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Population Bomb
Season 1, Episode 21
Population Bomb
Air date April 27, 1991
Episode guide
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The Ultimate Pollution
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Mission to Save Earth Part I

Population Bomb is the twenty-first episode in the first season of Captain Planet and the Planeteers.

Main Characters[]

The main characters featured in this episode are:

Villains[]

Locations[]

Plot Synopsis[]

Captain Planet repairs a building that was about to collapse and cause a major accident. Back on Hope Island, specifically in the crystal chamber, the Planeteers think part of the problem is that the world has too many people and suggest family planning to help control this. Wheeler angrily remarks that it is an attack on his liberty to regulate how many children he should sire in his later years. Later, to blow off some steam, he goes windsurfing with Gi. We see that he has begun to really get the hang of it as he catches some serious air with his windsurfer.

This seems to put Wheeler in a better mood. Gi is happy that Wheeler feels better but worries when she sees a storm coming. While she is sorry to have to end their good time, Gi says she is returning to shore and recommends Wheeler come with her. Wheeler says that is part of the problem that had annoyed him to begin with: people and governments telling him what and what not to do. Wheeler says Gi is not his mother and that he can take care of himself. Gi understands, but before she leaves, she suggests that Wheeler not stay in the water for too much longer.

Wheeler is initially not impressed with the storm's severity, even after a strong wind flings his windsurfer into a hard turn. He then tries to get on a wave that quickly gets too big for him to handle! Finally realizing his mistake, Wheeler catches sight of land ahead of him and makes a run for it, but two waves come together and knock him off his windsurfer and onto the beach he was heading for. Wheeler hits the sand hard but is unhurt. This changes when his windsurfer comes crashing down on top of him, knocking him out! When he comes to, Wheeler finds himself on an island called Miceland.

He is taken prisoner and sent to a food processing plant. There he meets a talking mouse who says he is a scientist called Piebald. Piebald explains how they were once ordinary mice until the fallout from a nearby bomb test came to the island and gave them humanlike abilities, including the power of speech. They became the dominant species on the island. As hard as it is to believe, Miceland started out as a beautiful paradise.

In the beginning, when their population was small, the island was rich and green, with clean air and water. They lived in small houses on the beach with plenty of food for everyone. Many wanted big families, so their numbers grew rapidly. They moved further inland, clearing the land to build cities to house their growing population, and more resources were consumed. Soon, all of the trees and plant life were gone, and the island had become one big city, with their beautiful blue sky turning dirty and brown due to the pollution in the air. All of the other animals that lived on the island are now gone.

The majority of the animals that his people hunted to extinction for food were driven off the island into the sea. There are now only memories of those animals in their museums. With no more wild game or vegetation, they have turned to the seas for food, but they are polluting the seas and reducing the number of fish – and yet, their population continues to grow! Worse still, Miceland is a dictatorship under the leadership of General Claw, who sees Wheeler as being enslaved for heavy labor and Hope Island as a place to be colonized.

Piebald is arrested for speaking out against General Claw's rule but is freed by Wheeler and returned to his family. When Captain Planet appears to find Wheeler, General Claw uses an untested superweapon on him that proves hurtful. At the same time, the people of Miceland are staging a tax revolt, and General Claw sees a chance to kill two birds with one stone by using the superweapon on the protesters. This proves a fatal flaw, as the superweapon triggers a tsunami that engulfs Miceland. Wheeler offers to save Piebald and his family, but Piebald refuses, figuring his race has gotten what they deserved with their doom, and begs Wheeler not to let the same thing happen to humanity.

Wheeler then finds himself on Hope Island, surrounded by the other Planeteers. When he thanks them for rescuing him, they say they never did any rescue missions and have no recollection of Miceland. Wheeler realizes he must have been rendered unconscious and had a dream. They asked Wheeler what happened in his dream. Wheeler says that he was surrounded by talking mice that were just like humans, and their population just kept growing.

They all take Wheeler back home. An image of Piebald's warning plays one last time.

Episode Summary[]

As the episode opens, we find the Planeteers coming back to Hope Island after a mission. They find themselves in a city that is overpopulated and polluted. They come across a building that is collapsing and summon Captain Planet to save the people below it from being killed. Captain Planet says that if the growing number of people continues on its present course, there will soon be too many everywhere. Back on Hope Island, specifically in the crystal chamber, the Planeteers think part of the problem is that the world has too many people and suggest family planning to help control this. Wheeler angrily remarks, "Nobody's going to tell me how many kids I can have!"

Later, to blow off some steam, Wheeler goes windsurfing, his new favorite sport, with Gi. We see that GI has taught Wheeler some tricks, as he catches some serious air with his sailboard. Gi alerts Wheeler to a big storm coming, but Wheeler, who is in a much better mood now and having too much fun windsurfing to stop now, says he can "take care of himself." Gi cautions him not to stay out long, but Wheeler shrugs this off. Wheeler is initially not impressed with the storm's severity, even after a strong wind flings his windsurfer into a hard turn. He then tries to get on a wave that quickly gets to be too big for him to handle, as it sends him and his windsurfer flying! Just barely managing to stay on his windsurfer and finally realizing his mistake, Wheeler catches sight of land ahead of him and makes a run for it, but two waves come together and knock him off his windsurfer and on to the beach he was heading for. Wheeler hits the sand hard but is unhurt. This changes when his windsurfer comes crashing down on top of him, knocking him out!

When he comes to, Wheeler finds himself on an island called Miceland. He quickly notices that the island is so polluted that the water melts his windsurfer. He is discovered by four mice patrolling the beach, who shoot him with stun rays and take him prisoner. He sent it to a food processing plant. Wheeler awakens again to find that he is tied to a conveyor belt, just as he is about to go through a grinder. He cries out for help, stopping the grinder just before his feet enter it. He then meets a talking mouse, Piebald, who says he is a sixth grade food technician but was once a scientist. His boss, Captain Grosstail, demands to know why Piebald stopped the food processor. Piebald points out that Wheeler is a live creature that can speak. Gross Tail concludes that he will make an excellent slave for heavy labor. He heads off to tell General Claw. Piebald explains how they were once ordinary mice until the fallout from a nearby bomb caused a strange rain to hit the island and gave them humanlike abilities, including the power of speech. They became the dominant species on the island. Miceland was once a beautiful paradise. In the beginning, when their population was small, the island was rich and green, with clean air and water. They lived in small houses on the beach, and food was in abundance. Many wanted big families, so their numbers grew rapidly. They moved further inland, knocking down trees to build large buildings to house their growing population, and more resources were consumed. Soon, all of the trees and plant life were gone, the island had become one large city, and their beautiful, blue sky had turned dirty and brown due to the pollution in the air. All of the other animals that lived on the island are now gone. Most of the animals his people hunted to extinction for food. There are only memories of those animals in their museums. With no more wild game or vegetation, they have now turned to the seas for food, but at the same time, they are dumping pollutants into the sea, rapidly destroying it despite it being their only current food source. Their population is still exploding! Even worse, Miceland is a dictatorship under the leadership of General Claw.

Wheeler asked why the island did not just reduce the size of the families. Piebald replies that it is just no use, as big families are a closely held tradition. When Wheeler asks as to how he ended up at the food processing plant, Piebald tells him that when he was a scientist, he spoke out against the overpopulation of the island and was arrested; this got him his slave position running the food processing plant. General Claw shows up and demands Wheeler tell him where he comes from so Hope Island can be colonized, but Wheeler refuses. General Claw somehow knows that Wheeler came from the "north," which is where General Claw will send his army to capture it. Kwame and Linka were searching for Linka in the geocopter, but it got overpowered by Miceland's air force, and they too were taken prisoner, where General Claw expresses his gladness at two more "hairless giants" he can enslave.

Piebald unties Wheeler but is arrested as a traitor for doing so. Wheeler, now untied, grabs Grosstail and threatens to squeeze him to death. But Piebald asks him to let Grosstail go. Grosstail then threatens to hurt Piebald if Wheeler does not do everything he says. Ma-Ti and Gi take off after Linka and Kwame, whom they have become concerned about as they have seemingly disappeared. As this is happening, Wheeler has become part of a propaganda display for Captain Grosstail, doing so to keep Piebald safe. However, when he finds that the final plan is to conquer Hope Island and enslave his friends, Wheeler grabs Piebald and makes a run for it. As this is happening, the crowd watching the display breaks out into a riot, as does everyone on the island. General Claw orders the new slaves, Linka and Kwame, to be used to stop the riot.

Wheeler returns Piebald to his wife and child, then climbs to the top of the same building, which happens to also be Captain Grosstail's headquarters. Here, Wheeler is finally able to get in touch with Ma-Ti using his ring. He then uses it to free Linka and Kwame, whom he sees from his position high on top of the tower, and attack their captors. They reach for the sky and are then able to finally unite with Ma-Ti and Gi in the geocopter, who are now being attacked by General Claw's attack helicopters, and summon Captain Planet. When Captain Planet shows up, he quickly makes short work of General Claw's army. General Claw then decides to use an untested sonic canon on Captain Planet. After he saves them from some more mice with stun rays, Wheeler tells Captain Planet to take Kwame and Linka back to the geocopter first, then he heads off to say goodbye to Piebald. He is then shot with the sonic cannon.

General Claw then decides to use it on the people of Miceland, whose riot has turned into an all-out revolt. This proves a fatal flaw, as the superweapon triggers a massive earthquake. As this is happening, Wheeler is being pinned down by some falling debris. Captain Planet sees this and frees him. As this is taking place, the earthquake is causing Miceland to sink. Wheeler once again climbs up the side of Piebald's building and offers to save Piebald and his family, but Piebald refuses, figuring his race has gotten what they deserved with their doom, and begs Wheeler not to let the same thing happen to humanity. A wave of water knocks Wheeler off of the side of Piebald's house, and he finds himself falling a great distance down toward the ground and striking a board with his head as he finally lands.

Wheeler then wakes up and finds himself on Hope Island, surrounded by the other Planeteers. His head is resting near the remains of his sailboard, which oddly seems to have been eroded on both ends. He asks for Piebald, but no one knows who he is, nor do they have any memories of Miceland. The Planeteers tell him he must have had a dream. Wheeler replies that he had a nightmare. When they ask Wheeler about the nightmare, he speaks of the talking mice that were just like humans, and their population just kept growing. They all head back home. Just before the episode ends, Piebald's plea not to let there be more people than their world can hold reflects on the surface of the water.

Planeteer Alerts[]

Captain Planet: Did you know the population of the world is now more than 5 billion?
Ma-Ti: Wow. That is a lot of people!
Gi: And it's increasing by 90 million people each year.
Kwame: But the earth is not getting any bigger.
Linka: So when it is your turn to have a family...
Wheeler: Keep it small.
Captain Planet: The more people there are, the more pressure we put on our planet. So take it easy on our earth and conserve what you can. The power is yours!

Significant Moments and Facts[]

  • When Wheeler climbs a building to return Piebald to his family, he remarks about the 1933 film King Kong.
  • In a later episode, Wheeler imagines himself having sired several children with Linka, but rethinks that after recalling his experience in this episode.
  • This is a rare episode in which all the regular Eco-villains are absent.
  • The episode's title is probably a reference to The Population Bomb, a 1968 book by Paul R. and Anne Howland Ehrlich.

Errors[]

  • During his dream sequence, Wheeler's windsurfer melts. After he wakes up on Hope Island, after the whole event has proven to be a dream, it's still appears to have somehow melted.

Quotes[]

  • Gaia: Captain Planet is right. Earth cannot support many more people.
    Linka: I think everyone should have fewer children.
    Gi: In some countries, the government recommends a couple only has two children.
    Wheeler: Oh, yeah? Well, no one's telling me how many kids I can have.
  • Wheeler: (to Piebald) Say, how come you can talk?
    Piebald: I could ask you the same thing.
  • General Claw: So this is the talking food unit. Make it speak, Captain Grosstail.
    Grosstail: (pokes Wheeler) Uh, it was talking before.
    Wheeler: Wait till my friends get here, you overgrown furball! I'll --
    General Claw: Friends? There are more creatures like you? Where?
    Wheeler:I'll never tell!
    General Claw: It came from the north. Look how big it is! The land where it lives must be rich -- a perfect land to conquer! (turns to a soldier) Alert the Air Force. We're going hunting! (turns to Grosstail) Grosstail, you guard the hairless one until I return!
    Wheeler: I can't let him get to Hope Island! If only I could get through to the Planeteers to warn them!
  • (snatches up Grosstail) Wheeler: Mr. Slave to you, fuzzface! Now, let Piebald go, or I might be tempted to squeeze like this.
    Grosstail: Guards! (Wheeler squeezes and bones crunch) Ow! Ow! Let him go!
    Piebald: Thank you, Wheeler, but it is useless. There are too many of them. Drop it.
    Wheeler: Okay.
  • Piebald: My people and I are doomed. But yours can still be saved. Don't let this happen to you. Don't let there be more people than your world can hold.

Gallery[]

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