A heat wave hits Hope Island, but worse things are afoot — Duke Nukem, using environmentally unfriendly appliances, has started widening the hole in the ozone layer.
This episode includes examples of the following tropes:
- Alleged Lookalikes: Captain Planet asks to borrow Lead Suit's eponymous outfit so he can come within fighting distance of Nukem without suffering from his radiation. Given that the Captain is quite a bit more muscular (to the point that Lead Suit notes afterwards that the suit has been stretched), Nukem must have Failed a Spot Check not to notice that something was wrong when he approached dressed in it.
- Are You Pondering What I'm Pondering?: When they sneak into Nukem's stolen factory, Ma-Ti sees the air conditioners and asks Wheeler if he's thinking what Ma-Ti is thinking. Wheeler thinks he's thinking that it would have been cheaper to pick up an AC unit here (rather than worrying about the environmental safety of their unit).
- Book Ends: The episode begins with Wheeler and Ma-Ti lugging an air conditioner into one of the huts so that the team can keep cool. It ends with Ma-Ti removing it, because it's made with the same environmentally unfriendly widgets as Duke Nukem's. Nobody is happy about it, but they concede that it's necessary.
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Broken Aesop: Wheeler buys an air conditioner to deal with a heat wave. The episode later focuses on the environmental damage air conditioner chemicals cause, so the Planeteers agree to send it back and start...playing with a garden hose, implying that wasting water is better than using an air conditioner. To further break the Aesop, they're on an island; there's plenty of water to play with without using a hose. - The Complainer Is Always Wrong: Downplayed. While Wheeler, as usual, is the one who does something accidentally against the show's morals (bringing in an environmentally-damaging air conditioner), the other Planeteers also like it; all of them think it's a great idea initially, and even after the incident with Duke Nukem, Gi forgets the potential problems with AC units in her desire to return to the coolness.
- Dramatic Ammo Depletion: A variant; Duke Nukem chases down the Planeteers after they steal a vital part from his stolen air conditioner factory, firing at them multiple times. He wrecks their ride and prepares to blast them...only to discover that he used up all his energy during the chase.
- Dressing as the Enemy: Played With; Captain Planet borrows the henchman's lead suit, but it's to block Nukem's radiation, not to pose as his underling. However, it does allow Captain Planet to get close and throw Nukem without the villain realizing who he is, making it doubly useful.
- Know-Nothing Know-It-All: Wheeler is indignant when the others appoint Linka as the leader after they have to find their way to Nukem's in the snow, retorting that Brooklyn gets snow too. He manages to find the base mostly by sheer dumb luck (and plot convenience, because Nukem trapped Linka's group).
- Kryptonite-Proof Suit: Duke Nukem's henchman wears a lead suit to avoid suffering poisoning from his boss's radioactivity. Captain Planet asks if he can borrow it when he goes to fight Nukem.
- Leeroy Jenkins: For once, it's not Wheeler who's being reckless. Ma-Ti nearly charges out into plain view to free Linka, Gi, and Kwame from the ice, only for Wheeler to remind him that they have to stay out of Nukem's sight.
- Life Saving Misfortune: Wheeler's stubbornness leads him and Ma-Ti on an unnecessary trek across the arctic... but it winds up helping the mission because it means Nukem doesn't capture the whole team at once.
- O.O.C. Is Serious Business: When they arrive and see that Nukem trapped the others in ice "shackles", Ma-Ti nearly charges out of cover to free them...and Wheeler, whose passion often overwhelms his reasoning, grabs him by the shoulder and tells him not to, pointing out that they're in big trouble if Nukem sees them.
- Skewed Priorities: Subverted. Not long after Kwame and the girls get trapped in ice, Gi asks Linka if she has any sunblock. Linka scolds her for thinking about such things in their situation... but then, Kwame points out that she's already getting a major sunburn on her face.
- Tempting Fate: At the end, Gi advises Kwame not to point the hose at her. When he ignores her, she uses her powers to jet the water back into his face.
- Yank the Dog's Chain:
- The team is suffering from a heat wave, and all of them are relieved at the break provided by the air conditioner. Naturally, it turns out to be environmentally unfriendly and they have to send it back.
- Duke Nukem's henchman prefers to be called "Lead Suit", something Nukem ignores whenever it suits him. As they're trying to escape from Captain Planet, Nukem says he'll never call the henchman "Lead Head" again if he can get them away in time. When he manages it, Nukem instead calls him "Chrome Dome". The guy unhappily remarks that he thinks he preferred "Lead Head".
