Captain Planet and the Planeteers (TV series)

This article is about the TV series. For other uses, see Captain Planet and the Planeteers.

Captain Planet and the Planeteers
Season 1-3's title card.
Created by	Ted Turner Barbara Pyle Robert Larkin III Developers: Thom Beers Nicholas Boxer Bob Forward Phil Harnage Andy Heyward Robby London Barbara Pyle Cassandra Schafhausen
Network	TBS
Production company	DIC Hanna-Barbera
Distributor	Turner Program Services
Original release	September 15, 1990—May 11, 1996
Run time	23 minutes
Starring	David Coburn LeVar Burton Joey Dedio Janice Kawaye Scott Menville Kath Soucie Whoopi Goldberg Frank Welker Margot Kidder
Executive producer(s)	Andy Heyward Robby London Barbara Pyle Nicholas Boxer
Producer(s)	Nicholas Boxer Will Meugniot Cassandra Schafhausen Larry Houston Thom Beers Lisa A. Salamone Cos Anzilotti Dan Gottlieb
Music composed by	Tom Worrall Murray McFadden Timothy Mulholland Thomas Chase Steve Rucker
Writer(s)	Bruce Reed Shelly Reed Sean Catherine Derek Laren Bright
Director(s)	Will Meugniot Stan Phillips Jim Duffy Vince Davis Marsha Goodman (voices) Gordon Hunt (voices) Ginny McSwain (voices) Kris Zimmerman (voices)
Second title card
Season 4-6's title card.

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

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.

The entire series has been released on DVD.

Production

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 TBS had aired those years ago.

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.

Episodes

Title	Original air date
1x01 "A Hero for Earth"	September 15, 1990
1x02 "Rain of Terror"	September 22, 1990
1x03 "Beast of the Temple"	September 29, 1990
1x04 "Skumm Lord"	October 6, 1990
1x05 "Deadly Ransom"	October 13, 1990
1x06 "The Conqueror"	October 20, 1990
1x07 "Last of Her Kind"	October 27, 1990
1x08 "The Dead Seas"	November 3, 1990
1x09 "Tree of Life"	November 10, 1990
1x10 "Volcano's Wrath"	November 17, 1990
1x11 "Littlest Planeteer"	November 24, 1990
1x12 "A World Below Us"	January 26, 1991
1x13 "Plunder Dam"	February 2, 1991
1x14 "Meltdown Syndrome"	February 9, 1991
1x15 "Smog Hog"	February 16, 1991
1x16 "Polluting by Computer"	February 23, 1991
1x17 "Don't Drink the Water"	March 2, 1991
1x18 "Kwame's Crisis"	March 9, 1991
1x19 "Ozone Hole"	April 13, 1991
1x20 "The Ultimate Pollution"	April 20, 1991
1x21 "Population Bomb"	April 27, 1991
1x22 "Mission to Save Earth Part 1"	May 4, 1991
1x23 "Mission to Save Earth Part 2"	May 11, 1991
1x24 "Two Futures Part 1"	May 18, 1991
1x25 "Two Futures Part 2"	May 25, 1991
1x26 "Heat Wave"	June 1, 1991
2x01 "Mind Pollution"	September 14, 1991
2x02 "The Garbage Strikes"	September 21, 1991
2x03 "Domes of Doom"	September 28, 1991
2x04 "Send in the Clones"	October 5, 1991
2x05 "The Predator"	October 12, 1991
2x06 "The Ark"	October 19, 1991
2x07 "Isle of Solar Energy"	October 26, 1991
2x08 "The Coral Killer"	November 2, 1991
2x09 "The Big Clam-Up"	November 9, 1991
2x10 "An Inside Job"	November 16, 1991
2x11 "The Fine Print"	November 23, 1991
2x12 "Off Road Hog"	November 30, 1991
2x13 "Trouble on the Half Shell"	December 7, 1991
2x14 "Stardust"	January 18, 1992
2x15 "The Blue Car Line"	January 25, 1992
2x16 "Birds of a Feather"	February 1, 1992
2x17 "Summit to Save Earth Part 1"	February 8, 1992
2x18 "Summit to Save Earth Part 2"	February 15, 1992
2x19 "Losing Game"	February 22, 1992
2x20 "A Twist of Fate"	February 29, 1992
2x21 "The Great Tree Heist"	March 7, 1992
2x22 "Scorched Earth"	March 14, 1992
2x23 "The Hate Canal"	March 21, 1992
2x24 "Radiant Amazon"	March 28, 1992
2x25 "Fare Thee Whale"	April 4, 1992
2x26 "Utopia"	April 11, 1992
3x01 "Greenhouse Planet"	September 12, 1992
3x02 "A Creep from the Deep"	September 19, 1992
3x03 "The Deadly Glow"	September 26, 1992
3x04 "A Perfect World"	October 3, 1992
3x05 "The Dream Machine"	October 10, 1992
3x06 "Bitter Waters"	October 17, 1992
3x07 "The Guinea Pigs"	October 24, 1992
3x08 "OK at the Gunfight Corral"	October 31, 1992
3x09 "Canned Hunt"	November 7, 1992
3x10 "Hog Tide"	November 14, 1992
3x11 "A Formula for Hate"	November 21, 1992
3x12 "If It's Doomsday, It Must Be Belfast"	November 28, 1992
3x13 "The Night of the Wolf"	December 5, 1992
4x01 "A Mine is a Terrible Thing to Waste Part 1"	September 11, 1993
4x02 "A Mine is a Terrible Thing to Waste Part 2"	September 18, 1993
4x03 "I Just Want to Be Your Teddy Bear"	September 25, 1993
4x04 "Missing Linka"	October 2, 1993
4x05 "The Unbearable Blightness of Being"	October 9, 1993
4x06 "Wheeler's Ark"	October 16, 1993
4x07 "Sea No Evil"	October 23, 1993
4x08 "Future Shock"	October 30, 1993
4x09 "I've Lost My Mayan"	November 6, 1993
4x10 "Talkin' Trash"	November 13, 1993
4x11 "The Energy Vampire"	November 20, 1993
4x12 "Bottom Line Green"	November 27, 1993
4x13 "Gorillas Will Be Missed"	February 5, 1994
4x14 "Bug Off"	February 19, 1994
4x15 "You Bet Your Planet"	February 26, 1994
4x16 "Going Bats, Man"	March 5, 1994
4x17 "Jail House Flock"	March 26, 1994
4x18 "High Steaks"	April 2, 1994
4x19 "Planeteers Under Glass"	April 23, 1994
4x20 "Orangu-Tangle"	April 30, 1994
4x21 "No Horsing Around"	May 7, 1994
4x22 "'Teers in the 'Hood"	May 14, 1994
5x01 "Twilight Ozone"	September 10, 1994
5x02 "Hollywaste"	September 17, 1994
5x03 "The Ghost of Porkaloin Past"	September 24, 1994
5x04 "The Disoriented Express"	October 1, 1994
5x05 "Horns A' Plenty"	November 5, 1994
5x06 "A River Ran Through It"	November 12, 1994
5x07 "No Place Like Home"	November 19, 1994
5x08 "Little Crop of Horrors"	November 26, 1994
5x09 "In Zarm's Way"	February 4, 1995
5x10 "No Small Problem"	February 11, 1995
5x11 "Numbers Game"	February 18, 1995
5x12 "Nothing's Sacred"	February 25, 1995
5x13 "Who's Running the Show?"	May 13, 1995
6x01 "An Eye for an Eye"	September 9, 1995
6x02 "Whoo Gives a Hoot"	September 23, 1995
6x03 "Frog Day Afternoon"	October 7, 1995
6x04 "Five Ring Panda-Monium"	November 4, 1995
6x05 "A Good Bomb is Hard to Find"	November 11, 1995
6x06 "Dirty Politics"	November 18, 1995
6x07 "Old Ma River"	November 25, 1995
6x08 "One of the Gang"	January 27, 1996
6x09 "Twelve Angry Animals"	February 3, 1996
6x10 "Never the Twain Shall Meet"	February 10, 1996
6x11 "Delta Gone"	February 17, 1996
6x12 "Greed is the Word"	February 24, 1996
6x13 "101 Mutations"	May 11, 1996

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

Legacy

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.

Feature film

Since 1996, the companies that have owned Captain Planet have tried adapting it into a live-action feature film.

In popular culture

• In the Sister, Sister episode "Out Alone," Tia and Tamera sit on 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), in which Captain Planet turns against humanity by turning them into trees and also gets rid of the Planeteers.
• In the Ben 10: Ultimate Alien episode "The Widening Gyre," Kevin makes a reference to the series about kids fighting polluters.

• 

Robot Chicken

Main article: 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 you 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, as Hal Sparks and his friends do.
• "Hurtled from a Helicopter Into a Speeding Train:"
• "Garbage Sushi:"
• "Gimme That Chocolate Milk:"

Merchandise

Home media

Turner Home Entertainment released episodes on VHS in both America and the UK and Ireland. In the US, Buena Vista Home Video also released episiodes on VHS.

Shout Factory acquired the rights to the series, only managing to release Captain Planet and the Planeteers: Season One on April 11, 2011. On October 15, 2024, Warner Home Video released the entire series on DVD called Captain Planet and the Planeteers: The Complete Franchise.

In Australia, Madman Entertainment acquired the rights to the series, reprinting Shout Factory's first season, and then continued the same theme when they released the entire series together as Captain Planet and the Planeteers: Complete Collection on October 25, 2017.

Reading material

From 1991-1992, Marvel Comics published a twelve-issue comic book series called Captain Planet and the Planeteers.

Toys

Kenner released action figures and playsets to accompany the series. They also managed to release a couple of Captain Planet toys based on The New Adventures rebrand.