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Tom Cruise was supposed to be Captain Planet
Imagine Tom Cruise saying "The power is yours!"
Captain Planet and the Planeteers has no shortage of celebrities in its cast. Whoopi Goldberg, Levar Burton, Sting, Meg Ryan, Tim Curry, Jeff Goldblum, Ed Asner, and Martin Sheen all voiced regular characters in the series. But the titular role was meant for, and coveted by, the king of Hollywood, Tom Cruise.
According to Marsha Goodman, casting and voice director for the show, Cruise didn't even audition. In a podcast interview with Slate, Goodman said, "My coworker got a call, and the person said, 'Hi, I'm Tom Cruise. I'd like to do the voice of Captain Planet.' And she said, 'Yeah, sure.' and she hung up." Not one to be deterred, Cruise called back and said "No, this is really Tom Cruise."
It made sense to give Cruise the part. This was 1989, and his star was rising higher than ever. Imagine how impactful it would have been to have the biggest celebrity in Hollywood leading the cast of a show about saving the environment. He met with the production team while he was filming Days of Thunder, even taking a helicopter to get to meetings.
Tom Cruise began recording sessions as Captain Planet and recorded the first six episodes, but hit a snag. "Tom Cruise was fine, but he just couldn't keep up with our schedule," said Goodman, "He had other priorities, like being a movie star." The realities of being Hollywood's hottest commodity had set in and, sadly, Tom Cruise had to withdraw from the project. What began as one big step forward for the fledgling show was now six steps back - they needed a new voice for Captain Planet, and that voice had to rerecord Tom Cruise's episodes.
Luckily, Goodman found her Captain Planet with up-and-coming actor David Coburn, who voiced the role in 113 episodes. But, it's still fun to imagine how different the show would be if Tom Cruise had been Captain Planet.
