35 Years Ago, One Superhero Cartoon Tried Its Best to Save the World

It’s been 35 years since one particular superhero cartoon tried its best to save the world, and fans are still divided over whether or not it actually did all these decades later. The early 1990s were a significant shift for the world of animation as while many shows of the 1980s and prior were crafted with the distinct purpose of serving as toy advertisements for the children that watched, there was a concerted effort to move away from this idea for the future of children’s media. But these early 1990s shows had a unifying voice of their own in a completely different kind of way.

While these earliest 1990s animated shows in the West steered further away from directly being just toy commercials, many of them sort of swung in the entire other direction as they were filled with public service announcements and more as they tried to better educate the children that watched them instead. It led to some unique combinations of education, service, and superhero action, but there’s no better example of all of these ideas than with Captain Planet and the Planeteers after all these years.

Captain Planet and the Planeteers First Premiered 35 Years Ago

On September 15th, 1990, Captain Planet and the Planeteers first premiered with TBS and kicked off a whole new wave of Saturday morning cartoons. Created by Barbara Pyle and Ted Turner, and developed by the likes of Pyle along with Nicholas Boxer, Thom Beers, Andy Heyward, Robby London, Bob Forward, and Cassandra Schafausen, Captain Planet introduces fans to a group of powerful teens known as the Planeteers. When Gaia, the Spirit of the Earth (who was actually voiced by Whoopi Goldberg in the first three seasons), sees that the Planet is in trouble due to spreading pollution and destruction, she recruits these teens from around the world to help save it from itself.

Each of the Planeteers was then equipped with a special ring that would give them power to control certain elements. When these five elements are combined, the powers of Fire, Water, Earth, Air and Heart form together into a brand new superhero known as Captain Planet. The Planeteers would take on tough foes every week who were seeking to pollute the Earth, and Captain Planet was then brought in when the fight would get to tough for the teens to take on alone. And usually, Captain Planet’s arrival would signal the end of that fight overall.

Read Next

3 Cartoon Network Shows That Will Never Get Rebooted (Because They’re Perfect)

Captain Planet and the Planeteers was a special series in that at the end of each episode, there was a specific segment of the episode that would further break down the real life problems facing the Earth at the time. It was a very forward thinking series in that way as it was meant for kids to eventually get interested in helping with pollution in any way they can, but 35 years later there’s been a wonder as to whether or not this superhero cartoon was able to have an impact on the world at large.

Did Captain Planet Save the World?

35 years later, Captain Planet and the Planeteers has indeed made an impact but probably not in the way that it might have originally wanted. While it set out to be a genuine message to kids about the world at large, all these years later it’s seen as more of a joke. The campy and kitschy nature of early 1990s shows like it made it a perfect ground for comedy in the years to come. It’s been famously parodied in some key ways like with a “live-action” take on the hero from Don Cheadle, or its more cynical take seen in Rick and Morty.

That’s just the start of the many ways the show has been parodied over the years, and it’s hard not to see why as it’s genuine nature makes it a fun target. It was trying to get kids to recycle, and yet was still trapped within the overt cynicism of cartoons trying to sell toys to children regardless. It was never going to be a perfect vehicle to deliver its message to save the Earth, but it tried its hardest. And it’s that spirit that’s alive after all this time.

Captain Planet and the Planeteers was such an interesting core idea in the first place as there have been multiple attempts to revive it for the modern era. There’s even a live-action series now in development with Netflix as of the time of this writing, and hopefully it will find that balance between satire and genuine want to save the world. That’s what has given this franchise staying power after all these years, and the desire to save the world will never really be out of style regardless of whether or not Captain Planet does.