Captain Planet

This redirect is about the fictional character. For the series he is featured in, see Captain Planet and the Planeteers.

Captain Planet
File:Captain PLanet Logo.png
Publication information
Publisher	TBS Productions/DiC; Hanna-Barbera
First appearance	Captain Planet and the Planeteers, Episode #1 (A Hero For Earth), Television
Created by	Ted Turner
In-story information
Team affiliations	Planeteers Gaia
Notable aliases	The Captain, CP, Planet
Abilities	Superhuman strength, speed and stamina, Flight, Invulnerability, Super-breath, Telepathy, Psychokinesis, Shape-shifting, Control over the elements, Matter transmutation

Captain Planet is a superhero in the animated series Captain Planet and the Planeteers and The New Adventures of Captain Planet. He was voiced by David Coburn. He has a green mullet, as depicted in the picture to the right.

Character history and development

Ted Turner created Captain Planet in 1990 with the intent of not only entertaining viewers, but also to increase awareness of environmental hazards.

Background Information

Captain Planet was formed by combining the powers of the rings of the five Planeteers, which represented the four Classical elements: Earth (wielded by Kwame), Fire (Wheeler), Wind (Linka), Water (Gi) - and the additional power of Heart (Ma-Ti). All of these people represented a major ethnicity and each one of them came from a different continent. Upon his formation, he proclaims, "By YOUR powers combined, I am Captain Planet!"

Captain Planet is the combined and magnified powers of all five of the Planeteers' rings, and stands for all that is good and environmentally-friendly. The Captain is sky-blue skinned, with a grass-green mullet and eyebrows. He wears red shorts, a half-shirt and gauntlets with matching red knee-high boots. His body is composed mainly of a crystal compound.

Captain Planet has a very impressive array of powers: he can fly, has great strength (enough to throw a small asteroid from Earth all the way to Jupiter), the ability to blow hurricane force winds, telepathy, telekinesis, shapeshifting, matter transmutation, and virtually any other super-power required by the circumstances currently facing him, which, in fact was one of the criticisms against the show (for example, in one episode, it is revealed that Captain Planet has the ability to execute computer programming commands normally associated with anti-virus software) Much like Superman and his kryptonite, however, Captain Planet also possesses weaknesses to pollution, radiation, toxic waste, smog, etc. The powers of the Planeteers' rings are also diminished by excessive pollution in the environment around them. He, like Gaia, is also bound to the physical realm of Earth: while capable of flying into space, his powers -- and even his very existence -- begin to fade the further away he gets from the planet. Conversely, Captain Planet is often healed from the damage he sustains from pollution by absorbing solar energy, water, or other natural elements. Sometimes, he can intimidate his enemies with insults, as he did with Captain Pollution in one episode.

Captain Planet is an ancient entity, who has served with Gaia for many centuries (possibly even longer). While his appearance and certain mannerisms are taken directly from the minds of the Planeteers, he is a sentient being, with his own will. He is also quite aware of current events, even those that occur when he is not active. His modern-day superhero attire and name seem to stem from the modern world, as even Gaia does not give his name in the beginning. Any previous names or forms were never revealed, however.

Captain Planet is possessed of a wry sense of humor and has been known to crack jokes and use puns at times as well.

Though powerful, as in the first episode when Rigger tried to drill him with a diamond tip drill used for drilling oil and that only tickled him, he has become depowered at least three times in the series. In one episode, when the powers of heart and earth could not return to their rings due to being in outer space; Captain Planet was re-formed with only those two rings, effectively leaving him with only the earth and heart abilities (wind is necessary to fly); this could be taken as meaning that Earth and Heart are the bare minimum requirements for his existence, with Earth representing his "body" and Heart representing his "soul".

In another, when Gaia was taken from Hope Island and turned into a regular human, both Captain Planet and the rings lost their powers, leaving Captain Planet powerless and weak as a normal human. In this story, he was also forced to wear an old hat and coat taken from a dumpster to "blend in" while they searched for the missing Gaia.

Also, in one episode, he seemed to have been "killed" as Hoggish Greedly was sucking up trees and Captain Planet had turned part of himself into wood and was holding onto a tree. He was pulled into the shredding machine as the tree was pulled in. Mat-Ti screamed about feeling pain and the Planteers tried to call Captain Planet back but nothing happened. Later in the show though, they were able to call him for help but even then he told them that he wasn't at full strength like normal.

Public Service Announcements

Each episode ends with one or more Public Service Announcements. It shows the dilemmas that face the environment in relation to the episode (such as radiation or ozone depletion). One comes right after the show is over, before the final commercial break. The second -- if there is one -- comes right before the End credits. However, there usually is only one, especially during the original series.

Comics

Marvel Comics printed a Captain Planet series in 1991, but the series did not continue after the cancellation of the show in 1996.

Other Media

Captain Planet was parodied in the Robot Chicken episode "1987." In the parody, Ted Turner painted himself blue and his hair green and ran around in a Captain Planet getup beating up people who destroyed the environment and screaming "CAPTAIN PLANET!" Later in the skit, he sends a threat to us all "Protect the environment, or I'll fucking kill you!"

Captain Planet appeared in the South Park episode "Imaginationland Episode III". He was amongst the good characters fighting against the bad characters.

External links

• Ted Turner's Captain Planet site
• Captain Planet and the Planeteers at IMDb
• Captain Planet saves Belfast
• The Rubber Chicken - Captain Planet Comic Analysis