Why is Captain Planet so hated?

No it had an evil version of Captain Planet.

This is what an evil version of Captain America looks like...

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It's the poster child for awful preaching, complete with Gary Stu & Mary Sue heroes and villains that are so 2D that calling them 2D is almost an insult to all other 2D villains that exist. And of course Wheeler was the stereotypical misguided American that had to be taught the error of his ways the most often.

I will also never forgive "Population Bomb," wherein Wheeler learns via an it-was-all-a-dream adventure that families with more than 1-2 children are pretty much a blight on the Earth that will consume too much and destroy civilization if allowed to go unchecked. Wheeler wakes up realizing that wanting a big family of his own was just wrong and selfish! And in the dream world, a ruined faux-Earth is overpopulated by talking, anthropomorphic mice. Real subtle. Quite frankly the message is revolting, and it was a hell of a guilt trip to play on a not-insignificant number of watching children that are a part of a larger family. Sure, preach good stewardship of the Earth. Fine. My contempt is unlimited for anti-human crusading.
 
I couldnt stand the hypocrisy, honestly. I always have to laugh at the ridiculousness of someone from the Soviet Union or China complaining about American pollution. Have you SEE what those governments have done to their ecosystems?

The Overpopulation one especially. Most first world countries would have declining populations if it werent for immigration.

Everything else? The hamfisted preaching, the cardboard cutout characters, the mustache twirling evil? That was just frosting on the rotten cake.
 
As bad as Population Bomb was, "Numbers Game" was worse, since it involved people. It was another dream, but with Wheeler and Linka having an overly large family that caused humanity to die out. And oh yeah, it was not-so-subtly implied that Wheeler was a sex addict, hence the family. "Numbers Game" may be the only time I've been genuinely angry at TV. Moribito? Fanboi whining. Tim and Eric? My taste vs yours. Telling kids the world would be better off if they were never born? Utterly reprehensible.

In addition, the show was just terribly written. We've all seen the dozens of sentai formula team shows. Now compare it to a random animated color team show, in this case- Ronin Warriors. Both are kids shows, but one is about kids bemoaning a problem and waiting for someone to do something for them while chastising a member of their group solely on ethnic origin. The other is about kids noting a force of freaking Shinto demons turning Japan into a grave and going to beat up demons and humans with their own hands, swords, spears, and other mystical bru-ha-ha. Obviously the latter entertains kids better, but even beyond that. Tell me, which group gives a better message? "You have a problem? Wait for someone to deal with it.". Or "you have a problem, take a proactive approach."

Oh yeah, Captain Planet's design is a third-world knockoff of Captain Atom.
 
No... I don't really think they hired them at all. Many of those non-professional VA celebrities that worked on Captain Planet probably chose, on their own, to do VA roles for it because they believe in the cause that it promotes, and like having their names tied to such a project.

Look, I've got nothing against guys like Martin Sheen, but let's face it; he's as left-wing as it gets, and so were many of the other non-VA celebrities that did voice work for CP. He, in particular, is NOT a voice actor; he's a movie star that only did work on CP because he believes in what it promotes. Why else would a big name like him supply his voice for "just another cartoon"? Has he even done any professional voice over work since?
 
Captain Planet was one of those shows that are awesome when you are five, but when you watch it as a teen/adult you realize how stupid it was. It was too preachy and full of unlikeable characters.
 
Actually, when I was five, the only thing I really did like about it was the ending theme song. Now that I'm older, it's so awesomely bad it's fun to mock.
 
I loved the show as a kid, and I haven't seen it since around middle school. I'll take people's words for it, because I don't want to remember how bad it was.

Numbers Game I actually found funny, because all the characters including Captain Planet were grouchy for some reason.
But yeah, how is it fair that Wheeler has to learn about overpopulation and not Li (or whatever the Asian chick's name was.) Was she Chinese? I forgot.
 
I loved it as a kid until around the time of the gang violence episode when I couldn't sit through an episode without riffing on everything. The message and the preachiness never annoyed me ("I'm all for recycling!").

When I look at it now:
- Captain Planet comes across as a horribly weak and inept superhero.
- The villains just seem nonsensical, even by 80s/90s cartoon standards. What the heck is it about pollution that gets their boats floating ?
- The power of Heart is such a gyp.
- I'm a connoisseur of cheese but this show just gets unbearable at times.

I do still kind of like the Planeteers team, although Mati is such a chump.
 
It didnt help that when they tried to go outside the environmental theme (the aids episode anyone?) it just looked like they were trying too hard.
 
Horrible animation, unlikeable characters, like an attempt to bring back the godawfulness of the 80's toons that nobody even cared about{Well some depending on what your talking about}. Basically what else is there is to say on why this show is bad? I would rather watch the horrible Tom and Jerry movie than this piece of garbage. I'm thankful I didnt watch this as a kid, cause as a kid I thought this was rather awful in my own book and I still think its awful. Plus my whole family thought this was bad enough than most of the stuff Adult Swim is showing in their own view{Not against adult swim}.

Ted cancelling Swat Kats over this is the main reason why I have a grudge on this guy. If there is a book that talks about the biggest mistakes in the animation industry, this should be worth mentioned. Ted, you'd made the biggest mistake in history. Plus what about the original tom and jerry shorts? You'd allow that violence to be shown but not what was shown on Swat kats? That's being hypocritical!
 
I'm just going to add one more thing.

The very first 5 colored superteam was also a very environmentally focused series. But that series was able to balance its messages with the absurd (Lava Jesus!) and the dramatic (Oh Father, where art thou?). And this was all done 20 years before Captain Planet was a thought in Ted's brain.

See? It's not that hard to balance messages with an exciting show if you know what you're doing.
 
I actually looked forward to seeing this show because every time I watched it I could not help but laugh at every word spoken. Every time Captain Planet would say "THE POWER IS YOURS!" I fell on the floor and it would take me minutes to get up from all of the laughter.

The characters were horrible and dull (I would always feel sad for Ma-Ti because he was given the power of....Heart) and they sounded so goofy and stupid.

Did I forget to mention the stories for some of the episodes could make you go mentally numb and leave you on your couch feeling like a pile of dirt.

Then after the episode ended (if you were brave enough to sit through all 22 minutes of it like I would for the laughs) you were let go of Ted Turner's chains so you could run for your life or switch the channel.

That about sums it up (or at least I think it does).
 
Not that I remember. I remember him using it to communicate with animals and...hmm...saying Heart. It didn't help that the ring made the lamest noise of all of the Planeteer rings. It sounded like it was defecating.



I don't even like it when I was 5 which is not a good sign. I remember it had the initial hooks that a kid would like but it was boring and it seemed like it was on when nothing else was on.
 
Don't forget sucker-punching the Nostalgia Critic.

And I can safely say as a kid I NEVER found this show the least bit interesting. Then again I saw Spanish TV and "Caballeros del zodiaco" on occasion, so what did I know?
 
Even worse, if you were a wcw fan in the early 90s, this seemed to always came on before wcw wrestling on tbs, meaning you had to sit through the last 5 minutes of preachy edu-tainment before wrestling came on.
 
Captain Planet is a show that needs a reboot:
*Less campy/heavy-handed with its morals

*More multi-dimensional, complex, "grounded in reality" and morally ambiguous villains (e.g. corporate CEOs), instead of cliched, "pollute for the fun of it" (instead of simply being ignorant/lazy or what not), mustache-twirling types.

*Don't make the Planeteers so perfect (outside of naturally, Wheeler the American) and idealistic. Have them often at odds with each other and question each others ethics/sincerity/philosophies.

*Get rid of Captain Planet - Make Captain Planet instead, like the organizational mascot instead of a deus ex machina providing, physical entity.
 
I think he should exist as a real character, but he should die in the first episode. On his deathbed he'd divvy out his powers, Elfangor style, to five random teenagers that happen to stumble by.


Also "heart" should be replaced with something that's less fruity. Like "spirit", or whatever it was that the Greeks actually talked about.
 
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