MovieChat Forums > Spider-Man (1994) Discussion > The 'Insidious' Six - why not Sinister?

The 'Insidious' Six - why not Sinister?

posted 12 years ago by joshlehmer
14 replies | jump to latest

This show had a lot of ridiculous censorship issues, but as lame as they were, I can sort of understand the reasoning behind most of them (like Morbius not being able to suck blood, and not being able to mention death or the word "kill" or "murder.") They were hypocritical and weird, since shows like Batman and X-Men on the same network (and even Disney cartoon shows like Darkwing Duck) were able to talk about dying, but at least I can sort of understand the reasoning behind it.

That being said, why on Earth did they feel that the word "Sinister" was inappropriate? Why did the Sinister Six had to become the Insidious Six in this show? That literally makes zero sense at all. What is wrong with the word Sinister? How is that worse than Insidious? The X-Men cartoon on the same network had a relatively important recurring villain named Mr. Sinister. I guess the official logic is that the word "Sinister" is too menacing, but I really don't understand that at all. How is sinister worse than insidious? Sinister is not even remotely close to a swear word or anything. Am I the only one baffled by this?

[–] GreenGoblinsOckVenom86 12 years ago

God is great, Beer is good, and people are crazy.

When I told you to go screw yourself I didn't mean for you to take it literally.
Adam Gibson

[–] 12 years ago

[deleted]

[–] KCJ506 12 years ago

^I think what the TC meant was, why was the word "Sinister" considered "too menacing for a kids show" considering X-men(which aired on the same network) used Mr Sinister.

Sick of threads "Megan Fox should play this!"

[–] 12 years ago

[deleted]

[–] KCJ506 12 years ago

http://marvelanimated.wikia.com/wiki/Spider-Man_(TV_Series)#Censorship

At the time of production, heavy censorship codes were in place,to deal with the censorship backlash of due to the violence on Batman: The Animated Series and Power Rangers, in order to make children shows seem politically correct. Among them were the inability to show guns or mention death, though these things had been present in the DC Comic animated show Batman.

Semper had to deal with the censorship backlash of due to the violence on Batman and Power Rangers.

Certain words like "kill" were inserted into some episodes through various means. They also invented the interdimensional portals as a metaphor for death. In addition, when the Sinister Six (comic name) were introduced they had to be called the Insidious Six, despite X-Men using a character titled Mister Sinister.

It also mentions this in the Spider-man trivia section on this site.

Sick of threads "Megan Fox should play this!"

[–] Thetruthisinhere 12 years ago

So that is an official source for the tv series and an official confirmation of that specifc word being left out,being the same reason for the laser guns and death mentioned ?

If so,then I indeed,like said,apologize for my ignorance.It seems totally hypocritical and contradictory to make one show not use word sinister,and another series is fine with using it.

It also makes no sense,how is not mentioning death or murder or not showing guns politically correct at all ? If anything,it seems to be hypocritical and not politically correct to create artificial taboo about an everyday occurrence,and death in itself is nothing to hide or not evil at all. Pointless.Especially considering X-Men,Batman and many other cartoons had lots of violence,blood and guns,mentioning death,kill and murder all the time. It was genuine and reflected what actually occurred in the series. Spiderman had smart writers,it enabled them to make a good show with all the limitations still.

As a former child and now an adult I can give an honest opinion that the ones making these decisions,and enforcing them,are either doing this on purpose,NWO agenda and all that,with baby steps in all fields etc or they are truly ignorant and do not know the first thing about the psyche of a child(granted all children are a bit different,some are even scared by the word ''illness'' or ''hurt'' etc)

I grew up with violent cartoons and games,and I understood the context,as it was laid out.Murder and shooting someone was not glorified,but simply reflected the themes of a series.
It is as if the ones making these decisions have major inner issues of their own,so they put up these censors,it is like they did not have a childhood or do not understand children at all...and these are supposed to be people who say what children want to see on tv ? lol

[–] jerichofan_101 12 years ago

To the posters saying the name change happened because Vulture took over...that is false. In the cartoon, they were known as the "Insidious Six" since their first episode in season 2. I agree with the original poster that it's absolutely ridiculous to have not called them Sinister Six from the start.

[–] TheMarvel 12 years ago

Censoring the word sinister was probably the dumbest extent they went, although there are interviews with director John Semper saying he was actually warned to make sure Spider-Man doesn't accidentally step on a bird while jumping between roof tops. Pretty damn absurd stuff this show went through.

and for the record, the Insidious Six started in season 2 and featured Mysterio, Doc Ock, Rhino, Shocker, Scorpion, and Chameleon. They came back in Season 5, and Vulture replaced Mysterio. In both cases, they were called Insidious.

[–] jerichofan_101 12 years ago

Also...both words are pretty much the same, which makes it even more ridiculous that they censored "sinister. Think of it this way...in the last year there have been two horror movies released named:

"Insidious"

and now

"Sinister".

So what the Hell is the difference? Both words clearly have the same affect and years later Hollywood seems to think the same thing.

[–] ninthcentury 11 years ago

Insidious and sinister are not much alike, except in having an underlying malevolence in common.

http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/sinister?s=t

http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/insidious?s=t

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
That is "Field Marshall Pervert" to you!

[–] GreenGoblinsOckVenom86 11 years ago

I agree. It was really stupid the way this show was censored. Although it's kind of funny that in the very first episode with Scorpion Spider-Man fought a thug who had a rocket launcher. They allow Rocket Launchers but not actual real guns? That's also a bit hypocritical.
"You want me to roll 6,000 of these!? What? Should I quit my job!?" George Costanza, Seinfeld

[–] KCJ506 11 years ago

What would normal street punks even be doing with rocket launchers and guns that fired lasers anyway?

It's amazing how people hang around message boards of movies they don't like

[–] Pregnat_asian_woman 8 years ago

>That's also a bit hypocritical.

Not that I agree with this censorship, but a kid isn't likely to find a rocket launcher in his parents' nightstand and "Play Spider Man" with it to deadly effect.

[–] twofacetoo 8 years ago

There was a rule in this show from the censors that when landing on a roof, Spider-Man could not be shown harming or frightening any birds
THAT'S how ludicrous the censorship was in this show. With that in mind, the 'Sinister Vs Insidious' debate is pretty tame