Sorry if this has already been discussed but I didn’t see it during a search…
We got K01 and K02 back in the original Netflix Kickstarter when everyone thought they were lost. Has it ever been confirmed by the creators that K03 Star Force: Fugitive Alien II is truly “lost”? Or have they simply not released it? I’d love to see it even though I know it was remade in a later season.
I had my fingers crossed it would surface during THIS Kickstarter.
My understanding is the tape is actually gone. Destroyed or lost.
When I select vault pix and choose the KTMA (season 0), there are no episodes found. Are there KTMA episodes somewhere else? It’s the only season I haven’t seen any episodes from. Thanks!
The first two KTMA episodes (Invaders from the Deep and Revenge of the Mysterons from Mars) were Kickstarter rewards for qualifying backers from the first “Bring Back MST3K” Kickstarter campaign back in 2016.
Those qualifying backers could then access those two episodes in the Screening Bunker of the Gizmoplex Virtual Theater, thanks to those episodes ending up in their VHX account from that first Kickstarter campaign. That’s why you see “Season 00 (KTMA)” in the season selection bar in the Screening Bunker.
I believe our hopes lie with someone in 1989 happening to have recorded that episode on VHS and then promptly forgetting about it, while still holding onto and preserving the tape.
Sort of like how a number of Doctor Who fans kept enough of lost episodes (audio recordings, for example) to enable some measure of recovery.
Except instead of all of England, we’re counting on the people of Minneapolis/Saint Paul, MN. But I’m ever the optimist. I feel like it will surface one day. If I lived in MN, I’d make a hobby out of buying old VHSes at thrift stores and garage sales and checking them out to see if they happen to be THE ONE.
During the Kickstarter it was confirmed that they don’t have a copy.
Jim Mallon definitely had it at one point, and even digitized some of the host segments to put up on MST3K.com around when the terrible Bots are Back cartoons went up. You can find the portions he digitized on YouTube.
My guess: The tape got misplaced during the digitizing process. Heck, maybe it’s sitting in a VCR in Jim’s garage.
Yah, I considered that the fan population is vastly smaller (KTMA vs BBC), so it’s a faint hope. As I’ve said before, though, every great body of work needs a missing volume. 
Thank you for the info, makes sense, and now I know what’s up 
Very welcome - cheers!
It always amazes me that a few people in the Twin Cities had the foresight to preserve these episodes and consider the possibility that they would mean something years and decades later!
I do hope K03 is found someday too.
I think it’s almost certain someone videotaped that episode. By then the show was starting to get some buzz.
It’s far from certain that videotape still exists, though.
Have to look it up in the Akashic Record.
Just found this thread. If I had to choose one piece of lost media to become found, it would be this. I don’t care if the episode is bad. I just want to have the full series of this show found so bad. I’m kinda surprised there hasn’t been a full on hunt for it. I guess MST3K is still kinda niche in the already niche lost media community. But I hope that they will eventually do one of those big hunts for this episode. It has to be out there somewhere.
If I had to choose between KTMA Episode 3 and Orson Welles’s lost original concluding reel from The Magnificent Ambersons… well, sorry, Orson, but MST3K wins every time.
If I had to choose between KTMA episode 3 or all of the Patrick Troughton Doctor Who episodes found … sorry Joel, I’m going with Pat on this one.
Now, if I have to choose between KTMA episode 3 and all of the William Hartnell Doctor Who episodes back … KTMA all the way. 
Heh, I can’t blame ya there. We have the Season 3 treatment of Star Force: Fugitive Alien II, but I’d LOVE to see how the other Second Doctor episodes shake out.
With all due respect to Mr. Hartnell starting it all off… hell yeah, you know that’s right!
I have to say I would love more Hartnell just because they filmed the whole thing on tiny little sets and I love seeing how they coped with that.
I’d also rather see the lost Hartnell (and Troughton) episodes. But at least they are animating some of them so they can be seen. No such option for the lost MST3K episode.