Captain Planet: The Next Generation (Johnsonverse)

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Captain Planet: The Next Generation is an American animated series. A sequel to the original Captain Planet and the Planeteers television series, the series is produced by Johnson Television, and has aired on Cartoon Network since July 14, 2018.

Production began in 2016. The series

Plot

Set in the modern-day, the series focuses on the exploits of a new generation of Planeteers. Since the original series, the damage to the environment has gotten worse, due to any and all eco-conscious efforts being trumped by money. While the original Eco-Villains have since either gone straight or simply retired, their actions forever changed the political landscape, and sadly, it was for the worse. The enemy of the environment is now the massive corporate conglomerates, and even the governments themselves, who prioritize money over life itself.

The original Planeteers were declared a terrorist group, and were either sent into hiding or hunted down and killed. Only Kwame remains in the open, continuing the Planeteers' past activities, yet constantly on the run from authorities.

One day, Gaia appears to Kwame for the first time since 1996, and tells him the time has come to assemble a new group of Planeteers, not to teach the world how they can help the environment, but to fight back. If the United Nations is going to label the Planeteers a terrorist organization, then let them be the enemy of the world. An enemy that will one day restore the balance of nature by any means necessary, even if those means involve mass murder and destruction. She gives him the Planeteer rings, puts him in charge of the new Planeteers, and brings a new group of teenagers to Hope Island.

The United States government, led by the President (an exaggerated and unflattering caricature of Donald Trump) takes notice of the new Planeteers, and vows to stop them from informing the people of evils of climate change, for in their mind, climate change is "fake news", and the environment isn't worth protecting because plants and animals can't pay taxes.

Thus begins a new war. A war between the governments of the world, and the forces of sanity.

Characters

The New Planeteers

The second-generation Planeteers are a stark contrast from the original Planeteers. Whereas the original Planeteers were constantly bickering, always being captured, and had to rely on Captain Planet to get anything done, the new Planeteers is best described as another Team Jenny; that is to say, incredibly violent, unwilling to take unnecessary chances, unable to trust others easily, and always resorting to violence as the first measure. They use the power of their rings not as a tool, but a weapon of mass destruction to achieve their goals. Like the original team, it is made up of teenagers from different countries.

  • Nathan Simpson (Tim Johnson) - Bearer of the Fire Ring, and de facto team leader. Nathan hails from San Francisco, and is a staunch liberal who gets angrier with every lie the president of the United States tells. He was selected because of his seditious thoughts against the US government, as well as his disgust with nobody being willing to do anything about the environment either out of fear of being arrested as an "enemy of progress", apathy, or straight-up agreeing with the governments and corporations regarding the environment. After he was recruited, his parents disowned him and tried to have him arrested, to which he responded by burning down his house, killing his parents, and outlasting the entire SFPD until they had no more officers or SWAT Teams to send, at which point he retreated back to Hope Island before the military could arrive. Since then, Nathan has been the loudest voice of the California secession movement, a movement that is growing with each passing day. With the Fire Ring, Nathan can use a variety of different fire-based attacks, such as fireballs, napalm streams, and firestorms. His powers are the single-most destructive among the entire team, and therefore, he is not only their de facto leader, but also the one doing alot of the fighting.
  • Jacques Pierre Francois (Rob Paulsen) - Bearer of the Water Ring. Jacques-Pierre, or just Jacques, comes from Marseille, where he has seen the effects of climate change first-hand; namely, the rising sea levels encroaching on his hometown. Unfortunately for him, the mayor didn't care, because higher sea levels meant ships with deeper drafts could dock. His parents tried to protest the opening of a new factory that would release unacceptable levels of carbon emissions, and were arrested and publicly executed for their troubles. Jacques was also arrested simply for being their son, but he escaped and, using pressure cookers, destroyed both the offending factory and several ships in port, which killed many and cost France billions of euros. Emmanuel Macron ordered a nationwide manhunt for him, by which point Jacques had already been recruited by Gaia. Jacques is no coward, not by a longshot. His aggression knows no bounds, and there's no act that's below him (except rape, which he believes is a special kind of evil). With the Water Ring, Jacque can call upon tsunamis, rainstorms, and can shape water into various creatures to fight on his behalf.
  • Friedrich Johnson (Sean Cameron Michael) - Bearer of the Earth Ring. Born and raised in Cape Town, Friedrich was an environmental activist when he was a toddler. His obsession with conservation and helping the environment earned him the ire of the South African government, who viewed him as a threat to prosperity. When he was 16, he did a presentation at his school about green energy, and was promptly expelled for badmouthing fossil fuels. His parents then beat him to near-death, at which point he struck back and brutally disemboweled and partially ate them. He spent a year in prison before he was recruited by Gaia. Now a wanted fugitive, Friedrich vows to return to South Africa and overthrow the government before its insane environmental policies destroy the rhinos. With the Earth Ring, Friedrich is basically an Earthbender.
  • Angela "Angie" Watanabe (Christine Marie Cabanos) - Bearer of the Wind Ring. A citizen of Tokyo, Angie was never a fan of the city's pollution. She was just lucky enough that the Japanese eventually became so fed-up with the United States' environmental policies, the Japanese states outright seceded and reformed an independent Japanese government. As a result, neither she nor her family were declared "enemies of progress", but she still lost her family when the United States invaded Japan to retake it and subjugate the Japanese people. Shortly after Japan was occupied and the Americans began exterminating ethnic Japanese, she was recruited by Gaia. Despite essentially being on opposite sides of the conflict, Angie and Nathan get along extremely well, to the point Angie is considered the de facto second-in-command of the New Planeteers. The two are clearly crushing on each other big time, too. With the Wind Ring, Angie is basically an Airbender.
  • Gabriela Santos (Julie Gonzalo) - Bearer of the Heart Ring. Gabriela comes from Rio de Janiero, and is a staunch defender of the Amazon. The government, sadly, doesn't see it her way, viewing the Amazon as an obstacle to wealth. Like many others, she and her family were declared "enemies of progress", and Jair Bolsonaro personally oversaw the execution of her family. But right as she was about to be executed, Gabriela was teleported to Hope Island by Gaia, and recruited into the New Planeteers. Gabriela can best be described as the Louise of the group: extremely volatile, ludicrously violent, always threatening to do something cruel and unusual to her enemies, and often following through on said threats to the letter. She hates pretty much everyone who isn't a Planeteer or an environmental activist equally, and shows no mercy to anyone who would harm the environment for monetary gain. With the Heart Ring, Gabriela can mind-control the weak-willed into doing her bidding, and on the strong-willed, she outright gives them heart attacks (she often says this was what Ma-Ti should've been doing the whole time).
  • Olivia Jones (Rebel Wilson) - Bearer of the long-lost Lightning Ring. Calling Sydney her home, Olivia and her family were always rescuing injured and sick animals in the Outback, nursing them back to health at their rescue center, and releasing them back into the wild once they were healthy again. The government severely frowned upon this, as the new Australian president believed it was high-time man asserted its dominance over the dangerous fauna of the Outback. Olivia's parents were killed by a construction crew tasked with building a factory in the Outback, and Olivia herself was arrested and scheduled for execution after she was framed for planning a mass shooting. While on death row, though, she was brought to Hope Island and recruited by Gaia. As a Planeteer, Olivia is violently-protective of all animals, regardless of how dangerous they may be, and murderously so. With the Lightning Ring, Olivia can shoot lightning from her fingertips and palms, conjure huge lightning storms, and recharge anything that runs on electricity (this is why none of the teams' phones have run out of battery in the time they have been Planeteers).
  • Kwame (LeVar Burton) - The last remaining member of the original Planeteers, Kwame was the former bearer of the Earth Ring. Having passed it to Friedrich, Kwame is now the team's advisor. He frowns upon the teams' use of violence to achieve their aim, but knows that in this day and age, it is the only option they have left for saving the environment.
  • Captain Planet (Dave Coburn) - When the powers of all six rings are combined, Captain Planet is summoned. Now far beyond spouting puns and one-liners every other second, Captain Planet has become disillusioned. Nothing he did during the 1990s got through to the masses (except, ironically, lessons relating to non-environmental issues like drugs, AIDS, and gang violence). When summoned, he is now used as a weapon by the Planeteers, as he is all of their powers combined. Pollution no longer affects him, and neither does hate, for he is essentially a personification of the collective anger mankind feels towards the wealthy who practically rule over them with an iron fist and destroy the environment for money they will never spend.
  • Gaia (Whoopi Goldberg) - The spirit of Earth, and protector of the planet. After the efforts of the original Planeteers came to naught, and the Eco-Villains' actions irrevokably created a new dark age of scientific repression in favor of alternative facts, Gaia knew that pacifism couldn't save the environment, only war. She therefore summoned a new generation of Planeteers who were tougher than the originals, and willing to murder anyone who threatens the environment for profit.

The Original Planeteers

The predecessors of the current Planeteers. They have either been forced into hiding, or been hunted down and killed.

  • Wheeler (Joey DeDio) - Former bearer of the Fire Ring. Currently in hiding with Linka.
  • Linka (Kath Soucie) - Former bearer of the Wind Ring. Currently in hiding with Wheeler. The two still haven't resolved their past sexual tension.
  • Gi - Former bearer of the Water Ring. She was arrested by the North Chinese government after they finally invaded and conquered South China, was declared an enemy of progress, and executed.
  • Ma-Ti - Former bearer of the Heart Ring. He was hunted down by the United Nations and killed for being an enemy of progress.

Eco Villains

The former Eco Villains the original Planeteers faced during the 1990s. They have either gone straight, retired, or are dead.

  • Hoggish Greedly (Ed Asner) - A former businessman, Hoggish is now a crusader for resource conservation, which directly conflicts with the consumerist nature of modern capitalism. As a result of being a declared a communist due to this line of thinking, he and his son are now in hiding on Hope Island, with Hoggish himself an advisor to the new generation of Planeteers.
  • Looten Plunder - Once a wealthy poacher and greedy businessman, he bit off more than he could chew when he tried to hunt elephants in Nairobi National Park, and was gunned down by game wardens. His company collapsed shortly thereafter.
  • Sly Sludge (Martin Sheen) - A former waste disposer, Sly is now living a peaceful retirement on Hope Island after a stint as CEO of Waste Management, during which time the company merged with USA Waste. He, too, is an advisor for the new Planeteers.
  • Duke Nukem - Old Duke eventually became so mutated, he was incapable of rational thought. He eventually made his home in the Fukushima-Daiichi Exclusionary Zone, before he was hunted down by the new Japanese government and killed.
  • Verminous Skumm - Not even the governments of the world could ignore the threat he posed to the survival of mankind, and quickly found and killed him.
  • Dr. Blight - Killed by one of her experiments gone wrong.
  • MAL (Tim Curry) - Dr. Blight's old computer is still active, and poised to go Skynet on mankind any day now.
  • Zarm (David Warner) - The only Eco Villain who is still active, Zarm's goals are now clearer: destroy all life in the universe, for the greatest threat to life is itself.

WORK-IN-PROGRESS