Captain Planet

The Return of Captain Planet
Mother Nature Network hopes nostalgia will help revive the eco-friendly superhero cartoon

by John Jurgesen, 27 February 2009

http://www.wsj.com/

In 1990, Ted Turner added an unlikely asset to his media empire: a superhero with blue skin, green hair and a vendetta against pollution. The cartoon series "Captain Planet and the Planeteers" delivered environmental messages and featured a diverse roster of heroes, including Gi, a dolphin lover from Asia, and Kwame, an African with earth-moving powers.

Voiced by stars including Martin Sheen, Meg Ryan and Sting, the cartoon, which ran to 1996, tackled issues such as AIDS and global warming, which were considered somewhat taboo topics at the time. It drew plenty of detractors, including a People magazine critic who called it "politically correct claptrap," but fans hailed it as a bold step in educational programming.

Now, with such issues considered mainstream conversation, Captain Planet's next mission is to harness nostalgia. Mother Nature Network, a new environmental news and commentary Web site whose founders include a rock musician and a former marketing executive, has licensed more than 20 original installments of the defunct series in hopes of luring viewers -- especially children of the early '90s who might fondly recall the eco-hero's catchphrase, "The Power Is Yours!" Full 22-minute episodes began streaming online today at MNN.com.
The nostalgia factor has been a powerful driver of online video. Fans of classic TV have populated YouTube with pirated clips from the past, while studios have tried to capitalize on their dusty holdings. Sony Pictures Television repackaged episodes of "Diff'rent Strokes" and "T.J. Hooker" for its online Minisode Network. But the Web resurrection of "Captain Planet" also has a social component: The mullet-haired superhero played a role in the environmental movement's transition into the mainstream.

"He's a forgotten hero and it's time to bring him back out," says Chuck Leavell, co-founder of Mother Nature Network, who also has served as a keyboardist for the Rolling Stones since 1979. Though dated looking and sometimes heavy handed with its message, the retro cartoon fits into MNN's mission of making environmental news relevant, even to the uninitiated, Mr. Leavell says. He believes the cartoon could tap the "Captain Planet" following that already exists, including the more than 180,000 Facebook members who have signed up as "fans" of the show.

Mother Nature Network, which launched in January, is based in Atlanta, as are many of Mr. Turner's current operations, including Ted's Montana Grill and the Captain Planet Foundation. The foundation helped MNN president and chief executive Joel Babbit broker the licensing deal for "Captain Planet" with Turner Broadcasting System, which owns the rights to the cartoon. Independent investors supplied $10 million in initial funding for the site, which also runs on sponsorship from Dell, AT&T and other companies. The site hosts blogs, news bulletins and video interviews with entertainers such as rapper Ludacris talking about their conservation views.

While it's possible to book an entertainer in a Captain Planet costume for parties and special events, the series itself was never released on DVD. "I've been trying to get 'Captain Planet' off the shelf since it went off the air," says Barbara Pyle, the cartoon's executive producer.

At its peak, the show was syndicated to more than 200 stations around the country and there was a script in development for a feature film, Ms. Pyle says. But the show was cancelled in 1996 as a victim of corporate shuffles. Ms. Pyle and her colleagues mourned the loss with a New Orleans style jazz funeral. "We were grief-stricken," she says.

Ms. Pyle has tracked the show's cult following over the years, trolling through the thousands of unauthorized excerpts and satire videos on YouTube. Now a member of MNN's advisory board, she helped select which episodes to stream online, including her favourite, "12 Angry Animals," in which the Planeteers are tried for crimes against the animal kingdom before a jury of extinct species.

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Food for Thought:

1. Do comic books serve any purpose at all? What about fantasy stories/film (refer to diagnostic test essay question)

2. Which other superheroes can you think of that purported 'good moral values'?