Content Advisory

[danreyes1]

Is there, somewhere out there, an actual guide of some sort that specifies what can and can't be in a show based on its content rating?

I was wondering this while watching the Batman: TAS Volume 1 commentary, with the creators mentioning, for example, that they were allowed to have Batman bloodied only once, or that Mr. Freeze was not technically allowed to point the gun at the screen when he did. What else is and isn't allowed?

[Golgo13]

Is there, somewhere out there, an actual guide of some sort that specifies what can and can't be in a show based on its content rating?

I was wondering this while watching the Batman: TAS Volume 1 commentary, with the creators mentioning, for example, that they were allowed to have Batman bloodied only once, or that Mr. Freeze was not technically allowed to point the gun at the screen when he did. What else is and isn't allowed?

It's all relative on the board and the network. For instance, you could get away with a lot more if a cartoon was airing on Cartoon Network than the CW.

I remember Carl Macek once stated that during the edits for Robotech, censors said you could show blood but you couldn't show it exiting a wound. You could have characters die on the show, but only if they die valiantly in battle. For instance, you could have fighter planes and army tanks be destroyed, but you couldn't show innocent civilians being killed. That is why in the early DBZ edits, they'd use such lines as "they're okay I can see the parachutes" or "thank goodness they only hit that robot plane."

[danreyes1]

That is why in the early DBZ edits, they'd use such lines as "they're okay I can see the parachutes" or "thank goodness they only hit that robot plane."

I remember watching those and thinking "That's absolutely ridiculous"

[Antiyonder]

I remember Carl Macek once stated that during the edits for Robotech, censors said you could show blood but you couldn't show it exiting a wound. You could have characters die on the show, but only if they die valiantly in battle. For instance, you could have fighter planes and army tanks be destroyed, but you couldn't show innocent civilians being killed. That is why in the early DBZ edits, they'd use such lines as "they're okay I can see the parachutes" or "thank goodness they only hit that robot plane."

When X-Men The Animated Series adapted The Dark Phoenix Saga, they obviously couldn't have Jean kill off an entire universe (D'Bari). To remedy that, they have two Shiar guards stating that the star system was deserted. They pulled a DBZ there.

[cyde]

That reminds me--in G. I. Joe, all the weapons were all phaerblasts, instead of bullets.

[Aldrius]

It's really at the discretion of the BS&P rep I think. I don't think there's a big book of things you can't do on television.


or that Mr. Freeze was not technically allowed to point the gun at the screen when he did.

Yes he was. You can't do that so that kids don't feel like they're being shot at, which for some reason encourages kids to shoot each other. But Mr. Freeze could do it because no one has a freeze gun.

The one I never understand is when they try and pretend death doesn't happen. Kids are innocent... but that's just a fact of life. If they can't deal with the fact that death exists. (Not necessarily have to deal with it personally.) How are they going to exist as adults?

[Golgo13]

The one I never understand is when they try and pretend death doesn't happen. Kids are innocent... but that's just a fact of life. If they can't deal with the fact that death exists. (Not necessarily have to deal with it personally.) How are they going to exist as adults?

A lot of cartoons don't hide death. I mean, there tons of characters who were killed in Robotech, but, like I said, that was allowed because you can show people die if they fight valiantly in battle. It teaches kids that if you fight, you risk your life.

Now, showing innocent people being incinerated by a bomb or, better yet, showing them death scenes from Final Destination is going a little overboard in revealing death to kids. That just teaches them that death is around the corner at every turn. Despite it being a grim fact, it's really not the kind of content you want to reveal to a child because it will cause them to think and grow paranoid about the subject. I knew when I was 5 that I contemplated the end of the world and I kept having nightmares about it for a few months.

So, yeah, death is fine in cartoons as long as it isn't some pedestrian suddenly being crushed to death by debris.

However, in a PG cartoon, most of those rules go out the window.

[tb4000]

As far as sheltering kids, there's a balance. You want them to understand how the world works, but you dont' want to scare them so bad that they become former shells of their previous happy go lucky selves either.

[Golgo13]

It also depends on the era. I recently recall a Battle of the Planets episode where all the army tanks and jets were referred to as robots. But in that very episode, a main character was killed by a robotic bug.

There is was also a certain code of moral ethics when censoring back then. For instance, in that very episode of Battle of the Planets, the daughter of the man who was killed was given the chance to seek revenge on the bug that killed her father. She declines and lets the heroes take care of him. But in the original version, the hero smacks her and forces her to kill it.

[danreyes1]

I actually watched an old Cartoon Cartoon online, Raw Deal in Rome. For a child's cartoon, it was rather graphic. Nobody actually died, but the main character, the dog, was blown up many times. Quite often, this included visible bones, organs, and muscles flying. No blood though. You never really see that on children's television anymore. Was there some slack in the general rules back then?

[Dr.Pepper]

Probably. Just think about how much they got away with in Ren & Stimpy.

[Dudley]

I actually watched an old Cartoon Cartoon online, Raw Deal in Rome. For a child's cartoon, it was rather graphic. Nobody actually died, but the main character, the dog, was blown up many times. Quite often, this included visible bones, organs, and muscles flying. No blood though. You never really see that on children's television anymore. Was there some slack in the general rules back then?

That was on CN, who are pretty well known for being loose on those kind of things.

[Atoon]

CN is more restrictive to deal with religion subjects than the competence, I think.

[Mikintosh]

In the case of anime, the fact that these shows are usually shown overseas in time slots for younger audiences then they were originally in Japan may explain things. For example, the cut scene in Pokemon's "Holiday at Acopoco" with James' fake boobs (easily the oddest scene in the entire series) was probably too weird for early-afternoon syndication, and the unaired Safari Warden episode (featuring guns aplenty) probably was struck down in the US as a matter of cautiousness on the parts of the American distributor, not enforcement by a code. However, I'm sure there is a content advisory board, but I'm sure it doesn't have the same pull as the MPAA or ESRB.

[weirdojace]

Haha wow, Invader Zim must have broke the "can't show civilians dying" rule like a million times. That show even had an episode where the entire city got blown up. Although I do know that episodes produced after 9/11 had stricter guidelines for violence than say, an episode like "Hamstergeddon."

But yeah, this really all depends on the censors for that particular network. It's a pretty well known fact that Cartoon Network will allow more violence to be shown than Nickelodeon. I remember a few things mentioned on the Invader Zim commentaries like how they wouldn't allow Iggins to die at the end of Game Slave 2 (where it's not really a real death, you just wouldn't see him get away after the elevator crashes).

And other than Avatar I think, you never see blood on Nickelodeon cartoons anymore, whereas older shows like Rocko's Modern Life and Ren & Stimpy showed it pretty often.

[Hiya Animation]

That reminds me--in G. I. Joe, all the weapons were all phaerblasts, instead of bullets.

Same with the 90s Spiderman show.

[Golgo13]

Haha wow, Invader Zim must have broke the "can't show civilians dying" rule like a million times. That show even had an episode where the entire city got blown up. Although I do know that episodes produced after 9/11 had stricter guidelines for violence than say, an episode like "Hamstergeddon."

Collateral damage is fine as long as you don't show civilians being burned or crushed or killed in the destruction. I mean, in the second episode of Robotech, Macross City was ripped to shreds.

[J'onn J'onzz]

Collateral damage is fine as long as you don't show civilians being burned or crushed or killed in the destruction. I mean, in the second episode of Robotech, Macross City was ripped to shreds.

See, this is amusing, because in the early episodes of the DBZ dub, we got stuff like "GOOD THING WE MANAGED TO EVACUATE THE CITY IN TIME, OR NAPPA'S DESTRUCTION OF IT WOULD HAVE CAUSED PEOPLE TO DIE!" several times an episode. Nappa would blow up a plane, then we'd get Tienshinhan yelling "THEY BLEW UP THE CARGO ROBOT!" They never had to do that on Zim, did they?

[Scirel]

To echo the crowd here, I don`t really understand why random, faceless people aren`t allowed to die in these shows. Charachters that no one has any attachment to, literally "random people" who only exist in the show to be killed to show how evil a villain is, yes charachters that we have a chace to get to know and get close to are allowed to die... on screen no less?


Something is rotten in the state of denmark.(I`m on a shakespeare kick, sue me)

[weirdojace]

Collateral damage is fine as long as you don't show civilians being burned or crushed or killed in the destruction. I mean, in the second episode of Robotech, Macross City was ripped to shreds.

Exactly. But in "Hamstergeddon" they went so far as to show a woman getting crushed by a school bus. However, in "The Most Horrible X-mas Ever" they didn't allow Ian Graham to get crushed.

Oh and I'd also like to point out the giant car pile-up in "Walk for Your Lives." I'm sure Jhonen and the Nick censors probably had a field day fighting over that...

[PowerZord]

Gargolyes got away with a lot of stuff back in 95', Reboot also got away with quite a lot of stuff. but as other mentioned.. it depends on a few things:

-The channel and it's Practice and standards departmet
-The timeslot
-The target audience.

I still remenber when elsa was shot accidentaly by one of the gargolyes. and X-men Morph's death and all the racism and genocide themes.

Carmen Sandiego even if it was an educational kids show it had a few stuff which today would be cut

[danreyes1]

I still remenber when elsa was shot accidentaly by one of the gargolyes.

I remember reading somewhere that Toon Disney refused to show that episode.

[PowerZord]

I remember reading somewhere that Toon Disney refused to show that episode.

Yes it skipped it. but I was refering to back in 1995 when it originally air. but according to what I read over the internet TD always skips that one

[Hordesman]

Yes it skipped it. but I was refering to back in 1995 when it originally air. but according to what I read over the internet TD always skips that one

They did at first, then showed a version with a tighter shot of Elisa just showing her face or something. There's also lots of jump cuts of impaling and contact scenes cut out on TD's airings.


In the case of anime, the fact that these shows are usually shown overseas in time slots for younger audiences then they were originally in Japan may explain things.
IIRC, early evening airings for weekday anime has more to do with school hours and afterschool activities (like entrance exam prep) in Japan.

[Master Moron]

To echo the crowd here, I don`t really understand why random, faceless people aren`t allowed to die in these shows. Charachters that no one has any attachment to, literally "random people" who only exist in the show to be killed to show how evil a villain is, yes charachters that we have a chace to get to know and get close to are allowed to die... on screen no less?


Well, the thing is, killing a bunch of random, faceless people trivializes death. When hundreds of people get killed by a bomb, they may seem like random, faceless people, but each person has a life story. It would be a bad lesson to teach kids that killing people is okay as long as you don't know them. It's like that story about the genie who will give a person a million dollars, but in exchange the life of someone he doesn't know will taken. The person accepts the million dollars, figuring it's okay, since he doesn't know the person who will die. He then asks "By the way, who are you seeing tomorrow?" The genie replies "Don't worry, I'm sure he won't know you."

[Cortez2301]

Is there an actual list for each network about their content rules? A site would do fine.

[Bones Justice]

I can think of a lot of stuff that annoyed me in this category. In Justice League Unlimited, when the Watchtower laser blows up an entire city, they have Flash saying afterwards that there were "no casualties". What? How? I wish they would have just left that to our imaginations instead.

And the Dragonball Z edits used to drive me nuts, too. Especially the stuff about someone going "to the next dimension" instead of saying they were dead.

Speaking of Disney, there are three episodes of Buzz Lightyear of Star Command that The Disney Channel always skips: Nova Storm, Inside Job,and Conspiracy. I've never seen these episodes so I don't know why they are skipped. I've heard that Nova Storm deals with addiction.

On the flip-side, Mutant League used to show it all: decapitations, impalements, etc. Of course, they were always clear that mutants could be regenerated from even the worst injuries that normal humans couldn't survive. They even took it further to say that the regenerative process was not something the average mutant would want to endure. Still, it made for some great action. I really wish they would release this show on DVD.

Compared to something like Korgoth on Adult Swim, though, Mutant League was nowhere near as brutal. But then, Mutant League was on Saturday mornings, not late at night, either. I didn't care for Korgoth, though, but then I'm not a fan of that type of show. I prefer Mutant League.

[danreyes1]

I can think of a lot of stuff that annoyed me in this category. In Justice League Unlimited, when the Watchtower laser blows up an entire city, they have Flash saying afterwards that there were "no casualties". What? How? I wish they would have just left that to our imaginations instead.

And yet in season 3 we had Devil Ray die in a fairly violent, if off screen, manner. And by the end of the season a good half of the Legion of Doom was killed off by one of their own comrades. Guess there were different standards from one episode to the next.

[Aldrius]

I don't remember Flash saying there were no casualties... o.o but it's been a while since I watched the episode.

[Master Moron]

On the flip-side, Mutant League used to show it all: decapitations, impalements, etc. Of course, they were always clear that mutants could be regenerated from even the worst injuries that normal humans couldn't survive. They even took it further to say that the regenerative process was not something the average mutant would want to endure. Still, it made for some great action. I really wish they would release this show on DVD.


That show wasn't very good. I mean, how come they got rid of like 20 or so teams from the video games and used the same five teams over and over again? Also, they took out a lot of the different races from the video game, like robots and aliens. Finally, the animation was really bad, and I'm not normally one to notice bad animation.