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http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20081210/ap_ ... _fugitives

The EPA, a government organization, has posted a Top 23 Most Wanted list for those accused of large-scale environmental crimes, ranging from dumping tons of tainted wheat into the sea to illegally importing and selling cars that did not meet emission standards.

I couldn't help but be reminded of Captain Planet when I read this. Environmental crimes? Notorious fugitives on the run? Go-o-o-o Planet!

If they made him their mascot, it might make bounty-hunters in their mid 20s, who are fond of the TV show, go after these hardened criminals (some of which don't seem to be referenced for crimes against the Planet)...

This thread is now about Captain Planet.

I'm now reminded of the bloody awful Captain Planet skit (by Atomic Chicken) that I was exposed to once. That's all I can think of when I think of him, now! I think I've been permanently scarred.

But Captain Planet was from an era of interesting and really quite great cartoons, a lot of which usually had a message, some of which were eco-friendly. Speaking of which, who remembers Swamp Thing?

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I remember the comic book too, at least now that I'm reminded of it (and I agree, it was great), that was a while ago ... there was a show based off it too, and comic books don't usually transfer themselves over to the medium of cartoons all that well too often, but Swamp Thing was an exception, the animated series was spiffing.

I'd recommend catching it sometime if you get the chance.

I remember Captain Planet!

My friend was charged for having a car that was too loud. The car met the emission standards, only that it drove louder than the standard car. Heck, most trucks are louder than the thing.

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There was a live-action series? Oh dear, I can't help but wonder how that must've gone, I'll likely end up looking into that pretty soon to see if I can find it.

Also, one thing to warn about with the Swamp Thing animated series, as I've remembered; it was great but beware the intro theme, it's pretty painful. It's actually just Wild Thing, with every instance of Wild being replaced with Swamp. I'm honestly not kidding!

[Edit]

I had to look it up just to make sure I wasn't dreaming that up and that they actually did do that for the intro. And they did, they did indeed, but it was more of a parody than a direct take.

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Baphnedia wrote:If they made him their mascot, it might make bounty-hunters in their mid 20s, who are fond of the TV show, go after these hardened criminals (some of which don't seem to be referenced for crimes against the Planet)...

This thread is now about Captain Planet.

Well, good luck finding people who are fond of the TV show, as everyone I know who grew up in the 80s hated it for being preachy and boring.

I never said it was anything good. I just couldn't resist when the EPA posts a Most Wanted List. They tell us not to go after them, and by judging by the severity of their transgressions, I think they're waiting for Captain Planet to do the job - because folks in the CIA are probably more concerned with... oh... the war on Terror, the FBI's Most Wanted List, and building underground doughnut shops in undisclosed locations.

One of my friends works for the EPA (and, yes, he's a big guru in the EPA on NEPA, NHPA and a lot of other alpha bet soup acts and policies - he's not a janitor). I suppose I need to force him to come up with a line in order to curse out Captain Planet now; villan style...

In all seriousness, there are so many levels to the EPA, though. It's hard to point a finger directly at the EPA staffers in entirity. There are a few... sections... of people, however, that make the rest of EPA (who are experts in their field) look very-very bad. But, it's tough when you've got your fingers in every toxic plot 'cross the nation.

Captain Planet was almost a full decade after my time; I was in college by then. But, around the same time, there was a certain role-playing game about a group of people who were the last guardians of Gaia against a dark corrupting spiritual force, in part masquerading as a multinational corporation. Yeah, the Children of Gaia seemed like hippies, until the full moon came out...

Of course, I can picture the Garou today still doing their part, taking out the recyclables, changing out lightbulbs to compact fluorescents, and driving smart cars. Not that I would belittle any of these activities, as I do all three.

The EPA, like other law enforcement organizations, will seem to be "not doing very much" for a while simply because they are assembling charges that will stick, and not be dropped by the Justice Department for lack of evidence.

So, the less we hear for the most part; the better. It means that they are getting evidence. High-profile investigations are usually useless, since the bad guys already know who to watch for. This way is better.

As for Captain Planet, the show was over-simplistic and overdone, like so many other children's shows of that era. Things are rarely as black and white
as portrayed in the show. Real life is messier, lots messier. It also fostered the idea that these problems could be fixed NOW, instead of showing that environmental issues are like a puzzle that requires a lot of time to resolve.
We didn't get this way overnight, and we won't fix it overnight, either. There is also the problem that these "crimes" might not be criminal in the country where the alleged criminals are "hiding", and that makes rendition a lot more difficult.

It is a start, though; and that is a very good thing.

RedEye wrote:As for Captain Planet, the show was over-simplistic and overdone, like so many other children's shows of that era. Things are rarely as black and white
as portrayed in the show. Real life is messier, lots messier. It also fostered the idea that these problems could be fixed NOW, instead of showing that environmental issues are like a puzzle that requires a lot of time to resolve.
We didn't get this way overnight, and we won't fix it overnight, either. There is also the problem that these "crimes" might not be criminal in the country where the alleged criminals are "hiding", and that makes rendition a lot more difficult.

It is a start, though; and that is a very good thing.

Well, I always thought that you could make Captain Planet better by doing it as a Evangelion-style deconstruction. With things like the bad guys being more complex (Such as my idea for Dr. Blight as a Norman Borlaug type figure who tries to help people, but destroys the environment with her efforts as well), Gaia not necessarily having humanity or human civilization's best intrests in mind (Remember, the reason we tried to isolate ourselves from nature and wipe it out is because living without the aid of modern technology was a life of disease, starvation and being at the mercy of nature), bringing up complex questions (Such as if humans evoved to exploit resources without restraint, can we ever truly stop being polluters?) and and answering them in the most depressing manner possible and having an apocalyptic ending (where Gaia WINS non the less).

But then that's just my idea.

:EDIT: And that statement about why we tried to leave nature in the firt place kind of shows the flaws in Bezerker's idea that we can all live happily in nature if we just dispose of civilization, because it was really crappy for us when we did live with nature and no technology, also the fact that people don't like living in nature with no technology for those reasons exactly and will never accept your philosophy. The problem with his "well some technolgy is okay as long as it doesn't seperate us from nature" is that a philosophy of technological progress and living with nature is somewhat contradictory. Not to mention, where do you draw the line on what technology is or is not acceptable? Not to mention the fact that there was no prelapsarian period that you beleive was a time when humans happily coexisted with the environment, as shown by the evidence that hunter gatherer tribes engaged in some very environmentally-unsound practices for gathering prey. Plus the path of technology can lead us to environmental progress alongside civilization (if we don't irreversably screw the environment up first) and eventually keep us from going extinct (if we don't wipe ourselves out first).