The creators of popular children’s show Captain Planet have confirmed Ma-Ti, the franchise’s most beige Planeteer, will be recast as retired gelding Burning Front, in a bid to bring the show’s environmental messaging to new audiences.

Ma-Ti, a Brazilian boy and the youngest member of the Planeteers, wields the power of Heart on the environmentally focused cartoon. Its main applications are empathy and communicating with animals, chiefly his pet monkey, Suchi.

“People who like backing tenacious front-runners don’t necessarily care too much about single-use plastics, but we’re hoping to change that,” one Captain Planet insider said. 

The move to recast Heart follows years of unflattering comparison with the other elements. Earth, Wind, Fire and Water were introduced with spectacular, screen-filling powers: landslides, tornadoes, fireballs, tidal surges. Ma-Ti’s contribution, however, was a pet primate and a strong sense of empathy, which production sources concede has rarely troubled a villain.

The Pakistan Star understands that the decision to recast Heart was partly inspired by the success of Umamusume, the anime that reimagines real racehorses as characters. And after scouring two decades of Australian horse racing replays, one name kept coming up. 

“We needed Heart to bring something to the table that actually justified his name,” one source said.

“And the mighty chestnut Burning Front brings it in spades: tough, brave and a heart as big as himself. This is a horse that would stare down a rising sea level or corporate polluter and just keep fighting, especially when the punters were on.”

Burning Front ran his last race in 2018, winning 19 of his 60 starts and over $1.4 million in prizemoney.

Suchi the monkey’s future with the Planeteers is yet to be confirmed.

More to follow.