Crow T. Robot
Crow T. Robot is one of the two main fictional wise-cracking robots — the spindly golden one — from the Peabody Award-winning series Mystery Science Theater 3000 (MST3K).
Role
According to the MST3K storyline, Crow, like his fellow robots Tom Servo, Gypsy, and Cambot, were 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.
The T. in "Crow T. Robot" stands for "The". In Hangar 18 (episode K19), Joel said "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 occasionally called "Art", mostly by late-series antagonist Pearl Forrester, possibly arising from a young fan's mistaken drawing labelling him as "Art" (Attack of the Giant Leeches, episode 405), which itself may have been an passing reference to him as "Art Crow" (a la Art Carney) in a Honeymooners spoof sketch (Jungle Goddess, episode 203).
Crow is generally somewhat more adolescent than Tom Servo, although their relative maturity occasionally changes to suit the host segments. His accomplishments during the show's run include:
- Writing several screenplays, including his seminal work, "Earth vs. Soup"
- Being an avid member of the Kim Cattrall fan club
- Wrote a musical called "Supercalifragilisticexpiali-wacky!"
During Fire Maidens of Outer Space (episode 416), he also acquired a theater double named "Timmy" who the trio quickly took a liking to; however, the double begain 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 and Crow to stuff him into an airlock and blast him out of the ship and into space.
Crow is much more likely to blurt out Riffs related to the quality but not the content of the movie. example: "Jump up my butt, movie!"
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 were a bit bulgier.
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, Crow had a slightly different voice, it was more babyish, but Trace slowly abandoned this and Crow's voice became more sharp. Upon Trace's departure, 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 Werewolf (episode 904) by suggesting that Crow's inherent characteristics included a change of voice every seven years. When Joel Robinson (Joel Hodgson) returned for a guest spot in Soultaker (episode 1001), he offhandedly suggests an explanation for Crow's new voice change: "Oh, you changed your bowling pin — smart."
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 an optical illusion) it can appear as if Crow is facing towards the viewer.
Crow Syndrome
Crow Syndrome, as it's called by MSTing authors, refers to the cliché wherein one of the robots (usually Crow) chimes in with an off-topic and/or excessively lewd comment and the other two reprimand him, as in the following excerpt from Riding with Death (episode 814):
- [Truckers Sam and "Buffalo Bill" attempt a dangerous tandem braking maneuver.]
- Sam: Alrighty, I'm coming up on your mudflaps at 67.
- Crow: "Coming up on your mudflaps." People have such cute names for sex.
- Mike [as Sam]: Ma' well-oiled chassis is comin' up on yer backside, now.
- Servo [as Sam]: My rigid grill structure is bearin' down on yer unprotected cargo door.
- Crow [as Sam]: My oft-complimented Peterbilt is rhythmically nudging that sweet honey pot of yours—
- Mike, Servo: Crow!
Crow Syndrome can also be applied to MSTings without Joel/Mike and the 'bots.
External links
- Wikiquote: Crow Syndrome example from Fire Maidens of Outer Space