As I was away at work, my husband, Tired Dad Paul opened up the package for Captain Planet And The Planeteers: Season One
He described Captain Planet as an old-school animation series that was created by Ted Turner (before TBS was created) that ran for six seasons and taught children of the ‘90s about the dangers of pollution and the ways to save the Earth from such threats. In the first episode entitled A Her for Earth, we saw Gaia, the spirit of the Earth (voiced by Whoopi Goldberg), who was awakened from a long sleep by the human activity of drilling into the oceans spilling oil all over plant life and animals in the given ecosystem.
Realizing that the damage is extensive by Hoggish Greedly (voiced by Ed Asner) and other villains, Gaia sends five magic rings, each with the power to control elements of nature to five youths across the globe: Kwame from Africa who received the power of Earth, Wheeler from North America who received the power of fire, Linka from Soviet Union with the power of wind, (which was funny to see since the fall of the Soviet Union hadn’t happened yet in 1990), Gi from Asia with the power of water and Ma-Ti from South America received the all-powerful heart which would link all five Planeteers no matter where they were in the world.
Gaia sent them to help solve the problem of the oil spill with little to no practice with their new powers but they caught on quickly, saving themselves from crashing their jet called the Geo-Cruiser.
As the episode ran on, Gaia told them that if the situation got too tough for them, they could combine their powers. Once they did this, they summoned Captain Planet, a magical spirit who possesses all of their powers magnified but renders the Planeteers powerless during his reign. The only weakness we saw in Captain Planet was the oil pollutants which sapped his strength, as does other pollutants in each episode. He recovered when the Planeteers used water to clean him and defeated the villainous Hoggish Greedly and the oil was cleaned up and animals were saved.
The other episode entitled, The Last of Her Kind, that Selina and Sophia watched with Tired Dad Paul was when the villainous Looten Plunder (which was a clever play on words “Loot and Plunder”). This episode was about gathering elephants for their ivory and this one was where Sophia, our youngest, was into it. She called out to the villains to not hurt the elephants and to stop hurting the baby elephant. As the pattern of the show came to light as the villain was introduced hurting the environment, the Planeteers are summoned, they try and defeat the villain by using their powers, fail and summon Captain Planet to seize the day by always stating, “The power is yours!”
These are great shows to introduce what pollution could do to our environment and the ways to save the planet in the simplest of forms. The best parts of the shows were towards the end when the characters would give such tips as turning off lights when leaving a room, unplugging things that could cause a fire or being safe in public. Shows like this don’t exist these days, except for Disney’s “Friend for Change” campaigns which are short vignettes between shows. The entertainment industry could learn a lesson from Captain Planet, as Selina and Sophia did just after two episodes, and reintroduce the dangers of polluting the Earth and ways to help change our ways before it’s too late, even if it is from a silver man with a green buzz cut.
At the end of the two episodes, Tired Dad Paul asked Selina and Sophia about Captain Planet:
TDP: Who was your favorite Planeteer?
Selina: Water
Sophia: Wind
TDP: Why did you like them the most?
Selina and Sophia: I would like that power ring too.
TDP: What did Captain Planet teach you?
Sophia: To keep the Earth safe.
Selina: …and clean.
TDP: Did you have a favorite show?
Selina: I liked them both.
Sophia: The one with the baby elephant because I like elephants.
TDP: Would you watch more of them if you wanted to?
Selina: If it was on Disney Channel.
Sophia: Yes.
You can find Captain Planet And The Planeteers: Season One
The products were provided for review. No compensation was received. The honest opinions are my own and that of my family.
I remember these guys when we still have cable TV in our home (just DVD’s for the past 18 years). My kids, now my university grads, thought they were stupid.