In hindsight, I probably should have waited to post this on Earth Day, but I forgot what week Earth Day was when I said that this would be my next review, so y'know what, I'm posting it now.
Captain Planet and the Planeteers is one of those cartoons that seemingly everyone has heard of, but hardly anyone has actually watched - mainly because it doesn't have the best reputation. Its biggest claim to fame is how preachy it is. I hate to admit it, but I was introduced to it via the Nostalgia Critic's review of it. Admittedly, that review was made back when the Nostalgia Critic was actually at least sort of funny, so...
What is Captain Planet and the Planeteers? Well, it was created by Ted Turner, Barbara Pyle and Robert Larkin III, premiering on TBS in September 1990. It got six seasons. The plot? Well, according to the narration during the intro, the spirit of the Earth, Gaia (voiced by Whoopi Goldberg) has had enough of pollution and people causing it, so she sends five magic rings to five "special young people". In order, they are...
- Kwame (LeVar Burton of Reading Rainbow fame), from Africa, who possesses the power of Earth
- Wheeler (Joey Dedio), from North America, who possesses the power of fire
- Linka (Kath Souice), from the Soviet Union, who possesses the power of wind
- Gi (Janice Kawaye), from Asia, who possesses the power of water
- Ma-Ti (Scott Menville), from South America, who possesses the power of... heart, which isn't one of the elements, but we'll let it slide
In every episode, these five attempt to stop evil dudes from destroying the planet. They fail, so then Kwame declares, "Let our powers combine!" and they do just that, summoning the titular Captain Planet (David Coburn). Why they don't just do that in the first place instead of trying to stop the bad guys themselves, I don't know.
Nowadays, Captain Planet is more of a punchline than anything, an easy target for animation reviewers like me to make fun of. However, the first season has been released on DVD, attempts have been made to adapt the show into a movie (none of which have actually gotten off the ground), and Captain Planet made an appearance in an episode of OK K.O.! Let's Be Heroes. So clearly SOMEBODY must've liked it. Is the show better than the internet makes it out to be? Let's find out! We'll be watching the tenth episode, "Volcano's Wrath".
This episode was written by Robert Schooley and Mark McCorkle. If those names sound familiar, it's because they went on to create Kim Possible. They also worked on The Penguins of Madagascar. So that's a good sign, at least...
It's a beautiful day on Laipuno Island... or at least it is until three boats full of garbage pulls up to the island. They are under the command of Sly Sludge, one of the show's many recurring villains. You can tell he's evil because he has an evil expression and says "Trash is cash, cash for ME, Sly Sludge." All he needs is a mustache to twirl and a Snidley Whiplash costume.
He's also voiced by Martin Sheen. At least in the first three seasons. In Season 4, Jim Cummings takes over. Actually, most of the celebrity voices in this show (Meg Ryan, Jeff Goldblum, Dean Stockwell, etc.) were replaced by professional voice actors after their first few appearances. Even Whoopi Goldberg was replaced as Gaia's voice by Margot Kidder as the show went on. I guess it's because the celebrities became too busy or too expensive.
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| Can you imagine somebody actually naming their son "Sly Sludge"? |
So Sly Sludge is basically running some sort of garbage disposal business. He has people send them their trash and he'll dump them for a fee. Little does he know that Gaia and the Planeteers are watching him. Gaia tells the Planeteers that Sly Sludge will cover the island with all that garbage (and apparently he doesn't think anyone will notice the island being covered with garbage?) because apparently just putting it in a landfill isn't eeeeeeeeeeeeevil enough for him.
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| "There has to be something better on than this. Where's the remote control?" |
Question - Gaia's the earth spirit, right? Does that mean she controls the earth? Why doesn't SHE do something to stop Sly Sludge? Does she just not have the power to have a giant hole open up and swallow him whole?
Well, anyway, the Planeteers jump into their Eco-Sub and head for the island. On the way there, they encounter a native in a canoe who's had it up to HERE with all that trash Sly Sludge is dumping on the island.
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| Oh, yeah, I should mention that Ma-Ti has a pet monkey. Because people like monkeys, don't they? |
The native, whose name is Tommy, takes the Planeteers to Sly Sludge's eeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeevil lair, where he claims that he's NOT, in fact, just leaving the trash on the island to rot. No, no - he's using his laser beam to shrink it!
...okay, word of advice, Sly Sludge: you want to be rich? How about patenting that SHRINK RAY you invented? You could be winning a Nobel Prize or something for developing such a device! What, is it just not eeeeeeeeeeeeeevil enough for you?
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| "I could be making millions off this device that makes similar inventions seen in science fiction stories a reality, but nah, I'd much rather use it for my evil schemes." |
Once the Planeteers leave, Sly reveals that - surprise! It was a trick! He's not shrinking the trash at all! Which begs the question as to how he was able to pull off the effect of having the laser beam shrink the trash to fool the Planeteers. Maybe we'll get an explanation for that later.
The Planeteers encounter one of Sly Sludge's workers, another native who dubs him the best thing to happen to the island.
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| I appreciate that this cartoon doesn't go the stereotypical "savage warriors in loincloths" route you usually get with natives in cartoons. That would've been incredibly racist. |
Tommy explains to the Planeteers that this other native is his sister, Lanai, who's Sly Sludge's number-one "Trash-Matic mechanic". She insists that Sly Sludge is a hero... and then we cut to Sly Sludge gloating about how he fooled everyone and how he's dumping all the trash into - you guessed it - a volcano.
I love how not subtle they are in establishing that Sly Sludge is evil. He might as well just be wearing a giant neon sign reading "I AM EVIL".
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| Rule of thumb: any episode of any cartoon that takes place on a pacific island has to have a volcano in it. And it has to be a volcano that's about to erupt. It's just common knowledge. |
Linka is still doubtful of Sly Sludge's claim that he's really "shrinking" the trash - probably because if Sly Sludge actually did have a shrink ray, he would probably be using it to shrink the Planeteers down to the size of a ladybug so he can step on them and stop them from ruining his evil plans. She and Wheeler head back to Sly Sludge's lab and do some investigating. It's during this scene that I realize just how obnoxious Wheeler is. He's your stereotypical "egotistical tough guy with the intelligence of a bag of marshmallows" who can't go five seconds without making an unfunny joke.
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| "I'm just gonna press buttons randomly on the control panel. There's no way THAT could go wrong, right?" |
Lanai shows up while the system is going berserk thanks to Wheeler's being an idiot, and winds up in the spot where the trash is placed to be shrunken down by the laser beam. But instead of being shrunk, she falls through a trapdoor. So apparently the shrink ray doesn't actually shrink anything, it just lights up and nothing else. Sly Sludge really wasted his money on a laser beam that DOESN'T DO ANYTHING?
Lanai falls onto a conveyor belt where all the trash is being brought to the pulley system that takes it up to the volcano. Sly Sludge actually shows concern for her, but he tells Wheeler that he can't do anything to stop it. Also, I'm just now noticing that Sly Sludge's mouth is gigantic.
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| Did you know that Joey Dedio also did the voice of Daniel in the Karate Kid cartoon? Yes, there was a Karate Kid cartoon at one point. Look it up. |
Linka tries to save Lanai from falling into the volcano, but only succeeds in preventing her from landing in the lava. "We need Captain Planet!" Wheeler declares.
And in case you're wondering where Tommy and the rest of the Planeteers are, they're currently looking around the lab for their friends. Ma-Ti uses his heart powers to sense that they're in the volcano. So, he's a psychic? What does that have to do with the heart?
So you should know where this is going, right? "Let our powers combine!", powers combined, and Captain Planet shows up.
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| The mega mac daddy of ecology! (Geez, did I really just type that?) |
Captain Planet saves Lanai and Linka from the lava, then confronts Sly Sludge. But, uh oh! The volcano's about to erupt!
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| See? What did I tell you? Volcanoes in cartoons ALWAYS erupt. |
"Clear the area, everybody!" Captain Planet shouts. Once everyone has gotten out of the volcano, Lanai comes up with the idea of using the construction vehicle to dig a canal, preventing lava from flooding the village. So off they go to do that while Captain Planet works on stopping the volcano from erupting. While making a bunch of unfunny one-liners.
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| Mai-Ti seems oddly calm about the situation at hand... in fact, the MONKEY looks the most concerned out of anyone in this screencap. |
Tommy, Lanai, and the Planeteers dig the canal, which the lava falls into as opposed to destroying the village. Captain Planet then creates a wall of crystals to hold back the lava, but that's only a temporary solution. They need water! It sure is a good thing one of the Planeteers has water powers, isn't it?
Oh, wait. Gi isn't going to do anything. Captain Planet is going to get water from the ocean. Apparently Gi forgot that she has the aforementioned water powers.
By the way, Sly Sludge isn't going to get away with his actions.
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| Out of context, this kind of looks like Captain Planet is trying to seduce Sly, doesn't it? |
Captain Planet creates a tsunami to literally rock Sludge's boat and extinguish the lava, then uses an enormous column of water to cool off the volcano. Sludge is arrested. Captain Planet suggests that the natives take care of the trash via recycling. We get another joke about how dumb Wheeler is, and then the Planeteers spend a few minutes talking about how you can recycle. "The power is YOURS!" Captain Planet announces before zapping the audience with a laser beam from his finger.
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| "Phone home..." |
What's the Verdict?
Okay, I'll be honest... I didn't think this was that bad. Yes, it's preachy. Yes, the animation is bad. Yes, Wheeler is annoying. Yes, there are a bunch of unfunny one-liners. Yes, the villain is so over the top that he's impossible to take seriously. But, to be honest, I feel the episode does a fine job of getting across the anti-pollution message without being too obnoxious about it. I mean, compared to something like Animals United, this is far less ridiculous. And the voice actors all do a good job. So, yeah. Far from the best show I've ever seen, but it's far from the worst too. Believe me, there are far, far worse cartoons out there.
Like what we'll be looking at next time, for example!
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