Captain Planet Rant: Why Everybody Gotta Be Hating On Heart?
In spite of Wheeler’s persistent ignorance about seemingly every environmental topic Captain Planet ever addressed, the one Planeteer that seems to draw the most fire from fans (or snarky critics) of the show is Ma-Ti. Why? Well, for some reason, people cannotwrap their heads around The Power of Heart.
Everyone thinks that Gaia screwed Ma-Ti over when she gave him the Power of Heart, or else that the Power of Heart is, effectively, a “wussie” power compared to other elements. C'mon, gang! If anyone had it rough, it was Gi. Gurl couldn’t summon water, she could only manipulate it. If there was something wrong with the plumbing in a given building or they had to fight an eco-villain away from a shoreline, Gi was kind of useless until they finally found a working bathroom or a fountain. In that way, she was kinda like the Aquaman of the group.
Here are three major reasons why you should want “The Power of Heart”:Â
1. Paging Lt. Uhura! - The Power of Heart allowed Ma-Ti to serve as an indispensable communications network for the team. He could use his consciousness as a conduit so that the Planeteers could sort of “conference call” each other under dire circumstances. It was effectively, wide range multi-user telepathy. Bonus Ability: I believe this mental connection allowed Ma-Ti to “sense” missing persons as well, so it was like everyone on the team had a built in LoJack. As long as Ma-Ti was around and sound of mind and body, any AWOL peeps could, with time, be recovered.
2. Dr. Dolittle, Eat Your Heart Out! -  Ma-Ti could communicate with animals. This allowed him to extract information from them in case they were witnesses to a crime. Even better, he could force them to do his bidding. Hey random dog! Why don’t you go over there and bite Duke Nukem in the ass? Kaythanksbye!Â
Now I ask you: How is that NOT useful? See that group of bees? Boom. Now they are mercenary bees. We need a ride across the ocean but have no boat? Hey, Dolphins! Get your mammalian asses over here, NOW!Â
Screenshots or it never happened….
I wasn’t kidding guys. See?Â
3. Polygraph Power, Activate! - Because he could detect what was in another person’s heart, Ma-Ti could determine when other people were lying or in disguise. The problem was that something suspicious had to happen first in order to provoke Ma-Ti to use his ring to “scan” the individual in question. Because of his trusting nature, Ma-Ti normally got duped along with the other Planeteers until late in Act 2.
Personally, I would have routinely “scanned” every new person I met in order to avoid getting tricked by Dr. Blight in drag for the thirteenth time. I mean, it’s not like using the ring costs magic points or something. This isn’t a Zelda game! You don’t need to drink some green potion afterwards to replenish your planet-meter! Just wave the stupid ring around and expose the Eco-villain wearing the bad wig and the Groucho Marx mustache already!!!
In episode ONE, Gaia tells the Planeteers point blank that Heart is the most important power of all. The symbolic reason for this is because we need to appeal to the hearts of others in order to motivate them to take care of the planet. Heart is also crucial because without the proper compassionate intentions guiding us, we may accidentally be doing evil in the name of good. The Planeteers fall prey to this trap in “The Conqueror,” the famous episode wherein they meet Zarm, a malicious former spirit of the earth.
Zarm provides the Planeteers with enhanced “gauntlets of power” to replace their rings and goads them into destroying a nuclear missile facility in the name of the planet. With arrogance and domination poisoning their thoughts, they nearly follow through with this act of thoughtless eco-terrorism, but Ma-Ti and Gaia manage to dissuade them at the last moment (barely averting an arms race in the process).
This episode is a noteworthy one for Ma-Ti because it highlights two other dimensions of Heart. When Zarm offers Ma-Ti the enhanced Gauntlet of Heart. He says: "You can control the hearts of the world with this.“ The implication is that rather than just peering into the heart of an individual, given the right nudge Ma-Ti’s could actually influence a person’s heart, and alter a person’s sense of free will. More so than the limitations of his ring, perhaps it is only his good conscience that keeps Ma-Ti from doing so.
This theory is actually substantiated in the second part of "Two Futures” where we see an older, haggard, alternate universe Ma-Ti use his ring to convince a man to give him some spare change (which he then donates to an impoverished mother).
Finally, it is worth noting that Ma-Ti is the only Planeteer who is able to resist Zarm’s temptation; his call to conquest. The show implies that the Heart ring itself guards Ma-ti from this spiritual attack. Call that what you will: An enhanced moral compass or immunity to psychic persuasion powers, but whatever it is…it’s definitely another reason why The Power of Heart doesn’t suck!
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