Captain Planet and the Planeteers, if it is referenced at all nowadays, is generally treated as a subject of mockery. Online reviewers such as the Nostalgia Critic have shredded it relentlessly, depicting it as a hopelessly ideological cartoon that nobody enjoyed. The show did sometimes bite off more than it could chew, but it also managed to be entertaining and, yes, educational.
The show's premise is familiar to most people. Gaia, the spirit of the Earth, gives five elemental power rings to an international group of teenagers in order to fight pollution. When they going gets tough, they can summon Captain Planet, an anti-pollution superhero. Each episode deals with a different environmental theme, ranging from smog to extinction to...gang violence.
The show worked best when it stuck to environmental themes. At times, the writers became overambitious and tried to deal with more fraught topics such as AIDS and gang warfare. These episodes almost inevitably fell flat, coming across as ham handed and even more preachy than the series usually was. One episode on gang violence was particularly awful, with the gangs depicted as something out of a bad 80s Mad Max rip off.
Nevertheless, the show served a purpose. It was often brutally honest in its treatment of environmental topics, within the limits of a show geared towards children. For instance, one show dealing with whaling featured a sequence of a mother whale being harpooned, complete with blood getting spilled in the water. This type of straight talk was a good thing and left viewers not only entertained, but informed. Perhaps even willing to take action.
For all its flaws, Captain Planet remains a well remembered series for me.
