Ted Turner’s Captain Planet taught 90s kids about international cooperation and caring for the environment

Anyone who grew up in the 1990s will forever have etched in their memories the theme song to Captain Planet.

“Captain Planet, he’s our hero, gonna take pollution down to zero, he’s our powers magnified and he’s fighting on the planet’s side.” Yeah, it’s stuck in your head now, isn’t it?

The kids cartoon ran from 1990 to 1995 and spanned 113 episodes, and followed the intrepid adventures of five teenagers from all over the world each imbued with the power of Gaia (earth, fire, wind, water and heart) which when combined forms a superhero.

That champion had such a distinctive look – the ice blue skin, the green flat-top mullet (remember the era), the red gloves and boots and that yellow symbol on his chest – but what he stood for was even more memorable.

Captain Planet and the Planeteers was the brainchild of Ted Turner, who died this week at the age of 87.

Turner was a media pioneer who established CNN and the concept of a 24-hour news channel, but for many Millennials, his influence over their childhoods was through this character he wanted to help create awareness and care of the environment.

It had some big names involved. Whoopi Goldberg was the original voice of Gaia and among those who lent their chords to villains were Meg Ryan, Martin Sheen, Jeff Goldblum and Sting. Tom Cruise was meant to be Captain Planet at one point, and even recorded dialogue for the first five episodes, which was later replaced by series star David Coburn.

Turner created the series with Barbara Pyle, who had made environmental documentaries. Pyle told The Guardian in 2020 that Turner called her into his office and gave her the concept and tasked her with creating something to entertain and educate children.

The show encapsulated Turner’s belief in international cooperation and the potential of youth.

The five teen characters hailed from America, Asia, Africa, South America and Europe, and you needed all five of them and their individual powers, gifted by Gaia in the form of magic rings, to summon Captain Planet. The metaphor is obvious, but it’s potent.

The series blended action, adventure and outlandish plots and schemes in a simple-to-follow format. It was colourful and fast-moving, so it was entertaining for young audiences.

It was never coy about its beating heart because the villains were exaggerated archetypes of polluters.

There was Duke Nukem, a rock-skinned mutant who was once a doctor, and he generates radiation and can fire blasts from his hands. By 1990, the Cold War was over but the nuclear threat persisted.

Meg Ryan voiced a character called Babs Blight, a mad scientist who refused to respect the limits or ethics of technological experimentation, while Looten Plunder (James Coburn) was a poacher and corrupt businessman.

There was the pig-faced Hoggish Greedly (Ed Asner), and Sly Sludge (Martin Sheen), a garbage man who later defects to the good side when he realises the error of his ways and starts a recycling program.

These grandiose villains would always meet their comeuppance at the hands of Captain Planet and the Planeteers, and the message to the kids at home was, this could be you.

As the superhero always reminded the viewers, “The power is yours!”.

Episodes ended with direct-to-action calls to its young viewers, whether it was a message about recycling or tree planting. It was something they could do, to start immediately and take better care of the world around them.

It was a popular cartoon so it did spawn a lot of merchandise but the rule was that Captain Planet’s face could never be on single-use plastic. His action figure was made from plastic scrap and packaging was printed on recycled paper.

The year after the series’ launch, Turner established the Captain Planet Foundation, a charity organisation which still funds programs designed to help kids care for the environment.

Its works include the Planeteer Alliance, a leadership program which provides training and resources for young environmental activists, and the grassroots Project Learning Garden, which helps schools establish outdoor, garden-based spaces.

Pyle, the co-creator of the original series, told The Guardian in 2020, “Our goal was to arm a generation with the knowledge to find more sustainable ways of living on the planet. The millennials are living proof that it worked. These adult Planeteers are growing into positions of power, bringing their knowledge to bear to make the changes we need.

“Their work is critical, because today, it’s as if the show’s eco-villains have come to life. (But) opposing them are legions of inspired people worldwide, marching to combat the climate crisis.

“However we are almost at the point of no return. The fate of our species – and all living things – is now truly in our hands.”

Every few years, there have been rumblings of a Captain Planet reboot.

In 2013, there was said to be a movie adaptation in the works at Sony, but nothing came of it.

Actor Glen Powell wrote a film version and he was set to play the titular hero, with Leonardo DiCaprio’s production company involved. As recently as 2023, Powell said it was still in development, but that seems to have now morphed into a Netflix series without him.

DiCaprio’s company was still involved in a project announced last year, spearheaded by prolific producer Greg Berlanti (the DC Arrowverse TV shows).

The time is ripe for Captain Planet to teach a new generation of kids, and it’s tempting to wonder what form the rebooted supervillains might take.

Captain Planet and the Planeteers is available for digital purchase