Let’s start with establishing the facts, because this is important. Fact one: Bluish, the Australian animated TV show for preschoolers about a playful dog family, is a heartbreaking work of stunning genius. (Yes, this is a fact, not an opinion.) The seven-minute episodes are funnier, more layered, more substantial, and sometimes even more moving than most hour-long adult dramas. There’s one called ‘Flat Pack’ which deals with Darwinian evolution, human progress, religion and the afterlife, marital relationships, the sweet pain of letting go and putting together Ikea furniture – all in a way that is sweet, hilarious and funny. accessible to people who have not yet learned to speak. In seven minutes. It’s that good.
Fact two: Disney owns the worldwide streaming rights Bluish, but it is a co-production between Australia’s ABC and the UK’s BBC networks, and is broadcast in several locations internationally. This fact is boring, but it is relevant.
Fact three: There are 140 episodes of it Bluish available to watch on Disney Plus. Only 141 episodes of Bluish is made. There’s an episode of it Bluish that Disney doesn’t want you to see. It is censored and suppressed. This episode is called ‘Dad Baby’.
Okay, I’m being a little dramatic here. “Dad Baby” isn’t actually that hard to watch. BluishBBC Studios’ distributor has approved it for release, it has aired on broadcast channels in Australia and Britain, it has been included as an extra in DVD box sets, and you can buy it on iTunes. You can even watch a clip of “Dad Baby.” on the official Bluish Youtube Channel. Or you can probably find it in segments on TikTok if you want.
Still today, as the main global home of Bluish, Disney Plus’ attempt to drop “Dad Baby” from the record is notable – and quite successful. So much so that its existence was only recently discovered in this household, where it caused quite a stir. What transgression could have prompted this prudish company to censor an episode of one of the biggest shows on its servers?
We can only guess: Disney has never explained its decision, and never will. But guessing isn’t that difficult. ‘Dad Baby’ is about pregnancy and childbirth. Like many episodes of Bluishthe subject takes the form of an imaginative game that Bluey (a 6-year-old blue heeler puppy) plays with her sister Bingo (4) and her parents, in this case her cheeky father Bandit.
In the episode, Bingo finds an old baby carrier, and when Bandit puts it on to demonstrate it, Bingo jumps inside. Time, Bluey decides, for a game of Dad Baby. Bandit makes pregnancy jokes as he discovers how hard it is to carry another tiny creature around on your midriff; Things really get exciting when Bingo puts her head between his legs. They set up a birthing pool in the garden, neighbor Lucky’s father is called in for midwifery duties and eventually Bingo is born, causing her biological parent as much discomfort as possible.
Like most Bluish, “Dad Baby” is completely innocuous and played for laughs. It’s hard to see how anyone could object to that. But also like most Bluish, it is very conscientious to be honest with children (and adults) about real life, and not in the didactic way of life lessons that a lot of TV for young children gravitates towards. You couldn’t call “Dad Baby” graphic, but you also couldn’t look at it and have illusions about what happens anatomically during childbirth. There are a few shots in particular that I think made the Disney censors shudder: the hilarious appearance of Bingo’s head, and a shot from Bandit’s point of view in the birthing pool, between his raised knees, as Bluey becomes involved in the birth.
Image: Ludo Studio/Australian Broadcasting Corporation, BBC Studios via YouTube
Are we really coy about where babies literally come from in 2023? Is ‘Dad Baby’ considered sex education? I can believe it from Disney even though I wish I couldn’t. This is the company that also briefly created the Bluish episode “Family Meeting” because it was about farts, although it was ultimately shamed into uploading it. But I also wonder if the episode’s premise about gender reassignment has anything to do with Disney’s censorship. The episode starts with a gentle joke about gender stereotyping, ends with an image of a man (well, a dog, but you know) in labor, and at one point uses the term “pregnant people.” It’s all just for fun, and there’s no point. But that may not stop Disney from worrying that some viewers are using it to advance their own points of view.
In conversation with The Hollywood Reporter, Bluish creator Joe Brumm shook off Disney’s censorship. He knew the episode wouldn’t fly in America, he explained, but for him it was just too funny not to make. “What are you going to do, not make ‘Dad Baby’? I love it.”
“Dad Baby” is a lot of fun, but honestly it’s only a small episode in the series Bluish canon. Perhaps the most important thing that Disney denies Bluish heads is the first moment we discover that Lucky’s father has a real name (it’s Pat). But that doesn’t excuse Disney Plus’ silly, indulgent exclusion. It just robs kids of a fun way to learn how they came into the world, and everyone else of seven minutes of joy.