Crow T. Robot
Crow "Art" T. Robot is a fictional character from the American science fiction comedy television series Mystery Science Theater 3000 (MST3K). Crow is a robot, who, along with others, quips and riffs upon poor-quality b-movies.
Overview
According to the MST3K storyline, Crow, like his fellow robots Tom Servo, Gypsy, and Cambot, was built by 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. Crow is made of molybdenum.
Crow's middle initial "T" stands for "The". In episode #K19: Hangar 18, Joel stated that "Crow" was an acronym for "Cybernetic Remotely Operated Woman" but then claimed he built Crow merely to play this joke on him. Crow is also sometimes called "Art," primarily by late-series antagonist Pearl Forrester. This arose from a gag in episode 203, 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 labelled a drawing of Crow as "Art". The letter was read in episode 402 The Giant Gila Monster, and the writers were so taken with it that it became a recurring joke.[1]. In episode #908: The Touch of Satan, "babysitter" Steffi calls him "Cow" (possibly a call back to episode #811: Parts: The Clonus Horror, during which Crow introduces himself to the space children as "Crow the, uh, Cow"). One child who wrote in labeled Crow as "Crooooow" several times in a letter; whenever Joel said Crow's name when reading the letter, he would pronounce it as it was said in the "Robot Roll Call" part in the opening theme.
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. Crow, was voiced by Trace Beaulieu from the beginning of the series through the end of season seven and Bill Corbett from the eighth season until the end of the show. Corbett's Crow was noticeably more irritable, bitter, and impatient with the movies than Beaulieu's Crow had been, perhaps from 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.
Although they are rarely seen (such as in Episode #1002), Crow has long spindly legs and moves about by walking as a human does, whereas Tom Servo hovers and Gypsy has a long, snakelike body.
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. He also wrote a documentary entitled Crow T. Robot's Bram Stoker's The Civil War.
- Being an avid member of the Kim Cattrall and Estelle Winwood fan clubs.
- Co-writing a musical called Supercalifragilisticexpiali-wacky!
- During the Christmas episode #321, Santa Claus Conquers the Martians, he wrote a Christmas carol titled "Let's Have a Patrick Swayze Christmas".
During episode 416, 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, forcing Joel (who referenced Aliens by growling, "Get away from him, you bitch!") 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 is more likely to make more off-color or lewd comments than the other movie-riffers, and receives frequent scolding from Joel, Mike and Tom for this (see Crow Syndrome below).
Crow holds the distinction of being the only SOL robot who ever visited Deep 13 (although Tom Servo and Gypsy once visited the alternate-earth version): In episode 615, 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 ep. 701, Night of the Blood Beast, Crow attended the Forrester Thanksgiving dinner alongside such guests as Mr. B. Natural, Pitch the Devil, and others.
A running joke of Crow's character throughout the series, particualarly in the last few seasons of the Sci-Fi channel's running of the show, is his frequent costume changes during the host segments. Although all characters of the show have been seen wearing costumes of one type or another depending on the skit being done, this happens much more often with Crow. Often times Crow has been known to take on the apperance and sometimes the personality of one of the characters in the movie that is currently being shown, usually ending with the Mike, Tom Servo, or Joel using Crow's role-playing as a plot device or setup to a joke that mocks the film even more. This continuing effect finally was recognized by Crow himself during Episode 902, The Phantom Planet. At the conclusion of the film, Crow encounters Tom and Mike dressed as a 'Solarite' (one of the cheesy, alien monsters from the film) and asks them "Have you guys ever noticed how I will see a movie, snap, then suddenly pretend I'm one of the characters in the movie and run about the ship?"
Behind the scenes
Crow is a gold-colored puppet composed of, among other things, a split bowling pin mouth (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 previously-mentioned alter ego, Timmy.
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, Brooklyn-raised Bill Corbett took over Crow's operation. Crow's consequent voice change, though never explicitly explained within the storyline, presumably developed during his 500+ years of solitude on the Satellite of Love while Mike Nelson and the other SOL inhabitants played at the edge of the universe as pure essences. 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. When Joel Hodgson returned for a guest spot in episode 1001, Soultaker, he offhandedly suggests that Crow "changed his bowling pin", that is, his mouthpiece.
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.
Appearances in other media
- An early episode of Futurama had the gang going to the theater, where a talkative Fry was shushed by the silhouette of a Crow-like robot ironically saying, "Don't talk during the movie".[2]
- In the Archie Comics series Sonic the Hedgehog, issue #52, Sonic is sent into a 1920s variation of Mobius. In searching for the handheld computer Nicole, Sonic does battle with a number of robots, two of them resembling Crow T. Robot and Tom Servo.
- In an issue of Star Wars Tales, Crow is seen in the foreground of a comedic tale written by Peter David, starring a perky Force-using droid.
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.[3]
References
- MST3K FAQ: What is this MST3K Thing, Anyway?
- MST3K FAQ: "This is my Bot! There Are Many Others Like It..."
- ^ MST3K FAQ -- Subtleties
- ^ Futurama, episode "Raging Bender" [2.21], 27 February 2000
- ^ Web Site Number 9 MSTing FAQ, question 3.4