Why CAPTAIN PLANET Is One of the Greatest Shows Ever
A little preface here, this is absolutely going to sound like the most sarcastic thing you'll ever read. That's not my intent, but alas, it's inevitable.
Before we begin, let's talk about the other animated series that were airing around the same time Captain Planet got started. Some notable examples include Tiny Toon Adventures, TaleSpin, Doug, Ren & Stimpy, Darkwing Duck, Rugrats, and Batman: The Animated Series. There are some pretty great titles there (the early '90s Batman series is widely recognized as the best comic based show ever), but all of them pale in comparison to Captain Planet & the Planeteers!
Captain Planet ran from 1990-96, which is a pretty good run for an animated series. The show didn't have any particularly big names attached to it, not that voice acting was as respected as it is now. The production of the show was nothing spectacular for the '90s, so on paper the show looks more or less lackluster. So what is it that makes Captain Planet so great? Basically, it was way ahead of its time.
Before the early 2000s there wasn't much discussion on the environmental impact of mankind, so Captain Planet was a bit out there as far as tackling issues go. More than being ahead though, it only took on that one issue: the environment. The episodes taught about everything you can imagine, oil, energy conservation, wildlife preservation, deforestation, and even went into some other scientific topics like genetics. I'm not saying there aren't a ton of other series that did and do this same thing, but Captain Planet was unabashed about it while they went after environmental issues in a fun interesting way. The show was what it was: a look at environmental issues for kids. It did this in the '90s when MTV was becoming popular for things that weren't music related (believe it or not, they actually were about music at one point many, many moons ago), and other series were just pure entertainment. In an era where that entertainment was becoming less and less intelligent, Captain Planet stood up and said that kids needed to know about these issues, and they did it before the rest of the world became so obsessed.
Captain Planet remains relevant, too. With environmental issues being one of the common topics discussed in any political arena, it becomes increasingly clear that maybe if we'd all watched Captain Planet when we were younger we would be better informed about these issues, and maybe the world would have been a little more concerned about it.
I'm not saying that Captain Planet had the best production value, even among the other cartoons of the early 90s, but it's still enjoyable to watch now. Plus, how do you not love that theme song?! "Captain Planet, he's a hero, gonna bring pollution down to zero!"
You sang that in your head, didn't you? Of course you did! Captain Planet has had a cultural impact that has lasted for two decades now, but I think it deserves a little more recognition for what it was. In today's world of fast-paced, low intelligence entertainment, maybe we could all do with just a little more educational entertainment, maybe it could tackle some important goings-on in the world. That's why Captain Planet is the greatest TV series ever — it wasn't ashamed to talk about issues that at the time not many people thought were important. That sounds pretty great to me.
What do you guys think? Did you watch Captain Planet as a kid? Let us know in the comments below!