Captain Planet And The Planeteers: The Complete Franchise DVD Review
The power is yours.
The Ted Turner and Barbara Pyle created animated series “Captain Planet And The Planeteers” revolved around an Earth Spirit (Gaia) who sent 5 rings of power to kids (AKA The Planeteers) across the Earth. Kwame from Africa was granted the power of Earth, Gi from Asia received the power of water, Wheeler from the U.S. got the power of fire, Linka from Soviet Union/Eastern Europe was chosen to have the power of wind and Ma-Ti from Brazil was destined for the power of heart. With the powers combined, the kids could summon Captain Planet (Earth’s blue skinned hero).
Over the course of 113 episodes and six seasons (3 seasons of “Captain Planet And The Planeteers” and 3 seasons of “The New Adventures Of Captain Planet”), Captain Planet and the Planeteers faced off against a plethora of bad guys include Hoggish Greedly (the bizarre pig guy) and his henchman Rigger, Captain Pollution, Verminous Skumm, Sly Sludge, Zarm, Looten Plunder, Dr. Blight, Duke Nukem and his assistant Leadsuit, and The Slaughters. Plot lines primarily involved environmental messages about oil spills, protecting animals, water pollution, toxic and nuclear waste, mining, ivory, garbage, smog, ozone, global warming, heat wave, drugs, endangered animals, pesticides, animal smuggling, trees, disease, mutations, radiation, natural disasters, poachers, and a puppy mill.
For those that grew up on 80’s and 90’s cartoons, it was impossible to avoid 1990’s “Captain Planet And The Planeteers.” While the show was sometimes viewed as cheesy, preachy and a bit of a punchline, there’s no denying that it had its heart in the right place. The series addressed many important environmental issues, championed diversity, and even had the guts to address subjects such as AIDS (“A Formula For Hate”) and gang violence (“Teers In The Hood”). Simply put, ‘Captain Planet’ was more than a cartoon designed to sell toys and, in fact, spawned an entire foundation (the Captain Planet Foundation) which still exists today. Plus, who doesn’t love that end credits theme song?
Season 1 offered up the best stories while seasons 2 and 3 got rather bizarre with more sci-fi elements, time travel, and baffling episodes like “Population Bomb” (with a mice civilization) and “The Garbage Stinks” (in which a microbe creates a garbage monster). Seasons 4-6 were more of the same although season 4 did have a bit more characterization ala Wheeler’s family, Linka’s hometown and even Linka and Wheeler’s relationship of sorts.
The series contained a powerhouse voice cast featuring the likes of David Coburn, Whoop Goldberg, LeVar Burton, Ed Asner, John Ratzenberger, Jeff Goldblum, Dean Stockwell, Meg Ryan, Sting, James Coburn, Martin Sheen, and more. There were a ton of guest stars throughout as well. Goldberg (Gaia) and Asner (Hoggish) and Coburn (Captain Planet and Captain Pollution) make the biggest impression by truly making those 3 characters stand out the most.
Video/Audio:
Presentation: 1.33:1. How do the episodes look? The series looks solid for a standard definition release. There have been some dreadful releases of 80’s and 90’s cartoons on DVD in the past, but this one stands tall above many.
Audio Track: 2.0 Mono for the first 4 seasons and Dolby Digital Stereo for seasons 6. How do the episodes sound? No complaints for these quality audio tracks.
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