Line #29 Main/MissingEpisode


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11	[[quoteright:350:[[Franchise/{{Pokemon}} https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/pokemonorangeislands_3.png]]]]
12	[[caption-width-right:350:"The Mandarin Island Miss Match" became "The Mandarin Island [[MissXPun Miss Placed]]".]]
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17	->''"Yeah, the video of that actually happening was lost when Creator/TheBBC mixed up the term 'storage' with 'burn the fuck out of that shit' and destroyed most of ''Series/DoctorWho'''s earliest episodes."''
18	-->-- '''WebVideo/DiamandaHagan'''[[note]]She's not entirely correct, by the way - they were wiped and the (expensive) tape reused, not burned, but it feels like it.[[/note]]
19
20	An episode of a regular series which, for some reason, is not included when the series is shown in syndication (or is sometimes pulled when the series is first run and ''then'' shown in syndication or is never shown in syndication at all -- and, in some cases, not included when the show is put on home video, DVD or online streaming websites). A missing episode is (almost always) an episode that plans to air, but something later comes up to prevent it. The circumstances are usually one, all, or any of the following:
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22	* Offensive content: An episode may be too violent, profane, sexual, or controversial to be shown. Similarly, a tragedy makes the episode's story or jokes come off as being in bad taste.[[note]]if the event precedes the fiction's publishing, it's DistancedFromCurrentEvents. If the fiction's "ruined" in retrospect by later events, it's HarsherInHindsight, and, therefore is considered a BannedEpisode[[/note]] This overlaps with BannedEpisode, though the difference between a Missing Episode and a BannedEpisode is that a banned episode is often an episode that used to have no censorial problems until complaints from MoralGuardians or a [[DistancedFromCurrentEvents tragic real-world event]] drives it to being shelved.
23	* [[ScrewedByTheLawyers Legal issues]] (usually over copyright infringement, libel, defamation of character, or a class-action suit). Related to this, some episodes are pulled due to insurmountable licensing issues relating to music used in the episode, or perhaps imagery, that render the episode no longer viable if edited out.
24	* BuryYourArt: The people involved realize that the episode isn't as good as they thought it was (whether the audience agrees with them or not) and decide to pull it from reruns. The episode may come back on DVD, but either with no commentary or commentary about how audiences didn't like it or the creators didn't like it.
25	* A show is canceled (be it short-lived or long-running) and has some episodes that have never been aired, or in some cases, had to be left [[UnfinishedEpisode unfinished]].
26	* It's ''literally'' missing. There are no surviving copies left. This applies to a lot of old films, radio shows and TV shows, as few people actually cared about preserving the works for future audiences at the time — often due to the high costs of magnetic tape and film -- which led to copies being either destroyed by the ravages of time, junked or taped over. This ''also'' tends to happen a lot with internet content, as most things in the Internet exist in only one copy and many internet users don't bother to archive content, hence why initiatives such as Archive Team and the Website/InternetArchive exist. In addition, a lot of films in the silent film era have fallen victim to this, due to the high flammability of the nitrate film used, many films from the silent era were lost in fires.
27	** Speaking of digital media, it's starting to become a real issue that works created with now obsolete digital technology are no longer accessible. Most obviously, websites and content that relied heavily on Macromedia/Adobe Flash are no longer playable on phones and tablets, and use of the plugin on desktops and laptops is strongly discouraged. The BBC's attempt to recreate the Domesday book in a modern format for the 80s is facing serious issues with the fact it was recorded on Laser Disc, for playback by a computer system that's been out of production for 30 years. This phenomenon has been dubbed the Digital Dark Age, and it highlights the importance of not just preserving media, but also the technology needed to play it.
28	* The executives have lost the rights to air the episode (or, in some cases, the entire show).
29	* If it's an episode of a show that has been imported, usually it's skipped over due to translation issues, the aforementioned content issues (often due to ValuesDissonance as something benign in one country can be offensive in another), or the fact that it's {{filler}} and, therefore, considered a waste of time to show since it has nothing to do with the running story arc.
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31	The terms "Missing Episode" and "Lost Episode" are ''not'' synonymous, but which term refers to which phenomenon varies. It can also be an abused term, such as the case of ''Series/EntertainmentTonight'' finding "lost footage" for their shows which [[NeverTrustATrailer is already properly catalogued and digitized]], but uses the "lost" term instead of "old footage" as the latter doesn't work to pull in viewers.
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33	Often overlaps with KeepCirculatingTheTapes, which is when a work cannot be obtained easily and/or legally (and that's ''if'' it can be obtained at all). Can overlap with DenialOfDigitalDistribution if specific episodes are missing from the digital release. For an episode that never actually existed in the first place, see {{UnInstallment}}. See also CanonDiscontinuity, for something that isn't recognized as part of the series, usually due to how out of place it is. See also BannedEpisode, which is a Missing Episode that already aired at least once or twice, but was pulled due to complaints over content, legal issues, or needing to be DistancedFromCurrentEvents. See also UnfinishedEpisode, which is a Missing Episode that was in the middle of production, but for various reasons was never completed. Some supposed "missing episodes" are actually false PopCultureUrbanLegends. Compare and contrast {{Abandonware}}, when we know where the media is but the market or the distribution system for it no longer exists.
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35	There is even now an entire wiki devoted to [[https://lostmediawiki.com/Home lost media]]. Check it out for more details behind some of the listed examples here.
36	----
37	!!Example subpages:
38	[[index]]
39	* MissingEpisode/{{Advertising}}
40	* MissingEpisode/AnimeAndManga
41	* MissingEpisode/{{Art}}
42	* MissingEpisode/ComicBooks
43	* MissingEpisode/ComicStrips
44	* MissingEpisode/FanWorks
45	* MissingEpisode/{{Film}}
46	* MissingEpisode/{{Literature}}
47	* MissingEpisode/LiveActionTV
48	** MissingEpisode/TheBBC [[note]]Also covers missing BBC Radio broadcasts.[[/note]]
49	** ''MissingEpisode/DoctorWho''
50	** MissingEpisode/GameShows
51	* MissingEpisode/{{Music}}
52	* MissingEpisode/{{Podcasts}}
53	* MissingEpisode/ProfessionalWrestling
54	* MissingEpisode/{{Radio}}
55	* MissingEpisode/{{Theatre}}
56	* MissingEpisode/VideoGames
57	* MissingEpisode/WebAnimation
58	* MissingEpisode/WebOriginal
59	** MissingEpisode/NearChris
60	* MissingEpisode/{{Webcomics}}
61	* MissingEpisode/WesternAnimation
62	[[/index]]
63
64	!!Other examples:
65
66	[[foldercontrol]]
67
68	[[folder:Asian Animation]]
69	* When Chinese ''Franchise/LiloAndStitch'' SpinOff series ''Animation/StitchAndAi'' was finally released in the United States in December 2018 via [=DisneyNow=] (a [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/TV_Everywhere TV Everywhere]] service servicing that country only), Disney decided not to bring over the show's ninth episode "The Phoenix" to the States for whatever reason.
70	[[/folder]]
71
72	[[folder:Software]]
73	* Around 2003, Microsoft planned to release a new version of their [[UsefulNotes/MicrosoftWindows Windows]] operating system, codenamed ''Longhorn'' and being a minor update to Windows XP. However, due to the snowballing number of bugs and security holes inherited from XP, Longhorn had to be scrapped and replaced with a new branch. The only thing left is screenshots and a couple of testing builds.
74	** Happened even earlier, to Windows 96, codenamed ''Cleveland'', later ''Nashville''. The main features of this would-be new version, which revolved around tighter integration of Internet Explorer, were eventually shipped as the Windows Desktop Update in 1997, as an optional feature of Internet Explorer 4.
75	** And right after that, there was ''Neptune'' and ''Odyssey'': after releasing Windows 98, Microsoft CEO Bill Gates stated that the next consumer version of Windows would shift to using the Windows NT architecture rather than be built on DOS. Neptune would fill this particular void, while a second project known as Odyssey was going to be the next business-oriented version, succeeding the upcoming Windows 2000. Only one known build of Neptune circulates -- which was basically Windows 2000, but with early iterations of "user-friendly" concepts (such as a graphical login screen and "activity centers") bolted on, and a built-in firewall. Both Neptune and Odyssey ended up getting into DevelopmentHell: the DOS-based Windows ME was released as a stop-gap while Microsoft began to work on a unified platform for both markets -- the eventual Windows XP.
76	[[/folder]]
77
78	[[folder:In-Universe Examples]]
79	* ''WesternAnimation/TheBoondocks'': "[[Recap/TheBoondocksS3E9ADateWithTheBootyWarrior A Date with the Booty Warrior]]" opens with footage of an fictitious unaired 2005 episode of ''[[Series/{{Dateline}} To Catch a Predator]]'', which is quickly revealed to have been because Chris Hansen was assaulted by the eponymous Booty Warrior during filming.
80	* ''Series/GarthMarenghisDarkplace:'' There was said to be fifty episodes of the ShowWithinAShow of the same name made, but most were lost when Marenghi accidentally taped over most of them.
81	* An episode of ''Series/{{Frasier}}'' reveals that Frasier keeps cassette recordings of every episode of his radio show, but that Daphne has accidentally destroyed one. As his radio station takes a very haphazard approach to archiving, he puts out an appeal on the show to find it. One of his listeners does have it, but when Frasier meets him he finds that the show has taken over his life, to the point that he quit his job to ensure that he can record it everyday. Perhaps realising that this is not a healthy obsession, Frasier tells him to keep the tape.
82	* ''WesternAnimation/{{Metalocalypse}}'':
83	** "Dethwater" mentions that the band had recorded 16 individual albums, all deleted by Nathan Explosion because he didn't think they were good enough. He then proceeds to delete a 17th one.
84	** The Dethklok movie "Blood Ocean" was lost forever when a fire started on the oil rig the movie premiered at, burning the only copy of the film. It was no big loss, as what was shown was godawful and would have ruined Dethklok's reputation (and Grisnak was happy to do that, too, just to make a quick buck).
85	** The album 'Seething Vortex' was lost when all shipments of the record were destroyed in a freak hurricane, and Nathan [[spoiler:under the influence of a water god]] destroyed the master copy because he took the destruction of the rest as a sign that the album shouldn't exist. This has consequences through the rest of the season, as not only did the economy take a downturn because of the album failing to release, this was the beginning of the rift between Nathan and Pickles that culminated in Pickles quitting Dethklok.
86	* In ''VideoGame/RatchetAndClankUpYourArsenal'', after [[spoiler:[[FakeUltimateHero Captain Qwark]]'s DisneyDeath aboard [[BigBad Dr. Nefarious]]'s ship above Zeldrin]], Big Al finds the unreleased and classified fifth entry in the Qwark [[ShowWithinAShow Vid-Comic]] series, which unlike the other entries is narrated by [[FriendInTheBlackMarket Slim Cognito]] and reveals what happened between Qwark and Nefarious after Qwark's victory in the fourth entry.
87	* Some {{Creepypasta}}s are based on a fictional lost episode of a show that only aired once or hasn't aired at all because it contains very disturbing and horrific content. Some examples include ''Fanfic/DeadBart'' (about a lost episode of ''WesternAnimation/TheSimpsons'' where Bart dies, a photorealistic shot of his corpse is seen and the rest of the family spend the next year grieving Bart's loss and wasting away), ''Fanfic/SuicideMouse'' (about a lost ''WesternAnimation/MickeyMouse'' short where Mickey walks past buildings while oblivious of frightening noises playing in the background), ''FanFic/SquidwardsSuicide'' (about an unaired episode of ''WesternAnimation/SpongeBobSquarePants'' involving Squidward killing himself and featuring photographs of disemboweled children hidden in the animation frames), ''FanFic/AxisPowersHetaliaEpisode235'' (about a lost episode of ''Webcomic/HetaliaAxisPowers'' where Germany and Japan resort to committing cannibalism and eating Italy to avoid starving to death), and ''Literature/CandleCove'' (which is technically a lost ''series'' rather than a lost episode).
88	* Umberto Eco's ''Literature/TheNameOfTheRose'' features a murder mystery whose solution hinges on the contents of Aristotle's lost second book of Poetics (dealing with comedy).
89	* ''Literature/TheDaVinciCode'' builds its central theme around a fictional account of the apochryphal and partially lost Gnostic Gospels.
90	* ''WesternAnimation/BatmanTheAnimatedSeries'': The episode "[[Recap/BatmanTheAnimatedSeriesE18BewareTheGrayGhost Beware the Gray Ghost]]" has someone committing crimes as seen in the eponymous TV show. When Batman goes looking for episode recordings in order to find clues, he learns that the whole series has supposedly been lost after a fire in the archives, and this episode was never mass-produced. However, [[spoiler:the actor who played him, Simon Trent, has a complete collection]].
91	* ''WesternAnimation/MiloMurphysLaw'': the ExtraLongEpisode "Missing Milo" revolves around the characters getting ready to watch the now-found pilot episode of ''[[ShowWithinAShow Doctor Zone]]'' from the 1960s, only for Milo to get caught up in a TimeTravel misadventure. Naturally, the other characters are a bit taken aback to see Milo and Doctor Zone fighting pistachio monsters.
92	* ''WesternAnimation/SpongeBobSquarePants'': "The Bad Guy Club for Villains" is a lost episode of [[ShowWithinAShow Mermaid Man and Barnacle Boy]].
93	* One episode of ''Series/RemoteControl'' was supposedly a lost episode from 1975 (for reference, the show only started in 1987). Naturally, the episode was disco-themed, with groovy music, everyone donning 70s fashions and Ken Ober having a giant black afro (much like Alex Trebek's 70s 'fro, as seen on the surviving episodes of ''Series/HighRollers'')
94	* Creator/GeorgeZebrowski's "Literature/FoundationsConscience": The conflict for the story comes from the [[TheAllConcealingI unidentified researcher]] trying to make an {{Anthology}} of [[PosthumousCharacter Hari Seldon's appearances in the Time Vault]]. However, they're initially prevented from doing so, because appearances two, three, and six are mislabeled. They eventually find the missing recordings, we see [[AllAccordingToPlan Seldon's final description of his Plan for the galaxy]].
95	* ''Literature/AlwaysComingHome'' has as part of it the novel ''Dangerous People''. The original book had a single chapter, while the extended edition has more, but is still missing its ending due to having been damaged in transit.
96	* ''WebAnimation/MinilifeTV'': Released on the show's eleventh anniversary, "Recap/TheMinilifeTVLostEpisode" shows off the ''Minilife TV'' two year anniversary special, which is considered a lost episode because only eight viewers tuned into it and outside of [[spoiler:a surprise appearance by [[VideoGame/LEGOIsland The Brickster]]]], very little of note happened during it. Luckily, DJ DIAL-UP was able to preserve it because [[spoiler:he was Chris's old laptop as a baby]].
97	[[/folder]]

Context Main / MissingEpisode