The series was already fairly mature in tone and style for its era. Here's some of the stuff that slipped past the censors:
- A rather clever one had nothing to do with off-color jokes, and everything to do with battle. With many sci-fi cartoons of the era, Mecha-Mooks were used so that the heroes could beat on them with impunity. In GR, the Queen's army seemed to be stocked to the gills with robots - they sounded metallic, had no flesh exposed, etc. However, they took bribes, expressed fear when about to be killed, etc. The most damning evidence, however, was the fact that the one Technopath Ranger never used his abilities in a combat situation. The closest we get to learning what they are is a rather evasive line from Zach in "Lord of the Sands": "As far as we know they're some kind of robot..."
- A particularly noticeable one in "Changeling." Zachary jokes that Shane must be hallucinating. Shane fires back."Hallucinating my badge, Captain!"
- "Renegade Rangers" had the crew pretending to go rogue in order to infiltrate the Black Hole Gang. The bandit leader, Daisy O'Mega is extremely shameless about hitting on Shane, which pisses Macross and Niko off. Later, Daisy takes Shane into her quarters, and the pair of them get a bit more shameless until Shane puts his hat on her bed and asks her to dance. OK, so they do get some waltzing in...but the subtext later in the episode more than implies it did not stop with a waltz.
- "Psychocrypt:" Zach is captured by the Queen's forces, and is unconscious on the floor. The Queen stands over him, absolutely delighted that she has him in her clutches, going on about how he will be her best Slaverlord ever. Between the seductive tone of voice she was using earlier, the grin on her face, and the fact it was likely several hours between Zach's capture and getting tossed in the Crypt, the whole thing was dripping with the creepiest kinds of one-way Villainous Crush, and it's led to some disturbing speculation on the fan list. Even Chris Rowley commented the scene had an "S&M vibe."
- In "The Ax," Doc and Niko are called away from patrol to investigate something Roy McIntyre uncovered while prospecting. When they arrive, Roy's answers aren't all that clear.Niko: Roy, this isn't one of your monkey-shines, is it?Doc: Or one of your moonshines?
- "Tortuna:" A "memory bird" (a computer storage unit in the form of a robot bird) was stolen from the Queen and landed in Geezy's hands. The bird's AI acts like a third rate comedian, and starts snarking off, even when the party is pinned down by Crown troopers. After one too many bad jokes, Geezy tells it "Be quiet, you little...Fu-(unintelligible)!"
