Banned Episodes

There's always some episodes of cartoons they never want us to see. If you know of one, post it. Also answer (if you can): Why it was banned? Where was it banned? Was the reason justifiable.

Mine:

Powerpuff Girls: See Me, Feel Me, Gnomey

Where Banned: US only.

Why Banned: Communist themes (supposedly), Pokemon-esque (as in, intense and possibly seizure inducing) flashing lights.

Justifiable?: I think so. The flashing lights (a confirmed cause of the ban) were pretty intense. I think Cartoon Network was smart enough to take it off so they wouldn't have a "Computer Soldier Porygon" incident, as I call it. As far as the communist theme (unconfirmed but possible), maybe. I get that communism is bad and everything, but people shouldnt take it so seriously, especially since it aired about 13 or 14 years after the fall of the former Soviet Union.

Anyone else?

I don’t even know anymore.

BUY A CAR FROM ME!

That was never banned, nor was it part of a television show. It was a feature film about Mark Twain.

Of course, don't you know anything about ALCHEMY?!- Twin clones of Ivan the Great

To my knowledge, Mask of Matches Malone from Batman The Brave And The Bold has still never aired in America.

Which is unfortunate, because I'm almost certain that it wouldn't be an issue had the collective internet comicbook culture not made such a huge deal out of "OMG Gail Simone managed to slip a dick joke into a kiddie show! How raunchy!" I'm certain the censors wouldn't have caught it had the internet not made such a big deal about the scene in question.

edited 9th Nov '12 8:17:51 PM by comicwriter

There's an episode from Disney's Tail Spin that never saw the light of day; it was called "Flying Dupes" and a clip from it played during the show's opening montage, the one where Baloo is dancing in drag with a box under one arm (the clip plays during the title song's breakdown, near the end). In it, Baloo was engaged to deliver a bomb to the Thembrian High Marshall. The episode was banned because of it's "terrorist themes."

The Dial M For Monkey short “Barbequor” from Dexters Laboratory. I think I finally saw a really poor quality version of it years later.

Confirmed Bachelors: the dramedy hit of 1883!

Although it was eventually made available online via, and collected along the rest of the season on DVD 'Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles (2003)'s "Insane in the Membrane" was ever aired on actual TV, because apparently, there was a change in the network's S&P personel between the time the episode was initially approved and it was set to air, and the second group just didn't approve of it. And heck, it's not hard to see why, given that it involves Baxter Stockman finally*

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edited 10th Nov '12 3:04:37 AM by DoKnowButchie

Avatar art by Lorna-Ka.

There was an segment of Hi Hi Puffy Ami Yumi that was never aired in the US. Don't remember what it was called, but Ami and Yumi were supposed to be lost at sea. Instead, they played a different tropical themed segment they already aired.

Don't mind me. I'm just a creepy little lurker.

You can find it on DVD, but FOX wouldn't air the Family Guy episode "Partial Terms of Endearment", because it dealt with *gasp* abortion. It's funny, because I've seen plenty of episodes more offensive that FOX was wlling to air.

Justifiable? Absolutely not. It's not as if pro-lifers were forced to watch the episode. The people who would have been offended by it probably don't watch the show anyways. They could have always put a special disclaimer at the beginning of the episode.

edited 10th Nov '12 10:49:47 AM by redhed311

Super Best Friends from South Park can't be obtained in any other way except on DVD (at least right now), especially after the death threat incident. Of course, the episode was made before the Jyllands-Posten controversy, so nobody complained about Muhammad's portrayal around that time, but then Comedy Central reacted after a smallish Islamist site threatened Trey and Matt. Of course, 200 and 201 (I've only seen the former) are in a similar situation very shortly after release, the latter of which still maintaining heavy censors on the DVD cut (what the hell, Comedy Central).

edited 10th Nov '12 11:16:00 AM by EarlOfSandvich

I now go by Graf von Tirol.

It was originally supposed to be something like a tsunami. There was a huge one just before it aired (I can't remember where). i think they took it off out of sensitivity.

I don’t even know anymore.

I can’t imagine it being more offensive than the, “Ha ha, Peter just said something blatantly anti-Semitic” “jokes” that seem to turn up in every episode. [rolls eyes]

Confirmed Bachelors: the dramedy hit of 1883!

It was admitedly an appalling "shock value" Family Guy episode, which tried too earnestly to give a message about pro abortion (and of course how completely brainless and ignorant anyone is who disagrees) while still being tastelessly offensive about it, considering what stuff they have gotten on air however, it doesn't seem that bad. It's aired in the UK by the way as does the similarly banned "Wish Upon A Weinstein" on a frequent basis.

That Tale Spin episode wasn't from the intro by the way, that clip was from an early promo, whether the scenario was inspired from it is debatable however.

Another episode called "Last Horizons" was also banned, likely due to similar terroist and war depictions and the antagonists portrayal as rather outdated Chinese stereotypes.

edited 10th Nov '12 5:59:50 PM by Psi001

101 Dalmatians: The Series had an installment that was banned because it showed a character flying a plane into a silo or something on a farm, which was taboo after the 9/11 attacks. But it's a bit of moot point, anyway, since Disney Junior's airings of the show are extremely limited.

Caillou allegedly has at least a couple banned installments due to certain behaviors displayed by Caillou in the earliest episodes, but I don't know if they were actually banned or not.

Can't forget "One Beer" off the "Elephant Issues" episode from Tiny Toon Adventures. This episode was most likely banned in the US only since the one on You Tube was taken from Teletoon in Canada. Apparently, it was banned because there were complaints from parents about how it was a segment revolving around the dangers of alcohol consumption. Not sure if it can be justified because of how I think the Moral Guardians didn't know it was teaching the viewers not to drink alcohol.

Interestingly enough, when WB issued the press release for the upcoming Volume 3 DVD, this episode wasn't included until a few days later when it was updated with the episode intact, supposedly due to fan pressure.

edited 10th Nov '12 6:43:37 PM by x86x2

Someone wake me from this nightmare, I've become my darkest fear...

That Tiny Toons episode, IIRC, was criticized and swept under the rug because the moral was played in such an ironical, over the top and cynical way, anyone could realize it was, actually, a Take That! against the Anvilicious morals parodied there. And parents are very protective of their Anvilicious morals.

Don't you mean Cartman? (Yes, Peter says anti-Semitic remarks too, but it looked like you were responding to the South Park post, plus Peter is less anti-Semitic than Cartman)

I think it's more the fact Cartman's anti semitism is played more as an actual part of his character and antagonism with one of the other main characters, while Peter usually just sperts out random offensive Jewish stuff for the sake of predictable shock value. Ironically the one time he did something rather anti semetic as part of his personality, it ended up banned.

He doesn't do it in nearly as much excess as he does black racist humor however, to the point they branched it off into a show of it's own.

His chauvenism on the other hand was part of his personality, at least until he just became a walking embodiment of shock value and Comedic Sociopathy.

edited 11th Nov '12 10:13:37 AM by Psi001

It's odd, but while I've heard "One Beer" is supposed to be a banned cartoon, I've seen it on TV a couple times. I saw it when it was first aired, and I know I saw it at least one other time before the DVD sets were released. It's so ridiculously over the top that I have to feel the folks who made it were at least poking a little bit of fun at the popular notion among moral guardians that it's impossible to imbibe in a responsible manner.

I have never heard anything about "One Beer" ever being banned.

I actually a few years ago saw it (and the other shorts it aired with) on demand a few years ago. It's really not that interesting, from what I remember. The only things I remember about it were the Silver Surfer parody being an over-the-top gay stereotype and Monkey driving Kronk home because he got drunk and had a hangover had too much juice and had a headache or something.

I found it on You Tube a while back. And it's in the DVD boxset, if you have 50 spare bucks lying around. And, really, if it had Communist themes, it was more anti-Communist than anything it seemed. Also, there are so many musical references to Tommy in it that I must applaud them.

edited 11th Nov '12 6:53:57 PM by 0dd1

Insert witty and clever quip here. My page, as the database hates my handle.

I remember a few episodes that were banned, here they are.

Two cow and Chicken episodes, “No Smoking” and the infamous “Buffalo Gals”, no smoking had Chicken smoking cigarettes as well as having the red guy named “Devil”. However in the end, it can be assumed that chicken has decided to stop smoking and focus important things in life. Buffalo gals on the other hand got aired once, and has never been aired again due to lesbian references.

I can understand why Buffalo gals was banned, but No smoking shouldn’t have been. The ending can leave people to debate that Chicken had given up on smoking cigarettes since in later episodes we don’t see him near one.

oh and I don’t remember the name of the episode, but there was one episode of Bonkers that was banned for the toon bad guy being a terrorist. A bomb terrorist for that matter, I cant comment on this because I haven’t seen the episode. I have heard somewhere that once the episode got finished it didn’t get aired on tv. Only god knows where this episode is.

The episode “Hot spells” from Darkwing Duck was banned for Gosylan selling Darkwing’s soul(or was it hers?) to a devil like character. Needless to say, its been too long since I saw this episode to know if the banning was good or not.

I think it was hers. That same devil got his hands on Darkwing's soul in another episode, titled "Dead Duck".

Those two episodes(hot spells and dead duck) aren't on the DVD I take it? Or are they?

IIRC, they both are Season 2 episodes, and the DVD only covered Season 1.

The Dial M For Monkey short was aired on a frequent basis in the UK (at least when they still shown those shorts all that time ago). In fact a fair few banned or edited episodes seem to make it past the radar here (not all though, I think all the same South Park episodes have been banned here), we even get most of the Golden Age shorts unedited.

I remember seeing "No Smoking" only once, though that seemed more due to the rareness of the What A Cartoon Show shorts airing.

edited 11th Nov '12 8:08:29 PM by Psi001