Captain Planet and The Planeteers

When I was five or six years old, I loved the show Captain Planet and The Planeteers. This is probably one of the most well-known '90s pop culture icons. The show displays many of the things that made '90s shows successful, and many of the values they tried to teach us in the '90s. It's also got a very catchy theme song. This video contains the intro to the show and the theme song at the end.

Captain Planet's mission is "to take pollution down to zero." He is an Earth elemental, a mullet-wearing mythological being summoned by the power rings of the team of five Planeteers, who come from all over the world. He was appointed by Gaia, the spirit of Earth, to protect the planet from the pollution of a team of polluting evildoers that are each representative of a problem in society, mostly related to environmental issues.

The villains are a colorful crew. There are poachers, unethical and greedy business people, evil scientists. There's Hoggish Greedly, Looten Plunder, Sly Sludge and his sidekick Ooze, Duke Nukem (not the videogame character), and Dr. Blight, the mad scientist. I used to think they were exaggerated. For instance, I didn't get why Sly Sludge was always dumping stuff into the ocean. Now I know that corporations do stuff like that all the time. Here's a clip that shows Sly Sludge dumping waste into the ocean.

The Planeteers represent some of the values and themes that were frequently in '90s TV shows. They are a team, and that teaches the value of teamwork and cooperation. They are racially diverse, which teaches acceptance. They come from all over the world, which represents the message that protecting the environment is a global issue, and all nations need to do their part. Captain Planet tells them "the power is yours," meaning everyone has the power to protect the environment.

It's also similar to the Power Rangers, as you could have a favorite Planeteer. When I was a kid, I would have most wanted the power of fire, so he was my favorite. However, judging from his personality, he was the most obnoxious jerk on the team.

I mentioned that Captain Planet has a mullet haircut. So did I.

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