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''Captain Planet and the Planeteers'' was an American Animated Television Series created by Ted Turner and produced by Jane Fonda and Nicholas Boxer to promote Environmentalism . The series was developed and animated by TBS Productions and DiC running from September 10 , 1990 until 1993 and continues in Syndication . It was continued by Hanna-Barbera with the series The New Adventures of Captain Planet ( 1993 - 1996 ). STORY , 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, 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 epaulets, 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). Like many superheroes, he has superhuman strength and the ability to fly. 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!” 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 Group s, are each given rings that allow them to temporarily control the four Classical Element s—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; in that order, the five Planeteers are:
Commander Clash was also introduced in season one. A former military commander assigned to defend a small island on his own, his superiors failed to inform him that the war had ended, leaving him alone to fight a war that was long over. During the “Mission to Save Earth” story, the Eco-Villains stole the Planeteers’ rings and dumped the Planeteers on the island, where Commander Clash determined them to be enemies. After a lengthy fight, the Planeteers ultimately convinced him to call his superiors, who then informed him the war was over. Now free of his duties, he helped the Planeteers regain their rings. He would later show up to do battle with Zarm. Despite Gaia being the same Earth goddess of Greek Legend , her many children are never brought up. However, Captain Planet may be a nod to Nereus , a Shapeshifter and valiant hero (Captain Planet could alter his form at will). It should be noted that this representation of Gaia was depicted not as a Helenic Greek; but as a mix of the three primary racial ethnicities: dark brown skin (negroid), prominent cheekbones and perfectly straight black hair (mongoloid), and blue eyes (caucasoid). VILLAINS A small group of Villain s, 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. FEATURES 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 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. A number of famous actors were voice actors on the show, including:
SOCIAL CRITICISM General A relatively common criticism of the show was that its theme (a Superhero show) made it unhelpful as an educational tool. While it presented pollution and environmental destruction as bad, it was argued, the very nature of the show meant it did not explore the reasons ''why'' pollution and environmental destruction occur; instead it presented them as the result of extremely deliberate action by evil villains, who often were out to damage the environment purely for the sake of doing so with no greater objective, or because of an exaggerated and overly Stereotypical motive as one would expect from a Supervillain rather than a regular human. Anti-American Sentiment is another criticism leveled at the show. While it had a multi-ethnic cast, the human supervillians were usually Americans, including Greedley, Blight, and Plunder. Wheeler, the one major American hero in all the cast, was an Individualist and was the most selfish and ignorant of the Planeteers (though not quite as dumb as some make him out to be). 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. The show's related Merchandise was also criticised as hypocritical; it was pointed out that a show promoting environmental awareness and recycling undermined its own message by selling plastic Action Figure s and similar toys. Another criticism, minor yet often parodied, was Ma-ti's power of Heart, with the basic reasoning that it was a "fifth wheel"; it was used for communication more than actual power and never seemed to be of actual help. 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 cheesy" 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. Further criticisms from the left may be due to Captain Planet's often contradictory nature- while Captain Planet was morally opposed to war and violence, he would often destroy property belonging to the Eco-Villains(he was strong enough to tear steel in half), had no problem with retaliating with physical violence if needed, and would occasionally take joy in the suffering of the Eco-Villains when they lost. From The Right As a clearly left-wing program, 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 episodes portrayed the Soviet Union as being a world leader in environmentalism, while others did the opposite. Conservatives think 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 in comparison to the potential for Profit . The episode entitled “A Reason to Hate” about AIDS - HIV , and another episode titled “Population Bomb” which endorsed family planning and birth control as a means to reduce population growth, also saw negative reaction from some conservatives. 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. The echo in Captain Planet’s voice when he emerged was also gone. And whereas the DiC episodes credit the idea to “ Ted Turner ,” Hanna Barbera used his proper “R.E. Turner.” Sly Sludge and Verminous Skumm also became less interested in pollution and more interested in monetary gain. AUDIO Gaia ( German ) ) Episode: Tree of Life (10.11.1990) Literally translated: Dr. Blight made a fatal Aisle along the big woods of North America in order to get to the Tree Of Life , it is the largest tree on earth. 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. VIDEO GAMES 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 Genesis version of the game was cancelled. A separate side-scrolling game was released for the Sega Genesis , but only saw release in Europe and Australia. A game was also released for the Amiga written by Tony Crowther . Tiger Toys, owners of the action figure license, also created an LCD hand-held game. TRIVIA
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