Post by RaceFanX on Jan 28, 2023 19:01:52 GMT -5
Show: Mighty Machines
Episode: "At the Racetrack"
Reason: One of the more bizarre cases of banned episode comes from the Canadian-produced "Mighty Machines," a straight-to-video series of educational videos for younger children. The series was intended to teach kids about the various vehicles and machines that are used in modern life usually following a joint theme ("At the Airport" to show off commercial airlines and the various support vehicles, "At the Quarry" to teach about mining, "At the Train Yard" for trains, etc.). The series used live-action footage with all of the vehicles being given names and friendly voiceovers talking to the viewer about what they do. In general that is a pretty lighthearted premise but surprisingly the show did end up with a banned episode. The episode "At the Racetrack" was designed to teach kids about professional race teams and everything that goes into a big race, featuring Forsythe/Green Racing and driver Jacques Villenueve and their #12 race car as they took part in the 1994 Grand Prix of Toronto, a round of the CART racing series. The episode was released but then banned because the racing footage featured a large amount of sponsorships on the race cars and trackside billboards for tobacco and alcohol products that was deemed to be really inappropriate for a children's program; for instance the sponsor of Villenueve's #12 at the time was Player's, a brand of cigarettes, and it was painted in a blue-and-white livery matching the company's packets. There was nothing wrong with the premise itself so producers of the series remade this episode under the same name but now centering around a lower-level Formula Ford race at Circuit Mont-Tremblant in Quebec.
Episode: "At the Racetrack"
Reason: One of the more bizarre cases of banned episode comes from the Canadian-produced "Mighty Machines," a straight-to-video series of educational videos for younger children. The series was intended to teach kids about the various vehicles and machines that are used in modern life usually following a joint theme ("At the Airport" to show off commercial airlines and the various support vehicles, "At the Quarry" to teach about mining, "At the Train Yard" for trains, etc.). The series used live-action footage with all of the vehicles being given names and friendly voiceovers talking to the viewer about what they do. In general that is a pretty lighthearted premise but surprisingly the show did end up with a banned episode. The episode "At the Racetrack" was designed to teach kids about professional race teams and everything that goes into a big race, featuring Forsythe/Green Racing and driver Jacques Villenueve and their #12 race car as they took part in the 1994 Grand Prix of Toronto, a round of the CART racing series. The episode was released but then banned because the racing footage featured a large amount of sponsorships on the race cars and trackside billboards for tobacco and alcohol products that was deemed to be really inappropriate for a children's program; for instance the sponsor of Villenueve's #12 at the time was Player's, a brand of cigarettes, and it was painted in a blue-and-white livery matching the company's packets. There was nothing wrong with the premise itself so producers of the series remade this episode under the same name but now centering around a lower-level Formula Ford race at Circuit Mont-Tremblant in Quebec.