Captain Planet and the Planeteers

Captain Planet and the Planeteers, and later known as The New Adventures of Captain Planet, is an American animated environmentalist superhero TV series produced by DIC (seasons 1-3) and Hanna-Barbera (seasons 4-6) for TBS. It ran from 1990 to 1996, airing 113 episodes.

The plot was explained in an opening narration for the first five seasons: Gaia, the spirit of the Earth, can no longer stand the terrible destruction plaguing our planet. She sends five magic rings to five special young people: Kwame, from Africa, with the power of Earth... From North America, Wheeler, with the power of Fire... From Eastern Europe, Linka, with the power of Wind. From Asia, Gi, with the power of Water... and from South America, Ma-Ti, with the power of Heart. When the five powers combine, they summon Earth's greatest champion, Captain Planet.

Casting
The casting director for the DIC episodes was Ginny McSwain and Marsha Goodman, while Kris Zimmerman was the casting director of the Hanna-Barbera episodes.

Aftermath
In 2001, the Captain Planet Foundation became a non-profit organization after the merger between Time Warner and AOL. For Earth Day 2006, Boomerang advertised the last thirteen as new, even though they had aired back with the other episodes.

In 2017, there was a OK K.O.: Let's Be Heroes! crossover episode called "The Power Is Yours!", with David Coburn and Levar Burton reprising their roles.

Music
The main title and score were composed by Tom Worrall, while Murray McFadden and Timothy Mulholland composed the end title music, with end title lyrics written by Nicholas Boxer. When production of the series moved from DIC to Hanna-Barbera, Thomas Chase and Steve Rucker composed the main title and score, while McFadden and Mulhollan continued to compose the end title music.

The main title music was completely changed for the sixth and final season, which had Pat Irwin compose music set to a wretched rap by Fred Schneider, but your opinion might be different.

The music supervisor was Joanne Miller at DIC, while Bodie Chandler was the director of the music production at Hanna-Barbera.

Cast

 * David Coburn as Captain Planet
 * LeVar Burton as Kwame
 * Joey Dedio as Wheeler
 * Janice Kawaye as Gi
 * Scott Menville as Ma-Ti
 * Kath Soucie as Linka
 * Frank Welker as Suchi
 * Whoopi Goldberg (seasons 1-3) and Margot Kidder (seasons 4-6) as Gaia

In popular culture

 * In the Sister, Sister episode "Out Alone," Tia and Tamera sit a bus that advertises the series.
 * In 2011, Funny or Die released a four-part live-action sketch called Captain Planet with Don Cheadle (also known as Don Cheadle is Captain Planet).

Robot Chicken

 * "1987:" At the Turner HQ, Ted Turner hears about Pan-Global dumping sludge into the Atlantic Ocean, which enrages Turner so much that he dresses up as Captain Planet and goes about the streets on a lunatic crusade against injustice shouting "Captain Planet!" He kicks down a man who discards a cup into a regular bin instead of recycling it, before ziplining to Pan-Global HQ, where executives are already planning on dumping more sludge into the Grand Canyon. Ted holds one of them out of the window to force him into signing a document that they'll stop dumping sludge. He then drops the guy anyway, who falls into a recycling dumpster. He then ends the skit with a PSA-like announcement that he will kill you if don't protect the environment.
 * The next segment called "Best Robot Chicken Ever," has Hal Sparks proclaim the biggest catchphrase of the new millennium will be shouting "Captain Planet!" before doing something lurid, like kicking people in the testicles, like Hal Sparks and his friends do.
 * "Hurtled from a Helicopter Into a Speeding Train:"
 * "Garbage Sushi:"
 * "Gimme That Chocolate Milk:"