Captain Planet and the Planeteers

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Captain Planet and the Planeteers

Captain Planet and the Planeteers
Genre Animated television series
Edutainment
Creator(s) Ted Turner
Developer(s) Jane Fonda
Nicholas Boxer
Voices of LeVar Burton
Kath Soucie
Janice Kawaye
Whoopi Goldberg
Scott Menville
David Coburn
Joey Dedio
Country of origin Flag of United States United States
No. of episodes 113 (List of episodes)
Production
Executive producer(s) Andy Heyward
Robby London
Running time 25 mins
Broadcast
Original channel TBS/WPHL-TV/Cartoon Network
Original run September 15, 1990 – May 11, 1996
Chronology
Followed by The New Adventures of Captain Planet
(1993-1996)
Links
Official website
IMDb profile
TV.com summary

Captain Planet and the Planeteers is an American animated environmentalist television program, 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.

Contents

[edit] Plot

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

These five are dubbed the Planeteers and given the task of defending the Earth in the case of the greatest of disasters and doing their part to keep others from happening. Gaia uses her Planet Vision to discover where the most devastating destruction is occurring and sends the planeteers to help solve the problem. The Planeteers use transportation based on solar power in order to avoid causing pollution themselves. The origin of these vehicles is 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 cannot handle on their own, they can 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 only appears in his Captain Planet garb. These are not clothes but elements of the Earth that are integral to his composition. He is able to rearrange his molecular structure to transform himself into the various powers and elements of nature. Captain Planet's outfit does not represent a specific culture. He has grass-green hair, sky-blue skin, earthy brown eyes, blood-red chest, gloves and boots, and a sun-yellow globe insignia. 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 nuclear 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 Mighty Morphin 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] Characters

Spoiler warning: Plot and/or ending details follow.

[edit] Planeteers

The Planeteers are summoned by Gaia, a modern rendition of the Ancient Greek goddess of 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 who together represent several major ethnic groups, are each given a ring which allows them to temporarily control one of the four classical elements — Earth, Fire, Wind, and Water — as well as a fifth element, Heart, which 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:

Name From Power
Kwame Africa Earth
Wheeler North America Fire
Linka Eastern Europe (former Soviet Union territory) Wind
Gi Asia Water
Ma-ti South America Heart

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 wavy 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).

The only ally of the Planeteers, who appeared more than once in the series, was former cold war soldier Commander Clash. He helped the Planeteers to defeat Captain Pollution as well as Zarm.

[edit] Villains

The evil Eco-Villains united in "Summit To Save Earth, Part 1". Clockwise from left: Dr. Blight, Verminous Skumm, Duke Nukem, Hoggish Greedly, Zarm, Looten Plunder, and Sly Sludge.
The evil Eco-Villains united in "Summit To Save Earth, Part 1". Clockwise from left: Dr. Blight, Verminous Skumm, Duke Nukem, Hoggish Greedly, Zarm, Looten Plunder, and Sly Sludge.

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:

A polluting counterpart to Captain Planet named Captain Pollution appears in the 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). Each villain received a specific ring:

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] 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 who 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] The sequel

The New Adventures of Captain Planet logo.
The New Adventures of Captain Planet logo.

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 she was voiced by Whoopi Goldberg). Now the two series are often considered to be 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 significantly 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. Also gone was the DIC season's use of a specific synth rock soundtrack, these tracks were replaced by a large number of orchestral pieces, although the famous end credits theme was retained, now showcasing footage from the Hannah Barbera episodes. A small number of cast changes occurred, affecting Gaia and most of the eco-villains; similarly, the opening narration was voiced by David Coburn (Captain Planet) rather than LeVar Burton (Kwame), and was eventually replaced by a rap by Fred Schneider of The B-52's.

[edit] Other media

[edit] Toys

As with many popular cartoons, Captain Planet had a toy line. Released by Tiger Toys in 1991, 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.

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] Comics

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 #4 cover was also a parody of the cover to Fantastic Four issue #1.

[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] Film

A script, by Michael Reaves, was written for a film adaptation called Planet based on the series. It was darker than the series, and was set in a post-apocalyptic time period. The script was met with acceptance, but "got lost in the shuffle when Turner and Warner Bros. merged."[1]

[edit] Cast

[edit] Heroes

[edit] Villains

[edit] Villains' accomplices

[edit] Trivia

This article contains a trivia section.
Content in this section should be integrated into other appropriate areas of the article or removed, and the trivia section removed.
  • Captain Planet is the first DiC program to be a part of Boomerang’s programming lineup.
  • The show was nominated for Daytime Emmy Awards, and also won awards for excellence in children’s television.
  • The 2006 computer game Guild Wars Nightfall contains a skill named after Captain Planet's famous catchphrase: "The Power is Yours!"

[edit] Theme song

[edit] References

  1. ^ Michael Reeves interview. AnimationArtist.com. Retrieved on February 8, 2007.

[edit] External links

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