Hoggish Greedly plots to get rid of the manatees and eventually is defeated by Captain Planet.
Dr. Blight uses a stolen growth enhancement ray from Dr. Georgina Carbor to control the rate of erosion. The vine mutates into a plant monster.
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Title: Captain Planet and the Planeteers (1990–1996)
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| 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 61 episodes, 1990-1992 | |
| Frank Welker | ... | Suchi / ... 58 episodes, 1990-1996 | |
Seeing the Earth in its profound environmental peril, Gaia (Whoopi Goldberg), 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 (David Coburn), who has the power to stop catastrophic environmental disasters himself, while the Planeteers contribute with the things anyone can and should do to help. Written by Kenneth Chisholm <kchishol@execulink.com>
Don't ask me why I was driven to review this show--doing so may lend it some unworthy credibility. Maybe it's the fact that Cartoon Network refuses to let it die...
"Captain Planet" is a series that chronicles the adventures of five multi-cultural teens chosen to patrol the planet in search of environmental wrongdoing--the "Planeteers." Each of the five have been given magical rings tha harness the powers of the Earth's elements: Earth, Fire, Wind, Water... and "Heart." When the powers of the five rings are combined, an all-powerful superhero by the name of "Captain Planet" is summoned. For one brief moment, this concept seems almost interesting. However, it has resulted in what may actually be the worst Cartoon series since "The Gary Coleman Show" or "Devlin." How could this possibly be? 10 Good reasons:
1) Almost every environmental emergency the Planeteers encounter is laughably unrealistic, and is usually masterminded by one of 6 recurring, cartoon-like villains--each of whom is easily dispatched. One episode involved the creation of a weather control device that could create a hurricane--thereby destroying some ocean front property for a profit. Call in the Planeteers!
2) Every show is SLATHERED in environmental messages that don't even apply to that specific episode's plot. Example: In an episode where the Planeteers must a bunch of near-extinct animals, the writers felt it was imperative that we hear an aside about how elephant dung is a fantastic natural fertilizer. Who knew? Who cared?
3) The characters are candy-coated and one dimensional, thereby making the viewer want them to die in every episode. None have any personality at all--except the villains and Captain Planet himself (who is strangely sarcastic and full of wonderfully stupid puns). One reviewer mentioned he "enjoyed the romantic tension" between the Russian and American Planeteers. I think it ranks right up there with the tension between Hefty Smurf and Smurfette.
4) The show paints the United States as an evil, disgusting country that cares nothing for the Earth (as opposed to a country that has successfully maintained a multi-racial society in the face of adversity--go figure.)
5) In almost every episode, the American teen character is made to embody the above "ugly American" sentiment: He constantly says things like, "why do we have to save a bunch of dumb animals anyhow?" Or, "We're saving PLANTS from extinction? What's next? Saving rocks?" In the end, he is usually enlightened by his robotic tree-hugger teammates, and they all have a good laugh about it. Ha.
6) More often than not, the major problems presented in each show are only able to be solved by summoning Captain Planet. One wonders why the Planeteers exist, and why Captain Planet can't fly around patrolling Earth--thereby cutting out the middleman.
7) The show spends so much time attacking how society gets its energy, yet no one ever addresses the fact that the rings the Planeteers wear are mysteriously able to create wind, fire and sometimes water--why not use the same "magic" to power our society? Pollution problem solved!
8) Frighteningly, this show has ran for 6 years. In many episodes, it becomes jarringly apparent that the PC-obsessed writers ran out of things to attack. The plot of one episode has the Planeteers as the subject of a big Hollywood movie. What's the big Earth-shattering problem they encounter? "So much food is not eaten on a Hollywood set, and the crew is so messy." And, "so much paper is being used to make copies of the script." Dear God.
9) One Planeteer has a ring that has the power of "heart." I don't think I've ever seen him use it, unless it's in tandem with the other rings to summon Captain Planet. One wonders if this ring is used to harness environmentalist's opinions, and then impose them on others with laser-like accuracy.
10) Writing aside, the show has the worst animation this side of "JabberJaw." What makes it so horrible is that it tries SO HARD to RESEMBLE shows of the time like "GI Joe" or "Transformers," and comes out looking like 3-frame per minute artwork traced off of the monitor while watching "Thundercats." With all the Hollywood bigwigs it had backing it, it amazes me they couldn't do better than this.
In closing, this show is a horrid patchwork of skewed messages, idiot-level writing, convenient political correctness, and painful animation. Many reviewers have labeled "Captain Planet" as "leftist" or "hyper-liberal." I prefer to avoid political classification by simply labeling it "Unwatchable."