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No Robot Rule Allowed In Malaysia

According to a report by the Daily Express (national newspaper of East Malaysia), the Futurama episode "Fear of a Bot Planet" was deemed unsuited for the Malaysian public by the Film Censorship Board. No reasoning was readily avaiable for this February ruling and frankly, I wouldn't know what's worse about this episode than others.

Known for a strong censoring regime regarding sex, swearing and violence, board chairman Shaari Mohamad Noor once commented the rationale of the institution as "to instil good morals and values in our people, we have to stop importing films that are not appropriate for our country."

So, be careful with buying Season 1 VCDs and DVDs over there. Possession, distribution and sale of banned titles in any form in Malaysia is punishable by a maximum 30,000 ringgit fine and three years in jail.

View comments | Jul 10th 2003 | contributor

Comments (27)

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JamesDeanJul 10th 2003, 00:00
This comment is so unrelated to anything else that i thot i'd just stick it here :)
At school today i looked over at the guy beside me and his laptop's background was the Planet Express logo!
i was SO surprised! the guy right beside me likes futurama enuf to make it his background
then again... he was wearing a kilt (skirt) the other day... maybe he's just attracted to me!
thats it, i'm changing seats
RockoJul 10th 2003, 00:00
This Malaysian Film Censorship Board must be related to FOX. They are both stupid and idiotic.

You'd think that X-mas Story would be banned from there as well. It would seem it would be for its large use of violence. FOX almost didn't show it.

This is just like that unaired episode of Family Guy that FOX didn't show because of the amount of religuous jokes. But luckily, according to this MSNBC news article I read, adult swim will air it sometime in this current cycle. Yay!!
RockoJul 10th 2003, 00:00
It said Ep. 1-10 of the Osbournes. LOL!! They might as well ban every episode because of all of the swearing.
BrainSluggoJul 10th 2003, 00:00
It's obvious why this episode was banned: Malaysia is very sensitive on the issue of robopornography.
uk_futurama_fanJul 10th 2003, 00:00
This comment is so unrelated to anything else but I thought I would bring it up.
I am currently in spain and I watched the pilot episode of futurama in spanish. But it was doubed wrong. When the count down to the year 3000 starts the french language is still used in the count down but it is usualy kept english as the french language no longer exists in the future.
CliveJul 10th 2003, 00:00
I bet the episode 'Godfellas' will be banned in some countries for the religious elements of it!
LeahJul 10th 2003, 00:00
I wonder what the film board members in Malaysia are smoking. Must be some pretty potent stuff.
BennJul 10th 2003, 00:00
If only these guys from Malaysia could train themselves to be a little more conservative, uncultured and backwards-thinking, they'd get along fine with the philistines at the Australian film and literature classification Board..
HawkingHole4001Jul 10th 2003, 00:00
3 Letters here: WTF? I mean, that episode has to be one of the LEAST episode I would except to be BANNED from a country.
"A Tale Of Two Santas" Is one that might be banned.
But.. this is just stupid.
The only objectional things are the part with the Robo-Pornography and the "Coolant" scene.
HalskiJul 10th 2003, 00:00
Maybe they banned it because it's not that funny...

Sorry. I'm a huge Futurama fan, but that episode's embarassing.
mazaiteJul 10th 2003, 00:00
I like how in trying to be progresive and modern they make themseves twice as backwards as they were 50 years ago. It makes me laugh.
JamesHannanJul 10th 2003, 00:00
LOL! Twice as backwards? how do you double backwardness? Wouldnt that make them forwards again?
SX2003Jul 10th 2003, 00:00
I thought the FCC and the networks themselves were bad but this is just nonsense. If they banned this then they have to BAN every episode of Family Guy. The entire series is much more dirtier than this innoccent looking episode.
[-mArc-]Jul 10th 2003, 00:00
Maybe they just didn't yet get around to banning the rest ...
JamesJul 10th 2003, 00:00
After reading this article and the above posts, i'm sorry but It's not clear to me why this episode has been banned. What specific elements of this episode have caused this!?
alittlegirlJul 10th 2003, 00:00
What I have to say to Malaysia is...HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!!!!!! No offense, but Malaysia is soooo sensitive...
Is Shaari Mohamad one of those goody good people, like Ned Flanders?
NumskullJul 10th 2003, 00:00
It's probably because of all the references to robots killing humans; implied violence, though not actually shown, can still be considered violence. (By idiots, I mean.)
BrianJul 10th 2003, 00:00
I certainly wouldn't want the robots in Malaysia to get bad ideas from this episode.
JimJul 10th 2003, 00:00
Don't laugh at a country you know nothing about. Yes, Malaysia has obviously very strict censorship guidelines, but that's cultural. America has crazy mass media censorship laws too, don't forget that.

YOUR WAY IS NOT ALWAYS THE RIGHT WAY. Keep that in mind before you run off bagging another country, I bet they have big laughs over how screwed up America is, with our ridiculous firearm problems, all courtesy of our sometimes over liberal laws. What people want is not always the best for them.
Er_MakinaJul 10th 2003, 00:00
#5, you are wrong. i live in spain, i just watched that part of the SP3000 ep, the french people at the second countdown say clearly "seven", not "sept".

sorry for the offtopic..
FarnsieJul 10th 2003, 00:00
Sweet zombie Allah!
jjjJul 10th 2003, 00:00
maybe they see a similarity between their government and the robot elders......
MikeSmithJul 11th 2003, 00:00
I think they still using the Hays Code!!!

That episode isn't bad, anyway. I do like the Roboannukah and the Robopronography the best, as does Bender's album.
uk_futurama_fan_ukJul 12th 2003, 00:00
(21) The episode was in german not spanish try watching the german piolet episode instead of the spanish episode. sorry for the off topic
DennisJul 12th 2003, 00:00
As a Malaysian who loves Futurama, I curse the goverment
edJul 12th 2003, 00:00
#19 is right. maybe the person who bring this topic up hate malaysia. i don't know, maybe. anyway, i have downloaded the episode and i live in malaysia
LeeJul 12th 2003, 00:00
If you think banning the episode is crazy.. the FILM CENSORSHIP BOARD here in Malaysia banned Daredevil (Ben Affleck) because of the devil theme and intense-violence. Hmm.. seems turning green or shooting optic blasts out of your eye is okay.

Bear in mind though, that the keyword is 'EAST MALAYSIA'. The capital is located in WEST MALAYSIA and they have shown 'Fear Of A Bot Planet' several times over STAR NETWORK and on local tv.. so it's only (ahem) 'certain power-drunked individual' who insisted they have higher moral grounds than us other mere mortals.. :P