Crow T. Robot
From MST3K
| Crow T. Robot | |
|---|---|
| |
| Played by | Trace Beaulieu (1988-1997)
Bill Corbett (1997-1999) |
| First appearance | K01 - Invaders from the Deep |
| Last appearance | 1013 - Diabolik |
| Location | Satellite of Love |
| Character type | Regular |
Crow The Robot is one of two robotic cohosts built by Joel Robinson to help him stave off insanity while forced to watch terrible films by the Mads on Mystery Science Theater 3000. He is the most easy-going and naive of Joel's robot companions.
Contents |
Overview
According to the MST3K storyline, Crow, like his fellow robots Tom Servo, Gypsy, and Cambot, was built by Gizmonic Institute janitor Joel Robinson, who created them to help him withstand the torment of watching bad movies on the Satellite of Love, where Joel was trapped by mad scientist Dr. Clayton Forrester and his assistants.
Originally, Crow was more adolescent than Tom Servo, although their relative maturity occasionally changed to suit the host segments; both robots regarded Joel as a father figure, while Mike was more of an older brother type. After Crow's original voice actor and puppeteer Trace Beaulieu left, the Crow voiced and manipulated by Bill Corbett underwent a personality change. Corbett's Crow was noticeably more irritable, bitter, and impatient with the movies than Beaulieu's Crow had been. This was explained in the show as a result of being left on the SOL for several hundred years while the rest of the crew became pure energy, although this was admittedly Crow's own fault for returning to the SOL so soon after getting bored at the edge of the universe.
Crow's accomplishments during the show's run include writing several screenplays, including Earth vs. Soup (his seminal work), Peter Graves at the University of Minnesota, The Spy Who Hugged Me, and Chocolate Jones and the Temple of Funk, as well as a satirical political musical called Supercalifragilisticexpiali-wacky!. He is also an avid member of the Kim Cattrall fan club, although he later harbors some affection for Estelle Winwood. Crow holds the distinction of being the only Bot who ever visited Deep 13 (although Tom Servo and Gypsy once visited the alternate-earth version). In Kitten with a Whip, he slid down the Umbilicus in an attempt to bring the SOL back to Earth, only to be frightened back up by Dr. Forrester (who then had Frank put a giant mousetrap beneath the Umbilicus). In the "Turkey Day" version of Night of the Blood Beast, Crow attended the Forrester Thanksgiving dinner alongside such guests as Mr. B. Natural, Pitch the Devil, and others.
During Fire Maidens of Outer Space, Crow acquired a double named "Timmy", whom the trio quickly took a liking to; however, the double began playing tricks on Tom Servo and Joel, who blamed Crow for the actions. He eventually joined them in the theater during the movie and attacked Tom, cocooning him in a matter identical to the xenomorph from Alien, forcing Joel and Crow to stuff him into an airlock and blast him out of the ship and into space. Timmy's appearance was a parody of the evil twin concept.
Crow's name also lent itself to a number of host segment punchlines. In the KTMA episode Hangar 18, Joel recovered a "memory" of Crow's that said "Crow" was an acronym for "Cybernetic Remotely Operated Woman"; Joel then claimed he built Crow merely to play that elaborate joke on him, making Crow feel "like Morey Amsterdam". Crow is also sometimes called "Art," primarily by late-series antagonist Pearl Forrester. This arose from a gag in Jungle Goddess, in which Joel introduces the bots as Jackie Gleason did with his fellow cast members at the end of every episode of The Honeymooners, calling each one out individually to take a bow. During this, Joel refers to Crow as "Art Crow!", a reference to the enthusiastic way that Gleason would introduce his long-time partner Art Carney. Later, Best Brains received a letter from a child who had evidently missed the cultural reference and labeled a drawing of Crow as "Art". The letter was read in The Giant Gila Monster, and the writers were so taken with it that it became a recurring joke.[1]. In The Touch of Satan, "babysitter" Steffi calls him "Cow".
Crow is the most likely of the four movie-riffers to make off-color or lewd comments during the film, and receives frequent scoldings from Joel, Mike, and occasionally Tom because of this habit (see Crow Syndrome).
Behind the Scenes
Crow is a gold-colored puppet composed of, among other things, a split bowling pin mouth (an Empire Bowling Pin), an ice hockey mask head (Cooper XL7 FG), and a Tupperware (Floralier) body. During the KTMA season, he only had one Tupperware tray, and his eyes did not include a separate movement mechanism, leaving them with a bulgier appearance. He is painted with Testors Green-Gold paint, which looks basically gold. Another version of Crow is used for the theater segments. This version is painted flat black. This flat black version was also used as his alter-ego "Timmy" in the Fire Maidens of Outer Space episode.
Trace Beaulieu operated Crow in the initial KTMA season and throughout the Comedy Channel/Comedy Central years of seasons 1-7, as well as in Mystery Science Theater 3000: The Movie. During KTMA and season 1, Trace slowly refined Crow's voice. Originally, it was somewhat babyish (this is most pronounced in the flashback to Crow being frozen in episode K05, Gamera. However, during the filming of this KTMA-era episode, Trace Beaulieu was out of town on business, and Servo's then-puppeteer Josh Weinstein actually handled Crow's one line in Beaulieu's absence). By season two, Crow's voice had become more sharp. Upon Trace's departure, Bill Corbett took over Crow's operation. Crow's consequent voice change developed during his 500+ years of solitude on the Satellite of Love while Mike and the other SOL inhabitants played at the edge of the universe as pure essences. Joel wryly noted when he dropped in during Soultaker that Crow had "changed his bowling pin," thus altering his voice. The show's writers later made a joke of the change in episode 904, Werewolf, by suggesting that Crow's inherent characteristics included a change of voice every seven years.
Many first-time viewers of the series are confused by Crow's appearance during the movie segments. Only the outline of his head can be seen, and (due to multistable perception) it can appear as if Crow is facing toward the viewer.
Crow Syndrome
The "Crow Syndrome" is a cliché and frequent joke on the show and MSTings, wherein Crow chimes in with an off-topic and/or excessively lewd comment and the other two reprimand him, often bemusedly and perturbedly shouting "Crow!" in response. "Crow Syndrome" is a general term, and is used in MSTings that do not feature Crow or other regular characters.[2]
References
- MST3K FAQ: What is this MST3K Thing, Anyway?
- MST3K FAQ: "This is my Bot! There Are Many Others Like It..."
External links
Footnotes
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|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Residents | Joel Robinson • Mike Nelson • Tom Servo • Crow T. Robot • Gypsy • Cambot • Magic Voice • Nanites | |||||
| Visitors | Timmy • Nuveena • Monad • Phantom of Krankor • Ortega • Henry Kissinger • Goosio • Mikey the Mike sprite | |||||
| Terminology | Hexfield Viewscreen • Rocket Number 9 • Umbilicus • Movie sign • Manipulator arm • Deus ex Machina • Hyper-warp escape ships • Airlock | |||||
| Locations | Bridge • Theater • Theater hallway • Mike's room • Tom's room | |||||
