Captain Planet And The Planeteers: The Complete Franchise Blu-ray Review
Captain Planet gets a hi-def upgrade.
Created by Ted Turner and Barbara Pyle, 1990’s “Captain Planet And The Planeteers” was an animated series with positive environmental messages. The premise of the 113 episode series involved the Earth Spirit Gaia sending 5 rings of power to children across the Earth (the titular Planeteers). Gi from Asia received the power of water, Ma-Ti from Brazil was gifted the power of heart, Linka from Soviet Union/Eastern Europe was destined with the power of wind, Kwame from Africa received the power of Earth and Wheeler from America got the power of fire. With their powers combined, the 5 young folks could summon Captain Planet (the heroic blue skinned hero of Earth). The series ran three seasons and was followed up with an additional 3 seasons of “The New Adventures Of Captain Planet.” Given that this is a series focusing on the environment, the plots deal with water pollution, animals, oil spills, forests, natural disasters, smog, the ozone, global warming, toxic and nuclear waste, etc. In typical superhero fashion, Captain planet faces off against a rather large rogues gallery including Hoggish Greedy, Sly Slude, Zarm, Duke Nukem (no relation to the video game character), The Slaughters, Captain Pollution, and more.
“By your powers combined, I am Captain Planet.” With these immortal words, “Captain Planet And The Planeteers” launched itself into pop culture history. Unfairly dismissed as a cheesy and dated cartoon, the show deserves to be remembered as a cartoon with something to say. It’s no secret that most cartoons (especially in the 80’s and 90’s) served to sell toys. “Captain Planet” existed to not only entertain audiences, but teach kids about the environment, diversity, Earth, weather, and so much more. The series even led to the creation of The Captain Planet Foundation which still exists. That’s quite the legacy for a 35 year old cartoon.
While the show does adhere to a formula that gets a bit stale (you can also see Captain Planet face the same bad guys so much), there’s still a variety of stories to be found here. Season 1 is far and away the best overall season here. Seasons 2 and 3 go into some really weird territory with sci-fi yarns about time travel, mice , and a garbage monster. It kind of felt like they were trying to compete with “Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles” to a degree. “The New Adventures Of Captain Planet” offers up more of the same, but there is at least an attempt at more characterization in these seasons with storylines about Wheeler’s family, Wheeler and Linka’s relationship, etc.
The voice acting is a real all-star affair. Expect to hear Whoopi Goldberg, LeVar Burton, Meg Ryan, Dean Stockwell, James Coburn, Jeff Goldblum, John Ratzenberger, etc. The real standouts here include Ed Asner as the pig-like baddie Hoggish and David Coburn who voices both Captain Planet and the villainous Captain Pollution. You can’t think of Captain Planet without thinking of David Coburn. It’s perfect casting.
Video/Audio:
Presentation: 1.33:1 1080p. How does it look? If you held off on the 2024 DVD release, you made the right choice. This is the one to get. While it’s a bit puzzling why the Blu-ray was released 6 months after the DVD set, this set was worth the wait. The colors are richer and the transfers are glossier. It’s great to see WB give a catalogue cartoon like this the treatment it deserves.
Audio Track: 2.0 DTS-HD MA Stereo and Mono. How does it sound? There seems to be varying details about the audio tracks. The discs themselves do not specify the audio track as it merely says “English.” The box says “DTS-HD MA: English Stereo Or 2.0 Mono.” On the DVD release, the first 4 seasons were in Mono so it’s likely the 2.0 Mono tracks are for that and seasons 5 and 6 have the Stereo track. Other sources have said all episodes are in 2.0 DTS-HD MA. Whatever the case may be, the track or tracks deliver. From the sound effects to the classic theme song, the audio is quite clean.
No extras.
No comments yet.
Share This Blog
Robert Ham
dmanderson
Andrea
nicklyons1
DVD Corner 
Leave a comment