Captain Planet and the Planeteers

Captain Planet and the Planeteers is an American children's animated television series, created by Ted Turner. The show is about Gaia, the spirit of the planet, is awakened from a long sleep by Hoggish Greedly, who happens to be drilling above her resting chamber. Realizing that the damage is extensive, Gaia sends five magic rings, four with the power to control an element of nature and one controlling the element of Heart, to five chosen youths across the globe: Kwame from Africa, Wheeler from North America, Linka from the Soviet Union (changed to Eastern Europe after the Soviet Union's dissolution), Gi from Asia, and Ma-Ti from Brazil.

Broadcast
Captain Planet and the Planeteers originally debuted on TBS in the United States on September 15, 1990, and finished on May 11, 1996. Season 6 also was not aired in the United States until many years after the show's cancellation. Most of the episodes finally made their U.S. debut on Boomerang in 2006 as part of an Earth Day marathon.

The New Adventures of Captain Planet
The original show was the second longest running US-cartoon of the 1990s, producing 113 episodes. It lasted for three seasons under the name Captain Planet and the Planeteers (produced by TBS Productions and DiC), before a production company switch, changing the title to The New Adventures of Captain Planet (produced by Hanna-Barbera Cartoons, which was acquired by Turner in 1991). During this time, it aired as part of TBS' Sunday Morning In Front Of The TV block, alongside fellow H-B toons SWAT Kats: The Radical Squadron and 2 Stupid Dogs. This show revealed more of the past of each of the characters, and expanded on it dramatically. Gi tells the story of her pet dolphin, while Linka is revealed to have a mining family who used canaries to detect lethal gases in the mines, and her opening sequence generalizes her birthplace as Eastern Europe to avoid confusion in viewers born after the Soviet Union’s collapse in 1991. This would place her canonical birthplace among one of the countries that gained their independence when the Soviet Union collapsed. The tone of these episodes was more mature than the initial show, often explicitly mentioning death or dying. The characters' relationships with each other were more mature, and the language was also more direct. This is likely attributed to the aging of the initial audience. Several changes were noticeable, most significantly the animation style. While the character models from the DiC episodes were retained and the original DiC opening sequence used, the new animation relied less on shading and was slightly more colorful. Many of the characters had refurbished outfits. The sound effects utilized when the Planeteers used their rings were changed and the echo in Captain Planet’s voice when he emerged was gone. The DiC seasons' synth rock soundtrack was replaced by a large number of orchestral pieces, and while the famous end credits theme was retained, the ending sequence now showcased footage from the Hanna-Barbera episodes. A small number of cast changes occurred, affecting Gaia and most of the eco-villains. The opening narration was spoken by David Coburn (Captain Planet) rather than LeVar Burton (Kwame) and, in the final season, was replaced by a rap by Fred Schneider of The B-52's.

International versions

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