Missing Episode/Western Animation

Richard Williams's animated epic, The Thief and the Cobbler, based on the One Thousand and One Nights stories, was in production for almost 30 years before its disastrous release in 1995. The original version of the film was shelved for decades in favor of Williams's other acclaimed works. Eventually, he wanted Warner Bros. to release the film in 1991, but since he was unable to finish the original and that Disney had its own One Thousand and One Nights story, titled Aladdin, in production, Williams was forced out of the project and the deal fell flat. Miramax acquired the U.S. distribution rights and cut a majority of the important scenes and replaced them with Aladdin-like scenes. The film was finally completed and released in 1995. Critics were merciless, panning the film across the board for being an Aladdin rip-off. The unfinished original version is considered to be lost, but has since popped up on bootlegs and YouTube.
- To this day, Richard Williams does not want to talk about this film (possibly because of the way it ruined his career).
Early silent cartoon series like Felix the Cat and Disney's Oswald the Lucky Rabbit have many missing episodes, as the rights holders weren't careful about keeping track of the source materials. Of 150+ silent Felix cartoons, only about two-thirds have apparently survived the ravages of time. Of Disney's 26 Oswald shorts, they've released only 13 on DVD - this is seemingly all they were able to locate.
Two highly anticipated second season episodes of The Boondocks never aired on TV in the US, due to legal threats from various people associated with the BET Network (which was a big target of the two episodes). They WERE released on DVD and iTtunes, but there's still no word on if they will ever see the light of day on Adult Swim.
After the Grand Finale movie to Kim Possible aired in 2005, several remaining episodes trickled to air, about one a month. At least one third season episode was held back to serve as DVD bonus material for the finale movie.
The original pilot for the sadly short-lived Father of the Pride never aired on the NBC run, and even failed to appear on the DVD release. It eventually popped up on Sky One in the UK.
- In addition to the pilot, three other episodes were produced but left unaired due to NBC's decision to cancel the series. One of them, like the pilot, ended up on Sky One in the UK.
- Some broadcasts omitted "What's Black, White And Depressed All Over?" from the lineup due to offensive content.
The Ren and Stimpy Show rolled out its own "Missing Episode" just after the end of the show's first run, though this may have been nothing more than a publicity stunt. The countless episodes yanked after one showing would be more serious. (Remember Mr. Horse's presidential bid? Yeah, I can hardly remember it either.)
- A legitimate lost episode, entitled "Man's Best Friend", would have aired in 1992, but did not, due to an incredibly violent scene in which Ren beats his and Stimpy's new owner, George Liquor, within an inch of his life with an oar. It did not air in the United States until Spike TV aired it as part of the Ren and Stimpy Adult Party Cartoon series in 2003.
Here's a missing segment of an episode: the Schoolhouse Rock episode "Science Rock" reaired in 1979 and was supposed to air a segment titled "The Greatest Show on Earth", which weather was its main subject. Before the episode aired, the Ringling Bros.-Barnum and Bailey Circus Company objected to using the trademarked name as its title. As a result, ABC left this segment off the episode and also did not include it in the 1995 Science Rock VHS, either. It finally made its first appearance in the 30th Anniversary DVD under the name "Weather Show", but the references to the title were excised awkwardly.
- Then how come they didn't get miffed about the Popples episode where Party said "The Almost-Greatest Show On Earth"?
Family Guy's "When You Wish Upon A Weinstein" was originally a DVD-only release, and was shown on TV for the first time (three years after it was produced) on Cartoon Network's Adult Swim Block. The episode was pulled by FOX due to fears that the episode was offensive to Jews (despite that Seth MacFarlane brought in an actual rabbi to make sure the episode was kosher. It was, despite what the FOX Broadcast Standards and Practices people say) and Catholics. In the end, only a single line had to be altered for the episode to air on Adult Swim (Peter's line near the end of "I Need A Jew" was changed from "Even though they [the Jews] killed my Lord," to "I don't think they killed my Lord"). After Family Guy was Uncancelled, FOX themselves showed the episode (with the same line edited as in the Cartoon Network version, and another cut: Quagmire "looking for his keys" in front of Lois was drastically shortened so it wouldn't look like he was masturbating).
- FOX banned the eighth season episode "Partial Terms of Endearment" because it dealt with Lois becoming a surrogate mother and choosing whether to abort her best friend's baby following her best friend's death. The episode was later released as a DVD-exclusive episode (like "When You Wish Upon a Weinstein" did before actually airing on TV), although it has aired in first-run in the United Kingdom and elsewhere.
The Very Special Episode of Gargoyles, "Deadly Force" (an episode about the dangers of guns), was removed from the air sequence of the reruns for years, and only returned with certain portions edited out.
Despite what fans may claim, the Transformers: Beast Wars episode "Dark Glass" never got past script form. It is not a missing episode, as it was never actually produced. According to rumors, it was vetoed due to its overly dark content, and would've gone in place of the more lighthearted episode "Go with the Flow", had it been produced.
- For some reason, the French dub omitted the episode where Rampage was introduced, meaning that French fans never got to find out his Backstory and had a new character apparently appear out of nowhere.
The short-lived Nicktoon Invader Zim had one quarter of a season left unaired and a whole half-season left unproduced. In the UK, the unaired episodes were eventually broadcast after it was pointed out to Nickelodeon that they had used clips from them in an advert.
Numerous PBS affiliates have pulled the Arthur episode "Bleep" from the airwaves due to its blatant use of profanity (which is obviously censored with the old fashioned bleep, of course!). Some affiliated have aired this episode, but rarely. (Evidently, kids don't need to learn about bad words.)
- WGBH and other affiliates have also banned "Arthur's Big Hit" from the airwaves due to a scene where a furious Arthur punches D.W. in the arm for destroying a plane he created. You can see that scene here
  - It is interesting to note that the scene itself has become a cultural internet phenomenon, as many YouTubers have parodied the scene itself.
- There's also an episode of the Arthur Spin-Off Postcards From Buster that some affiliates refused to air because it involved Buster visiting a child with gay parents.
The Simpsons episode "The City of New York vs. Homer Simpson," much of which takes place in and around the World Trade Center, was withdrawn from syndication after 9/11. However, in a reversal of the "Too Soon" situation, fans protested the removal of the episode (since it's one of the most popular episodes of the series) and it was quickly reinstated (with the jokes centered around the Twin Towers either heavily edited or cut entirely on some local affiliates -- others have shown the episode uncut and uncensored, save for some time cuts and a man's line about how, "They stick all the jerks in Tower One"); the original uncut episode is on DVD).
- The later episode "New Kids On The Blecch" was removed from syndication in some areas, presumably because of the destruction of the Mad Magazine headquarters by naval seacraft. Though one may jokingly assume it's because of the backlash from having all five members of NSYNC as guest stars.
- The episode "A Streetcar Named Marge" was also pulled from syndication after Hurricane Katrina because of its references to New Orleans being a horrid, run-down hellhole. In the UK, the BBC did unknowingly air this episode around the time of Hurricane Katrina and ended up issuing a public apology for it after being barraged by complaints.
- In the UK, the episode "The Cartridge Family" was omitted from the Sky One broadcast because it showed a violent, town-wide soccer riot, addressed the issue of gun control (which is taboo in the UK), and contains scenes of characters irresponsibly using firearms (particularly the scene where Bart finds Homer's gun in the refrigerator and uses it to play William Tell with Milhouse). Channel 4 showed the episode, but the end where Marge decides to keep the gun because of how good she looked with it was cut.
  - The BBC who previously had UK terrestrial rights for the show (on BBC Two during 1996-2002) were first to broadcast this episode in Britain, and made no cuts. When Sky One regained the broadcast rights for this episode in the mid-2000s, they finally showed this episode uncut.
  - The episode was available on PAL VHS long before it was broadcast uncut, even with a little subtitle stating that it was not for public broadcast on the episode's title card.
- Sky One also partially banned the episode "Weekend at Burnsie's" due to scenes of Homer being assaulted by animals (the crows pecking Homer in the eyes and the drug dog biting Homer in the crotch when he was a teenager) and, of course, the drug themes (Homer smoking marijuana for medical purposes). In contrast, Australia and America have aired the episode, but with higher ratings than normal (in Australia, this episode is rated MA-15 and in America, the rating is TV-14, though it does run with a TV-PG rating in syndication, even though it's not edited for content). Sky have since shown this episode on very few occasions, but only after 9PM and not advertised.
  - Episodes involving lighthearted looks at medicinal use of drugs do seem to draw Sky's ire: "The Good, The Bad And The Drugly" (with its subplot about Lisa being put on anti-depressants after she freaks out over Internet articles predicting that Springfield will be a barren wasteland in 50 years) is also kept for after the watershed.
- In an attempt to prevent controversy from Japanese viewers, Fox never aired the episode "Thirty Minutes over Tokyo" in Japan or released on DVD there. The episode presumably shows the stereotyping of Japanese Culture and a scene which involves Emperor Akihito getting thrown into a box filled with "Sumo Thongs" by Homer.
The images of high-rise buildings fallen over and leaning against each other were so disturbing in the post-9/11 USA that the Chip 'n Dale Rescue Rangers episode "A Lean on the Property" was stricken from the airwaves; it was also not released on either of the two DVD sets for the show (to date).
- The original movie edit of "To the Rescue" hasn't been aired since 1989, and the five-part version was the one released on DVD.
- The show's later episodes (starting with "Good Times, Bat Times") still haven't been released on DVD anywhere, and it would take - theoretically - only one more release for the show to be completely on DVD (in a mangled, censored version, but hey, it's better than nothing).
  - To clarify, this is the real reason "A Lean on the Property" hasn't been released on DVD yet. The order of the episodes are in the same order as when they first aired, and "A Lean on the Property" aired after "Good Times, Bat Times". Tale Spin's "Last Horizons" was eventually released on DVD, so there's no reason why this wouldn't be on the hypothetical final volume.
Political correctness seems to have forced the Tale Spin episode "Last Horizons" off air in the USA, with its depictions of a Yellow Peril tinged country of Pandas, although it's available on DVD.
- Another episode,"Flying Dupes", was banned because it had a terrorist-esque plot revolving around a bomb (possibly removed after 9/11).
- In Germany, Tale Spin has got only 64 episodes because "Vowel Play" must have proven impossible to translate sensibly in the first place (due to its plot of Baloo misspelling the skywriting code words he had been tricked by the villain into displaying, rendering the animation incomprehensible in non-English countries.)
In 1968, United Artists permanently pulled eleven Looney Tunes and Merrie Melodies cartoons from circulation, due to content the studio deemed so racist and so pervasive that no amount of editing could render them suitable for contemporary audiences. (This is in contrast to the many Warner cartoons with brief, and therefore easily cut, instances of now-questionable content such as blackface gags.) To this day, the Censored Eleven cartoons have been neither aired on television nor included in Time Warner's official VHS and DVD collections; however, several have turned up on bootleg video.
- A 1990 VHS called "50 of the Greatest Cartoons" that contains All This and Rabbit Stew, one of the Censored Eleven. This cartoon is in the public domain and has been since the year after the list was made. (Two others were in the public domain when the list was made.) And this cartoon features Bugs Bunny. So, if you want a legal hard copy of that one (damn the racism, Bugs Bunny ahead!), look in your local dollar store -- you might get lucky.
  - For the record, that's the one that basically has a black version of Elmer Fudd. Actually, he's treated pretty much exactly the same as Elmer Fudd, which shows that Bugs Bunny doesn't discriminate.
- These cartoons are not to be confused with a number of Wartime Cartoons that Warners has also resisted releasing due to problems with depictions of Japanese characters, or Nazi imagery. One of these, Herr Meets Hare, (in which Bugs Bunny matches wits with Luftwaffe chief Hermann Goering, and marked the very first "wrong toin at Alberquerque") was finally aired on the Cartoon Network in 2002 as part of a documentary special about World War II cartoons.
  - Head Injury Theater‍'‍s Jared von Hindman wrote an article describing both the propaganda and the otherwise offensive cartoons.
This trope even crops up in cartoons that you don't expect to be censored. One Dudley Do-Right cartoon, "Stokey the Bear", featured a pyromaniac bear in a ranger's hat. The US Forestry Service was, shall we say, not pleased. After finding out that they couldn't sue for trademark infringement (Smokey the Bear is a registered trademark), they pressured Jay Ward Productions to never broadcast it again in the US. It hasn't, but it can be found on the Net thanks to overseas broadcasts.
The 1980s Dungeons and Dragons cartoon had a lost Series Finale. While a script was written for the episode, the episode itself was never produced. It does appear in radio-play format on the DVD, using the original voice actors.
- Until the script surfaced, there was a tinfoil hat theory that the last episode was suppressed due to it being relentlessly grim, with a not-suitable-for-children's-TV shock ending -- that the kids actually died on the roller-coaster and that what the viewer is actually watching is their souls in Hell. With the "radio-play" reading of the final script on the DVD set, hopefully those Epileptic Trees can now be put to rest.
Rocko's Modern Life had an infamous episode, "Leap Frogs", pulled out of circulation because the Media Watchdogs finally caught onto the series' sheer amount of stuff that was slipping by. The plot? Mrs. Bighead trying to seduce Rocko. The U.S. Nickelodeon only aired it once, though the Nicktoons channel aired it prior to its 2005 addition of advertising. Though it aired at least twice in Canada (and certainly more, due to YTV's abusive airing of reruns of popular shows), and in Mexico as recently as the summer of 2011. Eventually, the episode became available for American viewers in Netflix's streams of the show, and on Shout! Factory's DVD of the first season.
The Tiny Toon Adventures episode "Elephant Issues" featured a segment titled "One Beer", in which Buster, Plucky, and Hamton drink some beer, resulting in them stealing a car, driving off a mountain, and dying as a result. Because it featured underage drinking and content that was considered disturbing to audiences, this episode was swiftly pulled from rotation after FOX ended their run in the Summer of 1995.
- Ironically, one episode, "Toons From the Crypt", was skipped over the broadcast order by FOX because they found the segment "Night of the Living Pets" too disturbing. The plot? Zombies that turn out to be Elmrya's pets out for her flesh. It did air, however, three years later on Nickelodeon's run of the show. (However, most fan-written episode guides forgot to update their entries of the episode to make note of this.)
- The "Tiny Toons Spring Break Special" aired only just one time when FOX ran the series, and was never shown again. Although the reason for this is unknown, it has been believed that the tape was either wiped or possibly never aired again due to music disputes. The Grand Finale, "Night Goulery", possibly also suffered the same fate (although it did get a VHS release).
- Though they are not missing, two first season episodes did not appear in their original form on the Season 1, Vol. 2 DVD set, and so far only one edit (from "Tiny Toons Music Television") has been noticeable. Word of God supposedly says these edits may have been an error and a replacement disc program may be executed (though it has not been confirmed).
The Beavis and Butthead third-season opener "Comedians" featured Beavis trying to juggle flaming newspapers and burning down a comedy club. Because it aired only a month before the Ohio mobile home fire that Beavis and Butt-Head were blamed for, this episode was swiftly pulled out of rotation and later heavily censored.
- Other Beavis and Butt-Head episodes were banned or heavily censored for instances of Beavis saying "Fire! Fire!" or flicking a lighter ("Stewart's House", "Kidnapped"), animal cruelty ("Frog Baseball", "Washing the Dog"), inhalant and drug abuse ("Home Improvement", "Way Down Mexico Way") or anything that might be considered poor taste in the aftermath of Columbine and September 11th ("Heroes", "Incognito"). Many of these episodes have aired on Viacom-owned networks overseas unedited.
- There's also the music video segments. Who knows how many of them have been lost forever due to copyright issues? Fortunately, some of the rights have been secured, and over three dozen music videos have made it to the various Mike Judge collections.
Fans of Daria had been waiting forever for a proper DVD release of the show, and the only way to watch the show was through bootlegs and edited reruns on Noggin's teen block, "The N". In 2010, the entire show was released on DVD, but since the costs for the rights to the show's entire soundtrack would have been so staggering as to completely ruin any chance of the set being even moderately affordable (or coming out at all), MTV went ahead and replaced most of the music with soundalikes, generic production music, and cover versions, though they said that they took great pains to make sure that the music replacement was handled with the utmost care so as not to completely destroy the show.
- It should also be noted that, thankfully, the original masters of the show's episodes were used for the set; every episode was released in its original form (minus the music cuts, natch), ensuring that none of the episodes are either missing OR edited (as they were for airing on The N).
Comedy Central pulled the South Park episode "Jared Has Aides" from their rotation due to the depiction of Butters getting beaten by his parents. It is still available on the Season Six DVD box set, it (and every other episode listed below, except "Super Best Friends", "200", and "201") is still viewable on the official South Park website, and (as of June 17 2009) it appears to have crept back into the lineup again. Only South Park could make an entire episode with a running gag about AIDS and get in trouble for something completely different.
- The episode "Pip" has only been repeated twice since its premiere in 2000. The reason? The crew doesn't like the episode that much (to be fair, neither did anyone else). Same goes for "Not Without My Anus", the infamous April Fools' Day Terrance and Philip episode, which has never been replayed outside of its original airdate, due mainly to fan outrage - it was aired in place of the conclusion of the previous season's cliffhanger finale. As of 2010, "Pip" started appearing on broadcast network syndication (and only in syndication, Comedy Central has yet to rerun it again).
- "Super Best Friends", an episode which actually shows the Muslim prophet Muhammad, was removed after the controversy regarding the depiction of Muhammad in a political cartoon published in a Dutch newspaper; eventually, the episode made its way back into rotation, then was pulled again (and yanked off the website) after the show's creators received death threats from Muslim followers over a scene in "200" (which was also banned) where Muhammad was put in a bear suit. ("Super Best Friends" itself was used to point out the hypocrisy of Comedy Central, who later censored a depiction of Muhammad in "Cartoon Wars".) The same episode made fun of David Blaine and his running of a religion of "Blainetology", which was a thinly-veiled parody of Scientology...
- What really sucks is that the person in the bear costume wasn't even Muhammad, but in fact Santa Claus as the 201st episode revealed. The creators received death threats over depicting Santa Claus in a bear suit.
- ...and the episode "Trapped in the Closet", which directly ripped the controversial group apart with damned-near pinpoint accuracy, was taken out of the lineup for obvious reasons (and it was rumored that a repeat of the episode just a couple of months later was pulled at the request of the group and the episode's main celebrity target, noted Scientologist Tom Cruise).
  - Actually, up until the night that "Awesom-O" premiered, commercials WERE advertising a Lemmiwinks sequel. Supposedly, The Return of Lemmiwinks wasn't funny, and was replaced with "Awesom-O". The episode opens with an announcement stating "Due to this week's tragic events in Hawaii, the Lemmiwinks episode will not be shown."
- "200" and "201" were pulled from reruns immediately after the latter's premiere and are currently only available on the season 14 DVD set (In the US) due to their depiction of Muhammad (see above on "Super Best Friends", which was also pulled).
- Sky One skipped "Cartman Joins NAMBLA" (for its plots of Cartman Joining NAMBLA (the man/boy love association, not the club made up of guys who look like Marlon Brando when he became bald and fat) and Kenny killing his mom's unborn child), Proper Condom Use (due to explicit sexual content), and "Jared Has Aides" (due to the jokes about AIDS [despite that the episode was about how it's okay to make fun of AIDS since enough time has passed where making fun of the disease is no longer considered in poor taste] and the scene of Butters getting beat up by his parents after Cartman crank calls Butters' dad). Channel 4 however aired all 3 a few months later.
The Darkwing Duck episode "Hot Spells" was banned after its initial run on ABC due to the plot revolving around Goslyn making a Deal with the Devil to get magic powers.
The original run of Dexter's Laboratory included a series of supporting shorts called Dial M for Monkey. The Monkey short "Barbequor" played as a parody/homage to the Silver Surfer/Galactus storyline from Marvel Comics. It was banned shortly after broadcast because the Silver Surfer parody, called the Silver Spooner, had stereotypically homosexual mannerisms. There were other reasons, too, including a drunk Krunk (parody of the Hulk) and a hard-to-miss scene where a background character anxiously waits for the seductive Agent Honeydew to eat a hot dog. Surprisingly it is also not included in the Season 1 DVD set. You can watch it here.
- The pairing episode, "Double Trouble", had "Barbequor" replaced with the Season 2 episode "Dexter's Lab: A Story" and the 1995 pilot short "Changes" (originally titled Dexter's Laboratory). As always, this combination was also included in the DVD set. It is highly unlikely that "Barbequor" may see the light of another day (even though you can watch it in the hyperlink above).
  - "Barbequor" has been show in Latin America though. It's probably still in some reruns.
  - This troper has seen it in the UK on Boomerang's recent rerunning of the series, as well as Virgin's On Demand service.
- There was an episode called "Dexter's Rude Removal", the plot involved Dexter creating clones of himself and Deedee to do their chores but which do nothing but swear and other rude gestures. The episode has only been shown at a few Comic-con conventions; very few people have seen it and surprisingly has not been found to view online.
- The episode "Dexter Dodgeball" had been edited for a certain point in time; when Dexter gives the substitute coach a fake excuse the coach cries out "What's this crap?" The offending word was muted in the edited version. Surprisingly, current reruns have kept the word intact.
  - The word "crap" in general seems to be viewed in a less negative light in recent years.
Buzz Lightyear of Star Command had a Very Special Episode that aired exactly twice before being removed from circulation. It used superpowers caused by phasing through radiation as an analogue for drugs, complete with ensuing withdrawal. Presumably, Disney noticed the Unfortunate Implications.
- Though the lost episode in question is currently available to watch on YouTube.
  - The episodes "Inside Job" and "Conspiracy" were also omitted from the Disney Channel run of the series, as they both dealt with terrorist assasination plots.
Cow and Chicken had an episode, "Buffalo Gals", with rampant and blatant examples of Les Yay. Cartoon Network's censors must've been asleep at the switch (nothing new or surprising, given Cartoon Network's track record.) because the episode aired at least twice. Examples include a character busting into the title characters' home and munching on the carpet, handing out a carpet sample-shaped business card with "Munch Kelly" written on it, choking Chicken and -- during an impromptu baseball game -- Kelly told Cow, "I'll pitch and you catch!" When Cow turned into her superheroine persona, Supercow, Kelly asked her if she'd "like to be on her team". At the end, when the characters return home, Red Guy (the Ambiguously Gay villain) shows up and declares the moral of the story is a secret. Funny? Gut-bustingly. See for yourself.
- The pilot episode of the show was taken off the air and never seen again, because it shows Chicken smoking (and going to Hell for accepting a cigarette from the Red Guy, who openly introduces himself as the Devil).
  - Both of these episodes are shown in Latin America with no problems. No, we don't know why.
Histeria!! didn't have a Missing Episode, but did have a missing part of an episode. In the "Megalomaniacs" episode there was a sketch in which the Spanish Inquisition was portrayed as a game show called Convert Or Die. Moral Guardians complained about it "teaching" kids to reject Catholicism, so for all subsequent broadcasts it was replaced with a sketch in which the kids mistakenly get Custer's Last Stand mixed up with an actual custard stand. The original sketch was, however, restored to its original version in the web broadcast on In2TV; so in a piece of irony, the sketch about the kids at Custer's Last Stand is now the lost sketch.
Teamo Supremo had an episode with two segments titled "Will You Be My Valentine Bandit?" and "Uncontrollable Goopy Substance!", which Toon Disney aired only once, on the morning of March 13, 2004, and was never included in the show's rerun rotation. Confusingly, a few clips from "Uncontrollable Goopy Substance!" were used in the promotional spots for Toon Disney's New For You! show.
The PJs‍'‍ final three episodes were never aired until two years after the show's cancellation in 2001 when Channel 4 in the UK picked up the series. They were again never shown for another five years. They weren't shown in the US, the show's origin country, for seven years before Adult Swim picked up the series.
The 2000s version of Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles had an entire Missing Season, which was shelved in favor of TMNT IN THE FUTURE! (though even the future season considers the missing one canonical). It was later shown on TV as the "Lost Season" and got a DVD release.
- There is another episode called "Insane in the Membrane" which never aired in the US (though it's available on DVD and the 4KidsTV site). It involves Baxter Stockman cloning his old body and inserting his brain inside. It goes fine for a while but after a few months he begins to fall apart and constantly tries new ways to fix himself including chopping off limbs. Eventually he loses his mind and blames April for all that has happened to him. To be fair, the episode was quite disturbing for kids.
- "Nightmares Recycled" was never completed, due to similarly disturbing content. It apparently would've revealed Hun and minor villain the Garbageman were conjoined twins crudely separated at birth.
1970s British kids show Mr Benn, in which the title character dressed up as various things and had adventures in that guise: the "Big Game Hunter" episode fell foul of changing mores and dropped out of circulation. It did show up on the DVD release, however.
An example of a missing series: the late 1960s animated series The Beagles, created by Total Television (the makers of Underdog) and about the adventures of a singing dog duo. The series has been unaired since its original run, with the master copies of the series accidentally thrown away by the family of someone on the production staff, with only a few production negatives and clips (one available on YouTube) remaining today, along with an LP (later transferred by someone to CD) of songs from the show.
Due to the studio making more episodes that the network had ordered, four King of the Hill episodes past the Grand Finale (The episode where Hank discovers that Bobby has a talent for inspecting and identifying cuts of meat) were not in the network run and were only seen in syndication (including Adult Swim). The four episodes are:
- "The Honeymooners": Hank tries to stop his mom from getting married to a man she just met.
- "Bill Gathers Moss": In a plot similar to the episode where Bill uses his house as a shelter for alcoholics, Bill once again uses his house to take in roommates, with Hank angry that Bill is being used. The B-story focuses on Bobby and Joseph hunting for ghosts at their school.
- "When Joseph Met Lori, and Made Out with Her in the Janitor's Closet": Dale has himself committed to a mental hospital after failing to give Joseph the sex talk, and plots an escape to keep his son from going all the way with a girl he likes
- "Just Another Manic Kahn-Day" Hank tries to get Kahn to stop picking up his medication at the pharmacy -- only to realize that Kahn is a manic-depressive who needs his medication to level out his mood. In the B-story, Bobby tries to find the humor in a comedy record that only appeal to his parents and other adults.
Aqua Teen Hunger Force had an episode entitled "Boston", which was originally intended as the first episode of the series' fifth season and produced as its creators' response to the Boston bomb scare that Adult Swim caused on January 31, 2007 (with the city itself being a big target of the episode). However, Adult Swim pulled it to avoid further controversy surrounding the events of the bomb scare. The episode has never aired, and has never been released to the public.
Several episodes of Davey and Goliath were presumed destroyed by the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America, the successor to the church that commissioned the series, due to racial and other material that today's mainline denominations would consider unfit for airing on a children's program. They were later found, re-edited and released on DVD.
Because of a very limited VHS release and no DVD releases, it's virtually impossible to get a hold of any of the later episodes of Street Sharks, especially the Dinovengers crossover season. A bit more mysterious is an episode which was said to involve an appearance by their missing father, who fights Paradigm to save a mutant held captive. It is uncertain as to whether this really aired or if it was originally planned but scrapped and modified into a different episode.
HIT Entertainment pulled the Pingu episode "Pingu Quarrels With His Mum" off of PBS Kids Sprout's rotation due to the depiction of Pingu getting slapped by his mother. It is viewable on the internet, is available on VHS and DVD outside the U.S., and (since 2010) has appeared to have crept back up on the BBC lineup again. However, this episode was heavily censored with the slap removed.
- - Keep in mind that this episode is what led to Pingu‍'‍s fall from grace. After the episode aired, The Pygos Group received threats from SF DRS that they would take legal action and cancel the series if any further inappropriate content was added to future episodes. The producers promised that season 4 would be completely "clean" and not feature any adult content. The results in the ratings were, shall we say, a Recipe For Disaster.
- Numerous other Pingu episodes were also pulled or heavily censored in other countries due to other offensive practices, such as "Pingu Runs Away" (Pingu runs away from home after ruining a pleasant dinner), "Pingu's Dream" (Pingu suffers a nightmare when he encounters a giant walrus), the pilot episode "Pingu is Introduced" (Pingu is bullied by his friends when they steal his ball), "Pingu's Lavatory Story" (Pingu drinks so much drinks at a local bar that Potty Emergency he has to go to the bathroom, only to Potty Failure pee all over the floor back at home) "Pingu at the Doctors" (Pingu causes his beak to bleed after chasing his sister). None of these episodes have ever appeared on US VHS (although "Pingu Runs Away" has gotten a VHS release titled "Antarctic Antics", and "Pingu at the Doctors" has aired on PBS Kids Sprout's rotation).
  - Initially, "Pingu is Introduced" was shown on the BBC and other non-Swiss networks where a moment when Pingg repeatedly bonks on Pingu's head during the fight over the ball was cut to tone down controversy over the violence in the episode. This edit was not shown in Switzerland (as they showed the episodes uncensored due to the fact that the country was the origin of the character), and even in Cartoon Network in the U.S. However, in 2003, the censors eventually agreed that the edit made no sense at all, and decided to pull the episode off entirely (it has not been shown in Britain ever since), and was never reinstated in America when the show made it to PBS Kids Sprout.
  - Actually, on the day "Pingu's Lavatory Story" premiered, the original channel, SF DRS, received numerous complaints over the content of the episode, claiming that it was crude and unfunny, so the future censoring of the episode from the airwaves was quite predictable......
- "Jealousy" was edited around 2000-2001 on Cartoon Network because of a moment where Pingu is laying down on Pinga's bed and lifting himself up during that moment (sexual stereotyping, anyone?). When PBS Kids Sprout aired that episode, however, that scene was reinstated (the edit might have been completely pointless.....).
- For unknown reasons, two episodes made for the fourth season before the Grand Finale were made but never aired in the initial run on SF DRS. It was not until a year later that they were aired on a marathon of Pingu episodes (they were only shown once due to the cancellation of the show before HIT took over). Surprisingly, these episodes failed to appear on the episode guide for the Japanese Pingu website and were not shown on the Season 4 Japanese DVD.
- Also for reasons unknown, the second series (seasons 5 and 6) never seemed to air on Sprout at all, despite some Advertisements that showed clips from the seasons. It was not until 2008 when the second series finally appeared in the U.S. on DVD.
The Tick animated series, episode #11 was missing after 9/11 due to the image early in the episode showing the World Trade Center towers being destroyed by an as-yet-unseen force (which turned out to be Proto-Clown).
The Fairly OddParents episodes "Hail to the Chief" and "Twistory" were aired for the first year or so, but Nickelodeon stopped airing them apparently because they were offensive. They are, however, available on the Season 2 DVD available from Amazon.com.
- It was mostly due to the scenes in "Twistory" that portray George Washington as a crazy person constantly muttering "must..chop...WOOD!"
Thomas the Tank Engine has had a couple of sort-of instances of this. Based on a single photo, a rumour had been going around that a story called 'The Missing Coach' was filmed but never aired. This was dismissed as speculation until Word of God from the technical crew confirmed that it had been half-filmed. The other was a number of episodes of a proposed spin-off called Jack and the Pack that didn't get picked up and which were eventually released three years later on DVD as part of the regular series.
Two regular episodes of The Emperor's New School are missing from the Disney Channel's late-night rerun rotation of the series. The cause for this is unknown.
An episode of 101 Dalmatians: The Series, "Alive 'n Chicken", was pulled from broadcast after 9/11 (it's sometimes shown outside the United States), due to a scene where Spot crashes her airplane into a windmill. "Prima Doggy" was also pulled, but that was only due to that it was paired with the episode and it wouldn't fill 30 minutes on its own.
KaBlam! had half the series pulled from reruns on Nicktoons, though some of them were shown when the network launched in 2002. 2004-ish is when the episodes were being pulled, usually without any reason.
- "I Just Don't Get it!" was the only episode pulled with a reason: In the Action League Now! segment, the Mayor is portrayed as a terrorist, and the segment was pulled from reruns in the United States after 9/11.
- "Just Chillin`!" only aired a few times in late 2000/early 2001 and was never seen again (and didn't air outside the US)
- "Ka-Fun!" was an episode produced and mentioned in a few TV guides, but never aired (at least in the US. There are rumors that it may have aired in Japan). Clips have appeared in Nickelodeon promos, however.
- The Life with Loopy Special, which many fans rumored to be "Episode 29" (Keep in mind that the information for "Episode 29" has been Jossed and the special is not part of the episode count) only aired once in 1998.
Rugrats has 16 lost episodes. Most of these were planned for the second or third season. One of these lost episodes was the pilot (this was slated to air on Nick around August 1990 but never did) which can only be found on a special VHS.
- In a more traditional fashion ("Made but rarely shown" vs. "not made at all"), there is the half-hour special "Vacation." Although originally released specially on VHS, it was still considered a regular "episode." However, it's not available on the compilation DVDs and, after being shown a few times, vanished from TV. There are likely a couple reasons for this: One may be rights issues associated with the opening using the song "Vacation" by The Go-Go's, including the version Angelica sings late in the episode. The other may be a Too Soon bit, involving a pair of Siegfried-and-Roy-alikes losing control of their white tigers.
The animated adaptation of The Mask had its entire second season missing when it aired on CBS (on CBS, only the first and third season aired). The second season was only shown on cable channels such as Cartoon Network and the syndicated animation block, BKN (Big Kids Network), which showed a lot of cast-off cartoons that never made it to network TV, like Adventures of Sonic the Hedgehog, Extreme Ghostbusters, Captain Simian and The Space Monkeys, Street Sharks, and Extreme Dinosaurs. The only explanation that can be given for this is that season two's episodes of The Mask are a lot racier than those of seasons one and three, particularly the episode "Flight as a Feather" which features a strip- er, "exotic dancer" named Cookie BaBoom threatening to kill herself with a suicide bomb because the Mayor broke up with her, and a scene where Cookie ends up naked (though no nudity was shown, Kellaway and Doyle's reactions to seeing Cookie naked tell the viewers more than if any actual flashes of breasts or genitalia was shown) after The Mask uses her suicide belt bikini as the main ingredient in an explosive cocktail drink.
- And speaking of "Flight as a Feather," when FOX Family (ABC Family back when FOX owned it) aired old reruns of The Mask in the late 1990s-early 2000s, "Flight as a Feather" was always skipped over because of that part with Cookie BaBoom (it would be easier to just edit out the entire sequence, but then that would ruin the continuity, because later in the episode, Cookie BaBoom [clad in her trenchcoat] is seen in the angry mob that has The Mask cornered at the Bavariaville golf course).
The artbook "Dofus - Les mains d'Eniripsa" presented the plot of an unseen episode of Wakfu, going as far as providing a full summary, character design, and even background design. The episode was about Yugo and friends trying to save a village from complete dryness. For some reason, the episode was scrapped and never produced. The only remaining bit is the titular character of the episode, a charming Enirpisa called Mey d'Elongrot, who was present in the crowd as a cameo in episode 10.
Dialogue was recorded for an Angry Beavers series finale titled "Bye Bye Beavers", but it was never finished or aired, due to a rule by Nickelodeon for finales not to show awareness of the show's end. And its corresponding short, "A Tale of Two Rangers", was apparently never even finished.
- In addition to the unaired finale, six other episodes were left out from the original run, and they were not shown until the six episodes aired on Nicktoons (the finale, or parts of it, has yet to see the light of a day).
The eighth episode of the first season of Canadian cartoon Kevin Spencer was only broadcast once, after a viewer wrote an angry letter to the CRTC (the Canadian equivalent of the FCC) over the episode's content. This content, including having Kevin's father getting his finger bitten off by an alligator, accidentally drinking the beer containing his finger and then vomiting it up, and finally getting into an extremely violent fight with the gator and ending up gashed and bruised, was apparently so ~~funny~~ offensive that it was never broadcast again.
The Penguins of Madagascar was all over this trope but has come out averting it. No fewer than ten episodes were originally a.) exclusive to Nickelodeon's website, b.) exclusive to one of the four DVDs of the series, c.) supposed to air in early 2010 but pulled at the last second, or d.) some combination of the previous three. However, these "missing" episodes (including two 23-minute specials) were finally aired in mid to late 2010. The last two to be "missing" were "Truth Ache" and "Command Crisis", which were initially exclusive to the first DVD but finally aired in November 2010.
- It's starting to happen again: "Alienated/The Otter Woman" was supposed to air in late 2010 but was pulled at the last second.
Just try to find more than a select handful of episodes from The Twisted Tales of Felix the Cat. Only one VHS release was ever sold in the USA, and the only DVD release was marketed in China but not the country the show originally aired in; besides, many episodes weren't available for sale in any way, causing a majority of them to become Lost Episodes. The surviving episodes are only kept in existence because some YouTube uploaders that had the foresight to record a few episodes continue to Keep Circulating the Tapes.
Supposedly there are a number of Minerva Mink shorts that never got released due to excessively risqué content. For those familiar with the shorts that did get released, this is understandable.
The Adventures of Sonic the Hedgehog episode "Mass Transit Trouble" was withdrawn from syndication after the Oklahoma City bombing as it dealt with Robotnik plotting to destroy the Mobius transportation system by placing bombs on three major Mobian transportation hubs. Eventually, Toon Disney picked up the episode and allowed it to run in their rotation (with at least one scene where Sonic finds one of the bombs under a chair cut), then was pulled again (and yanked off the DVD releases) after 9/11 (that very episode became a major target of parody and controversy). The episode was not shown again until 2008 when it was reinstated on the Shout! Factory DVD releases.
- The pilot was never completed, although dialogue and animation were already produced. The unaired pilot eventually showed up on YouTube, save for the music and sound effects. A scene from pilot where Robotnik tries to squish Sonic but gets himself squished was recycled for the show's ending credits.
ABC's Sonic the Hedgehog had an entire season that was scheduled to air around the 1995/96 season, but never did. The season would have had the Freedom Fighters attempt to finish the job and liberate Robotropolis from Snively (who would have taken over in the end), however the group and Snively would be forced to work together when Nagus reappeared (free of the Void's influence and holding King Acorn and Robotnik hostage). It is not a missing season, as it was never actually produced. According to animator Ben Hurst, the season was vetoed because ABC was disappointed with the ratings Season 2 received and ABC executives were no longer interesting in making another season. There were other reasons, too, including the firing of ABC's President of Children's Entertainment and failing competition with FOX's Mighty Morphin Power Rangers. The unproduced season has been mentioned in "The Complete Series" DVD box set.
The 1980s version of Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles suffered heavy editing in Europe due to controversies over ninjas and nunchucks at the time. The show was released under the title Teenage Mutant Hero Turtles, the opening lyrics for the theme song removed all references to ninjas, and every scene that features Michelangelo wielding his nunchucks were deleted from the intro, and were replaced with random clips from the show. In addition to ninja references being cut, BBC airings removed quotes like "Let's kick some shell!" and "Bummer!" from the episodes. Later European airings, however, aired their respective original versions.
- Ironically, Ninja Turtles: The Next Mutation also had their title changed to Hero Turtles: The Next Mutation, however, it was actually changed to separate it from the live-action movies.
When the Tom and Jerry Spotlight Collection Vol. 1 was released in the U.S. in 2004, many of the cartoons on the set (excepting those made post-1951) were in poor quality. This was because the original negatives for most, if not all, of MGM's pre-1951 Tom & Jerry cartoons were destroyed in a vault fire. As a result, Warner Bros needed to find uncut prints of the cartoons, irrespective of quality. Some original prints of the pre-1951 Tom and Jerry cartoons (such as "Puss Gets the Boot" and "The Night Before Christmas") are said to still survive.
- Political correctness seems to have kept the Tom and Jerry cartoon "His Mouse Friday" from re-airing on American television. The cartoon featured Jerry in blackface trying to eat Tom. The cartoon did manage to be released on video, but all the releases (including T&J Spotlight Collection Vol. 3) had an edited version instead.
- Meanwhile, "Mouse Cleaning" and "Casanova Cat" were left off the spotlight collections entirely, due to Blackface gags, and rarely if ever appear on TV (always edited of course). Someone at Warner promised they'd appear on the next Tom and Jerry DVD release, however.
Teen Titans' "The Lost Episode". It featured a villain named Punk Rocket who used a weaponized guitar. Punk Rocket would later show up in a very minor role near the end of the 5th season as part of the Brotherhood of Evil. Originally only available to be viewed online as part of a cereal promotion, it is included as a special feature on the Teen Titans: Trouble in Tokyo DVD.
The pilot episode of SpongeBob SquarePants, "Help Wanted" was oddly absent from the Season 1 DVD. The reason? The producers could not get a copyright clearance for the song "Livin' in the Sunlight, Lovin' in the Moonlight". Fortunately, subsequent DVD releases have reinstated the episode along with the aforementioned music.
- The episode "Procrastination", though otherwise complete, does have a missing scene. The last few years it has aired, there have been a few random seconds of SpongeBob's eyebrows doing calisthenics very choppily removed. This may be because a few frames got lost and went unnoticed.
  - The scene where SpongeBob sees his friends outside has also been removed from reruns, though it's on the DVDs. It may have been cut out for more commercial time.
- The episode "Just One Bite" has a questionably blatant reference of dangerous gas materials. Nickelodeon must have been asleep at the censor switch, because the sequence aired at least until a year after the episode's premiere. The sequence features Squidward trying to enter the patty vault at the Krusty Krab to get another bite of the krabby patty, but finds a bucket thinking that it's water. However, when he knocks it over and smells it, he finds out that it is actually gas. A random robot hand appears and drops a match on the gas, and Squidward is heard off-screen screaming in pain, he quickly escapes into the kitchen just when he spills another bucket, and the same process happens again. Although the actual reason for the sequence being pulled is unknown, it has been rumored that 9/11 was the reason for the edit. This sequence however can still be shown on YTV in Canada.
- In-universe example (see page quote): Patchy the Pirate laments that the "Lost Episode" is truly lost forever after his VCR spits out video tape while he is attempting to rewind the tape. (But of course, it's not really lost in Real Life.)
- The season 2 episode "Shanghaied" was originally shown in 2000 and was aired as a Patchy the Pirate special (Despite the fact that it was the same length as the other SpongeBob episodes) and before the conclusive ending, a poll was held to let viewers decide three possible endings to the episode. The endings included Patrick wishing for gum before they are eaten by the Flying Dutchman, Squidward wishing that he had never met SpongeBob and Patrick before they are eaten, and SpongeBob wishing the Dutchman was a vegetarian, but they were turned into fruit as well and placed intro a blender. After the episode aired, it was paired with "Gary Takes a Bath", and only SpongeBob's ending was shown. Eventually all the endings luckily turned up in 2002 with the release of the "Sea Stories" DVD.
The 1998 pilot for The Adventures of Jimmy Neutron was not shown on TV (possibly due to a scene where King Goobot's assistant Ooblar comments on Jimmy's hair and then says "Oh, my God!"). This pilot was included on the "Confusion Fusion" DVD.
There are three lost episodes of Ed, Edd 'n' Eddy. One ("Look Before You Ed") was eventually aired, simply having never been shown stateside. What became of two missing Season Five episodes--"Luck Be An Ed Tonight" and "A Room and an Ed"--however, is unknown. The two were either never shown, or simply never made. Slightly more info here.
The Mighty Mouse the New Adventures episode "The Littlest Tramp" wasn't considered missing, but however has a missing part. After Mighty Mouse finds crushed remains of a flower, he begins to think about his girl ("I know someone else like that") and decides to sniff it, nearly inhaling it inside his nose. The creator of the show apparently did not want to air the scene, because he thought it inspired cocaine use. John Kricfalusi disagreed, stating that the sequence was harmless, and the episode aired without, initially without controversy, in 1987. A year later, Media Watchdogs accused the creator for the cocaine-inspired scene, and as a result, subsequent airings pulled the scene out of the episode. However, fearing that the show would lose popularity due to the scene, CBS axed the series after only 19 episodes.
Captain N: The Game Master had episode #27, "When Mother Brain Rules", missing from "The Complete Series" DVD set because DiC did not provide the tape to Shout Factory.
The American broadcast of Code Lyoko's fourth season had the worst luck with this. First, "Lab Rat" was skipped over in the broadcast order for reasons unknown, and was never shown on television. The kicker? The episode that aired in its stead, "Bragging Rights," was the second part of a two-episode mini-arc that "Lab Rat" began. The fandom was saved from confusion by an eerily coincidental leak of a version subtitled from Hebrew some weeks earlier, but the skip is still baffling to this day. Then, Cartoon Network pulled the show from its airing schedule before the last seven episodes of the series had a chance to air. The episodes, including "Lab Rat," were released on the network's online video service and then removed after some months, all without ceremony or fanfare. The missing eight and the entirety of Season 4 will likely follow the first three seasons to iTunes eventually.
The (tragically) obscure Australian animated series The Adventures of Sam has yet to be released on DVD (and probably never will be), and the VHS edition is missing at least one episode.
The House of Mouse animated short "Minnie Takes Care of Pluto", in which Mickey Mouse leaves Pluto at Minnie's house while he is on vacation, and Pluto's conscience convinces him that Minnie is out to get him. About halfway through the short, Pluto has a brief nightmare about him being buried alive by Minnie, who zips up his grave, and later imagines himself going to Hell. The offending short only aired on the ABC run and was never shown on Toon Disney or Disney Channel.
Two final season episodes of Class of 3000 were left unaired from the broadcast order. They are not (yet) available on DVD.
Reportedly there is an entire second season of TV Making Fiends episodes; the show was Too Good to Last - abruptly ending after six episodes despite being the highest rated (original) program on Nicktoons.
And according to fan rumors, more episodes of The Super Mario Bros Super Show were planned but was also Too Good to Last. It was cancelled after sixty five episodes (Mario and Zelda combined, which, quite honestly, seems to be enough).
The Bonkers episodes "Fall Apart Bomb Squad" and "New Partners On The Block" (where Lucky gets replaced by Miranda as Bonkers' partner) were never seen again due to the 1995 Oklahoma City bombing. Both episodes dealt with terrorists/bombers as villains.
The sixth season of Recess was never re-broadcast on Disney Channel or Toon Disney after it's initial airing in 2001 (it was shown in the U.K. and other areas. The season had no "offensive" content; Disney was probably being lazy)...until 2007.
- Only the first two seasons made it in the Portuguese dub, and the Italian dub skipped half the episodes.
The episode of the first season of the 1967 Spider-Man series titled "The One-Eyed Idol/Fifth Avenue Phantom" is occasionally left out of circulation because of its racist characterizations (and possibly also because of a sexist comment made in the episode).
AfterTime Squad was canceled soon after being renewed for its second season (early 2002), a few episodes were held back/misplaced from the Cartoon Network line up for a while for unknown reasons, including "Whitehouse Weirdness", a episode that parodied a Scooby-Doo mystery, complete with the very same music and sounds from the original 1969 series.(Some blame the post 9/11 fears at the time, as American presidents/officials chase the cast around the White House in monster costumes may have seemed inappropriate.) The finale was presumably "Nobel Peace Surprise", in the summer of 2002, with five more episodes seemingly stuck in limbo until the spring of 2003. Four of the said episodes eventually aired within the course of two months, with one episode held back all the way into November of that year. (Incidentally, these are the same episodes that contain some of Time Squad's most infamous Ho Yay fuel.) Due to the real finale "Orphan Substitute" dealing with George W. Bush briefly, and the cynical overtones throughout the episode, it's not hard to see why this was kept back from airing for the longest time.
Disney's The Black Cauldron was the missing episode of the Disney Animated Canon for a while; because of its poor reception, Disney held off on the home media release till 1998, when it finally came out on VHS. Now that it's become somewhat of a Cult Classic (mainly through being vindicated by 90s kids who know it from the aforementioned VHS), it's gotten a 25th Anniversary DVD release and a Lowry restoration (which means it's probably due for Blu-Ray).
- It was originally going to be released to VHS in 1989 and it even had a tape master prepared, but it, among other things, was cancelled due to the success of The Little Mermaid.
Fans of Gravity Falls usually assume "Tourist Trapped" was the show's pilot, but show had an actual pilot, of which only a 46-second scene has been leaked online. The scene shows older-looking versions of Dipper and Mabel, plus an uglier version of Grunkle Stan eating a popsicle and getting it on his shirt, which Dipper and Mabel seem to mistake for blood. An outline for the pilot has surfaced too, showing the plot to be similar to "Tourist Trapped". When writer Alex Hirsch was asked if the unaired pilot would ever be released, he half-jokingly replied, "Oh lord, I hope not! That thing was a mess! Haha. That would be like showing you awkward photos of my high school prom. We all have dark secrets; that 11 minute flash pilot was mine."