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Tom Servo & Crow T. Robot
61 Points, 2 Lists, Highest Vote: #2 @Issun
Source: Mystery Science Theater 3000
Duo-Type: The Bots
Tom Servo is a robot living aboard the space station The Satellite of Love, forced to watch bad movies as part of a mad experiment by evil scientists to drive the human they live with insane. To keep himself and his friends sane, the residents mock the terrible movies they watch with “riffs”. Tom is often very knowledgeable about many things but also often lacks common sense. Of the group, he’s the one most likely to make a theatrical, literary or high-falutin’ reference and sometimes can be very condescending towards his friends. He often tries to elevate himself with his intelligent interests (and does seem to have the strongest grasp on quantum physics), though his biggest hobby is his underwear collection. It is also implied for a time after he and his friends became non-corporeal beings, he’s lived an adventurous life meeting morally questionable and sketchy aliens. Initially created as “Beeper” a robot who just beeps, he was remodelled when… let’s face it, that’s not great for a comedy about talking back at the screen. Tom also seemingly has a near infinite amount of copies of himself and even he doesn’t know which is the original.
Crow T. Robot is another robot living aboard the Satellite of Love. Crow initially talked with a staccato robot voice but developed to something more childish until developing a sharper tongue. Crow tends to be fairly irreverent, even by the irreverent nature of the crew of the SoL, often being a little zanier, more erratic and easily distractable. This tendency seemed to compound after being left alone for 500 years (he and his friends turned into non-corporeal beings for a time to explore the universe but he almost immediately returned and lived alone on the SoL in isolation). Crow tends to have a creative streak and has shown an interest in making movies, particularly his passion project, the monster movie Earth Vs. Soup. Though a habit among most members of the SoL, Crow is usually the one to act silly in a dangerous situation and tends to be the one to deliver the most sharped tongue and wackiest riffs.
Created by human test subject and tinkerer Joel Robinson to help him keep his sanity in the face of experiments designed to drive him mad, Tom and Crow were built using the parts that would in theory actually allow him to control the film itself (along with GPC, formerly known by a name that is more commonly recognized as a slur). Eventually, the two were freed, then recaptured, then escaped to live with human test subject Mike, then recaptured again somehow. Most recently, Tom, Crow and the human hosts have escaped to the past from their tormentors, perhaps never to be seen again (unless season 14 happens).
The two have a relationship like brothers, which often meant they would be likely to bicker but also that sometimes they get into their share of mischief together. Despite their adult-level intelligence, the two often behave like children, especially when they were living with their “father” Joel. As different test subjects came into their lives, like Mike, Jonah and Emily, the duo’s relationship with their human would change (Mike’s felt more like an uncle the two would take advantage of while Jonah and Emily felt closer to friends). With each other, it mostly remained the same; in sympatico when deciding to torment their human friend for laughs, but also often tormenting each other. All the same, they often like to have real fun in the theatre when they are telling jokes and can be brought together in fear, anger and frustration when the movie is just that bad.
Tom and Crow are one of those comedy teams where even with different actors, each characters has a specific “voice” and yet each one can really be whatever you need them to be in the moment. This is a feature rather than a bug; both can be straight men, funny men, agents of chaos, victims of chaos. But more than that, the best is them in the theatre, riffing away. Though they form a trio of whatever human they are partnered with, they are often duoing with each other and driving each other and anyone who crosses their path up the wall.
Iconic Moment:
Picking the best episode is a tough prospect. Manos is a popular choice and it’s a good episode but I’ve never found it the best, I just think the movie is the worst. Mr. B. Natural is a wonderful short but I feel like a lot of the humour is about the androgynous nature of the title character in a way that doesn’t hold up entirely well. So I’m going with I Accuse My Parents, an episode that has the sharpness associated with the Mike era but the sense of warmth I associate the Joel era. The episode is wild, a cheesy teen morality plain where it’s clear the problem isn’t bad parenting so much as main character Jimmy is… really dumb and also a liar who tries to act like he’s better than everyone else.
But it also starts with one of the darkest shorts, The Truck Farmer.
Also, I’m going to give shout out to another great short; Progress Island USA.