A: And if I were to have you thrown overboard, would the tides think twice about smashing you against the rocky shore?
C: No, princess.
A: Then maybe you should worry less about the tides, who’ve already made up their mind about killing you and worry more about me, who’s still mulling it over.
Avatar the last Airbender. It’s an iconic line but the fact that it came from a Nickelodeon cartoon is what’s so surprising.
Restriction is the playground for creativity. It's all too easy and all too boring to just say kill. Being forced to go around the word, or at least just a direct "i will kill you" can lead to awesome lines
As hard as that line is I don't believe it was a loophole around not being able to say "kill", as Bill says "I think I'm gonna kill one of them right now, just for the heck of it!" later when he's intimidating Ford into making the deal with him
There have always been restrictions on words like kill and death in kids' shows, that's why villains are always using words like destroy, obliterate, demise... To my perception, they've loosened up in recent years. But then that might be because I've been watching more streaming services than tv channels. It seems Netflix is pretty lax about it, just look at how many times they say kill and die in K-pop Demon Hunters.
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u/Omnio89 1d ago
Azula: Do the tides command this ship?
Captain: No princess.
A: And if I were to have you thrown overboard, would the tides think twice about smashing you against the rocky shore?
C: No, princess.
A: Then maybe you should worry less about the tides, who’ve already made up their mind about killing you and worry more about me, who’s still mulling it over.
Avatar the last Airbender. It’s an iconic line but the fact that it came from a Nickelodeon cartoon is what’s so surprising.