Planeteers, assemble: 'Captain Planet' is finally going to be available online
If you were a kid in the '90s, chances are your Saturday morning diet consisted of a nutritious blend of cartoon classics like Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, Batman: The Animated Series and -- if your parents were trying to sneak some fiber into your bowl -- Captain Planet and the Planeteers, centered around a socially-conscious, blue-skinned superhero and his band of ethnically diverse, eco-warrior teen sidekicks.
The show boasted one of the catchiest theme tunes of the era (or at least the only one to squeeze in the word "asunder"); a celebrity voice cast that included Whoopi Goldberg, Meg Ryan and Jeff Goldblum; and a sense of optimism that now seems distant and unattainable. (Gonna take pollution down to zero? Nice try, Cap!)
If you're feeling nostalgic for simpler times when climate change was recognized as a genuine global threat and not a political conspiracy theory, here's some good news: Mashable can exclusively reveal that Cartoon Network is making the entire Captain Planet series available for the first time via digital download, just in time for Earth Day.
On April 10, all six seasons of the show -- which went by various names during its run on TBS from 1990-1996, including Captain Planet and the Planeteers, The New Adventures of Captain Planet and The All New Adventures of Captain Planet -- will be available to own through digital retailers including iTunes, Amazon Video, Google Play, Vudu, Playstation Store, and Xbox Store.
Seasons will be available for $9.99 and $14.99 each, while individual episodes will retail for $1.99 -- and there are some real gems in the bunch, including "A Formula for Hate," featuring the vocal talents of Neil Patrick Harris and Elizabeth Taylor, which dealt with the misconceptions surrounding HIV and AIDS, and "Mind Pollution," in which one of the Planeteers became addicted to a new designer drug given to her by her cousin, who ultimately died of an overdose. Top that, ThunderCats!
The show might not hold up as well as Batman (which remains a small-screen masterpiece and I'll fight anyone who says otherwise) -- by definition, its issue-based storylines were the epitome of edutainment -- but we'll give it bonus points for helping us believe in the inherent goodness of humanity and for having a deeper purpose beyond just hawking action figures.
Besides, since the rumored movie adaptation (from real-life Planeteer Leonardo DiCaprio) still seems like a pipe dream, Don Cheadle and Al Gore can't be the only ones doing all the hard work, right?
Turner Broadcasting, which owns the underlying rights to Captain Planet, is an investor in Mashable.
