History KeepCirculatingTheTapes / WesternAnimationRescued

* Any ''WesternAnimation/GarfieldAndFriends'' episode past Show 73 was this once CBS ended the series. It got a full release when the live-action/CGI ''Garfield'' movie and its sequel came out. On said DVD release, the original "U.S. Acres" title cards were replaced by the "Orson's Farm" title cards because they were based on the international masters (This also caused some quickies to be omitted; see above for more details). The 4K restoration made for Boomerang restores these title cards. However, two of the quickies ("The Worm Turns" and "Hogcules") were taken from international prints, and thus use "Orson's Farm Quickie"-style screens with the American name. The same is true of some of the quickies (for instance, episode 27 not using the ''Screaming with Binky'' segment about baseball).

* Several of the later 1960s ''WesternAnimation/LooneyTunes'' shorts have yet to see the light of day; "WesternAnimation/InjunTrouble1969" (the 1969 Cool Cat cartoon, not the 1938 Porky Pig cartoon, also the final Warner Bros. cartoon during the golden era) is an infamous example. However, “[[WesternAnimation/NormanNormal1968 Norman Normal]]” and “The Door” were released on DVD and Blu-Ray as of 2008 and the Merlin the Magic Mouse short “Fystic Mystic” and the Cool Cat short “Bugged By a Bee” are available on Creator/HBOMax as of 2020.

* For a few years, a majority of the episodes of ''WesternAnimation/TheAdventuresOfTeddyRuxpin'' were missing for what seemed like forever because Hi-Tops and YES! Entertainment only decided to release a certain number of episodes, the most notable missing ones being story-building episodes like the finale. Enter Mill Creek Entertainment, who released the complete series circa 2005. Once those went out of print, the series was released in a box set with all [[SixtyFiveEpisodeCartoon 65 episodes]] by Image Entertainment in June 2012. And after that set went out of print, the entire series showed up on Amazon Prime in the fall of 2020.

* ''WesternAnimation/CasperTheFriendlyGhost'''s theatrical shorts (albeit without their original titles) and ''The New Casper Cartoon Show'' were released on the ''Casper The Friendly Ghost: The Complete Collection 1945-1963'' DVD set in 2011. ''WesternAnimation/CaspersScareSchool'' is available on Amazon Prime.

* Eight years after finishing, and with only one episode ("The Green Loontern") released in the interim, ''WesternAnimation/DuckDodgers'' got its first season released in full in February 2013.

* ''Dragon'', a stop-motion show based on books by Dav Pilkey, did get [=DVDs=] as it aired like other Creator/TreehouseTV shows, but [[NoExportForYou they were never released outside Canada]], leaving the United States, where it aired on Creator/{{qubo}}, without any official release. And even then, those [=DVDs=] did not contain every single episode, meaning that TV airings were the only way to catch the rest of the series. That was until Kids Central, a bilingual children's channel, [[note]]not to be confused with the Singaporean channel of the same name[[/note]] started airing reruns of the show and offering it through an on-demand service in 2017 that was exclusive to North American hotel rooms, of all places. That all changed when in late 2018, [=WikoKiko=] began to upload episodes of the series periodically.

* For some reason, ''Dragon'', a stop-motion show based on books by Dav Pilkey, did not get an official DVD release, even as it was airing. Kids Central, a bilingual children's channel, [[note]]not to be confused with the Singaporean channel of the same name[[/note]] started airing reruns of the show and offering it through an on-demand service in 2017 that was exclusive to North American hotel rooms, of all places. That all changed when in late 2018, [=WikoKiko=] began to upload episodes of the series periodically.

** Made especially painful by the fact that this show almost ''never'' gets rerun on CN, and only a handful of episodes air when it does. Boomerang currently re-airs the show through their overnight hours.

* For a few years, a majority of the episodes of ''WesternAnimation/TheAdventuresOfTeddyRuxpin'' were missing for what seemed like forever because Hi-Tops and YES! Entertainment only decided to release a certain number of episodes, the most notable missing ones being story-building episodes like the finale. Enter Mill Creek Entertainment, who released the complete series circa 2005. Once those went out of print, the series was released in a box set with all [[SixtyFiveEpisodeCartoon 65 episodes]] by Image Entertainment in June 2012.

* ''WesternAnimation/TomAndJerryTheMovie'' has rarely been seen on TV, and its last DVD release was in 2002. As of July 2020, Creator/HBOMax is streaming the film in HD, while one can also buy a digital copy off of iTunes or Google Play.

* In January 2019, the final 12 episodes of ''WesternAnimation/ScaredySquirrel'' premiered in the USA on Creator/{{Starz}} Kids & Family (which has the last 26 episodes) and later Tubi (which has the last 26 episodes in English and all 52 in Spanish). Before then, one could only buy the first 40 episodes on Amazon Instant Video and a few volumes on the iTunes Store, and some of these were on Netflix.

* For a while, ''WesternAnimation/BlazingDragons'' was not very easy to find after it left Toon Disney, with there only being one VHS release in the United States. The show is now streaming on both Tubi TV and Ameba.
* Many shows owned by [=WildBrain=] are now available for official streaming on Website/YouTube.
* For some reason, ''Dragon'', a stop-motion show based on books by Dav Pilkey, did not get an official DVD release, even as it was airing. Kids Central, a bi-langual children's channel, [[note]]not to be confused with the Singaporean channel of the same name[[/note]] started airing reruns of the show and offering it through an on-demand service in 2017 that was exclusive to North American hotel rooms, of all places. That all changed when in late 2018, [=WikoKiko=] began to upload episodes of the series periodically.

* The animated TV movie ''WesternAnimation/{{Animalympics}}''. Though it has had a few VHS releases, most of those were a ''while'' ago, and its only DVD releases were in Europe. This all changed in April 2018 when Hen's Tooth Video finally gave the film an official U.S. [=DVD=] release.

* The 1978 English dub for the Italian AnimatedAdaptation of [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pinocchio_%281972_film%29 Pinocchio]] from 1972 called ''Animation/UnBurattinoDiNomePinocchio'' is currently out of print. The English dub has been uploaded on Website/YouTube a few times in the past. The English Dub never gained an officail home release compared to Italy where it was released on VHS and DVD.

* The 1978 English dub for the Italian AnimatedAdaptation of [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pinocchio_%281972_film%29 Pinocchio]] from 1972 called ''Animation/UnBurattinoDiNomePinocchio'' is currently out of print. The English dub has been uploaded on Website/YouTube a few times in the past. It also never gotten a DVD or VHS release.

* ''WesternAnimation/TheRaccoons'' was caught in this trap for years. Some scattered box sets here and there, but nothing close to a full release, with much of the series available through Website/YouTube and torrents through recorded copies of repeats on the now-defunct [[Creator/{{Teletoon}} Teletoon Retro]] channel. But it all changed in mid-2020, this was all remedied when Kevin Gillis himself announced via a Facebook interview that [[MilestoneCelebration to celebrate the franchise's 40th anniversary]], [[https://www.facebook.com/adam.gradwell.98/posts/3002622663152499 the entire series, specials included, would be remastered and released on DVD and Blu-Ray!]][[note]]Kevin talks about this at 17:50 in the video.[[/note]] Furthermore, the original series became available to watch for free in its entirety on [[https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCxdH4iKoNENzOilhEmfzGHA Run With Us Productions’ official YouTube channel]]. Needless to say, after years of [[KeepCirculatingTheTapes using less-than-legal methods to watch the entire series in English]], the fans went NUTS.

* ''WesternAnimation/ReBoot''. Creator/ADVFilms never released Seasons 1 and 2 on DVD, only four episodes from Season 1 ever came out on VHS. Seasons 3 and 4 came out on DVD, but went out of print. Fortunately, Creator/ShoutFactory eventually released [=DVDs=] of the complete series. Season 3 also airs on Teletoon Retro...IN CANADA! (Well, it ''was'' made in Canada...)

* ''WesternAnimation/{{Recess}}'' is now available on iTunes in Germany. (An iTunes release in the U.S. has yet to be announced, but ''WesternAnimation/RecessSchoolsOut'' and ''Recess: Taking the Fifth Grade'' are available.)

* ''[[WesternAnimation/{{Doug}} Doug's 1st Movie]]'' was released on video in 1999, but not on DVD despite the fact that Disney moved into that market that year (ironically, it was originally intended as a DirectToVideo title). Other countries released it on [=VideoCD=], but those copies are long out of print. It was finally released on DVD in 2012, albeit as a Disney Movie Club exclusive. Sadly however, the 2012 DVD release used the TV edit master, meaning that the only way to view the original theatrical presentation is the original VHS release.

* ''WesternAnimation/MummiesAlive'' had a little number of VHS and DVD releases, for both Regions 1 and 2, contain only some episodes. In 2016, German distributor Pidax Film released two volume sets containing 14 episodes each in German and English, completing the series with the third set in 2017, although that volume is currently out-of-print.

* Disney has started streaming some of ''WesternAnimation/TheDisneyAfternoon'' to iTunes and Amazon Video. This makes it the first time [[WesternAnimation/DuckTales1987 certain]] [[WesternAnimation/ChipNDaleRescueRangers shows]] have had all their episodes available, albeit with some [[EditedForSyndication censorship]] and [[MissingEpisode missing episodes]].

* ''WesternAnimation/PBAndJOtter'' saw no home video releases, and reruns had stopped airing in 2005, with only a few episodes being available online. In 2012, Disney Junior began airing reruns at an early morning time, but were relegated to death slots in late 2013 and removed completely in July 2014. In August 2016, every episode of the show was made available on the Watch Disney Junior App in the U.S., until Fall of 2016, although an occasional episode would appear monthly.

* ''WesternAnimation/TheBrothersFlub'' (not to be confused with ''WesternAnimation/TheBrothersGrunt'') got 2 4-episode VHS releases and that was it. Thanks to TV critics generally hating it and the theme "song" being considered annoying, the show got low ratings, and became so obscure that a Wiki/{{Wikipedia}} article wasn't written for it until ''2008''; its [=IMDb=] listing is also almost entirely blank except for three credits, [[CowboyBebopAtHisComputer only one of which is right]]. For the longest time, the only trace of it online was a low-quality rip of the intro from [=RetroJunk=]. The entire show was also on a video website called Kidobi, which subsequently removed the episodes. The first eight episodes came to iTunes in 2014, and the whole series was uploaded to Website/YouTube two years later.

** ''WesternAnimation/FishHooks'' was added onto Disney+ on April 3, 2020. Previously, the series was made available through Disney XD on demand, but was removed.
** ''WesternAnimation/SuperRobotMonkeyTeamHyperForceGo!'' had a few Season 1 episodes released on [=DVD=]s that came with the short-lived toy line, but these are now impossible to find. Besides those [=DVD=]s, two episodes were released for Game Boy Advance Video, but those are long out of print. The show was added onto Disney+ on July 17, 2020.

* ''WesternAnimation/LiloAndStitchTheSeries'' has had three episodes released on DVD; two ("Mr. Stenchy" and "Clip") were released on a DVD Game named ''Lilo & Stitch's Island of Adventures'', and one ("Link") as an extra on the ''WesternAnimation/LeroyAndStitch'' DVD [[BonusEpisode a month before it debuted as]] [[SeriesFinale the show's last broadcast episode]]. Two other episodes ("Slushy" and "Poxy") were released on Game Boy Advance Video cartridges bundled with episodes of ''WesternAnimation/KimPossible'' and (in the case of the latter episode) ''WesternAnimation/BrandyAndMrWhiskers''. The rest of ''The Series'' has not seen any home video or permanent digital release in North America, though a DVD box set was released [[NoExportForYou only in Japan]]. It ''was'' re-released for streaming on [=DisneyNow=] in the U.S. during summer 2018, only to be delisted months later. This is especially notable considering all four ''Franchise/LiloAndStitch'' films can be legally downloaded, and Disney has also released 12 of the 13 episodes of Chinese animated spin-off ''Animation/StitchAndAi'' on [=DisneyNow=] for completely free[[note]]as in, no separate premium TV provider log-in required[[/note]] digital streaming, and the series is now available on Disney+.

** ''WesternAnimation/TheSylvesterAndTweetyMysteries'' only had the first season released on DVD in 2008. However, reruns are on Boomerang. Averted as of 2019, since the whole series was added to the Boomerang streaming service and HBO Max at launch.

* Creator/DisneyPlus ended up rescuing these and many other animated Disney TV shows. Among them being almost all of the Disney Afternoon programming (including notoriously elusive shows like ''WesternAnimation/QuackPack'', ''WesternAnimation/{{Bonkers}}'', and ''WesternAnimation/TheMightyDucks''), ''[[WesternAnimation/{{Doug}} Disney's Doug]]'', and ''WesternAnimation/{{Recess}}''. However, there are still some Disney shows that have yet to turn up on [=Disney+=], including ''WesternAnimation/RawToonage'' and ''WesternAnimation/PBAndJOtter''.

* Creator/DisneyPlus ended up rescuing these and many other (though as of now, not all) animated Disney TV shows. Among them being almost all of the Disney Afternoon programming (including notoriously elusive shows like ''WesternAnimation/QuackPack'', ''WesternAnimation/{{Bonkers}}'', and ''WesternAnimation/TheMightyDucks'') and ''WesternAnimation/{{Recess}}''.

* ''WesternAnimation/TheRaccoons'' was caught in this trap for years. Some scattered box sets here and there, but nothing close to a full release, with much of the series available through Website/YouTube and torrents through recorded copies of repeats on the now-defunct [[Creator/{{Teletoon}} Teletoon Retro]] channel. But it all changed in mid-2020, this was all remedied when Kevin Gillis himself announced via a Facebook interview that [[MilestoneCelebration to celebrate the franchise's 40th anniversary]], [[https://www.facebook.com/adam.gradwell.98/posts/3002622663152499 the entire series, specials included, would be remastered and released on DVD and Blu-Ray!]][[note]]Kevin talks about this at 17:50 in the video.[[/note]] Furthermore, the original series became available to watch for free in its entirety on [[https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCxdH4iKoNENzOilhEmfzGHA Run With Us Productions’ official YouTube channel]]. Needless to say, after years of [[KeepCirculatingTheTapes using less-than-legal methods to watch the entire series in English]], the fans went NUTS.

** ''WesternAnimation/CoconutFredsFruitSaladIsland'' (though, considering how poorly received it was, BileFascination might be the only reason to consider watching it).

* Several of the later 1960s ''WesternAnimation/LooneyTunes'' shorts have yet to see the light of day; "Injun Trouble" (the 1969 Cool Cat cartoon, not the 1938 Porky Pig cartoon, also the final Warner Bros. cartoon during the golden era) is an infamous example. However, as of 2008, some of these have seen release on DVD (including "Norman Normal" and "The Door", two of the rarest WB cartoons).

* ''WesternAnimation/MummiesAlive'' only had one VHS release, and its few DVD releases, for both Regions 1 and 2, contain only some episodes. There exists a complete series set, but its legality is debatable.

* ''WesternAnimation/WhereOnEarthIsCarmenSandiego'' had some {{Compilation Movie}}s released by Lion's Gate and the first season released by Shout! Factory, then five years passed without any other releases. Thanks to Mill Creek Entertainment, a DVD of the complete series came in February 2012.

*''WesternAnimation/TheGetAlongGang''. Though a DVD release was announced in 2007, American Greetings (owner of the franchise), pulled the plug on it for no known reason, though it could be due to the (later shelved) revival of the characters going on at the time. The original pilot and a few episodes were released on VHS and can be found online. However, a small "best-of" DVD release was announced by Creator/MillCreekEntertainment and released in April 2011; it includes 20 out of the 26 individual episodes (or 10 of 13 half-hour episodes). The following year, the remaining six episodes were released as bonus material of other Mill Creek DVD releases, taking the series officially outside this trope. However, the original pilot is unlikely to be released on DVD due to royalty issues with Nelvana and John Sebastian's singing on the episode.

** ''[[WesternAnimation/FelixTheCat Baby Felix & Friends]]''

* ''WesternAnimation/SonicTheHedgehogSatAM'' was caught in this state for over a decade until, finally, a worthy DVD set was released. Same goes for ''WesternAnimation/AdventuresOfSonicTheHedgehog'' and ''WesternAnimation/SonicUnderground''--the former most likely due to its usage in WebAnimation/YouTubePoop. In the case of ''Adventures'', the show had individual DVD compilations prior to the DVD sets, and even those compilations didn't include "Mass Transit Trouble," which had been banned after the September 11th attacks for its terrorism-related story line. Thus, prior to the release of the second box set, one had to go online just to catch it, and even worse, most copies that showed up online were the pre-9/11 Creator/ToonDisney broadcasts, which were {{Bowdlerize}}d for questionable content.

** ''WesternAnimation/CoconutFredsFruitSaladIsland''

** ''WesternAnimation/{{Waynehead}}''

* "The Poochie Special" is a half-hour one-off cartoon based on Mattel's then popular mutt Poochie. It went direct-to-video in 1984, and was thought to have never seen the light of day again after all copies disappeared, but someone took the time to upload the whole cartoon in 2015 (though it was previously posted in 3 parts as well).

* It took near 22 years, three distribution companies, and a ''very'' dogged fanbase to get ''WesternAnimation/AdventuresOfTheGalaxyRangers'' on DVD in the United States. Cue ''massive'' {{Squee}} when Koch finally released a two-part set.

** In the United States, the only episodes released on DVD as of now are the complete season 1, selected episodes from season 2, and the Christmas specials. Most of the series is also available on iTunes. (Luckily, these editions include the original respective intro sequences for each season as well).