Hey, that’s not a cartoon! No, but the bots are puppets. If Life with Loopy is considered to be a cartoon, then I can put MST on my page. Well, technically, I can do what ever I want, cause it is my page, but I’m kind of trying to convince myself.
I remember being in the room while my dad was watching it many years ago, and I thought it was really stupid back then. But I ran across it a few months ago while channel surfing and was hooked instantly. I mean, how could I not like it? Cynicism, sarcasm, cheesy movies. What more could you ask for?
My favorite episodes so far would have to be “The Thing that Couldn’t Die” and "Soultaker". I also loved the comments in “Invasion of the Neptune Men”, but the movie was so terrible that it was barely worth it. Why would they have even bothered to dub that? And I barely made it through “The Unearthly”. Talk about your bad movies… My mom kept falling asleep and making us run it back, and at one point, she and I just cracked up and I had to stop it for ten minutes so we could roll around on the floor laughing and crying at the same time. When I asked her what we were laughing about, she pointed to the right corner of the screen and barely choked out “Those three. Can you imagine sitting and watching…” she laughed for a while, then gasped out the rest “…this movie without those three?”, which of course brought on a new round of laughter. Oh, boy, my head hurts.
The only problem I have with this show is that they usually MiST really old movies, due to the fact that most of the most horrid B (or Z, rather) movies came from the 50s, and the silhouettes of the characters tend to disappear against black-and-white screens.
I love how the writers did all of the acting. There’s just something more…genuine about it that way. And they did a great job. Now, meet the characters.
Professor Bobo:
Cambot:
Crow T. Robot: Gypsy:
Dr. Clayton Forrester:
TV’s Frank:
Joel Robinson:
Mike Nelson:
Observer:
Pearl Forrester:
The other writers who did not have regular parts that I have seen credited were Timothy Scott, Paul Chaplin, and Bridget Jones.
MST3K is copyright Best Brains Inc. It comes on the Sci-Fi Channel Saturdays at 9:00 AM EST.
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Audio Clips from Mystery Science Theater 3000
Bobo is Pearl’s pet monkey. He is simply there for comic relief and I could do well with out him. He was performed by Kevin Murphy, who was also the producer, director, the voice of Servo, and an all around nice guy. Well, I guess he still is the later...
The camera. He actually had a speaking part in one KTMA episode. His voice was provided by none other than Mr. Kevin Murphy.
Crow is a bot that Joel made out of various parts, but most prominently, a bowling pin. He tends to get stuck on one comment theme and bring it up repetitively. He can be rather vain at times, and, like Servo, is easily frustrated and doesn’t think too highly of Mike. His slightly high pitched, whiny voice was original provided by Trace Beaulieu, who was also Dr. Forester and had countless behind-the-scenes jobs, and by Bill Corbett from season 8 on, also Observer.
Gypsy pilots the ship. Other than that and providing an almost motherly figure, she doesn’t do much of anything (okay, so she does more than the rest of them, but nothing truly important to the main gist of the show). Her voice was first provided by Jim Mallon (seasons 0-8), the executive producer, and later by Patrick Brantseg (8+), the art director, set designer, and puppet wrangler ("There weren't any puppets in this movie!") as well as doing something called "infield utility", whatever that is.
Dr. Forrester was the mad scientist who trapped Joel on the SoL and forced him to watch terrible movies. He later did the same to Mike. He was performed by Trace Beaulieu.
Dr. Forester’s assistant, Frank was, like Bobo, merely comic relief. Spare me. He was performed by Frank Conniff.
Joel was the original victim of the awful experiment. He also built the bots to help keep his sanity. After he landed in the Australian outback when Gypsy and Mike rescued him, he came back in “Soultaker” to repair the SoL. He was performed by Joel Hodgson, who was the creator of the show and co-wrote the music, as well as being a producer.
Mike took over the job of trying to keep the bots from doing something really stupid and occupying the middle seat after Joel escaped. He said the line that is most quoted in my house in the episode The Thing that Couldn’t Die: “I have these hands! My hands are strong!” Kelly repeated that once every 10 minutes for a week after it came on, until she started saying “It’s suppository man!” ::sigh:: I tried to get my mother to ban her from watching it, but to no avail. He was performed by, well, Michael J. Nelson, the head writer.
Pearl’s other sidekick who first appeared in TTtCD. He is an alien life form that is merely a brain. But he still has a body. In fact, he has to carry his “brain” (an elaborate Jell-O mold) on a plate. “Wouldn't it be more convenient to just leave your brains in your head?” Good question. He was performed by Bill Corbett.
Dr. Forrester’s mother, Pearl, took over administering the torture after he left the show. She’s not as crazy as her son, but she’s just as heartless. She was performed by Mary Jo Pehl.
Tom Servo:
The last bot, Joel made Servo out of a gumball machine. He’s probably my favorite character, his only competition being Crow. He does a majority of the singing, humming, Russian dancing, and other musical stuff, as well as providing a large percentage of the sound effects for the movies. He seems to think even less of Mike than Crow does, if that’s possible, and it’s hilarious to watch his head spin. Literally. Servo’s voice is easy to pick out, as it is the deepest of the three. He was voiced by Josh Weinstein in the KTMA and Season 1 episodes, then by Kevin Murphy for the rest of the show's run.
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