Well, whether or not you agree with all the global climate change talk, the fact is - the world is now starting to focus on environmental issues. And we can all stand to treat the planet a little better, right? So where is the man that first taught us all how to save the planet?
“Earth!”
“Fire!”
“Wind!”
“Water!”
“Heart!”
“GO PLANET!”
“With your powers combined, I am CAPTAAAIN PLANET!”
Surprisingly, at 113 episodes, Captain Planet and the Planeteers was the second-longest running cartoon of the decade. Ted Turner, of all people, created Captain Planet to not only entertain, but teach children about environmental concerns, with PSAs coming after every episode.
The cast was a who’s-who of stars at the time, including Whoopi Goldberg, crazy Margot Kidder (who played Lois Lane in the Superman movies and then went batcrap crazy), LeVar Burton (Kunta Kinte/Geordi La Forge/Reading Rainbow Guy), and Frank Welker, who was a big-time voice actor. Special guests included Ed Begley Jr. (THERE’s a surprise!), Phyllis Diller, Danny Glover, Mark Hamill, Neil Patrick Harris (he played a doctor on TV), the late Phil Hartman, Elizabeth Freaking Taylor, Vanna White, and - dare I say it? - Steve Gutenberg!
Now, with such a cavalcade of stars, who gets to play Captain Planet himself?
THIS guy???
That’s right, the original voice of our blue hero was none other than Tom Cruise, pre-crazy. However, he did only do the voice in the pilot. Afterwards, Cap was voiced by David Coburn, who provided the voice for Donnie Wahlberg in the New Kids on the Block cartoon series. In related news, there was a New Kids on the Block cartoon series.
So why should Planet come back?
1. Kids like superheroes. They’ll flock to him. He was like a big, blue-skinned Superman without the stupid alter-ego storylines.
2. The look:
Soak that in for a second. The fabulous green mullet. The baby-blue skin. The wicked, not-exactly-straight-looking half-shirt. The knee-high boots. If he wasn’t preaching about pollution, I’m betting church organizations all over the place would have called for a ban on him. And I think you know why.
3. The theme song. I don’t support any cause that doesn’t have a killer theme song attached to it that I can hum in every day life. And since, now that I’m writing this article, I’ll be humming this all day long, I want to share it with you, so that you do the same. The passion that those chicks sing “DOWWWN to ZERO!” just motivated me to recycle. Add to that a catchy rap by the Planeteers, and man - I may just buy a hybrid car.
The power is YOURS!
 |
Theme Song - CAPTAIN PLANET |  |
 |
||
 |
Found at skreemr.com |  |
Technorati Tags: Captain Planet
