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Hit children’s TV series Bluey has episode banned sparking major backlash from fans
Since the beloved children’s TV show landed on screens in 2018, various episodes have been changed, censored, or banned for several reasons.
AN episode from the hit Disney+ children's series Bluey has been banned over a really weird joke.
The Australian animated series follows the titular character, a Blue Heeler puppy, and her family – Dad Bandit, Mum Chilli and younger sister Bingo.
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Initially, the show's creators were asked to change the character's Australian accents, but they refused.
However, other details from the original episodes, which aired on national broadcaster ABC in Australia, haven’t filtered through.
Since the beloved children’s TV show landed on screens in 2018, various episodes have been changed, censored, or banned for several reasons, including episodes showing or depicting farting, vomiting or pooing and discussions about vasectomies being changed for international viewers.
The most recent instalment to be banned from the hit cartoon is the episode Relax, which followed the family of four heading to a beach holiday.
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In one scene, Dad Bandit is pulling into a parking garage while the two sisters are singing in the back seat.
Exiting the car, he declared: "All right, Super Troopers. Let the holiday begin.”
However, in the original episode, Bandit says: “All right, dingleberries: let the holiday begin!”
It was likely changed after Disney became slightly concerned that the colloquial term is used to describe a ‘foolish, stupid or contemptible’ person, which is usually said in a light-hearted way, could be misinterpreted for another definition of the word, which means ‘a piece of dried faecal matter clinging to the hair around the anus’.
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Disney+ doesn’t seem too keen on the toilet talk, as they initially banned the Family Meeting episode in the US due to its many references to farting.
The instalment featured a faux trial with Mum Chilli acting as the judge who was trying to determine whether Bandit did ‘fluffy’ or ‘make a brownie’ on Bluey’s face.
The scene started with Bluey claiming: “Dad blew off right in my face”.
Her dad initially denied it but later admitted: “Her face is at bum level – it’s hard not to.”
After the season was released in the US, fans noticed that the episode was missing and blasted Disney.
The streamer announced that it had been banned because it breached Disney Junior’s ‘standards and practices’, but after much backlash, it was finally uploaded to the streaming service.
Another episode which was changed was the Taxi instalment in season one, after the toilet humour, where Bandit boarded an imaginary plane before Bingo pretended to throw up on his lap.
However, the US version saw the vomiting scene wholly cut.
In the season two episode Trains, Bluey is playing trains with her dad, who is pretending to be a conductor.
When he asked for her ticket, Bluey handed him something and tells him to rub it all over his face.
In the original version, it was imaginary poop, but it was later changed to be an invisible slug.
An innocent question about conception was not considered an issue when the Daddy Putdown episode aired in Australia, where Bingo asks Bandit how babies get into their mums' bellies.
However, yet again, this scene was cut out when the episode landed on Disney Plus.
Another pregnancy-related episode which never actually made it to air in the US was Dad Baby, where Bingo finds an old baby carrier.
Bandit then puts it on to demonstrate it, as she jumps inside, Bluey decides they should play a game of ‘Dad Baby’.
It ends with a birthing pool being set up in the garden, with next-door neighbour Lucky’s dad being asked to take on midwifery duties as Bingo pretends to be born from Bandit.
Regarding Disney’s censorship to The Hollywood Reporter, Bluey creator Joe Brumm explained: “Dad Baby is lots of fun, but honestly, it’s a minor episode in the Bluey canon. Perhaps the most significant thing Disney is denying Bluey heads is the first moment we learn Lucky’s dad has an actual name (it’s Pat).
“But that does nothing to excuse its silly, pandering exclusion from Disney Plus. It’s just robbing children of a fun way to learn how they came into the world and everyone else of seven minutes of joy.”
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Joe admitted that he knew the episode wouldn’t be accepted in America, however, he revealed that he ‘loved it’.
Bluey is streaming on Disney Plus.
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