In honor of Earth Day, this week on Saturday Morning Cartoon! We’re watching “Captain Planet and the Planeteers.” The show was created by Ted Turner, Robert Larkin III, and Barbara Pyle and aired from 1990 to 1992, a sequel series titled “The New Adventures of Captain Planet” aired from 1993 to 1996.
In the first episode Gaia, the spirit of the Earth is awakened when eco-villain Hoggish Greedly begins drilling illegally for oil. She uses her powers to look around the Earth and survey the destruction laid upon it by mankind while she slept. When she sees the amount of pollution and the destruction of ecosystems, she releases the five rings of power, delivering them to five special young people.
Each of the rings gives the wearer power over a single power of nature, earth, wind, water, fire, and heart. Gaia explains that ‘heart’ is the most important power of all because with a heart to guide them, the other powers are worthless. Mati, bearer of the heart ring, also explains that he can hear the thoughts of the other Planeteers and feel their feelings. Which isn’t at all creepy.
The Planeteers go off to fight Hoggish Greedly and his roving mobile oil rig. When it becomes apparent that their first mission as too much for them to handle on their own, they combine their powers at Gaia’s instruction, summoning CAPTAIN PLANET! He’s a hero.
The power of the rings are rendered inoperable while Captain Planet is summoned, he cleans up the spilled oil, seals the crack in the Earth and takes care of Greedly while the kids go help animals that are covered in oil, a job that even a mundy can do.
At the end of the episode there is a short PSA that relates to the theme of the episode. In this case telling you that you can help reduce oil spills by reducing the amount of gas used. Carpooling, public transit, and walking/riding a bike are suggested.
This pretty much sets the formula for what “Captain Planet and the Planeteers” is. An eco-villain is doing something terrible to the environment, the Planeteers go to stop them, they call in Captain Planet, he saves the day, this corner of the Earth has been protected and we all learned a lesson about not littering or not wasting or something to that effect.
But the show sometimes stepped out of this formula in order to address other social problems. In the episode “Mind Pollution,” Gaia sends the Planeteers to address a recent surge in use of a designer drug called Bliss manufactured and distributed by Verminous Skumm (Jeff Goldblum).
Linka goes to Washington DC to visit some family, including her cousin Boris. Boris was recently introduced to Bliss by Verminous Skumm and tricks Linka into ingesting some by hiding it in a burrito or something…
This episode is controversial because at one point, in a mad drive to get more Bliss, Boris breaks through a window slicing open both of his arms and bleeding profusely.
He get’s bandaged up and seems to be alright, but in the end it’s all for naught. Boris agrees to murder the Planeteers in exchange for another bottle of Bliss. He demands the Bliss first, takes a handful of pills and promptly falls down and dies!!
What??
The Planeteers then convince Linka to power through her cravings and withdrawals and use her ring to help them summon Captain Planet. She does, he saves the day. All is well.
Except that Boris is dead.
Except for that.
In short, “Captain Planet” wasn’t always on its best game, some episodes are better than others, but when it was good, it was really good.
Happy Earth Day… week. And remember…
Cheers.