds a meat storage room where the Lunch Lady Ghost is torturing Sam by attempting to force her to eat meat. Danny goes ghost again and fights the Lunch Lady Ghost, but she again turns into a giant meat monster. Danny and his friends escape, but Danny is exhausted from the fight and passes out in midair while carrying Sam and Tucker.

At Fenton Works, Jazz enters and is immediately attacked by Jack and Maddie with a smoke grenade and the Fenton Xtractor. Sam and Tucker then enter, carrying a sleeping, Danny. They bring him to his room and put him on his bed, where he eventually wakes up. Sam and Tucker get angry at each other, Tucker blaming Sam for angering the Lunch Lady Ghost and swearing to change the menu back, and Sam vowing to stop him.

S01e01 pro meat

The next day, both Sam and Tucker have organized large protests outside the school. Sam and Tucker both each want Danny on their sides and fight with each other, but they are interrupted when the Lunch Lady Ghost attacks. She once again turns into a meat monster, this time even larger than before, and summons meat minions using the meat from Tucker's protest. Danny goes ghost again and battles her and her minions.

S01e01 Jazz under net

Meanwhile, Jack and Maddie show up with the Fenton Grappler and catch Jazz with it, still believing that she is a ghost. Jazz explains to them that she isn't one and tries to convince them to give up on ghosts. Just as Jazz is about to succeed, they all see the "ghost kid" and Jack's desire to catch ghosts returns to Jazz's dismay.

S01e01 Danny kicking the Lunch Lady

During the battle, Danny loses control of his powers, and he accidentally turns back into human form. The minions take this opportunity to grab Danny and throw him to the ground. Danny quickly changes back just in time to phase through the ground and takes Jack's Fenton Thermos. Danny uses his powers to activate the Fenton Thermos and captures and defeats the Lunch Lady Ghost. Afterward, Danny decides not to tell his parents about his powers.

Mr. Lancer soon finds them and is outraged to see his students messing up the place with lots of meat, and Danny, Sam, and Tucker are in trouble again. As punishment, they are left to clean up the food all over the school. Sam is forced to deal with the meat while Tucker is forced to deal with the vegetables.

Dash is again exempt from punishment and simply laughs at Danny's predicament, until Danny uses his powers to phase open the dumpster, spilling all the meat onto Dash, who asks for help. Danny smiles mischievously as he says, "Whatever you say, Dash," and his eyes turn green and glow as the episode ends.

Home Media[]

DVD[]

iTunes[]

Credits[]

Trivia[]

  • Allusions: See List of allusions
  • Goofs: See List of goofs
  • First appearance(s): Danny Fenton/Phantom, Tucker Foley, Sam Manson, Jazz Fenton, Jack Fenton, Maddie Fenton, Dash Baxter, Mr. Lancer, and Lunch Lady Ghost.
  • This episode was aired outside the United States in 2003, long before the 2004 premiere of this episode in the United States.
  • During his ranting, Jack mentions that he was born in a log cabin, and he always wanted a pony. This is possibly a reference to the Fairly OddParents episode "The Secret Origin of Denzel Crocker!" where Crocker also mentioned these things. That episode premiered a year before this episode.
  • Danny reveals at school that "it's been a month since the accident" that gave him his powers.
  • This is the first episode where Maddie wears her jumpsuit hood for the entire episode.
  • Jack is the first character to speak in this episode, making him the first character in the entire series to speak. He is also the first character in the series to appear on-screen.
  • This episode re-aired on November 22, 2007.

External Links[]

Site navigation

V - E - H - DDanny Phantom episodes
Season 1
1. Mystery Meat | 2. Parental Bonding | 3. One of a Kind | 4. Attack of the Killer Garage Sale | 5. Splitting Images | 6. What You Want | 7. Bitter Reunions | 8. Prisoners of Love | 9. My Brother's Keeper | 10. Shades of Gray | 11. Fanning the Flames | 12. Teacher of the Year | 13. Fright Night | 14. 13 | 15. Public Enemies | 16. Lucky in Love | 17. Maternal Instinct | 18. Life Lessons | 19. The Million Dollar Ghost | 20. Control Freaks
Season 2
1. Memory Blank | 2. Doctor's Disorders | 3. Pirate Radio | 4-5. Reign Storm | 6. Identity Crisis | 7. The Fenton Menace | 8-9. The Ultimate Enemy | 10. The Fright Before Christmas | 11. Secret Weapons | 12. Flirting With Disaster | 13. Micro Management | 14. Beauty Marked | 15. King Tuck | 16. Masters of All Time | 17. Kindred Spirits | 18. Double Cross My Heart | 19-20. Reality Trip
Season 3
1. Eye for an Eye | 2. Infinite Realms | 3. Girls' Night Out | 4. Torrent of Terror | 5. Forever Phantom | 6. Urban Jungle | 7. Livin' Large | 8. Boxed Up Fury | 9. Frightmare | 10. Claw of the Wild | 11. D-Stabilized | 12-13. Phantom Planet
Lists
Allusions | Goofs | Episode transcripts
Related Media
The Fairly Odd Phantom
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