Cartoon Network Dropping Gundam and Bebop?

Lhadatt was among several who noted unannounced changes in Cartoon Networks' anime lineup. It's easy to speculate that Mobile Suit Gundam and Cowboy Bebop were dropped because of Tuesday's terrorist attacks since each show has a fair amount of violence, but nobody really knows. You can see the evidence on Cartoon Network's Listings. Tonight, episode 5 of Bebop was scheduled to air: one of the best episodes, too.

Comments

Transformers episodes getting dropped, too

[Robotech_Master]

Some episodes of the new Transformers: Robots in Disguise anime show are getting delayed, too--for instance, episode 6, in which a skyscraper is blown up and a news announcer apparently makes a comment about "robotic terrorism," was skipped this time around. And I imagine that when the series goes into repeats the first couple of times, probably episode 1 (in which Megatron crashes through a skyscraper) and episode 2 (involving a terrorist bomb) will probably be skipped, too.

It's a bit of a dilemma, you see. On the one hand, every time we make some change to our daily routine because of this despicable terrorist act--dropping episodes, delaying the premiere of shows, editing the World Trade Center out of the Spiderman movie altogether--we are in some small sense handing the terrorists a victory, acknowledging that they've affected us exactly the way they wanted. On the other hand, people should have a right to watch TV to try to forget the tragedy for a while and destress from the whole thing without being reminded of it by what's on the set.

Hopefully the pre-emptions and delays will be only temporary, for just a month or two until such time as people are a little less sensitive. The Buffy episode that was delayed over Columbine was eventually aired, after all. The networks did pay money for these shows, and they'll want to use them sooner or later.

Re:Please do not discuss Anime on Slashdot

[Millennium]

I would disagree. Every time some horrible event as Tuesday's attacks happens, the bookburners try to use it as ammunition to pass their agenda. It's at the point where media companies have started to act preempttively, bowing to their sick pressure before they even place it. Yes, in this particular case it's anime that suffers (why? I very much doubt the terrorists even knew what anime was, and if they did they would certainly not watch it). But it doesn't matter what the specific victim is; what matters is that censorship is taking place.

The question is : will they be back?

[Masem]

It's understandable to drop, in the short term, these shows, given the content about terrorism. But the question becomes now of how soon will they be back , if ever.

As an example of previous CN dealings, the short-lived but excellent show Freakazoid had 4 episodes with reverences (both satire and just off the cuff) to Princess Di. When she died in the car accident, those 4 episodes were completely pulled from the schedule understandable; however, they did not return to the schedule for at least 6 months. I understand being sensitive for something recent in the current events, but that seems excessively overkill.

What bothers me more than much else right now is that Hollywood, all aspects of it, seem to be taking steps above and beyond what ought to be done for the short-term sensitivitly. Anything involving the WTC, even if made years ago, seems to be getting some sort of post-censoring. We cannot deny that the WTC ever existed and shows were made about it, and to do so is only giving the terrorists more of a victory.