What is up with the banning of Buzz Lightyear?

[Antiyonder]

Out of many of the episodes of Buzz Lightyear Of Star Command, the episode Super Nova is the most odd of episodes to ban. Here's a synopsis:


Mira ghosts into a Crystallic Fusion Generator Core and becomes a glowing, supercharged, power-speed-junkie. Mira's father warns Mira about how her race can fall prey to such temptation, but Mira has to find out on her own. Eventually, after she attempts to battle Zurg on her own, she realizes that her need for "re-charging" is getting worse and worse and is beginning to take control of her life, but she manages to overcome her "energy addiction".

In short it speaks against the addiction of drugs. Given that it's a public service type episode, you'd think it would be sacred. Kind of like the "Deadly Force" of the current decade you might say. So if the episode promoted drug use, they'd keep it on air?

To explain the option, "The ones who banned it are probably on drugs themselves". Two reasons for that choice:

1. It's a sarcastic remark of course, poking fun at their decision.
2. They probably do not appreciate being preached to about their habits from a cartoon. I mean like many people in business, Network Execs tend to let their personal opinions overule the professional aspect. Kind of like how Spider-Man and His Amazing Friends "The Quest Of The Red Skull" hasn't aired on ABC Family or Toon Disney is due to Eisner being Jewish.

Vote away.

[Ed Liu]

2. They probably do not appreciate being preached to about their habits from a cartoon. I mean like many people in business, Network Execs tend to let their personal opinions overule the professional aspect. Kind of like how Spider-Man and His Amazing Friends "The Quest Of The Red Skull" hasn't aired on ABC Family or Toon Disney is due to Eisner being Jewish.

What?

1. Eisner has been gone from Disney for a good, long time. He has exactly zero influence on Disney. If it were all his influence preventing that episode from being aired, then why isn't it on the air now?

2. Even while he was there, despite his reputation for micro-management, I very sincerely doubt that Eisner made a whole lot of decisions to ban individual episodes when there were literally hundreds of shows being aired across all the assorted Disney channels, many of which probably had far more controversial material than a Spider-Man cartoon. If he did make those kinds of decisions, then how could he have had the time to crush Disney fans' spirits and kill 2-D animation? ;)

3. Above and beyond the first 2 points, I don't understand how an episode of a Spider-Man cartoon with the Red Skull gets banned solely because the CEO of the company is Jewish. Does the episode let the Red Skull WIN or something?

The decision to ban an episode may not make any sense without any insider context, but ascribing motives to people based on vague conspiracy theories doesn't help.

-- Ed

[Dee]

Yeah, I don't really think these are the reasons. It was probabaly removed because it's a touchy subject, but I really don't see these other reasons being involved.

[Kagetsu]

I didn't think Buzz Lightyear was running on any channel. It's been a very long time since I saw it, must bring out those tapes. That was a very good episode and I can't think of any reason to ban it. Are you sure it's a ban or they just don't seem to run it.

[Darking]

I didn't think Buzz Lightyear was running on any channel.

Actually, you can catch it on not only Toon Disney, but the Disney Channel as well.

[tucsoncoyote]

I didn't think Buzz Lightyear was running on any channel. It's been a very long time since I saw it, must bring out those tapes. That was a very good episode and I can't think of any reason to ban it. Are you sure it's a ban or they just don't seem to run it.

Actually It's running on Disney Channel and Toon Disney but it's rather intriguing that it's not Only the Super Nova Episode that is being not run (or banned) here...

There are at least 2 other examples in Buzz Lightyear that aren't being run.. One of them being "The Taking of PC-7" and the other being "Inside Job"

Now I can see why they aren't running "Inside Job" as this is a shot at Terroristic Rebels (The Rebels of Gargantua), and as for the Taking of PC-7? that might suggest something on the order of Terrorism/Hostage Situations. But as for SuperNova, well I think again this is a touchy Subject. This does indeed deal with Drug Addiction (and in fact it deals with the subject quite nicely), but then why is it that it (Supernova) isn't being run? I think it's the fact that in the story, King Nova tries to tell his daughter about the dangers of this "Power Addiction" and Mira just blows it off. It's not until King Nova tells Mira that he too was like this, that the real reason hits home.. and that is this.. No Parent who is a drug Addict doesn't want to face their Kid and Admit to them that they too were Drug Addicts.. (it would in a way support the child to do the deed.. so in a way this could be considered "Reverse Psychology."

Just a thought about it though..

:coyote:

[Antiyonder]

Yeah, I don't really think these are the reasons. It was probabaly removed because it's a touchy subject, but I really don't see these other reasons being involved.

But like guns, it's usually ok for episodes to include drugs right? As long as they're fictionalized right? If I heard right, the drug on Super Nova doesn't exist, so whoever banned needs to get of their junk.


Even while he was there, despite his reputation for micro-management, I very sincerely doubt that Eisner made a whole lot of decisions to ban individual episodes when there were literally hundreds of shows being aired across all the assorted Disney channels, many of which probably had far more controversial material than a Spider-Man cartoon. If he did make those kinds of decisions, then how could he have had the time to crush Disney fans' spirits and kill 2-D animation?

But see, that's a major problem with censorship, it's not always consist. I read somewho made a good point on the matter:

It's considered taboo to during midnight show Donald Duck trying to light up the fireplace, because he gets burned.

Yet it's alrgiht to air a sitcom in a kid slot (about say 5:00 PM) to touch upon the subject of sex, or to be filled with many sexual innuendos. Something to think about there.


Above and beyond the first 2 points, I don't understand how an episode of a Spider-Man cartoon with the Red Skull gets banned solely because the CEO of the company is Jewish. Does the episode let the Red Skull WIN or something?

The episode has the Red Skull (Who is german/nazi) attempting to start World War 3. Also, I heard a Swastika Symbol appears in the episode.

[Ed Liu]

But see, that's a major problem with censorship, it's not always consist. I read somewho made a good point on the matter:

It's considered taboo to during midnight show Donald Duck trying to light up the fireplace, because he gets burned.

Yet it's alrgiht to air a sitcom in a kid slot (about say 5:00 PM) to touch upon the subject of sex, or to be filled with many sexual innuendos. Something to think about there.

The issue I was trying to raise was one of quantity, not of quality. I find it extremely unlikely that Michael Eisner walked into the Disney Channel, watched a bunch of Spider-Man and His Amazing Friends episodes, and then said, "You can't show that one," especially without any evidence that he ever took much interest in the day-to-day workings of the network programming. It's not impossible, but I find it extremely unlikely. He was ultimately responsible for the decisions Disney made, but that doesn't mean that he personally made every decision everywhere.

On top of that, I think what you view as inconsistency isn't as inconsistent as you think. Broadcast Standards and Practices changes from network to network, and they tend not to advertise why they make the decisions that they do. However, one thing most BS&P departments have in common are guidelines on what they call "imitatable actions," meaning any action that a kid could duplicate and cause great injury to themselves with. Violent acts are the ones most likely to get censored because they can be imitated. I remember Bruce Timm and Paul Dini saying the phrase like a mantra on a commentary track to an episode of Batman -- I think they heard it from BS&P a LOT. I suspect that this is also the guideline invoked for the assorted smoking censorship decisions (http://news.toonzone.net/article.php?ID=12126) and probably a lot of the drug-related ones, too.

In contrast, sexual innuendo can be treated as, "If you're old enough to get the joke, you're old enough to hear it." They may cause a "Did you hear with Johnny just SAID?" types of furors, but those are easier to deal with than news headlines that say, "Little Johnny Shoots Brother While Imitating Cartoon" or "Cartoon Advocates Drug Use (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mighty_Mouse)." Nudity and direct sexual reference are removed, obviously, but a sufficiently vague innuendo can get under the wire. Frankly, sometimes these kinds of jokes seem to make it in because BS&P either wasn't paying attention or didn't get the joke themselves.

Personally, I think the "imitatable action" theory is fatally flawed because it thwarts evolution in action. A kid who isn't smart enough to realize that he cannot, in fact, leap off a cliff like the Coyote or set himself on fire like Donald Duck is really ought to be culled from the gene pool before he or she gets the chance to breed. But just because I don't agree with the logic behind decisions like this doesn't mean that it isn't there.


The episode has the Red Skull (Who is german/nazi) attempting to start World War 3. Also, I heard a Swastika Symbol appears in the episode.

I know the Swastika would have been enough to ban the episode in Germany. They tend to be touchy about Nazi symbolism for obvious reasons. That might have been enough to get it pulled even in America (though I'd be mystified why). However, without knowing anything from anyone about why (or even if) the episode was pulled from the network or even knowing much more about it than, "The Red Skull fights the Spider Friends," I don't even think I can hazard a guess why it got pulled. I certainly don't think I can attribute it to anything about Michael Eisner.

-- Ed

[tucsoncoyote]

Since we are on the subject of Emulation, I can see why an episode of say Gargoyles (Deadly Force to be exact) might be edited or banned (the scene where Eliza Maza gets shot is inded quite graphic, and there is some way to emulate that (any kid could go out and buy a gun and do this kind of thing, but when it comes to Buzz Lightyear, I find it highly implausible to see some kid "Ghost" into a Crystallic Fusion Chamber just to get high.

I mean sure the topic for Super Nova was in fact Drug use and abuse, (and how to deal with in (from a Parental sense), but I highly think that banning it is not going to change matters here. Kids will still use drugs.

But I think the one reason as to why it might be banned goes back to what I said in an earlier post. I think that the issue was because King Nova in the story admitted to his daughter (Mira) that he had infact done the same thing when he was her age. (so then it would make it seem maybe to the viewers out there that it was okay to take drugs (hey if Daddy Nova Can do drugs why Can't I?) but I think a lot of folks tend to misconstrue the entire episode. I think here we have a case where some folks find this wrong, and yet in the end, all King Nova did was admit to his daughter that he had tried the same thing like she was doing, and it showed him why not to do it..

I think a lesson like that should be on the series.. after all if Darkwing Duck is supportive of Seatbelts, why can't this series have an Anti-drug episode? (hence that's why they made it in the first place right? To tell kids that doing drugs is bad..

so then it comes back to really.. why did Disney ban such a Positive episode?

:coyote:

[Bones Justice]

I've watched every episode on The Disney Channel. I have TiVo so I know that I have not missed any episodes that they have shown. They are on the third run and have skipped four episodes the first two times:

Super Nova
The Taking of PC-7
Inside Job
Conspiracy

They also did not show the episode Holiday Time during the second run. I'd guess that they are just saving it to show during the actual holiday season.

I've never seen any of the episodes above. I had never even watched Buzz until this year. I only know about the episodes from the episode guide. But others here say they have seen them before. I guess what I'm asking is -- is there any chance that some of these episodes just got "lost" or something?

As for Super Nova, from everything that I have read, it sounds like a very positive episode for kids to watch. I like the show because it's entertaining but I don't see how it could hurt to include a good message against drugs if it doesn't ruin the story. Actually, from the way you all have described the "drug" in the story, I doubt most kids would even relate it to reality (ie, doing drugs) anyways.

[Kagetsu]

Since we are on the subject of Emulation, I can see why an episode of say Gargoyles (Deadly Force to be exact) might be edited or banned (the scene where Eliza Maza gets shot is inded quite graphic, and there is some way to emulate that (any kid could go out and buy a gun and do this kind of thing, but when it comes to Buzz Lightyear, I find it highly implausible to see some kid "Ghost" into a Crystallic Fusion Chamber just to get high. Gun issues always have me setting the record. Minimum age to "purchase" firearms (at least in my state) is 21.


I mean sure the topic for Super Nova was in fact Drug use and abuse, (and how to deal with in (from a Parental sense), but I highly think that banning it is not going to change matters here. Kids will still use drugs. That's what seems strange. Although they do show Mira very clearly in ecstasy and withdraw, and wAy too easily overcoming it to defeat Zurg, I really don't see a bad message. I always felt the anti drug stuff we had in school made it sound wAy more fun than this show ever did. Anyone ever in contact with drugs knows it's hold on a person is wAy more complicated. That stuff "calls to you" for the rest of your life. It was a well done and cute show that I think by banning it they must be reading more into it than is there.

[tucsoncoyote]

As for Super Nova, from everything that I have read, it sounds like a very positive episode for kids to watch. I like the show because it's entertaining but I don't see how it could hurt to include a good message against drugs if it doesn't ruin the story. Actually, from the way you all have described the "drug" in the story, I doubt most kids would even relate it to reality (ie, doing drugs) anyways.

Well here's a thought about your comment...

Since it (Super Nova) was an epiosde where Mira "Ghosts" into the Crystallic Fusion Chamber (on Star Command), there is this possibilty that maybe Disney thought the word "Crystallic Fusion" is a bit too close to the Drug "Crystal Methamphetamine" (Crystal Meth, as they call in the Drug Circles.)

so that's one possiblity why they are banning it, it's because of this that it's the one reason why. (But until someone asks The Walt Disney Company this question, it's uncertain as to what the real reason is.

:coyote:

[Hordesman]

I think it depends on what you think is appropriate for a kids' show. The popular tendency is to create a death-free, drug-free world where bad guys use laser guns and robot minions. A bubble from things all kids encounter in life. And the rest of tv as well as the internet... There's some futility in this kind of shielding when kids can TiVo things like South Park in their rooms, buy it off iTunes, or (if they live on the West Coast) watch it at 7 pm.