Word. They had two episodes to establish a personality in her (which is one episode more then what other characters got to break out their idiosyncrasies...with better results), but didn't, rendering her a complete carbon copy of a Season One Danny (during his more naive period). If they wanted to make her useful, they should have tried to make her useful, but all she did was react to any given situations she was stuck in. She may have advanced the plot and created even more tension between Danny and Vlad, but like her true outcome, that was just a stepping stone. And of course, being a kid's series, Danielle had to LIVE in the end (I can take in comfort her death scene was agonizing and torturous to her as possible). She also ruins the dynamic played by Danny and Vlad where the two compare and contrast their similarities and differences. With a third wheel, the impact is lost and neither of the two are as unique as they were meant to be.
I will give credit, Danielle at least amp up Danny's maturity when he took on a protective big brotherly role, an establishment he learned well from Jazz (just replace "brother" with "sister"), not to mention her first appearance did trigger Vlad's Villanous Breakdown which made for some awesome acting, emotions, and character development.
Getting back on topic...I vote Jade Chan from Jackie Chan Adventures. I didn't mind her presences during the first two seasons. Then, she was a nice foil to the often stuffed shirt and straightman Jackie and the eccentric Uncle. By Season Three and beyond, I couldn't tolerate her Scrappy Doo-ish attitude. She picks a fight, but ends up failing and usually creating a planet-sized mess that does far more harm to the heroes then to the villains.
Her spunk became tiresome and her stubborn refusal to listen to her elders grew irritating. Her only saving grace came in the form of her adult self in "J2", but aside from a too little, too late deal, even that was mucked up by her second appearance which demoted her to essentially a grown up version of herself.
I will give credit, Danielle at least amp up Danny's maturity when he took on a protective big brotherly role, an establishment he learned well from Jazz (just replace "brother" with "sister"), not to mention her first appearance did trigger Vlad's Villanous Breakdown which made for some awesome acting, emotions, and character development.
Getting back on topic...I vote Jade Chan from Jackie Chan Adventures. I didn't mind her presences during the first two seasons. Then, she was a nice foil to the often stuffed shirt and straightman Jackie and the eccentric Uncle. By Season Three and beyond, I couldn't tolerate her Scrappy Doo-ish attitude. She picks a fight, but ends up failing and usually creating a planet-sized mess that does far more harm to the heroes then to the villains.
Her spunk became tiresome and her stubborn refusal to listen to her elders grew irritating. Her only saving grace came in the form of her adult self in "J2", but aside from a too little, too late deal, even that was mucked up by her second appearance which demoted her to essentially a grown up version of herself.