Captain Planet and the Planeteers (1990–1996)

A quintet of teenagers work together to encourage environmentally responsible behaviour and can summon a superhero to deal with ecological disasters.

Creator:

Ted Turner

Stars:

David Coburn, LeVar Burton, Joey Dedio

2 wins & 4 nominations.

Cast

Series cast summary:
David Coburn	...	Captain Planet (113 episodes, 1990-1996)
LeVar Burton	...	Kwame (113 episodes, 1990-1996)
Joey Dedio	...	Wheeler (113 episodes, 1990-1996)
Janice Kawaye	...	Gi (113 episodes, 1990-1996)
Scott Menville	...	Ma-Ti (113 episodes, 1990-1996)
Kath Soucie	...	Linka (113 episodes, 1990-1996)
Whoopi Goldberg	...	Gaia (60 episodes, 1990-1992)
Frank Welker	...	Suchi (54 episodes, 1990-1996)

Storyline

Seeing the Earth in its profound environmental peril, Gaia, goddess of the Earth, summons five kids from around the world to become the Planeteers, an opposing force to fight back and educate others in the need to be environmentally responsible. To accomplish that task, each kid is given a magic ring that each has a power of earth, wind, water, fire and heart. When the threat they face is too big for them to face, they can combine and amplify their powers to create Captain Planet, who has the power to stop catastrophic environmental disasters himself, while the Planeteers contribute with the things anyone can and should do to help.

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Plot Keywords:

earth | environmental | superhero | environmental disaster | water | 

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Genres:

Animation | Adventure | Comedy | Family

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Certificate:

TV-Y7

Details

Official Sites:

Turner

Country:

USA Philippines

Language:

English

Release Date:

10 September 1990 (USA)

Also Known As:

The New Adventures of Captain Planet

Company Credits

Production Co:

Turner Broadcasting System (TBS), DiC Enterprises, Hanna-Barbera Productions

Technical Specs

Runtime:

30 min 30 min (112 episodes)

Sound Mix:

Mono

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.33 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

The looks of Captain Planet are inspired by the DC Comics character (previously Charlton character) Captain Atom. Other aspects of the show (five teenagers with powers summoning a super-being of greater force, looks and personality bits of the teenagers) are inspired on the Marvel Comics "Psi-Force" series.

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Quotes

[first lines]
Opening Narrator: Our world is in peril. Gaia, the spirit of the Earth, can no longer stand the terrible destruction plaguing our planet. She gives five magic rings to five special young people. From Africa, Kwame with the power of earth. From the North America, Wheeler with the power of fire. From the Soviet Union, Linka with the power of wind. From Asia, Gi with the power of water and from South America, Ma-Ti with the power of heart. With the five powers combined they summon earth's greatest ...
[...]

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Crazy Credits

In the opening titles from the first (two?) series, Linka is said to be from the Soviet Union. In subsequent series, she is said to be from eastern Europe.

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Connections

Featured in The Nostalgia Critic: Jaws 3D (2010)

User Reviews

Hindsight Is Definitely 20/20

Unlike many of the reviewers here, I'm NOT going denigrate a television show just for the sake of bashing a political ideology. Of course the show is PC, just like "Sesame Street" is PC. It's a CHILDREN'S SHOW -- it needs to be simplified and non-cynical for the consumption of the younger audience. Plus, whether you like it or not, concern for the environment is not a throwaway, frivolous subject to mock. The people of LA had to find out the hard way.

Anyhoo, probably the only reason why I watched this show in the first place was that there was nothing else on at five in the afternoon on Saturdays. Back then, I thought the show was pretty cheesy with very little variations on the plot lines. Yet I still rooted for the Planeteers and was satisfied whenever the bad guys were dealt with.

But now that I'm older and a little bit wiser, I now reserve full appreciation of the cosmic and biblical cheesiness this cartoon had to offer. Whenever I think of the villain, I just wonder what's going through their minds: "Hahahah! I've just wasted precious time and money creating this environmentally unsafe factory, not to make any profits, not even to make a product of any kind, but just for the sake of polluting the planet and p**sing off the Planeteers, hahahahah!" Yeah, that's what most of these villains were thinking in most of the episodes.

Also, I agree with the other reviewers that there were hardly any character growth among the Planeteers, although the tension between Wheeler and Linka had me at least halfway interested.

There were some keeper episodes, like the one where three oppressed persons, an Irish Catholic living in Belfast, a Palestinian, and a black South African were supplied with triggers that will set off nuclear weapons which can then wipe out their adversaries. The Planeteers were dispached to those separate areas and only succeeded in turning around those people by having them experience the *hypothetical* consequences of their actions if they chose to press the button.

Of course, Captain Planet comes to the rescue, digs up the nukes and throws them like discuses towards the sun, which begs the question why didn't he just do that in the first place?

So one and a half stars (* 1/2) our of four for the Planeteers. Protecting the environment is an important thing, but we can do better.

FYI, Ma-Ti's Power of Heart allows him to communicate with the animals, so that in some episodes elephants and giraffes gives Captain Planet a breather and take care of all the dirty work.