Captain Planet - The Complete Franchise DVD Collection

[MifuneFan]

Warner will be releasing a new DVD collection titled Captain Planet: The Complete Franchise on October 15th. Update: A Blu-ray release is now coming April 22nd, 2025.

https://www.gruv.com/product/captain..._franchise_dvd (new accounts apply SIGNUP20 for extra 20% off)



Back cover

[Show spoiler]

The Planeteers, five teenagers from different parts of the earth, each receive a ring of elemental power--earth, wind, water, fire or heart--to combat eco-villains everywhere in the world. And when they combine the powers of their rings, a new superhero, Captain Planet, is created, with powers far greater than the sum of the five.

[DawnShadow]

Very nice

[pleaserecycle]

This has been a great year for fans of 90’s Cartoon Network.

[deet]

Would be great if this included Tom Cruise's scrapped VO work as a bonus.

[dj89]

Originally Posted by deet

Would be great if this included Tom Cruise's scrapped VO work as a bonus.

All long gone for good reason afaik - I'd assume it would be similar to the Australian release of the complete series from a few years ago maybe plus or minus some special features (which were pretty minimal on that release)

[Bradsdadg]

That is pretty cool to hear! I wonder if the packaging will be similar to the first season that they put out way back when...

[Bubbles-11]

This sounds like it's likely another Warner animated release coming from the crop of MeTV Toons remasters being done in partnership with Weigel Broadcasting, like w/ Archive's release of Top Cat The Complete Series and the Superstars 10 set

[Leviathan]

Originally Posted by Bubbles-11

This sounds like it's likely another Warner animated release coming from the crop of MeTV Toons remasters being done in partnership with Weigel Broadcasting, like w/ Archive's release of Top Cat The Complete Series and the Superstars 10 set

But Captain Planet was remastered in HD. Why not a Blu-Ray?

[Nailwraps]

Originally Posted by Leviathan

But Captain Planet was remastered in HD. Why not a Blu-Ray?

They don't think a general/retail Blu-ray release will as much as a DVD edition.

Doesn't mean you won't expect a Blu-ray release from the Warner Archive at some point.

[Chie Satonaka]

Originally Posted by Leviathan

But Captain Planet was remastered in HD. Why not a Blu-Ray?

It could get a mod blu ray like Superfriends.

[MifuneFan]

Originally Posted by Chie Satonaka

It could get a mod blu ray like Superfriends.

Yeah, I only have info about non-MOD releases which is why I thought Super Friends was just going to be a DVD release. It's very possible the same could be true here

[Chie Satonaka]

Originally Posted by MifuneFan

Yeah, I only have info about non-MOD releases which is why I thought Super Friends was just going to be a DVD release. It's very possible the same could be true here

I've seen the hd remaster on metv toons, it's very nice. Would be worth it.

[pferreira]

Originally Posted by Bubbles-11

This sounds like it's likely another Warner animated release coming from the crop of MeTV Toons remasters being done in partnership with Weigel Broadcasting, like w/ Archive's release of Top Cat The Complete Series and the Superstars 10 set

Were the negatives found or are did they just do a cheap AI upscale from video masters?

Originally Posted by Chaz05

Just picked this up and the re-release of the ‘87 TMNT at my local Walmart.

Now that was a complete disaster of a release.

Originally Posted by Sillydillo

Well said! This is absolutely the mentality I hold when a show I like gets an imperfect release.

No extras which is a bit of a shame but this is better than nothing.

Originally Posted by SpaceBlackKnight

These look to be from the remasters instead of ports from 30+ yr old betacam tapes. It's a miracle most of the film elements from the DiC produced portions were kept and survived (since DiC scrapped film negs to most of their later edited on tape productions after the transferred the footage to tape).

Begs the question what else survived in terms of negatives for cartoons. What else could they have negatives for? Has there been any confirmation of any other negatives from DIC cartoons that survived?

[SpaceBlackKnight]

Originally Posted by pferreira

Were the negatives found or are did they just do a cheap AI upscale from video masters?

Begs the question what else survived in terms of negatives for cartoons. What else could they have negatives for? Has there been any confirmation of any other negatives from DIC cartoons that survived?

For Captain Planet, the DIC co-produced seasons are mostly native HD from OCN trims found in the Turner archives. Things like credits and on screen texts were rebuilt digitally while some random shots here and there are AI upscaled from video masters (think Rescue Rangers' HD masters). These are no doubt due to missing trims or having alternate takes that didn't match but were originally fixed via analog means after transfer to tape. The Hanna Barbera seasons fare much better (being they were one of the few studios who kept film elements to productions edited/finished on tape unlike several others).

As for other DIC owned stuff, it's well known the film elements to almost all their edited on tape series post-1987 were hauled away and mostly discarded. Some of their co-productions had the film elements and finished masters stored with the co-producer, which was how this series restoration became possible and that others like Hello Kitty's Furry Tale Theater (co-produced with MGM and Sanrio) might also have a chance.

Some folks found random OCN trims to shows like Captain N: The Game Master (which Kineko Video had scanned and uploaded to their channel) through facility dumpster dives, and a few former DIC employees were given trims to The Ghostbusters series plus the rare pilot that were obtained by avid collectors.

Most productions prior to approx. 1986 were finished on film and those remain intact in the Wild Brain archives. Keep in mind there was a period where series that began finished on film transitioned to tape and may not have all the elements. Inspector Gadget was one of these and Wild Brain remastered it for some NFT promotion. It looked like all of it was native HD, but I wonder what they did for the last season and a half which was def finished on tape and may have not had elements left.

[pferreira]

Originally Posted by SpaceBlackKnight

Most productions prior to approx. 1986 were finished on film and those remain intact in the Wild Brain archives. Keep in mind there was a period where series that began finished on film transitioned to tape and may not have all the elements. Inspector Gadget was one of these and Wild Brain remastered it for some NFT promotion. It looked like all of it was native HD, but I wonder what they did for the last season and a half which was def finished on tape and may have not had elements left.

Wow, how did you find all this out?

Surprised Captain Planet survives since as you say it is within this period. Wait, so Inspector Gadget is in HD? Do you think The Real Ghostbusters is completely lost then? Also any chance Jayce and the Wheeled Warriors, MASK, Heathcliff, Pole Position, The Littles and Dennis the Menace or 90's series like Adventures of Sonic the Hedgehog, The Legend of Zelda, Where on Earth is Carmen Santiago or The Hurricanes?

[SpaceBlackKnight]

Originally Posted by pferreira

Wow, how did you find all this out?

Surprised Captain Planet survives since as you say it is within this period. Wait, so Inspector Gadget is in HD? Do you think The Real Ghostbusters is completely lost then? Also any chance Jayce and the Wheeled Warriors, MASK, Heathcliff, Pole Position, The Littles and Dennis the Menace or 90's series like Adventures of Sonic the Hedgehog, The Legend of Zelda, Where on Earth is Carmen Santiago or The Hurricanes?

I talk with a few people who worked at several places back in the day and some that do archival intern work for some companies time to time. Many of them were astounded as to what they have and what got destruction notices. This is in general for film, but once you go deeper into smaller studios with edited on tape stuff it gets really messy and depressing.

The following DIC titles on your list were (mostly) finished on film and should be in existence:

Jayce and the Wheeled Warriors, MASK, Heathcliff, The Littles

Almost all DIC controlled series post-1986 were edited/finished on tape after transferring from film negs. These reportedly had their film elements sent off for destruction but various trims were found in dumpster dives and from former DIC employees. By aprox. 1996 DIC fully transitioned to digipaint with series that started cels work on film eventually switching over.

The Columbia Television co-productions might have film elements within Sony's archives, but the former has been seriously neglecting it's lesser TV output for some time now.

As for Inspector Gadget HD, someone ripped ending credits from Ep 7 which is hosted on a place called Gamisodes https://gamisodes.com/. It appears to be native HD with redone text.

[Eidolon]

Originally Posted by pferreira

Surprised Captain Planet survives since as you say it is within this period. Wait, so Inspector Gadget is in HD? Do you think The Real Ghostbusters is completely lost then? Also any chance Jayce and the Wheeled Warriors, MASK, Heathcliff, Pole Position, The Littles and Dennis the Menace or 90's series like Adventures of Sonic the Hedgehog, The Legend of Zelda, Where on Earth is Carmen Santiago or The Hurricanes?

Some of the Real Ghostbusters episodes are in pretty bad shape, going by the Time-Life set. Beneath These Streets has got terrible print-through, The Old College Spirit has got some pretty bad tape damage, and Night Game has a weird problem at the bottom of the frame at every edit point that actually looks like a U-Matic editing servo error. There's plenty of other problems spread across the set. It's such a shame that the original elements weren't kept.

Saying that, there are definitely alternate versions/copies out there, as a number of the episodes in the set miss out the Tahiti music, which can be found in UK dvd and VHS releases of the same episodes. Maybe there are better sources for some of the damaged ones.

Jayce and the Wheeled Warriors needs a decent release, the Mill Creek set has the interlacing screwed up on the first two discs.
Ulysses 31 has been restored for it's french versions, there's no reason why these can't be released elsewhere with English soundtracks. It's odd that it hasn't been seen on disc in years.

[MifuneFan]

Pre-order now up at Gruv!

https://www.gruv.com/product/captain..._franchise_dvd



Back cover

[Show spoiler]

[pleaserecycle]

Originally Posted by MifuneFan

Pre-order now up at Gruv!

https://www.gruv.com/product/captain..._franchise_dvd



Back cover

[Show spoiler]

Also on gruv’s eBay account with 20% off if you buy 2 or more DVDs.

It’s interesting that they use the Cartoon Network logo on the back cover.

[Sillydillo]

Originally Posted by pleaserecycle

It's interesting that they use the Cartoon Network logo on the back cover.

My understanding is Captain Planet is internally controlled under the CN library. Madman released Captain Planet back in the day under their Cartoon Network license.