History WesternAnimation / CaptainPlanetAndThePlaneteers

''Captain Planet and the Planeteers'' (1990 to 1996) underwent several small revisions over the course of its run -- it was renamed ''The New Adventures of Captain Planet'' during its 1993 to 1996 run, which coincided with a change in production companies (from [=DiC=] to Turner-owned Creator/HannaBarbera) -- but the tone of the show always focused on the environment, often with AnAesop about the environment[[note]]though other topics like violence or AIDS received their Aesops as well[[/note]] near the close of each episode. Prevalent in the show's theme was the concept of personal responsibility: Captain Planet's {{Catchphrase}} was "The power is ''yours!''"

* AnAesop: "Bitter Waters" is about Looten Plunder actually showing a rare PetTheDog moment - he wants to open up an agricultural firm on the reservation, which will provide its residents with jobs and money. However, where he messes up is the fact that he is using cash crops that are a little too thirsty for the land it grows on, which mirrors the real-world impacts of the US government forcing reservations to adopt agriculture in many areas, and some may also draw parallels to the [[http://www.columbia.edu/~tmt2120/environmental%20impacts.htm what happened in the Soviet Union]] when they tried to grow cotton. In the end, he even admits their ideas were better when they use native and more appropriate agricultural products ''and'' use the land for green energy plants. The moral of this story is that the road to hell is paved with good intentions after all.

* TheGodsMustBeLazy: Gaia could easily restore barren land with her FertileFeet, but chooses not to because [[AnAesop humans need to learn to take care of their own world]] ([[BrokenAesop except when we can't and need magic]]). Fair enough. But why can't she just choose another fire ring user when Wheeler [[RefusalOfTheCall Refused the Call]] and went back in time to stop himself from accepting it? Okay, maybe the Planeteers are [[TheChosenOne chosen by a higher power]] that even she can't change. It's a guess, but whatever. Now, explain why she decides to take a hundred-year nap in the middle of the goddamn ''industrial revolution'', then relies entirely on five teenagers to fix a century of her neglect? What the hell, Earth Mother?

** Famously, in a time travel episode Captain Planet is briefly incapacitated by Hitler's ''hate''. Yes, that's right, simply hating him hard enough can kill him. Though Hitler's hate is only enough to briefly stun Captain Planet, who notes that he simply wasn't expecting or prepared for the ''sheer amount of hatred and prejudice'' radiating from him, and Captain Planet's own words, "prejudice and hate as toxic as any other pollutant".

** Famously, in a time travel episode Captain Planet is briefly incapacitated by Hitler's ''hate''. Yes, that's right, simply hating him hard enough can kill him. Though Hitler's hate is only enough to briefly stun Captain Planet, who notes that he simply wasn't expecting or prepared for the ''sheer amount of hatred and prejudice'' radiating from him, and "it's as toxic as any other pollutant".

** Famously, in a time travel episode Captain Planet is incapacitated by Hitler's ''hate''. Yes, that's right, simply hating him hard enough can kill him.

-->-- The iconic ClosingCredits

The villains -- who all had ObviouslyEvil names like Duke Nukem (not [[VideoGame/DukeNukem that one]]), Hoggish Greedly, and Looten Plunder -- were cartoonish in every sense of the word, being evil representations of the various real human activities that threaten the environment. This was a sincere, if ''exceptionally'' hamfisted, way of avoiding offense: if the villains had been given grayer morality and more emphasis had been put on the systematic nature of environmental harm rather than the role of individuals, the showrunners feared that kids might have compared them to their parents or their parents' employers who, as they said, are only trying to do their jobs in an efficient manner. To avoid friction, the writers created villains who were intentionally exaggerated and [[AllegoricalCharacter made to represent]] the planet's environmental problems[[note]]Dr. Blight = unethical scientific research; Duke Nukem = irresponsible use of nuclear power and radiation; Hoggish Greedly = overconsumption; Looten Plunder = corporate greed; The Slaughters = animal poaching; Sly Sludge = waste production; Verminous Skumm = disease and urban decay; Zarm = hatred and war[[/note]] rather than the actions of individuals.

* GirlsAreReallyScaredOfHorrorMovies: In "Going Bats, Man", Wheeler and Linka are watching a scary movie, and Linka clutches Wheeler's ring arm so tightly that he protests. She insists it's his own fault for getting her into this in the first place.

'''Looten Plunder:''' "''You'll pay for this, Captain Planet!''"\\

* ThePowerOfHate: The hate of the UsefulNotes/AdolfHitler expy is so strong that it can affect and weaken Captain Planet.

'''Planteers:''' "'''''GO, PLANET!'''''"\\

->'''Planteers:''' "''Earth! Fire! Wind! Water! Heart!'' '''''GO, PLANET!'''''"\\

* GreenAesop: Well, duh. The whole show is devoted to morals on taking better care of the environment and the consequences of pollution and improper waste disposal, with every episode even having a "[[AndKnowingIsHalfTheBattle Planeteer Alert]]" segment to drive the point home.

* GreenAesop: The whole show is devoted to morals on taking better care of the environment and the consequences of pollution and improper waste disposal, with every episode even having a "[[AndKnowingIsHalfTheBattle Planeteer Alert]]" segment to drive the point home.

"''Captain Planet, he's our hero!\\

Bad guys who like to loot and plunder!''"\\

** The same episode also launches an attack at ''WesternAnimation/BeavisAndButthead'', which is one of the programs the Eco-villains produce a parody of during "Operation Sweeps Week." It's also the advertisement that causes [[CommanderContrarian Wheeler]] to comment that the programming has gone too far. Ted Turner was notably not a fan of ''Beavis and Butthead''.

** Verminous Skumm harassed and lied about a boy who had HIV, and he gave nuclear detonators to people fighting in the UsefulNotes/TheTroubles, UsefulNotes/TheApartheidEra, and the UsefulNotes/ArabIsraeliConflict, in an attempt to discredit the entire human race.

* OffModel:
** Sometimes they'd forget to draw the Captain's boots.
** In the very first episode, at a close up on Greedly's face, one of his eyes is slightly off-kilter.
** Duke Nukem having three or two fingers on each hand varied often, and would not just change frequently between episodes, but sometimes between scenes in the same episode.