In 2020, Disney added a warning in front of several of its films to caution viewers about the racist portrayals found within. Negative depictions of people and cultures are included in the program. The stereotypes were wrong then and they are not anymore. We want to acknowledge the harmful impact and learn from it to create a more inclusive future. You wouldn't be surprised to see it in a movie from the 1940s and 1950s. But what about a show called Rescue Rangers from 1990?
If you try to watch the third-season episode of "Puffed Rangers" on Disney+, you'll get a warning. The warning is justified. The cartoon was made more than 30 years ago. The only version of the episode that is currently available for viewing is the one that was redubbed and re-edited after it aired in 1990. It should.
io9 looks at the lowest points of the cartoons of the past. In this column, I like to look at the dumbest parts of classic animated series, like G.I. Joe playing a football game against a terrorist organization. I have to make an exception because this racist episode of Chip n' Dale: Rescue Rangers should not be forgotten.
Dale learns that there isn't a toy car in the box of his favorite cereals, so he starts cursing and yelling. Ranger mechanic and cult goddess Gadget suggests the group save other little boys and girls from the disappointment of not receiving their toys by going to the shipping factory where the cereals are brought in from.
Dale spies a car outside of the building and things fall apart. An executive is inside.
In the new version, Tommy Chow is referred to as the American nephew of Hong Kong executive Chow Li in unaccented American English. The Noblewoman's laugh is a high-pitched giggle where the character covers their mouths with their hands. It was also used by effeminate male characters, so... great, just great.
In order to avoid paying import fees, Chow Li is going tomolecularly dehydrate his generically Asian vehicles and put them into boxes of puffy whupies. Tommy simply takes the faux prizes out of the cereal boxes and douses the cars with water, at which point they return to normal, a common stereotype back in the 70's and early 80's. This seems to all be going swimmingly when Tommy gets a package from Uncle Chow that contains a fortune cookie. The fortune reads, "You will take a long ocean voyage," which Tommy interprets as a message to head to Hong Kong, and the Rescue Rangers follow by locking themselves up inside the package.
In Hong Kong, the mailman in the uniform of a U.S. postal worker karate kicks the Rangers' package through the mail slot of Chow Li's door when it doesn't fit The stereotype of Asian people is that they're too short to reach the lever on their shrink ray.
I can't say for certain, but I suspect that Chow is part of the redub. The second step of his plan is to enlarge Asian cars to become the giant, gas-guzzling, air-polluting, impossible-to-park, expensive road giants that Americans look for. It is a stereotype that is oddly prescient for 1990.
The Rescue Rangers are forced to sneak back to the factory at night after they are forcibly removed from the factory. The building is located on Cat Street, which I was surprised to learn is a real street in Hong Kong, but still manages to be problematic; please see "Assorted" below. The cats are wearing hats. When tasty rodents enter their territory, cats ring a gong to alert their feline friends.
When Genghis Cat captured Chip, Dale, and Gadget, he put them in a bowl of rice, poured soy sauce on them, and picked them up with chopsticks. Monty arrives in the nick of time, the Rescue Rangers are embiggened with the ray, and they shrink down the car Uncle Chow and Tommy are in, so it escapes the clutches of Genghis Cat. Monty comes back to the alley to beat the cats of Cat Street, including swinging one by its tail into the gong. It was done repeatedly.
This is the second version of the episode and it's very frightening. Obviously, a lot of the racism of the episode was baked in and it couldn't have been edited out without cutting down the length of the show. Do you mean not re-airing "Puffed Rangers" on the Disney Afternoon cartoon block?
I will give Disney credit for owning up to this shitshow by making it available on Disney+ with a warning as opposed to shoving it in the vault. The credit should be mitigated by the fact that the episode is only 32 years old. If you were aware that racism was bad in 1990 you should be happy. You are a better person than any of them.
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