general media Inaccessible/Lost Media You Wish You Could Recover?

[Luna the Great of all the Russias 3,209]

Are there pieces of media that you wish you could recover/access? These can be either digital or non-digital, they can either be someone well-known to be lost or something that is more personal to you, they may be truly lost or perhaps they still exist and are readily accessible but you personally do not know where to find it, etc.

[Brony Number 42 10,097]

I wrote a poem in college. It was dirty. I lost it but I remember the last part. I can't repeat it here.

Edited March 2, 2023 by Brony Number 42

[Gaines 1,227]

Certain old Youtube videos I saw when I was a kid, whether it be silly comedy skits or speedpaints, which are often deleted if the uploader feels like they don't represent them anymore. I would simply love to watch them again for old time's sake.

[Pentium100 2,322]

A video tape I recorded of my grandmother, a very old lady (she was 98 or 99 at the time, she died one month before her 100th birthday) and the daughter of that lady. We were visiting them and I just filmed them talking. Sadly, the tape got used to film a vacation video and all that remains of the recording is probably less than a minute right at the end of the tape. None of the three women I filmed are with us anymore, it would have been so nice to have the full tape of them talking.

Another is a funny song that I recorded of my friend singing on my PDA. I then copied it to my PC and also, I think, recorded it to a CD, but I cannot find it on the PC or the PDA and I think the CD. has degraded beyond recovery. 

An audio tape of some wedding musicians - I accidentally recorded over it. All that remains is, I think, a part of the song that was playing during my birthday one time dad was filming us. I actually have a chance to have it, since it was released at some number of copies, so maybe I'll find another copy at some time when I buy used tapes.

Edited March 2, 2023 by Pentium100

[Brony Number 42 10,097]

This one is very obscure. My college radio interviewed the guy from Time Cube (anybody remember that?). I had a copy of that interview but I can't find it.

[Megas 28,244]

Marvel Vs Capcom 2 on modern platforms. Was on PS3/360 for a short time before getting delisted. Unless you wanna get it through nefarious means, only way to get it now are dropping $150+ for a second hand copy on ebay, or $600 for the 1up arcade cabinet

Simpsons the Arcade Game. Like MvC2, it Was only on PS3/360 for a short period before getting delisted. It was the only time the game was ever available outside the arcade

Edited March 3, 2023 by Megas

[Jeric 46,890]

I wrote a full 82,000 word manuscript about eleven years ago with many revisions just to actually say I could complete a novel. It was saved on one of 30 different drives I have. Unfortunately, after years of searching I still haven'd found it. 

[Luna the Great of all the Russias 3,209]

Ironically, the lost media (Youtube videos) that lead me to post this thread... one of them was not lost at all, and the other I have since found again.

One of them involves users giving a bad tempered Romanian a hard time. It should be noted that such country-based humor is abundant among players of Europa Universalis IV, Hearts of Iron IV, and other Paradox grand strategy games (the user that uploaded this video plays such games regularly).

Spoiler

 

Another is a short story told by an old Turkish man on the early years after having migrated to the USA, trying to find some place that serves a salad with lamb brains. It turns out that the video has been unlisted for unknown reasons.

Spoiler

 

Edited March 2, 2023 by Luna the Great of all the Russias

[Cagey 4,260]

I'm sure there's plenty of writing I no longer have, back before I was careful about backing up everything. I remember I wrote a short script once that was particularly good, but I'd have to dig through all my stuff to see if I saved it anywhere. There's also a decent amount of childhood photos and videos I've probably lost over time.

[Luna the Great of all the Russias 3,209]

16 hours ago, Props ValRoa said:

Another game I remember was some sort of flash game about a penguin going into space, and you'd rank up rocket parts each time you went through it - getting higher and higher, until you'd reach the moon and complete the game.

Learn To Fly, Learn To Fly 2 and Learn To Fly 3?

[SharpWit 2,923]

There was a comedic song called "Lellow Lamp" on YouTube about a guy that loves his lamp only for it to be abusive towards him I think? It's weirdly specific and used to be easy to find but I think it's gone forever. Managed to find it posted on another site once but it couldn't play and had no additional information, piece of childhood gone.

Another is my final project about the war in Afghanistan for my AP Government Class. I wasn't a very good student, but I stayed up for 3 nights straight to complete it, also had 30 something sources which was 3 times more than anyone else in class, not to mention another dozen from my partner. Even used some declassified documents for it and my teacher learned some things he hadn't known. Got an A and was so proud of it. It was all digital and when I graduated I hadn't saved it off of my school Google drive which was deleted. 

[EpicEnergy 23,253]

I wish the video games "Air Mech Arena" and "Defiance 2050" were recoverable and had offline modes. Both games were shut down, and I think it was because of financial reasons. They are examples of what happens to old online-only games.

[Theautisticrebel 315]

• There was a fanficton on fanficton.net in which Sidney Poindexter has a brother with bipolar disorder who was his "worst bully" who beat him up to death on graduation.
• There was a wiki which I think was called DSM wiki which was basically the DSM but in wiki form which was probably deleted because of inactivity considering there was only one user who ever contributed to it (not me by the way).

Edited March 11, 2023 by Theautisticrebel
It turns those The Music Freaks fan videos I mentioned weren't lost at all fortunately.

[Dreambiscuit 11,672]

Digital: I lost a videotape I shot of my cousin singing at a Christmas pageant years ago. It was some of the greatest singing I’ve ever heard (she’s incredibly talented) but it’s gone.

Non-digital: I wrote a very short Valentine’s day poem many years ago and it got lost. I tried to rewrite it with some success but I’d still like to have the original. Also My brother wrote a series of insanely funny sci-fi stories; naughty but hilarious, and he threw them out because he thought they were too naughty for posterity. That was a great loss. Art of any kind needs to be preserved and it’s terrible when it isn’t.

[ZiggWheelsManning 14,324]

Would have loved to hear the original poem  

[Clawdeen 24,691]

It’d be nice if more of Gex Jr would get leaked. I loved the Gex games growing up and it was really cool seeing the prototype level from the scrapped Gex Jr game that leaked about a year ago. I’d love to see more from it if there was anything else. Whether it’s more gameplay footage of another prototype level or concept art. Would the main villain have be Rez Jr? Would all of the levels had been based off of childhood cartoons?  It’s a shame they scrapped it because I think this would have breathed a new life into the series. 

[Splashee 28,601]

My hard drive of the year 2000. It had some wonderful games I had made in Qbasic.

[TBD 17,276]

I just happened to find my very floppy disk! Sadly I have no way to open it. I’m pretty sure I remember saving some of my old essay from middle school and some pictures.

[ZiggWheelsManning 14,324]

Would have really loved to read this essay  

[Luna the Great of all the Russias 3,209]

I remember a Flash cartoon from the early- to mid-2000s that involved a short man who vaguely resembled a Matrix character -- with sunglasses and black long coat -- who repeatedly attempts to ride a roller coaster but keeps getting literally thrown out -- by this big husky man possibly with moustache -- because he is too short. At one point, he manages to ride it, but the husky man chases him with a rollercoaster car that is just behind him on the track.

I think this animation begins with a zooming in on the entrance of the park, with the narrator speaking in a creepy manner -- as one may do when telling a horror story (though this animation was comedic and not at all horror in tone) -- and at one point, I think, he says "The Rollercoaster of Doom!" However, when searching for "Rollercoaster of Doom", I have only found irrelevant results. I suspect this animation must exist somewhere, possibly on Newgrounds or other Flash sites. Either I remembered the title incorrectly, or its name is "Rollercoaster of Doom" but it is such a generic title that it is difficult to find it.

The short Matrix-esque man may have looked something like this.

[Samurai Equine 56,253]

I may or may not post in here a few times. I can't remember every piece of pop culture media that has become lost media over time. So if I remember something, I'll post it here. But there is one thing I always remember, and I wish I could find it, but finding it is impossible...

It's actually two things, and they aren't pop culture. They are fan creations.

One is a fan song about the Powerpuff Girls (based on the OG show, not the reboot). This was the late 90's, so people weren't making MP3's or YouTube videos or anything. The song was a MIDI file; it was a slow and sentimental song. The author posted lyrics separately. What makes this song hard to find is the fan song was titled "Powerpuff Girl" (singular, no S). I can't even remember the lyrics. All I remember is one line, which went something like this: "I believe in you, but do you believe in yourself? Powerpuff Girl." I don't remember the rest, and search engines just get confused if I try to find it.
The second song is a fan remix of background music. The song was called "Bubbles Crayonix" by JayDee. The fandom stopped sharing the song when a similar song appeared on an official Powerpuff Girls soundtrack, however, I still think this fan remix was good on its own. I found a copy of it on through Internet archives, but the copy I have is incomplete. It abruptly cuts off.

The chances of me finding these two things are EXTREMELY slim at this point. However, not impossible. At least, I don't think so.

Edited April 21, 2023 by Samurai Equine

[Steve Piranha 29,497]

On 2023-03-01 at 9:32 PM, Luna the Great of all the Russias said:

Are there pieces of media that you wish you could recover/access? These can be either digital or non-digital, they can either be someone well-known to be lost or something that is more personal to you, they may be truly lost or perhaps they still exist and are readily accessible but you personally do not know where to find it, etc.

Funny that until a few days ago, I was looking for an animated show I saw as a very young kid. Thankfully, my search is over . It was a Russian animation, explaining why it was so difficult to find in the first place, tho 

Edited April 21, 2023 by Steve Piranha

[Splashee 28,601]

Most of the things I have felt was lost has somewhat surfaced years later. It is good to never give up and always keep looking.

[Samurai Equine 56,253]

Just thought of something.

The entire Muppet Babies TV show from 1984. The original one, not the recent CGI reboot.
That cartoon had many seasons. About 107 episodes. It won awards. We wouldn't even have a reboot if not for the success of the original. And yet it was never released as a DVD or Bluray boxset? Hello?!
The only way to watch it now is pirated copies of the episodes that have been posted online, or though random VHS tapes that anyone has saved over the years. Some have said that it was hard to release because it used clips from Star Wars, Indiana Jones, and so on. However, I'm pretty sure Disney owns the rights to all of that now. There shouldn't be a legal issue anymore.

(Conspiracy theory: It's possible that, like many vintage shows of the time, some of the master copies might be missing. So even if Disney or the Jim Henson Company has the masters stored in a vault somewhere, we might not get every episode anyways.)

[Sonic Shimmer 4,141]

The first Harry Potter film had scenes filmed with legendary British comedy actor Rik Mayall as Peeves the Poltergeist.

They were cut before the film came out and, unlike a lot of other deleted scenes from the series, they’ve never been released anywhere.