There are 230 episodes of Mystery Science Theater 3000 on the books. Hopping between KTMA, Comedy Central, Sci-Fi (now Syfy), and Netflix, the show has persevered for nearly 40 years. That said, a series centered around robots riffing on feature-length b-movies can be shaky for long-term legal rights. Like many cult shows before it, some episodes ended up lost, having no home release or backup. Until now, as one mysterious YouTube account has uploaded a personally recorded episode from its original broadcast.
On Friday, a YouTube channel belonging to “Arthur Putie” uploaded the third-ever episode of MST3K, where a long-haired Joel Hodgson and robot friends mock the 1987 Japanese space opera Star Force. Thought to be the “lost episode” from the show’s first season, the 37-year-old lost episode was uploaded in full. Especially impressive given the broadcast was likely on local Minneapolis television before the nascent show had the hardcore following it does now.
MST3K has always encouraged fans to record and circulate their own tapes, the instructions often popping up during the credits. While some of the greatest hits made their way to VHS and DVD, the nature of the show makes for fickle, inconsistent licensing. In the spirit of the show, many episodes have been available on YouTube for some time. The website just got one more.
While the term “lost media” is thrown around a lot these days, a number of beloved TV shows, big and small, are well and truly gone. Before home media was mainstream, original recordings were often destroyed by the networks. Baffling to think about, but there are episodes of Monty Python’s Flying Circus that have never been seen since broadcast. Some of the most pivotal episodes of Dr. Who have not been recovered in full, such as the episodes that introduced the Cybermen. One Dr. Who had only recently been uncovered from a private collection, screened in a theater as a surprise for actor Peter Purves, who played a companion in the episode, originally aired in 1965.
It’s been a good year for MST3K fans. A Kickstarter to make four new episodes with original cast members successfully raised $3 million in February. Now the show’s missing piece has been gifted, seemingly without glory (or even a video description). People who share their rare tapes are the true, unsung heroes among us. The film in question, Star Force, is actually a follow-up to Fugitive Alien, a film the Satellite of Love crew would visit later on in the run. It follows a space rogue named Ken. They tried to kill him with a forklift.