Censorship
|
The censorship of Futurama is both the suppression of speech which may be considered inconvenient to the viewer as determined by a broadcaster and the bleeping of speech by the show as a joke. A list of episodes that have been censored follows.
Censored by a broadcaster
Season 2
"I Second that Emotion" (2ACV01) 
"A Head in the Polls" (2ACV03)
Speech: In the Planet Express employee lounge.
Bender: That dirty, double-crossing bastard!
Censored by: Pick TV.
Video: Suppressed.
"Why Must I Be a Crustacean in Love?" (2ACV05)
"The Lesser of Two Evils" (2ACV06)
Speech: In the holographic film.
Motorist #1: Move it, crap for brains!
Motorist #2: Bug off!
Motorist #3: Get home, bastard man!
Censored by: Pick TV.
Video: Suppressed.
"A Clone of My Own" (2ACV10)
Speech: In the Planet Express laboratory.
Bender: You bastard!
Censored by: Pick TV.
Video: Suppressed.
Speech: In the Planet Express ship.
Bender: No, we're not, you little bed-wetter.
Censored by: Pick TV.
Video: Suppressed.
Speech: In the Planet Express ship.
Leela: We can't , you bastard!
Censored by: Pick TV.
Video: Suppressed.
"The Deep South" (2ACV12)
Speech: At sea.
Professor Farnsworth: Sweet Zombie Jesus!<---[beep sound]
Censored by: Adult Swim.
Video: Not suppressed.
Speech: At sea.
Professor Farnsworth: Sweet Zombie Jesus! (muted out)
Censored by: TBS.
Video: Suppressed.
"Bender Gets Made" (2ACV13)
Speech: At Elzar's Fine Cuisine.
Professor Farnsworth: Holy Zombie Jesus!<---[beep sound]
Censored by: Adult Swim.
Video: Suppressed.
"Mother's Day" (2ACV14)
"Anthology of Interest I" (2ACV16)
Speech: In the Planet Express laboratory.
Professor Farnsworth: Oh, you've killed me! You've killed me!
Leela: Oh God! What have I done?
Professor Farnsworth: I just told you! You've killed me!
[The anteaters finish him off. All that is left of him is his skeleton and lab coat. An anteater coughs up his glasses onto the skull.]
Censored by: Channel 4
Video: Suppressed.
Speech: In the Planet Express laboratory.
Hermes: What are you hacking off? Is it my torso?
[Leela hacks something off of Hermes]
Hermes: It is! MY PRECIOUS TORSO!!!
Zoidberg: Hermes, quiet! I'm deducing things!
Censored by: Channel 4
Video: Not suppressed.
Speech: In the accusing parlor.
Cubert: This is preposterous! Obviously, the murderer was...
[Leela turns the lights off and Cubert squeaks. The lights come back on. There is now a sword through Cubert. Scruffy gasps]
Censored by: Channel 4
Video: Not suppressed.
Speech: In the accusing parlor.
Scruffy: Scruffy knows who killed them people. In Scruffy's opinion, it were...
[Leela turns the lights off again and stabs Scruffy with the same sword. The lights come back on.]
Censored by: Channel 4
Video: Not suppressed.
Speech: In the accusing parlor.
[Nibbler squeals and points at Leela. The lights go off and Leela stabs Nibbler. The lights come back on.]
Censored by: Channel 4
Video: Not suppressed.
"The Honking" (2ACV18)
Speech: In the abandoned automotive lab.
Bender: Hey, that's my last beer, you bastard.
Censored by: Pick TV.
Video: Suppressed.
Season 3
"Bendless Love" (3ACV06)
Speech: At Curvetti Bros. Bending Plant.
Flexo: You bastard! They treated me like an animal and that's what I became! [Flexo laughs.] Nah, you're alright.
Censored by: Pick TV.
Video: Suppressed.
Speech: In the Planet Express hangar.
Hermes: Haile H. Selassie!
Censored by: Pick TV.
Video: Suppressed.
Season 4
"Leela's Homeworld" (4ACV02)
|
"The Why of Fry" (4ACV10)
Speech: In the Nibblonian spaceship.
Fry: Those bastards!
Censored by: Pick TV.
Video: Suppressed.
"Obsoletely Fabulous" (4ACV14)
Speech: On the island.
Bender: Take that, Beethoven, you deaf bastard!
Censored by: Pick TV.
Video: Suppressed.
Season 5
"Into the Wild Green Yonder Part 4" (5ACV16)
Speech: In Maxi-Padlock.
Leela: You are one devious bastard.
Bender: That's what it says on my vanity plate.
[Bender bends over and a license plate on his crotch plate reads 1DVSBSTD.]
Censored by: Pick TV.
Video: Suppressed.
Season 6
"Rebirth" (6ACV01)
Speech: In the Planet Express laboratory.
Fry: It's like when I passed out in college , except no one drew magic marker penises on my forehead.
Censored by: Sky1 (when shown before 8 PM).
Video: Suppressed.
Speech: In the Planet Express laboratory.
Robot Leela: I'll kill you , you slut-clops!
Censored by: Pick TV.
Video: Not suppressed.
"In-A-Gadda-Da-Leela" (6ACV02)
Speech: In the Planet Express briefing room.
Amy: Well, I guess it's time to indulge in some end-of-the-world debauchery. Who's up for an orgy?
[Everyone obliges excitedly, but begins to have second thoughts.]
Censored by: Channel 4
Video: Suppressed.
Speech: In the Planet Express briefing room.
Bender: Like The Pimpsons? And Assarama?
Censored by: Channel 4
Video: Not suppressed.
Speech: In the Planet Express briefing room.
Farnsworth: And finally that world that can't be mentioned in polite company.
Fry: You mean...
[Fry whispers something to Farnsworth and the crew get angry at him for doing so. Farnsworth slaps Fry.]
Censored by: Channel 4
Video: Suppressed.
Speech: In the Planet Express briefing room.
[We hear a whip crack. The camera cuts to reveal it was Amy in a dominatrix outfit]
Amy: So...the orgy's off?
Censored by: Channel 4
Video: Suppressed.
Speech: At the New New York Library.
Sal: I'll thinks it overs while I engages this $5 hooker.
Censored by: Channel 4
Video: Not suppressed.
Speech: At the New New York Library.
Sal: Yucks! I don't want's no $3 hooker! I'm going backs to the adults bookstore!
Censored by: Channel 4
Video: Not suppressed.
Speech: At the New New York Library.
Fry: Adult bookstore? I thought this was the public library.
Bender: Nope! Pubic library!
Censored by: Channel 4
Video: Suppressed.
"The Futurama Holiday Spectacular" (6ACV13)
Speech:
Dr. Zoidberg: What's that loud, boring sound you'll hear when I stop talking?
Professor Farnsworth: It's an albino humping worm!
Fry: Why do they call it that?
Professor Farnsworth: Because it doesn't have any pigment.
Albino Humping Worm: (humps Planet Express ship)
Censored by: Local Syndication and WGN America
Video: Not suppressed.
Season 7
"The Bots and the Bees" (7ACV01)
Speech: At Robot Arms Apartments.
Bender: Aw, i'm gonna call him after the first half of me, Bender [His son burps] That's my bastard!
Censored by: ?
Video: Not suppressed.
Censored by the show
None of the following are truly censorship, as the bleeps, etc. were deliberately placed in the script by the writers for comic effect. That is, nothing in a finished show was bleeped out at the request of Fox or Comedy Central Broadcast Standards Departments ("network censors").
There are a number of scenes changed in shows in production post-9/11, where milder visuals replaced collapsing buildings, etc. (in A Taste of Freedom) so as to be less upsetting to viewers. Some terrorist-related jokes were also reworked (in Three-Hundred Big Boys and Bend Her) in the interest of good taste. These changes were made by the writers and producers, rather than at the behest of Fox or Comedy Central.
Season 1
"Space Pilot 3000" (1ACV01)
In the scene where a naked Fry was on the Probulator (operated by Leela), the network censor advised the producers to use standard caution on the Probulator. Evidently they've seen that device before.
Fox was also rather disturbed by the Suicide Booth, and couldn't believe that people were lined up to kill themselves on New Year's Eve 3000. They also didn't like Bender literally shitting bricks when the cops had the Planet Express building surrounded.
"The Series Has Landed" (1ACV02)
The network wouldn't allow the Nike "Swoosh" on Fry's bootprint to be used in promotions (since Nike wasn't paying for product placement).
Originally, when the HG Blob swallowed the employee, the man started dissolving to a skeleton. They had to keep him intact.
Originally, Captain Cameron (PE Ship captain) died in the opening scene. This was pulled back as too dark.
"I, Roommate" (1ACV03)
This episode was written to the network's specifications, to bring the show "back down to Earth". Then the result was panned by Fox (and disliked by many viewers). At this point the producers decided that they would produce the show they wanted, and to hell with the contradictory and nonsensical notes from the network.
"A Big Piece of Garbage" (1ACV08)
Speech: Linda van Schoonhoven: All in all, this one day that Mittens the Kitten won't soon forget.
Morbo the Annihilator: [chuckles] Kittens give Morbo gas.
"Hell Is Other Robots" (1ACV09)
This episode had something of an anti-drug message. Writer Eric Kaplan was called by Ad Week to see if the show was in fact participating in a Clinton-era anti-drug program where shows were paid to slip in such a message. No, this episode was written about nine months before the program started.
Someone leaked the script to the Church of Scientology, who were said to have made a somewhat threatening call to Matt Groening to pressure him into dropping the "Temple of Robotology" from the show (he didn't).
One of the Rough Draft Studios animators refused to work on a show featuring the [Robot] Devil, and was fired.
"Fry and the Slurm Factory" (1ACV13)
The show features the "F-ray", a sort of super X-ray device. The producers received a censor note informing them that "incidentally, some X-rays can see through metal". This was quite amusing to the multiple-PhD writing staff.
Season 2
"The Lesser of Two Evils" (2ACV06)
Speech: On the TV show Cop Department.
Centipede woman: You get that [beep sound, beep sound] camera out of my house!
"Raging Bender" (2ACV08)
The network forced the removal of Mom doing a lot of cursing at the URFL fight between Bender and Destructor.
However, they did let Leela say to Bender, "quit scratching your axe-hole".
"The Deep South" (2ACV12)
The scene of Fry and Umbriel in bed ("make a mer-woman out of me") was toned down quite a bit.
Season 3
"Amazon Women in the Mood" (3ACV01)
Speech: Zapp: The spirit is willing, but the flesh is spongy and bruised as Zapp, Fry, and Kif are mid-way through being snu-snu'd to death. Originally, Zapp was looking down at his crotch (wearing tighty-whiteys, not his usual commando-style) as he said this.
"Parasites Lost" (3ACV02)
Steam had to be added to the boiler room scene where Scruffy is reading Zero-G Juggs, to obscure the title. Four times in one scene was too much for the network.
"Where the Buggalo Roam" (3ACV10)
The network censor hassled them about the smoking cowboy "RJ" and the pool-playing smoking [Joe] Camel, as glorifying smoking to children, but the scenes stayed in. The producers state that "kids love him" was a satirical comment.
"Time Keeps on Slippin'" (3ACV14)
The full rear nudity in the conga line apparently didn't give the censors any problem, but Leela's (or Amy's... DXC couldn't remember for sure) arm had to be raised slightly to cover more of her breast.
Speech: Curly Joe: ...destroy that mama... The censor would not allow mother or mutha, as it would imply that CJ was really saying motherfucker.
Season 4
"Where No Fan Has Gone Before" (4ACV11)
Speech: In the Planet Express ship.
Leela: Go [beep sound] yourself.
She was in the Pike Box at the time, where you communicate with a foot pedal that produces beeps, so the joke was that one word was given (or covered) by the box's beep.
The director really wanted Spock's pointy ears, but was unable to get permission to use them. Also, there were no Starfleet Insignia on the blouses, something else they couldn't clear.
Season 5
Bender's Game 
Speech: In the Planet Express conference room.
Leela: Zoidberg, I'm gonna put my boot so far up your cloaca, you'll be [shock]!
Speech: In the Planet Express conference room.
Leela: Son of a [shock]!
Speech: In the Planet Express employee lounge.
Leela: I can't believe TiVo suggested that piece of [shock]!
Speech: In the Planet Express employee lounge.
Leela: I don't have any god-[shock], mother-[shock] anger issues.
Into the Wild Green Yonder
Speech: In Mars Vegas.
Leela: You mother-[beep sound, beep sound, beep sound, beep sound]!
Season 6
"In-A-Gadda-Da-Leela" (6ACV02)
Speech: In the V-GINY.
Leela: Holy cra-[beep sound]
Actually, this was censorship by V-GINY, as part of the plot line, not the show's producers or broadcasters. V-GINY's purpose is to find indecency and censor it with planet-destroying black ink (and in this case, also a bleep). In the DVD commentary, David X Cohen mentioned a funny incident with Comedy Central's censor, who wanted to know what was bleeped out, in case their standards permitted such words (looser standards than Fox, being cable rather than broadcast). Rough Draft Studios producer Claudia Katz suggested that the writers should have responded to Comedy Central with something "super nasty"!
"Lethal Inspection" (6ACV06)
Hermes suggested to Bender that they catch a "double cockhead" while in Tijuana. No one in the commentary could figure out what the writer meant (or they wouldn't admit to it), and it was changed to "double cockfight".
"The Silence of the Clamps" (6ACV14)
Speech: In the Planet Express locker room.
Clamps: They're clamps, you [beep sound]! And if I wanna [beep sound]-in' snip with these clamps, I will snip with these [beep sound]-ing clamps!
Speech: In the Planet Express locker room.
Clamps: Fan-[beep sound]-in'-tastic!
Speech: On the Moon.
Zoidberg: John [beep sound]-ing Zoidberg!
Speech: At Family Bros. Pizza.
Zoidberg: You do and I'll [beep sound]-ing gut you like a fish!
Season 7
"A Farewell to Arms" (7ACV02)
Speech: Underground.
Leela: Son of a-[beep sound]!
There are a few shows where someone either at the Fox network or on the show, decided to make post-production changes or censor the show in some way
Season 1
"Space Pilot 3000" (1ACV01)
When Fry is on the run, he hears a man speak his destination as he enters a people tube: JFK jr Airport. This was broadcast this way the first time, but a few months later John John died in a plane crash. Someone decided that it would be in good taste to change the line to Radio City Mutant Hall, which was used for all subsequent broadcasts and the DVDs.
Season 3
"A Tale of Two Santas" (3ACV03)
Season 6
"Rebirth" (6ACV01)
In the first US broadcast (Comedy Central) cold opening, Bender narrates that the show had been "cancelled by idiots, then brought back by bigger idiots". This apparently didn't sit well with Fox and/or Comedy Central, and the opening was modified for all subsequent broadcasts and the DVD (although it is in the Deleted Scenes).