History YMMV / CaptainPlanetAndThePlaneteers

* GermansLoveDavidHasselhoff: Australian kids LOVE ''Captain Planet'' unironically, and even the snarking over the silliness is more out of love rather than out of regret and the sense of "What the hell were we thinking, watching this as kids?" like it is in the United States. A ''lot'' of Australian children born in the late '80s to very early 1990s will fondly remember watching ''Captain Planet''. Not only was it on the free-to-air channel Creator/TheABC, but it was in a perfect timeslot with popular shows on either side of it. Sadly, to the despair of several viewers, the ABC no longer has broadcasting rights. It is perhaps due to this that, as of 2017, Australia is one of the only two countries in the world (New Zealand being the other one) to have the complete series of ''Captain Planet'' released on DVD.

* HarsherInHindsight: One episode is about rhino horns and how poaching might make them extinct. In 2011, the western black rhino [[http://www.cnn.com/2011/11/10/world/africa/rhino-extinct-species-report was declared extinct in the wild.]]

* DontShootTheMessage: Most actual environmentalists do not hold the show in particularly high regard, whether due to its frequently poor research [[BrokenAesop unintentionally bungling its messages]] about otherwise very important real problems or its simplistic and cartoonish portrayal of the villains obfuscating the actual systemic forces doing harm to the environment in real life. Even considering all of that, a show attempting to teach kids that protecting the environment is a *good* thing and trying to at least broach serious and complex topics in a simple manner for six-year-olds to grasp, then teach them basic things to do to feel like they have some control at a young age is at least well-intentioned.
* EvilIsSexy:
** Dr. Blight, at least until you see the burn on her face that her hair covers. Hell, to some people, she's pretty even with the scar!
** MAL, because of [[Creator/TimCurry his second voice actor]].

* WhatDoYouMeanItsForKids: Some episodes do deal with issues that aren't about the environment, like drugs (Linka and her cousin getting addicted to drugs and Linka's cousin dying from it), HIV/AIDS (the infamous episode about a basketball player's life being ruined when he contracts HIV), and racial violence (the episode about "The Troubles", the one where the Planeteers try to stop a gang war, and the episode where they go back in time to Nazi Germany to stop Dr. Blight from selling nuclear weapons to Adolf Hitler and thus suddenly turning the tide of World War II in the Axis's favor). Those are remembered more than the others, either because they were campy as hell or because viewers were amazed and shocked that a kids' TV show can show such adult issues. However, the team did use child psychologists to review the script on the most controversial episodes.

** With anthropogenic climate change looming over all facets of public discussion, extinction claiming species after species at a rate hitherto unseen in human history, and pollution-related issues afflicting numerous countries even more seriously, there’s no doubt that the show's concern for the environment wasn’t unfounded or even ahead of its time in some ways. Many environmentalists lament the fact that the show portrayed a lot of legitimate issues[[note]]some of the many examples being the confluence of the mistreatment of American Indians and the ecosystems they once tended to explored in "Bitter Waters" and "No Horsing Around", the many pollution crises stemming from the fossil fuel industry in India depicted in "Old Ma River" that still persist today, and of course the many episodes dedicated to the hunting of endangered species[[/note]] that are even more important nowadays for a young audience and the broader public for the very first time on television, yet sullied them with unhelpful cartoonish portrayals of the perpetrators and solutions that now poison many contemporary discussions by associating environmentalists’ positions with the sanctimonious yet often useless Aesops delivered by the Planeteers.

* ValuesResonance: With anthropogenic climate change looming over all facets of public discussion, extinction claiming species after species at a rate hitherto unseen in human history, and pollution-related issues afflicting numerous countries even more seriously, there’s no doubt that the show’s concern for the environment wasn’t unfounded or even ahead of its time in some ways. As mentioned under DontShootTheMessage above, many environmentalists lament the fact that the show portrayed a lot of legitimate issues (some of the many examples being the confluence of the mistreatment of American Indians and the ecosystems they once tended to explored in “Bitter Waters” and “No Horsing Around”, the many pollution crises stemming from the fossil fuel industry in India depicted in “Old Ma River” that still persist today, and of course the many episodes dedicated to the hunting of endangered species) that are even more important nowadays for a young audience and the broader public for the very first time on television, yet sullied them with unhelpful cartoonish portrayals of the perpetrators and solutions that now poison many contemporary discussions by associating environmentalists’ positions with the sanctimonious yet often useless Aesops delivered by the Planeteers.

* RetroactiveRecognition: Hoggish Greedly Jr. was the first animated role of Creator/CharlieSchlatter who among other roles is best known for voicing ComicBook/TheFlash.

* VindicatedByHistory: "A Formula for Hate" was seen as one of the show's most laughable episodes. Fast forward to TheNewTwenties and suddenly it became one of the most ''relevant''.

** In "[[Recap/CaptainPlanetAndThePlaneteersS2E1MindPollution Mind Pollution]]", Linka flirts with Wheeler while offering him a pill. One way of interpreting this is that she was just seducing him as a way of getting him hooked. However, given Linka's on-and-off flirtation and ClingyJealousGirl tendencies when she's normal, she clearly reciprocates her teammate's romantic feelings, and [[LossOfInhibitions being high on Bliss could have deactivated her reluctance to admit it]]. How much of her flirtation was calculated seduction and how much was a desire to have Wheeler with her rather than against her?

** "AIDS STINKS!"

* TheProblemWithLicensedGames: The [[UsefulNotes/NintendoEntertainmentSystem NES]] game, an uncanny mix between a ShootEmUp and a PlatformHell with horrible controls. The UsefulNotes/SegaGenesis game wasn't much better, either.

* ValuesResonance: With anthropogenic UsefulNotes/ClimateChange looming over all facets of public discussion, extinction claiming species after species at a rate hitherto unseen in human history, and pollution-related issues afflicting numerous countries even more seriously, there’s no doubt that the show’s concern for the environment wasn’t unfounded or even ahead of its time in some ways. As mentioned under DontShootTheMessage above, many environmentalists lament the fact that the show portrayed a lot of legitimate issues (some of the many examples being the confluence of the mistreatment of American Indians and the ecosystems they once tended to explored in “Bitter Waters” and “No Horsing Around”, the many pollution crises stemming from the fossil fuel industry in India depicted in “Old Ma River” that still persist today, and of course the many episodes dedicated to the hunting of endangered species) that are even more important nowadays for a young audience and the broader public for the very first time on television, yet sullied them with unhelpful cartoonish portrayals of the perpetrators and solutions that now poison many contemporary discussions by associating environmentalists’ positions with the sanctimonious yet often useless Aesops delivered by the Planeteers.

* DontShootTheMessage: Most actual environmentalists do not hold the show in particularly high regard, whether due to its frequently poor research [[BrokenAesop unintentionally bungling its messages]] about otherwise very important real problems or its simplistic and cartoonish portrayal of the villains obfuscating the actual systemic forces doing harm to the environment in real life.

** "A Formula for Hate", despite falling into ValuesResonance, fell into this during the TurnOfTheMillennium and TheNewTens (even arguably the late [[TheNineties nineties]]) simply because it was made in the context of the "AIDS Crisis". People such as ''WebVideo/TheNostalgiaCritic'' and others laughed at the episode for just how ''dated'' it was, one of the reasons it came off as laughable 10 years later was because by then a lot of misinformation about AIDS and HIV were combatted.
** While Wheeler's backstory of having an [[AlcoholicParent alcoholic]] and [[AbusiveParents emotionally abusive]] father is played seriously and [[TheWoobie sympathetically]], the story only comes up in a couple of episodes and the last one involves Wheeler making up with the man. Had the story been written today, the other Planeteers would presumably have taken the revelation with more shock and gravity and the "making up" episode ("Talkin' Trash") would have involved them being more protective in case Wheeler's father hadn't changed.
* ValuesResonance: Many parts of the show aged poorly and became something of a laughingstock in later years, particular the TurnOfTheMillennium. However, viewers have come to note that several messages actually became more relevant over time, making the show something of a CassandraTruth to people of TheNewTens. One notable example is the above-mentioned crossover with ''WesternAnimation/OKKOLetsBeHeroes'' which features a downtrodden Captain and Kwame who haven't needed to update their message to fit in with the new era.
** Related to the above, anti-environmentalist sentiments have become common in recent years. Subcultures like [[https://www.thecut.com/2014/07/why-people-are-paying-5000-to-pollute-more.html coal rollers]] built their identity on spiting environmentalists by maximizing the amount of pollution they produce from their car. Comparisons to the villains in the show are not unheard of.
** The AIDS episode was frequently made fun of for how outlandish and improbable it was, complete with the idea that the public needed to be educated about AIDS. During the UsefulNotes/COVID19Pandemic however? Suddenly this episode doesn't seem like {{Narm}} but [[CassandraTruth a warning we laughed at]].

-->"My Brother is a freedom fighter!"\\

[[OohMeAccentsSlipping "FENIAN' PRODS!"]]

-->"We hittin' da spot to score some got!"\\

* HarsherInHindsight:
** Now that Creator/NeilPatrickHarris, whom the HIV-stricken teen Todd was played by, has come out as gay, it's pretty obvious why he did the role (the character he played was accused of contracting HIV from unprotected sex with his male friend, rather than a blood transfusion gone wrong), since, back then, homosexual men were discriminated against because of it.
** One episode is about rhino horns and how poaching might make them extinct. Watching it over 20 years later might make some people cringe knowing [[http://www.cnn.com/2011/11/10/world/africa/rhino-extinct-species-report what happened to the western black rhino...]]
** If the Planeteer Alerts about pollution from cars had been taken more seriously, there probably wouldn't be [[http://aqicn.org/map/world/#@g/4.0075/19.4272/2z this much smog over big cities today]].
** As of the ''WesternAnimation/OKKOLetsBeHeroes'' crossover, any time Wheeler bickers with the other Planeteers, since eventually the group broke up due to infighting and went to "find real jobs".
** In "Mind Pollution", Linka's cousin Boris gets hooked on a designer drug called "Bliss", and gets Linka hooked, too. A decade or so later, designer drug "Krokodil" had similar effects on actual Russians. Except worse.
** The episode about AIDS was very much an anvil that needed to be dropped at the time it was made. During the TurnOfTheMillennium and early parts of TheNewTens? People laughed at it - because it just seemed so ''outlandish''. However? As mentioned by Verminous Skumm, if the public is misinformed about a disease that makes it easier to spread. Listen to that line after the UsefulNotes/COVID19Pandemic happened... then realize just how much of it was happening in North America and Western Europe.
* HeartwarmingInHindsight: The "If It's Doomsday, This Must Be Belfast" episode, which one segment dealt with Wheeler managing to talk down both the Catholics and Protestants from nuclear detonation along with getting them on a peaceful relationship, became more heartwarming 6 years later with 1998 Good Friday Agreement. Though tensions and terrors have occurred after that, especially at the tail end of the 1990s, the results have been overall very positive with the sectarian violence winding down and both Sinn Fein (Catholic) and Democratic Unionist Party (Protestant) peacefully sharing power in Northern Ireland parliament in 2013.
* HilariousInHindsight:
** Zarm's second voice actor, Creator/DavidWarner, also voiced Ra's Al-Ghul on ''WesternAnimation/BatmanTheAnimatedSeries'' - a character that has almost the complete opposite goals as Zarm, being a villainous environmentalist. Even funnier is that Zarm's third actor, Creator/MalcolmMcDowell, played his son, Arkady Duvall in the episode "Showdown".
** In "[[Recap/CaptainPlanetAndThePlaneteersS1E5DeadlyRansom Deadly Ransom]]", Dr. Blight and Duke Nukem capture Captain Planet and ultimately shoot down the geo-cruiser in front of him when the Planeteers come to get him out. Given the fandom's [[LikeASonToMe interpretation of their relationship]], it resembles the later scene from ''WesternAnimation/TheIncredibles''.

* CatharsisFactor: While [[TheComplainerIsAlwaysWrong Wheeler]] was RightForTheWrongReasons (He believed Dr. Blight's sister Bambi was innocent simply because she was [[BeautyEqualsGoodness pretty]]), it is rather gratifying for him to turn out to be right for once in "Hollywaste" for those who were tired of him being a ButtMonkey due to his ignorance about environmental issues.

** The episode "Population Bomb" is a particularly harsh example. The episode attempted to deliver an aesop about how apocalyptic overpopulation is, and that humans need to lower fertility rates and stop the Earth from being overpopulated to avoid the fate that Miceland suffered in the episode. As this [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QsBT5EQt348 video]] points out, higher fertility rates will increase education rates to help advance the world's development even further, and the world's population is growing but not at a fast enough rate to raise these kinds of concerns. Large families are also important in developing poorer countries by providing a growing supply of labor and a primitive safety net. Society is now much more aware of the negative impacts of population planning, including forced sterilization, forced and sex-selective abortion, infanticide of “excess” children, and, in the long term, skewered, unstable demographics. Finally, many scientists and activists have increasingly criticized the overpopulation hypothesis and its associated policies as elitist and anti-poor, as it put the onus on poor countries to stop having kids they might need, rather than on rich countries to consume more responsibly. [[note]]The episode unintentionally touches on this last point when Wheeler points out that Kwame's judgment of him [[{{hypocrite}} rings pretty hollow]] considering how much money and energy he wastes, with Kwame's [[LameComeback only defense]] being that him only having two kids somehow means that he's "allowed" to be wasteful. As usual, Wheeler's view is treated as the "incorrect" one.[[/note]]

* CommonKnowledge: One frequent criticism of the show ([[RepeatedlyUsedOnThisVeryWiki even on this very wiki]]) is that all of the eco-villains are mere caricatures who cause environmental degradation purely ForTheEvulz. But this isn't the case for most of them: Hoggish Greedly and Looten Plunder are generally trying to make money, Sly Sludge's damage to the environment is borne out of CuttingCorners and [[DidntThinkThingsThrough not taking the time to think things through]] rather than genuine malice, and Verminous Skumm is far more interested in destroying ''humanity'' than nature. The only major villain who this really applies to consistently is Dr. Blight. However, since Blight is one of the more frequently-seen villains, it's at least understandable.
* CatharsisFactor: While [[TheComplainerIsAlwaysWrong Wheeler]] was RightForTheWrongReasons (He believed Dr. Blight's sister Bambi was innocent simply because she was [[BeautyEqualsGoodness pretty]]), it is rather gratifying for him to turn out to be right for once in ''Hollywaste'' for those who were tired of him being a ButtMonkey due to his ignorance about environmental issues.

* GermansLoveDavidHasselhoff: Australian kids LOVE ''Captain Planet'' unironically, and even the snarking over the silliness is more out of love rather than out of regret and the sense of "What the hell were we thinking, watching this as kids?" like it is in the United States. A ''lot'' of Australian children born in the late '80s to very early 1990s will fondly remember watching ''Captain Planet''. Not only was it on the free-to-air channel Creator/TheABC, but it was in a perfect timeslot with popular shows on either side of it. Sadly, to the despair of several viewers, the ABC no longer has broadcasting rights.
** It is perhaps due to this that, as of 2017, Australia is one of the only two countries in the world (New Zealand being the other one) to have the complete series of ''Captain Planet'' released on DVD.

** Many fans have taken delight in mocking Wheeler [[WhoNamesTheirKidDude for his name]]. Hell, a lot of his mannerisms that scream of American stereotypes may also qualify.

* RootingForTheEmpire: Some fans actually cheer on the Eco Villains, often purely out of spite for how UnintentionallyUnsympathetic the Planeteers and Gaia can be in [[AesopEnforcer enforcing the Aesop]] of the day.
** The writers themselves may have caught this because they made it happen in "Whoo Gives a Hoot?" by having Looten Plunder succeed in clear-cutting a forest where endangered animals lived and even rubbed his success in the Planeteers' faces. Needless to say, it was quite a DownerEnding.

** While Wheeler's backstory of having an alcoholic and emotionally abusive father is played seriously and [[TheWoobie sympathetically]], the story only comes up in a couple of episodes and the last one involves Wheeler making up with the man. Had the story been written today, the other Planeteers would presumably have taken the revelation with more shock and gravity and the "making up" episode ("Talkin' Trash") would have involved them being more protective in case Wheeler's father hadn't changed.

* CommonKnowledge: One frequent criticism of the show ([[RepeatedlyUsedOnThisVeryWiki even on this very wiki]]) is that all of the eco-villains are mere caricatures who cause environmental degradation purely ForTheEvulz. But this isn't the case for most of them: Hoggish Greedly and Looten Plunder are generally trying to make money, Sly Sludge's damage to the environment is borne out of laziness and short-sightedness rather than genuine malice, and Verminous Skumm is far more interested in destroying ''humanity'' than nature. The only major villain who this really applies to consistently is Dr. Blight. However, since Blight is one of the more frequently-seen villains, it's at least understandable.
* CatharsisFactor: While [[TheComplainerIsAlwaysWrong Wheeler]] was RightForTheWrongReasons (He believed Bambi Blight was innocent simply because she was [[BeautyEqualsGoodness pretty]]), it is rather gratifying for him to turn out to be right for once in ''Hollywaste'' for those who were tired of him being a ButtMonkey due to his ignorance about environmental issues.

* HeartwarmingInHindsight: The "If It's Doomsday, This Must Be Belfast" episode, which one segment dealt with Wheeler managing to talk down both the Catholics and Protestants from nuclear detonation along with getting them on a peaceful relationship, became more heartwarming 6 years later with 1998 Good Friday Agreement. Though tensions and terrors have occurred after that, especially at the tail end of the 1990s, the results have been overall very positive with the sectarian violence winding down and both Sinn Fein (Catholic) and Democratic Unionist Party (Protestant) sharing power in Northern Ireland parliament in 2013.

* TheyWastedAPerfectlyGoodCharacter: Many see Captain Pollution (who only appears in four episodes) as a wasted character, especially thanks to being one of the few genuine threats to Captain Planet himself. What's more, some fans of the series feel that he should have had a VillainTeamUp with Zarm, and help bring back together the five Eco Villains who originally summoned him along with the EvilKnockoff power rings.

** Wheeler. Ted Turner created him to show how uneducated Americans are about environmental concerns compared to the rest of the world. However, this ends up with the other characters suffering from positive discrimination - wherein they are apparently more "educated" about conservation by virtue of not being in the United States. (This may be somewhat justified by the fact Wheeler is a city child whereas the others are implied to have been from more rural areas and thus closer in proximity to nature.) But as a result? This ends up making Wheeler come off as one of the few characters who has to deal with genuine personality flaws, and when we ''do'' get to see where exactly Wheeler was from (The Projects - government subsidized housing in the US for low income people, for those unaware), it's clear his lack of knowledge or education is due to circumstances that are no fault of his own, and [[KarmicButtMonkey the show punishing him for this "flaw"]] often comes off as unintentionally classist as a result.

** The episode "Population Bomb" is a particularly harsh example. The episode attempted to deliver an aesop about how apocalyptic overpopulation is, and that humans need to lower fertility rates and stop the Earth from being overpopulated to avoid the fate that Miceland suffered in the episode. As this [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QsBT5EQt348 video]] points out, higher fertility rates will increase education rates to help advance the world's development even further, and the world's population is growing but not at a fast enough rate to raise these kinds of concerns. Large families are also important in developing poorer countries by providing a growing supply of labor and a primitive safety net. Society is now much more aware of the negative impacts of population planning, including forced sterilization, forced and sex-selective abortion, infanticide of “excess” children, and, in the long term, skewered, unstable demographics. Finally, many scientists and activists have increasingly criticized the overpopulation hypothesis and its associated policies as elitist and anti-poor, as it put the onus on poor countries to stop having kids they might need, rather than on rich countries to consume more responsibly. [[note]]The episode unintentionally touches on this last point when Wheeler points out that Kwame's judgment of him [[{{hypocrite}} rings pretty hollow]] considering how much money and energy he wastes, with Kwame's [[LameComeback only defense]] being that him only having two kids somehow means he can "afford" to be wasteful. As usual, Wheeler's view is treated as the "incorrect" one.[[/note]]

** Near the end of "Summit to Save Earth, Part II", Commander Clash first walks out on the Planeteers, saying that he failed and Zarm won, then proceeds to [[MakesSenseInContext save the day by swooping in with a mirror]]. Did he simply [[ChangedMyMindKid give it some thought and change his mind]]? Or was it his Plan B to make it seem like he gave up, and get the upper hand over Zarm with the element of surprise?
** In "[[Recap/CaptainPlanetAndThePlaneteersS2E1MindPollution Mind Pollution]]", Linka flirts with Wheeler while offering him a pill. One way of interpreting this is that she was just seducing him as a way of getting him hooked. However, given Linka's on-and-off flirtation and ClingyJealousGirl tendencies when she's normal, she clearly reciprocates her teammate's romantic feelings, and [[LossOfInhibitions being high on Bliss could have deactivated her reluctance to admit it]]. How much of her flirtation was calculated seduction and how much was a desire to have Wheeler with her rather than against her?

** Dr. Blight, [[spoiler:at least until you see the burn on her face that her hair covers.]] Hell, to some people, [[spoiler:she's pretty even with the scar!]]

* GermansLoveDavidHasselhoff: Australian kids LOVE ''Captain Planet'' unironically, and even the snarking over the silliness is more out of love rather than out of regret and the sense of "What the hell were we thinking, watching this as kids?" like it is in North America (specifically, the United States). A ''lot'' of Australian children born in the late '80s to very early 1990s will fondly remember watching ''Captain Planet''. Not only was it on the free-to-air channel Creator/TheABC, but it was in a perfect timeslot with popular shows on either side of it. Sadly, to the despair of several viewers, the ABC no longer has broadcasting rights.

** Now that Creator/NeilPatrickHarris, whom the HIV-stricken teen Todd was played by, has come out as gay, it's pretty obvious why he did the role now (the character he played was accused of contracting HIV from unprotected sex with his male friend, rather than a blood transfusion gone wrong), since, back then, homosexual men were discriminated against because of it.
** One episode is about rhino horns and how poaching might make them extinct. Watching it 20 years later might make some people cringe knowing [[http://www.cnn.com/2011/11/10/world/africa/rhino-extinct-species-report what happened to the western black rhino...]]

* HeartwarmingInHindsight: The "If it's Doomsday, this must be Belfast" episode, which one segment dealt with Wheeler managing to talk down both the Catholics and Protestants from nuclear detonation along with getting them on a peaceful relationship, became more heartwarming 6 years later with 1998 Good Friday Agreement. Though tensions and terrors have occurred after that, especially at the tail end of the 1990s, the results have been overall very positive with the sectarian violence winding down and both Sinn Fein (Catholic) and Democratic Unionist Party (Protestant) sharing power in Northern Ireland parliament in 2013.
* HilariousInHindsight:

** In "Deadly Ransom", Dr. Blight and Duke Nukem capture Captain Planet and ultimately shoot down the geo-cruiser in front of him when the Planeteers come to get him out. Given the fandom's [[LikeASonToMe interpretation of their relationship]], it resembles the later scene from ''WesternAnimation/TheIncredibles''.

** AIDS STINKS!
** The entirety of ''If it's Doomsday, this must be Belfast'', from the wild and downright insulting historical inaccuracies about all of the world conflicts presented to the outright ''hysterical'' "dialogue" between each member of the conflict.
-->"My Brother is a freedom fighter!"
--> "Ah! You mean a terrorist!"
--> [[OohMeAccentsSlipping "FENIAN' PRODS!"]]
** Speaking of ridiculously misused slang, the VerySpecialEpisode about gang violence, "'Teers In The Hood", features some hilariously bad unintentional JiveTurkey:
-->"We hittin' da spot to score some got!"
-->"It's R-I-P time for you dawg!"

** When Gi mentions that after the hypothetical bomb that Jerusalem was "only a memory", [[AngstWhatAngst she seems awfully indifferent towards the destruction of the holiest sites in Abrahamic religions]] judging by the way she said it.

* {{Squick}}: Sly Sludge is often pretty disgusting, as in the episode "An Inside Job", where he is seen happily smelling the fumes coming from a sewage pressure control valve while he tries to drown the Planeteers in waste. In "Kwame's Crisis", Sly even buries an entire town in garbage. Because the citizens of the town have lost all hope for trying to even be clean, they simply throw their trash wherever they wish, so in one scene, we get to see a woman open up a baby's diaper and toss it away, visibly showing the urine inside. "Old Ma River" also had no problems showing characters going through areas full of raw sewage, nor did it have any problems with depicting emaciated animal corpses, one of which was a vulture-covered cow carcass floating around in the Ganges River. Linka ends up getting battered by the cow's corpse, making her (and Kwame, Gi, and Ma-Ti, who come to her rescue) sick.

* TheyChangedItNowItSucks: The intro for season 6 was '''drastically''' different from the seasons 1-5 one and met with much scorn.

** Now that Creator/NeilPatrickHarris, whom the HIV-stricken teen Todd was played by, has come out as gay, it's pretty obvious why he did the role now (the character he played was accused of contracting HIV from unprotected sex with his male friend, rather than a blood transfusion gone wrong), since, back then, homosexual men were discriminated against because of it. The entire episode is itself one when you consider the UsefulNotes/COVID19Pandemic and how misinformation resulted in it spreading like ''wildfire''.

* ValuesDissonance: While the show’s overall intention of promoting environmental and social responsibility remains resonant, quite a few individual morals and characters have become rather outdated as a combination of [[HistoryMarchesOn history]], society, and [[ScienceMarchesOn science]] marching on.
** The show's motto "The Power is Yours!" has come under recent scrutiny as it becomes increasingly clear that worsening effects of climate change and environmental destruction are largely the result of governments and major corporations ignoring or denying the consequences of pollution and showing reluctance to change laws and business practices rather than it being the fault of any individual for not properly recycling or the like.

** The episode "Population Bomb" is a particularly harsh example. The episode attempted to deliver an aesop about how apocalyptic overpopulation is, and that humans need to lower fertility rates and stop the Earth from being overpopulated to avoid the fate that Miceland suffered in the episode. As this [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QsBT5EQt348 video]] points out, higher fertility rates will increase education rates to help advance the world's development even further, and the world's population is growing but not at a fast enough rate to raise these kinds of concerns. Large families are also important in developing poorer countries by providing a growing supply of labor and a primitive safety net. Society is now much more aware of the negative impacts of population planning, including forced sterilization, forced and sex-selective abortion, infanticide of “excess” children, and, in the long term, skewered, unstable demographics. Finally, many scientists and activists have increasingly criticized the overpopulation hypothesis and its associated policies as elitist and anti-poor, as it put the onus on poor countries to stop having kids they might need, rather than on rich countries to consume more responsibly. [[note]]The episode unintentionally touches on this last point when Wheeler points out that Kwame's judgment of him [[{{hypocrite}} rings pretty hollow]] considering how much money and energy he wastes, with Kwame's [[LameComeback only defense]] being that him only having two kids somehow means he can "afford" to be wasteful.[[/note]]

** Wheeler. Ted Turner created him to show how uneducated Americans are about environmental concerns compared to the rest of the world. However, this ends up with the other characters suffering from PositiveDiscrimination - wherein they are apparently more "educated" about conservation by virtue of not being in the United States. (This may be somewhat justified by the fact Wheeler is a city child whereas the others are implied to have been from more rural areas and thus closer in proximity to nature.) But as a result? This ends up making Wheeler come off as one of the few characters who has to deal with genuine personality flaws, and when we ''do'' get to see where exactly Wheeler was from (The Projects - government subsidized housing in the US for low income people, for those unaware), it's clear his lack of knowledge or education is due to circumstances that are no fault of his own, and [[KarmicButtMonkey the show punishing him for this "flaw"]] often comes off as unintentionally classist as a result.