This show is another childhood gem and a bit of a guilty pleasure. Yeah, the show can be a little preachy even kinda corny/cheesy. However I really like this show because it has it where it counts on two things, delivering a good message but also just being plain fun.
I like the animation, mainly the character animation really like the details on them. Like this is a super sentai like show that is focused on saving the enviorment which is a plot line that I really don't see much, I really like this kind of plot line where your saving the world but all of the elements that make this world livable which I think is great because you have a lot more factors to deal with.
The action was a lot of fun, in a way this show is sort of like with the anime/manga series "Sailor Moon" as we see each of the characters had powers all based on elements of earth. It was just always cool seeing them use the powers with the rings which are sort of like the rings in "Green Lanturn" as you say the element to activate the powers you can also psychically control them, make the power act out anyway you want. My favorite was always fire since that has the most use and seems to be the strongest.
The villains were a lot of fun, each of them were colorful and of course are ironically true to their names much like any "Dick Tracy" villain. What really made them stand out where that they were all voiced by just a great ensemble of familiar faces. From Martin Sheen as Sly Sludge, Jeff Goldblum as Verminous Scum whose voice acting was just fantastic I didn't even know it was him. The late great James Colburn as Luten Plunder whom I find dryly funny as he is just a corporate sleaze wanting to make a fast buck in the worst way.
Though my favorites are Hoggish Greedly voiced by Ed Asner whom is funny because he is a glutton for both profit and just about everything, he's almost sort of a Walter Mathaeou like character as the guy is just a complete slob and he thrives from it with glee. And Dr. Blight and her A.I. program Mouth voice by Meg Ryan and Tim Curry. Blight is really smart, she has that balance where she can be sexy and steady(weird to say) but can really turn that around as she exercises nastiness in both her twisted experimentation and persona. Mouth is sort of like an evil version of Jarvis from "Iron Man" I really like that he exercises intelligence but also has a lot of dry humor and wit that makes me crack up.
The planeteers are also solid characters, I like that it's a multi racial ensemble which for it's time was uncommon. Two of my favorites are Wheeler and Linka. Both of them to me are the best thing about the Planeteers because of their chemistry (cmon both have the hots for one another lets face it), sort of like with Richard Castle and Kate Beckett and many others.
Wheeler I really like because he really is true to his ring title as he is full of fire. This guy has just a lot of energy and fire, he doesn't take crap from anyone, he exercises aggression and I like that he's kinda a wisecracker as he is gives the bad guys grief with both his powers and jokes. However what I like about him the most is I could empathize with him as he doesn't always want or even like to do the right thing, most times he just wants to have a good time but when the call comes he rolls his eyes, buckles down and does what he has to do because no one else will, he's the only one who can.
Linka is also really like, she is beautiful inside and out. She is really feisty and is selfless. I can also emphasize with her because she is kinda a passive aggressive type as she is calm like to think things though before she acts; and when she exercises actions their big much like a building wind.
The back and forth between them is great as both are just giving each other grief but they balance each other out well. As we see both challenge each other in a certain way but also bring out a certain something inside they don't normally do with anyone else.
The only bad thing for me really was Captain Planet himself, it's just some of his lines of dialog just really bad make me grown as he has some of the worst puns ever, which makes me grateful he's only in the episode for a minimum amount of time, and personally sometimes I feel you say more by not saying anything at all. Though the guy's actions are where it counts as his superpowers are elemental which to me sort of make him unique from most superheroes whose powers most of the time are destructive, at least with the Captain he can both create and destroy which is cool because it's a little different.
There are a lot of memorable episodes; One odd but actually kinda sad episode where it was sort of a Richard Adam's tale where Wheeler stumbles upon a colony of overpopulated rats. Another which is a dark episode where Quamim goes to an alternate reality where Verminous Scum and Street Gangs rule. And my favorite which is a two parter arc on Wheeler journeying to an alternate time line in which he never becomes a planeteer and the deep affect it has on not just the planet but his friends.
The Power is Yours.
Rating: 3 stars
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