Saving Mother Earth: An Entertaining Concept

Earth is really in trouble now .

Behold the mammoth oil rig on wheels. And look who’s behind the controls. Why it’s none other than his bloated loathsomeness, that pillager of planetary resources, the thoroughly rotten Hoggish Greedly.

“With this land blaster,” he growls, “I’ll be able to drill for oil anywhere!”

“Yeah, boss, yeah,” his sniveling sidekick Rigger cackles. “Even in a wildlife sanctuary!”

Not if Captain Planet and the Planeteers have anything to say about it. And they do in a new weekly animated series from Turner Broadcasting, airing at 10 a.m. Saturdays on KTTV Channel 11 and at 5:30 a.m. and 2:30 p.m. Sundays on cable’s TBS starting this weekend.

“Captain Planet and the Planeteers” is television’s first entertainment series, whether for children or adults, devoted exclusively to environmental issues--even though a pretender, the new CBS prime-time action series “E.A.R.T.H. Force,” weighs in Sunday with its own elite band of ecological warriors.

It’s a sign of the times, and of the increased awareness of Earth as endangered, that more and more of TV is resembling “Captain Planet.”

Not that TV’s ecology emphasis is new--environmental themes crop up on series from time to time--only that it now seems to be intensifying. For example:

* “Network Earth” is a weekly series on environmental issues that was launched last month by TBS.

* “The Rain Forest Imperative,” which aired recently on cable’s A & E network, effectively explored the conditions that encourage decimation of the lush rain forests in Latin America.

* “Decade of Destruction” is a series of five “Frontline” specials that examines the disappearing Amazon rain forest in Brazil. It airs next week, Tuesday through Friday, on PBS.

* “Widget,” another syndicated animated series focusing on the environment, premieres Sept. 30 on KCOP Channel 13.

* “Frontline” begins its new season Oct. 2 with “Global Dumping Ground,” a documentary about pushing off U.S. toxic garbage on Third World nations.

* “Race to Save the Planet” is a 10-part documentary series starting Oct. 4 on PBS.

* “Voice of the Planet” is a five-part series starting Oct. 15 on PBS, with the computerized voice of Mother Earth, or Gaia, expressing the infinite ways humankind is imperiling the planet.

Gaia (this time the voice of Whoopi Goldberg) is also the soul of “Captain Planet and the Planeteers.” It seems she has awakened from a 100-year sleep to discover the planet’s crummy condition. So she summons five teen-agers from different areas of the world and gives each a magic ring controling an element of nature--earth, fire, water, wind and the heart--that can be used to battle eco-villains like Hoggish Greedly.

When their powers are not sufficient separately, these young planeteers merge them in order to summon that color-coordinated--blue skin, green hair, red suit--super-hero, Captain Planet.

The idea for this series comes from TBS (and CNN) chief executive Ted Turner himself, whose high-profile crusades for a better world are surely no public relations gimmick. By all accounts, he’s a true believer.

There’s not much originality in “Captain Planet and the Planeteers,” which pretty much stays between the lines. However, there’s a passion behind this series, which adapts a conventional super-hero formula to an unconventional theme. Each episode ends with 30 seconds of eco-tips, a handy way to teach kids not to be passive about issues they believe in and to teach them also that they, as individuals, can make a difference.

What also sets the series apart are its celebrity voices. Besides Goldberg, there’s LeVar Burton as Kwame, the African planeteer; Ed Asner as Hoggish and John Ratzenberger as Rigger. And such stars as James Coburn, Tim Curry, Jeff Goldblum, Meg Ryan, Martin Sheen, Dean Stockwell and Sting are heard as various eco-heavies, and Phyllis Diller is a goody-goody.

Even blasting oil and toxic waste at Captain Planet isn’t enough to save Hoggish Greedly from ruin, but he returns in a later episode with another dastardly plot, this time seeking to wipe out elephants for their ivory.

If the series missteps, it’s in depicting a rat character named Verminous Skumm (Goldblum), who surfaces in the second episode spewing “rat rot” on the planeteers as the embodiment of disease and filth. It’s an unfair rap. Although much maligned, most rats are charming, playful, intelligent creatures that make wonderful pets.

Speaking of spewing rot, better duck while watching “E.A.R.T.H. Force,” which opens with a two-hour movie at 9 p.m. Sunday on Channels 2 and 8, thereafter to appear at 9 p.m. Saturdays.

Take a former combat surgeon (Gil Gerard), a marine biologist (Tiffany Lamb), a zoologist/anthropologist (Robert Knepper), a nuclear physicist-turned-environmental activist (Clayton Rohner) and a pilot/mercernary (Finlay McLennan), and what do you have?

Some pretty incredible people who want to save the Earth from destruction, that’s what. Reach for your hankies. But there’s a catch. There are all these big egos here, you see, and gosh, someone earnestly asks, “How will they ever work together?”

Better question: Who would even want to watch them try?

Dr. John Harding (Gerard) is the big tuna here as he and his flash-tempered, younger cohorts are recruited to form an elite eco-squad by a super-polluter who is changing his tune now that he’s terminally ill. “I grant you it’s a deal with the devil,” Dr. John says, “but if we don’t do it, we all go to hell.”

Of course, that’s not really his best line. His best line is this: “Every doctor is an idealist.” Come to think of it, that’s not his best line either. This is his best line: “I’m so busy that I haven’t eaten since the Eisenhower Administration.” This series is about as much fun as the Eisenhower Administration.

Suffice to say that after a parachute drop and a big shoot-out, the elite squad is successful in its first mission--saving the world from nuclear holocaust--and on the second episode Sept. 22 will turn its attention to something more manageable, stopping poachers from selling exotic animals on the black market.

So who has time to watch? I’m so busy I haven’t seen television since the Truman Administration.

On a more serious note, meanwhile, you don’t have to be a slave to TV schedules to get good environmental scoop via the small screen. For example, there’s something new out called “Save the Earth: A How-To-Video.”

Hosted by Jere Burns of NBC’s “Dear John” and produced by Save the Earth Brigade (which promises that at least 10% of the profits will go to environmental groups), this is a highly useful and enlightening hourlong cassette that speaks from a people level instead of from an ivory tower.

There’s a bit of pontificating here (including an endorsement of California’s “Big Green” initiative), but mostly this is a practical primer on things ranging from global warming to leaky faucets. Burns: “Turn the water off. Turn the water off. “

Captain Planet lives.