The long running era of the Saturday morning cartoon has officially ended, but no one can stop you from fulfilling your true weekend calling. Cartoons and Saturday mornings were made for each other and no one can tell us otherwise. It is to that end that we maintain vigil, bringing you animated selections each Saturday morning until the internet dies, or until we run out, good thing there’s always reruns.
“Widget, the World Watcher” Created by Peter Keefe; Directed by Tom Burton; Starring Russi Taylor, Jim Cummings, Kath Soucie, and Dana Hill; Run time: 30 minutes; Originally aired September 29, 1990.
“Widget, the World Watcher” introduces us to a group of benevolent aliens known as “watchers” who have tasked themselves with ensuring peaceful coexistence between all life forms.
In the first episode Earth is identified as a planet needing assistance. There is conflict brewing between human beings (known as “earthers” to the watchers) and whales, an apparently intelligent extra-terrestrial species living on Earth. Humans are capturing baby whales and using them for circus attractions. The watchers enlist the help of Widget, a watcher apprentice second class, to prepare a shuttle for the watcher that will go help Earth.
While preparing the shuttle Widget accidentally launches it toward Earth with himself still inside. He crash lands on the coast damaging his ship and leaving him with only a malfunctioning A.I known as Mega Brain for help.
Upon arriving Widget is welcomed by three human children who help him with is mission to intercede on behalf of whales. They borrow a speedboat and meet the whalers head on, sinking their ship and setting the baby whales free.
“Widget, the World Watcher” was one of several cartoons with environmental conservation themes that came out during this time. “Captain Planet and the Planeteers” had debuted only a couple of weeks prior on September 15, 1990, “Toxic Avengers” would hit the small screen less than a year later, and “FernGully: The Last Rainforest” was well into production in anticipation of its 1992 release.
“Widget” is similar to these other titles in that they all focus on saving the world from some ecological disaster, the threatening of a species, air pollution, oil slicks… the overarching theme is that we human beings should handle our fragile world a little more carefully so as to not need the interference of a hive-mind super hero, a pudgy little shape shifting alien, a toxic mutation, or a fairy and Robin Williams to save us from ourselves.
When I was a kid there was a sense that our environment was in trouble and that it was our responsibility to take action. I remember my elementary school class collecting donations from students to purchase rain forest land for preservation, or plant trees. I remember going on field trips to pick up trash, I remember being taught about endangered species and having a real sense that it was a serious problem needing serious action. Recycling was a big deal and something to be proud of, even Pauly Shore got in on the message with “Bio-Dome” which beneath all of its silliness and weasily antics has a message of responsibility to repair the damage cause by us and our predecessors either through ignorance or abuse.
It never felt like I was being preached to, it simply felt like a problem that was obvious, one we were aware of, and one we were preparing to correct, and I think these cartoons had something to do with that awareness.
Somewhere between then and now, even as the problems have escalated, we seem to have lost focus. I’m not suggesting that it’s directly related to the loss of these shows, it’s probably more accurate that they went hand in hand. We lost interest in taking the problem seriously and we lost interest in these types of stories and characters at the same time.
Things aren’t getting any better for our environment, maybe we would benefit if Widget, Crysta, and The Captain would come back.