Captain Planet and the Planeteers

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Captain Planet and the Planeteers
Captain Planet and the Planeteers </small>
Genre	Edutainment
Running time	25 mins
Creator(s)	Ted Turner
Developer(s)	Jane Fonda Nicholas Boxer
Executive producer(s)	Andy Heyward Robby London
Starring	LeVar Burton Kath Soucie Janice Kawaye Whoopi Goldberg Scott Menville David Coburn Joey Dedio
Country of origin	Image:Flag of the United States.svg United States
Original channel	TBS
Original run	15 September, 1990–11 May, 1996
No. of episodes	113
Official website
IMDb profile
TV.com summary

Captain Planet and the Planeteers is an American animated environmentalist television series, created by Ted Turner and produced by Jane Fonda and Nicholas Boxer. The series was developed and animated by TBS Productions and DiC and ran new episodes from September 10, 1990 until 1993. A sequel series, The New Adventures of Captain Planet, ran from 1993-1996. Both programs continue today in syndication by Hanna-Barbera Productions.

[edit] Cast

[edit] Heroes

• Captain Planet (voiced by David Coburn)
• Gaia (voiced by Whoopi Goldberg/Margot Kidder)
• Kwame (voiced by LeVar Burton)
• Wheeler (voiced by Joey Dedio)
• Linka (voiced by Kath Soucie)
• Gi (voiced by Janice Kawaye)
• Ma-Ti (voiced by Scott Menville)

[edit] Villains

• Hoggish Greedly (voiced by Ed Asner)
• Looten Plunder (voiced by Jeff Goldblum)
• Dr. Blight (voiced by Meg Ryan/Mary Kay Bergman)
• Sly Sludge (voiced by Martin Sheen/Jim Cummings)
• Duke Nukem (voiced by Dean Stockwell/Maurice LaMarche)
• Verminous Skumm (voiced by Jeff Goldblum/Maurice LaMarche)
• Zarm (voiced by Sting/David Warner/Malcolm McDowell)
• Captain Pollution (voiced by David Coburn)

[edit] Villains' accomplices

• Rigger (Hoggish Greedly's henchman, voiced by John Ratzenberger)
• Argos Bleak (Looten Plunder's main soldier, voiced by S. Scott Bullock)
• MAL (Dr. Blight's evil high-intellected supercomputer, voiced by David Rappaport/Tim Curry)
• Ooze (Sly Sludge's dumpster friend, voiced by Cam Clarke/Banjō Ginga)
• Leadsuit (Duke Nukem's lead-covered cowardly accomplice, voiced by Frank Welker)

[edit] Characters

The Planeteers are summoned by Gaia, a modern rendition of the ancient Greek goddess of fertility and the Earth, to defend the world from pollution, criminals, and natural disasters. The five teenagers, who each come from a different region of the world and represent several major ethnic groups, are each given rings that allow them to temporarily control the four classical elements—Earth, Fire, Wind, and Water, as well as a fifth element, Heart, that represents love and communication and enables telepathy. In order to summon Captain Planet, the Planeteers must activate their powers in a specific order, followed by the phrase "Let our powers combine;" in that order, the five Planeteers are:

It should be noted that this representation of Gaia was depicted not as a Hellenic Greek, but as a mix of the three primary racial ethnicities: dark brown skin, prominent cheekbones and perfectly straight black hair, and blue eyes. Captain Planet may be a nod to Nereus, a shapeshifter and valiant hero (Captain Planet could alter his form at will).

[edit] Villains

A small group of villains, usually referred to as the “eco-villains,” make appearances repeatedly in most episodes. Due to conflict among them from their varying self-serving interests and backgrounds, they tend to work alone most of the time. These include Looten Plunder, a wealthy poacher and greedy businessman; Duke Nukem, a radioactive mutant who represents the dangers of nuclear power; Dr. Blight, a mad scientist who represents the dangers of uncontrolled technology and unethical scientific experimentation; Sly Sludge, an unscrupulous garbage collector; Verminous Skumm, a part man, part rat who represents the dangers of poor sanitation and urban sprawl; Hoggish Greedly, a pig-like human who represents the dangers of unchecked industrialization and greed; and finally Zarm, the former spirit of the earth who left Gaia in search of other lands and ended up ruining other populous planets. All seven joined forces only once, in the two-part Summit to Save Earth episode.

A polluting counterpart to Captain Planet named Captain Pollution appears in a two-part episode Mission to Save Earth when Dr. Blight steals the Planeteers’ rings, creates polluting duplicates of them, and distributes the duplicates to most of the other eco-villains (Greedly and Zarm were absent from this gathering). She gives Plunder a Deforestation Ring (opposite of Earth), Nukem a Radiation Ring (opposite of Fire), Sludge a Smog Ring (Wind), Skumm a Toxics Ring (Water), and keeps the Hate Ring (Heart) for herself. In the later two-parter A Mine Is a Terrible Thing to Waste, Captain Pollution is brought back to life by toxics that seep into the earth. If Captain Planet could be considered to be a nod to Nereus, then Captain Pollution could be considered a nod to Typhon, one of Gaia’s final children, a monster of great evil who spewed toxic smoke.

Later seasons also featured the Slaughter family, led by their mother, Mame Slaughter. They were a family of poachers, often in direct monetary competition with Looten Plunder. Various other one-time villains were also used.

[edit] Plot

Gaia, the spirit of the Earth, is awoken from a long sleep by human activity destroying the planet. Realizing that the damage was extensive, Gaia created five magic rings, each with the power to control an element of nature and one controlling the show-specific element, heart. Gaia sent the rings to five chosen youths across the globe: Kwame, Wheeler, Linka, Gi, and Ma-Ti.

These five were dubbed “The Planeteers” and were given the task of protecting the Earth from the greatest of disasters and doing their part to keep others from happening. Gaia used her Planet Vision to discover where the most devastating destruction was occurring and sent the planeteers to help solve the problem. The Planeteers used transportation based on solar power in order to avoid causing pollution themselves (the origin of the vehicles was never explained—conjecture exists that the vehicles may have been sent from the future, given the rampant use of time travel in later seasons).

In situations that the Planeteers could not handle on their own, they could combine and magnify their powers to summon Captain Planet, who possesses all of their powers magnified (although in practice his powers seem to expand to include whatever the writers currently have in mind), symbolizing that the combined efforts of a team are stronger than its individual parts. Captain Planet has silvery-blue skin and grass-green hair. He wears red gloves, boots, trunks, and epaulettes, with a sunshine yellow globe on his chest. These are actually a composite of the materials that compose him and not actual clothes; the colors of his body are the same as those of the Planeteers’ rings (green, red, yellow, silver and blue representing earth, fire, heart, wind and water respectively). In a manner similar to the early Superman, Planet has seemingly godlike superhuman powers, and seems to gain more to deal with whatever the situation requires. However, his "kryptonite" is pollutants which sap his strength, from smog to radiation.

Despite his vulnerability to pollution, Captain Planet is a formidable and valiant hero. Once his work is done, Captain Planet returns to the Earth, restoring the Planeteers’ powers. When he does this, Captain Planet reminds viewers of the message of the series with his catchphrase, “The power is yours!”

The series is also notable in that it used elements similar to Japanese Sentai series years before shows such as Power Rangers and Sailor Moon came to the US, especially in the manner of a team of five gifted with powers by a mentor, who will call upon something to defeat the villain. Unlike Sentai, however, there are no secret identities for the team, no transformation sequences, and the practice of heavily recycled footage is never used (even the calling sequence would often be re-animated and re-recorded for each episode).

[edit] Episodes

Main article: List of Captain Planet episodes

A memorable feature of the show is every episode’s ending with a pair of 30-second clips (known as Planeteer Alerts) in which the characters inform the viewers on ways that they can help the environment, by joining organizations or writing government officials to voice their opinions on specific issues.

The clips contained moral messages directed at the viewer, delivered by characters from the show (often Captain Planet or Gaia). Similar messages and delivery styles were used in other cartoon shows from the same era, though the practice has fallen out of use in recent years (excluding certain shows, such as He-Man and the Masters of the Universe).

Much like the morality of the show itself, the clips contained information and advice on how to help protect the environment, prevent pollution, save animals, form good relationships with people, and how to keep yourself physically and mentally healthy. While informative, these clips tend to be the thing that those that dislike the show use to mock it.

The ending credits theme (maintained by both DIC and Hanna-Barbera’s versions) is also considered one of the most memorable parts of the series due to its catchy main chorus and rock track (“Captain Planet, he’s our hero, gonna take pollution down to zero”).

The series was the second longest running cartoon of the 1990s, producing 113 episodes. It lasted for three seasons under the name Captain Planet and the Planeteers (produced by TBS Productions and DiC), before many of the voice actors quit or were replaced and much licensing occurred, changing the title to The New Adventures of Captain Planet (produced by Hanna-Barbera Cartoons, which was acquired by Turner in 1991). Currently, Captain Planet (both series) runs on Boomerang and TBS Superstation in the United States and on many other television stations around the world.

[edit] Social criticism

[edit] Overall

A relatively common criticism of the show was that its theme as a superhero show made it unhelpful as an educational tool. It has been argued that while the show effectively presented pollution and environmental destruction as bad, the very nature of the show meant that it did not explore the reasons why pollution and environmental destruction occur. Instead, this argument says, the show presented these things as the result of direct and deliberate action by evil villains who often were out to damage the environment purely for the sake of doing so, either with no greater objective at all, or because of an exaggerated and overly stereotypical motive.

The show's related merchandise was also criticised as hypocritical. A show promoting environmental awareness and recycling undermined its own message, this argument goes, by selling plastic action figures and similar toys.

Some feel that Captain Planet's presence in the show undermines its message of environmental activism, as the Planeteers are given a "genie" they can call to solve their problems for them.

Another, minor but often-parodied criticism of the show was Ma-ti's power of Heart, a "fifth wheel" used for communication rather than combat. (In an issue of the comic-book adaptation of the show, Ma-Ti's Heart power is finally used combatively in a "battle of wills" with Argos Bleak.)

In advocating the view that governments have a role to play in environmental protection, and critical of the idea that private industry could regulate itself, the show contains implications that the global push for urbanization and modernization is destructive. The left-wing generally sees this as a strength, while the right-wing generally criticizes it. Radio talk host Rush Limbaugh commented on the animated series as inappropriate to young children as the cartoon's "propaganda" theme indoctrinates viewers into left-wing and socialist radical ideology.

[edit] From the left

The left-wing often complains that the show was “too preachy” and often complain that the show ran “long after the audience went away.” The short-lived spinoff comic book series by Marvel was significantly less well-received. Overall, both the show and the comic book were often characterized as being too naive for older viewers. However, the show received wide critical acclaim from the left-wing in its early days, at least among those who were aware of its existence. Most of the criticisms leveled at the show by the Right are viewed by the Left as among the show's accomplishments -- signals of its overall bravery to speak up against the status quo. Naturally, those fans of the show on the Radical Left feel the series did not go far enough politically.

It should be noted that in the United States, Captain Planet was originally shown on the local Fox Television network channels around the country, but was quickly moved from its afternoon time-slot to an early-morning time slot of 7:00 AM, followed by removal of the show from that network altogether and its transplantation to Turner Broadcasting Network's TBS cable channel. It's been said Rupert Murdoch the head of FOX Television is a staunch conservative, the opposite of what Ted Turner, an equally staunch liberal, believed in when it came to political issues, and FOX made a decision to drop Captain Planet to avoid political controversy in FOX business matters, and not surprisingly, Turner acquired his own cartoon for TBS.

[edit] From the right

The show has come under criticism primarily from the right-wing. It has been characterized by social and free market conservatives as promoting socialism, and/or that it unilaterally supports "progressive" solutions about environmental problems. These critics claim the show can be seen as exaggerating the potential output of renewable energy sources, and endorsing positions that conservatives view as controversial, such as the existence of global warming. Christian Fundamentalists also take issue with what they consider the false idol of Gaia, the "spirit of the Earth." Some Conservative critics went further to apply Gaia, the cartoon's ecological themes and on alleged links of environmentalism with radical political fringes in history, such as ties between paganism and Nazism (please see ecofascism for the hypothesis).

Some episodes portrayed the Soviet Union as being a world leader in environmentalism, though others did the opposite. Conservatives argued that the show, in its purported hostility towards capitalism, also naively viewed the third world and the Soviet Union as environmental "paradises." On this particular point, the left counters that the supposed "paradises" of the third world were often portrayed as either wastelands or at risk of becoming wastelands — victims of a system that cares little about environmental sustainability compared to that environment's potential for profit.

An episode titled “Population Bomb” endorsed family planning and birth control as a means to reduce population growth. This also saw negative reaction from some conservatives. Another episode some conservatives like to joke about, featured a quarrel between a Native American environmental activist and his brother, a lumber corporate manager. It indicates the "liberal" politically correct cartoon don't want to stereotype any races. And the episode when the Planeteers visited an isolated African tribe that decides to change their ancient culture, but in the end they find that the changes damaged their once simple way of life, and the story ends with tribal villagers rejecting modern conveniences like television sets. It was criticized as messages of liberal bias on all cultural change was negative, but the liberal-dominated media pipes in movies, music and television worldwide.

Among the right-wing in particular, Anti-American sentiment is another criticism often leveled at the show. For example, in the pilot episode, Wheeler, from the United States is shown in a crime infested New York City, while Linka, from the Soviet Union (later Eastern Europe after the USSR's 1991 collapse), is seen in a peaceful meadow with birds. While it had a multi-ethnic cast, the human supervillains of Captain Planet were usually Americans, including Greedley and Blight. Wheeler, the one major American hero in all the cast, was an individualist and was the most selfish and ignorant of the Planeteers. Corporate greed, a frequent target of the show, was often seen as specifically geared towards American corporations' purported super-expansion and super-exploitation. The cartoon is accused of leaning too far left and made Ted Turner, himself a multicorporate leader, a certain "hypocrite".

[edit] The sequel

Following Turner’s acquisation of Hanna-Barbera Cartoons in 1991 he transferred the production from DiC Entertainment to Hanna-Barbera and the show was renamed The New Adventures of Captain Planet. The voice actors for some characters were changed, including the new voice of Margot Kidder as Gaia (in the first series it was done by Whoopi Goldberg) (in fact, by the time of the Hanna Barbera episodes, the only characters to retain their original actors were the five Planeteers, Captain Planet, and Hoggish Greedly and Rigger). Now the two series are often considered as one, though they are distributed separately and are broadcast as two separate shows by Cartoon Network UK. The new show ran from 1993 to 1996.

This series had noticeable differences in the animation style as well as episodes revealing more of the past of each of the characters. This series doesn’t directly contradict the first but expands on it dramatically. Gi tells the story of her pet dolphin, while Linka is revealed to have a mining family who used canaries to detect lethal gases in the mines, and her opening sequence generalizes her birthplace as “Eastern Europe” to avoid confusion in viewers born after the Soviet Union’s collapse in 1991 (which would place her canonical birthplace among one of the countries that gained their independence when the Soviet Union collapsed). Dr. Blight, with a new voice actor, is revealed to have a sister who is a famous movie actress; they are possibly identical twins as Dr. Blight in a wig is able to pass as her sister without anyone noticing.

Other changes were also noticeable. Most noticeable was the animation style. While the character models from the DiC episodes were retained (and the original DiC opening sequence used) the new animation relied less on shading and was slightly more colorful. Many of the characters had refurbished outfits. The sound effects utilized when the Planeteers used their rings were changed and the echo in Captain Planet’s voice when he emerged was also gone.

[edit] Toys

As with many popular cartoons, Captain Planet had a toy line. Released by Tiger Toys in 1991 (keep in mind, it can take a year to go from planning to store shelf), the line ran for several years, long enough to tie into the New Adventures series. The toys were repackaged and sold by Grand Toys in Canada and Kenner throughout Europe. The toys were of average poseability, with the common five points—neck, shoulders, and hips.

Unfortunately, finding a comprehensive list of what was released is difficult, since not all toys shown in the initial retailer catalog were even released. The collector’s market is small, the toys being somewhat rare on eBay. The Captain Planet Foundation still sells a small number of them online, however. There may have also been further foreign variations of certain toys which may be even more difficult to catalog. Various toys from the New Adventures waves are also likely to be less well-known.

All five Planeteers, five Eco-Villains, Commander Clash, and several versions of Captain Planet, each with a different gimmick or paint scheme, were released, along with several vehicles. Four small vehicles were also sold through a Burger King promotion.

[edit] Video games

Five different Captain Planet video games exist.

1. A video game based on the series was produced for the NES by Mindscape called Captain Planet. The game received poor reviews from game critics and thus a Sega Mega Drive (Genesis) version of the game was cancelled.
2. A separate side-scrolling game was developed by Novalogic for the Mega Drive (Genesis), but only saw release in Europe and Australia.
3. David Perry and Nick Bruty developed a ZX Spectrum and Amstrad CPC game using the license, a 3-level shoot 'em up.
4. A game was also released for the Commodore Amiga and Atari ST, written by Tony Crowther. This was a platform game, and was briefly bundled with the Amiga 500 "Cartoon Classics" pack released in 1991.
5. A Commodore 64 game, probably based on either of the 2 above, was in development but never released.
6. Tiger Toys, owners of the action figure license, also created an LCD hand-held game.

[edit] Trivia

• Captain Planet is the first DiC program to be a part of Boomerang’s programming lineup.

• The original opening, used from 1990-1993, was narrated by LeVar Burton, the voice of Kwame. When the series moved to Hanna-Barbera, the new opening was narrated by David Coburn, the voice of Captain Planet. On the show's final season, the narration was replaced by a rap sung by The B-52's frontman Fred Schneider.

• The show was nominated for Daytime Emmy Awards, and also won awards for excellence in children’s television.

• Actor David Warner voiced the character of Zarm, a character who sought to destroy the Earth’s environment, generally favoring human development as uncontrolled technological development would ruin the environment. At the same time, he also voiced the character of Ra’s Al Ghul on Batman: The Animated Series, a character whose main goal in life was to preserve the Earth’s environment, even if it meant wiping out the human population to do so. Both men were villains with opposite ideals. Coincidentally, Malcolm McDowell, the third actor to voice Zarm, also voiced Arkady Duvall, Ra’s Al Ghul’s son in Batman TAS. (Zarm was also voiced by singer/songwriter Sting, though Sting has no connections with Batman TAS).

• In “A Hero for Earth,” Hoggish Greedly uses a backpack and hand-held cannon to blast Captain Planet with toxic waste. The cannon bears a strong resemblance to the proton gun of a Ghostbusters proton pack. DiC had finished production on Real Ghostbusters as production on Captain Planet began.

• Marvel Comics published a short-run comic series to tie in to the show; however, the comics were a separate continuity. While not effectively part of the Marvel Universe, Marvel Comics dragon character Fin Fang Foom did appear in issue #2. The issue #5 cover was also a parody of the cover to Fantastic Four issue #1.

• Writer Michael Reaves penned a script for a direct-to-TV animated movie intended as a darker, re-imagined version of Captain Planet, titled Dark Planet. It was never produced.

• Ted Turner himself was parodied in the Robot Chicken program, making him assume the identity of Captain Planet (basically painting himself) when he heard a news about a company polluting. Unlike the real Captain Planet, Turner defends environmentalism jealously and proceeds to harm anyone who dares to contaminate even if the damage occasioned is minor. His catchphrases are screaming "CAPTAIN PLANET!!!" at random times and "Protect the environment or I'll fucking kill you!"

• In the episode Ghost of Porkaloin Past, one of the costume party guests at Greedly's party is dressed as Fred Flintstone. This episode was part of the 5th season, produced by Hanna-Barbera.

• In the episode Teers in the Hood, a pair of students is seen walking across the football field. Although their faces are not seen and their identities are not revealed, they resemble Shaggy and Velma of Scooby Doo.

[edit] Theme song (Ending sequence)

[edit] External links

• Captain Planet Foundation
• Site petitioning for releasing Captain Planet on DVD
• Virtual Toy Chest’s Captain Planet page with pictures
• Captain Planet Foundation online storede:Captain Planet

he:קפטן פלאנט ja:キャプテン・プラネット pl:Nowe przygody Kapitana Planety zh:地球超人