Space Pilot 3000, as most know, was re-aired on Sunday Aug 8 on FOX. Consequently it also aired on GLOBAL in Canada the same evening.
I also have the ORGINAL broadcast on tape from March, when it firsr aired on FOX.
Did anyone else notice the EDIT in the re-broadcast of Space Pilot 3000?
**EXTREMELY MILD SPOILER BELOW**
At the point when Fry has escaped Leela and winds up on the streets of New New York, he watches a guy enter a "transport tube", who then announces his destination and is whisked away.
The destination he announces (as it aired on FOX Aug 8th) is "Radio City Music Hall" (or some futuristic variant of that).
The ORIGNAL broadcast had this man's destnation annuonced as "JFK-Jr Airport". This is how it aired originally (checking my older tape for reference), and this is also how it aired on GLOBAL in Canada on August 8th).
The only reason I noticed this difference is because I live in Canada and happened to have caught it twice that evening... once on FOX, and then later on GLOBAL. After hearing it on GLOBAL.
Although the edit was an exercise in good taste (this is FOX we're taking about, right?) I oppose the editting of a program for content such as this, especially in the instance when this is how it originally aired.
The very mild joke was not intended to make fun of JFK-Jr's death at the time it originally was aired, because back in March, JFK-Jr was still alive.
If this was the premiere airing of the episode, then I could understand the change being made. Since it would be very hard to proove that the joke was not inteded to offend. But this just is not the case.
Did anyone else pick up on this EDIT? Any comments?
-Ziman