Sat, Sep 15, 1990
The Spirit of Earth, Gaia, is woken from a century-long sleep at Hope Island to discover that Earth is dying because of humans' carelessness in deforestation, pollution, over-hunting, and especially now by oil-driller Hoggish Greedly and his henchman Rigger, who threaten all life on a sea coast with their work. She sends a quintet of rings out to five youths around the world - Kwame, an African who tries to preserve plants, is given the Power of Earth to create mountains and earthquakes. Gi, a Malaysian with an affinity for sea life, is given the Power of Water to control any source of it nearby. Wheeler, a wild but compassionate American, is given the Power of Fire to create flame and control dangerous blazes. Linka, a Soviet bird-lover, is given the Power of Wind to create twisters and move objects. And Ma-Ti, a Kayapo-Spaniard animal-lover, is given the Power of Heart to bring out kindness in others and communicate mentally with any human or animal. The newly-appointed Planeteers learn of these powers at Hope Island before setting out to do battle with Greedly. Once there, they need help, so join their powers, which brings them a strong superhero who can transform to anything natural and whose sole weakness is too much direct pollution: Captain Planet.
Sat, Sep 29, 1990
A mysterious dragon-like creature rampages through the jungles of Thailand, destroying croplands and terrifying the people. Gi's friend Newalk tells the Planeteers that some believe it is Phi Pok, a mythological dragon-beast. Wheeler learns that it is just a machine Hoggish Greedly has invented to scare the villagers into leaving so he can steal their temple's jewels, but he is captured and must contact the others to stop the theft.
Sat, Oct 6, 1990
Verminous Skumm creates a substance that, when placed in water, will mutate its drinker into a rat-resembling character who willingly serves him. The Planeteers go to stop him, but Wheeler falls into a vat of it, and Linka and Gi are splashed, so the others must hurry to recover an endangered plant Ma-Ti's friend the Shaman believes may cure them. Meanwhile, Skumm plans to place the liquid in Ma-Ti's village water supply, then the Amazon to infect the country and perhaps even the world.
Sat, Oct 13, 1990
Mad scientist Dr. Blight and radioactivity-dependent mutant Duke Nukem deliver a fake bomb threat to the Planeteers through Blight's smart computer MAL, who arrive and are forced to call Captain Planet. He disables the machine that's supposed to make everything work, but in freeing the Planeteers from a forcefield is captured. The villains say they'll only release him if the Planeteers deliver a lifetime's supply of radioactive waste - in which case not even Captain Planet could do much for the world...
Sat, Oct 27, 1990
Kwame is shocked to see greedy businessman Looten Plunder and his right-hand man Argos Bleak are poaching Africa's elephants. Wheeler considers the trip an opportunity to buy Linka an ivory necklace as a birthday gift. The Planeteers go to free the creatures and also try to find an elephant cub's mother. But one of the problems facing them is that some Africans feel desperate enough to need to accept Plunder's jobs even if it means sacrificing all of their animal neighbors - and hurting themselves in the long term - as he would have them do...
Sat, Nov 3, 1990
Gi is outraged to see Hoggish Greedly using a giant drift-net to illegally fish whatever he wants from the ocean. Kwame is the only one she finds right away to get the news to, and he reluctantly follows her as she goes to fight without waiting for anyone else. They free some animals but the Ecosub is caught in a net and two are captured. They contact Ma-Ti and the others, who rescue them, but Greedly learns their secrets of how they summon Captain Planet and that their powers are absent when he does arrive. While Cap is active but away, ridding the world of the nets, Greedly captures the Planeteers and gains their rings with a magnetic field, so they can't summon him and his business can resume...
Sat, Nov 17, 1990
Greedy garbageman Sly Sludge has found a get-rich-quick scheme where he rids the world of their trash by placing it on Laipuno Island - and claims he's reducing it with a machine whose blinding light causes it to be seen one minute and apparently in miniature proportion the next. The Planeteers go to investigate it and also meet Lenii, a local girl who works for him. When examining the machine when Sludge isn't around, Lenii is caught in it and they realize that the garbage isn't being shrunk but moved - to the island's volcano, which will soon erupt and bury the village in waste.