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As Joel Hodgson (Tom Servo's original creator) describes it, Servo's name derives from a robot-shaped vending machine named the "Servotron" once located in the Southdale Shopping Center in Edina, Minnesota; Servo's snack-dispenser head pays homage to that origin. The seeds of Servo's design can be found in elements of many other robots that came before him, including the hands, springy arms, and transparent dome of Robby, the Robot from Forbidden Planet and B9 from Lost In Space ("You bubble-headed booby!"), the hovering ability of Nomad from Star Trek, the squat shape of the drones from Silent Running, the cylindrical body and rotating head of R2-D2 from Star Wars, and the chest-mounted gun turrets of certain Japanese tin robot toys.
The original Tom Servo was built from specific 'found objects', thrift-store items from Minneapolis in the late 1980's: he has parts from a snack dispenser, a barrel coin bank, the engine block from a toy car, a Halloween candy bowl, toy trains, flashlights, a C. More Bunz doll, and a ventriloquist's dummy. Many of these items are now long out of production and quite rare. | |||||||
KTMA: First, there is Beeper | |||||||
Crow, Joel, and Beeper, from the pilot tape
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Season 0 (1988-1989), Episodes K00-K21
The Mystery Science Theater 3000 series (MST3K) premieres on Thanksgiving Day, November 24, 1988, on the small independent Minneapolis UHF station KTMA-TV, channel 23. All the bots are orignally designed by the creator of the show, Joel Hodgson, pulling an all-nighter to build them the day before the pilot tape is shot. The bots are made from thrift shop junk — 'found objects'. (Joel had spent a year building probably fifty such bot puppets of various designs and sold them in an upscale gift shop in Minneapolis called 'Props'.) Joel said of the bots, "They're kind of a collage, a bunch of junk — plastic junk that looks good together." Joel Hodgson plays the role of
'Joel Robinson' on MST3K.
Tom Servo began life as 'Beeper', so named because he
speaks only in annoying noises. Beeper only appeared in the pilot tape (never aired).
Servo's cummerbund is electrical tape in the pilot, black gaffer's tape in K01, red in K16,
black again in K21. Every time the tape changed, his barrel body seemed to lean a little further forward.
The same Crow and Servo seen in the host segments are used in the theater segments in this season — Servo's head is transparent, and this makes it very hard to see against the movie screen. After the pilot, Beeper's head is replaced, and he becomes Tom Servo in his earliest form. Changes:
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Comedy Central: Servo Turns Red | |||||||
A blender and Servo, Season 1 |
Season 1 (1989-1990), Episodes 101-113
The show is picked up by the Comedy Channel (a cable channel that will later merge with a competing channel and become 'Comedy Central'). The key minds behind MST3K form a new company, 'Best Brains Inc.' (BBI). This is a transitional year for Servo. He undergoes a number of changes at the hands of the Art Director, Trace Beaulieu:
At this stage of Servo's development, his CPVC control rod runs straight up through the body and is affixed to the inside back of the head. The control string for the beak runs up and over the top edge of the CPVC tube. This means a lot of friction, and a lot of broken strings.
Servo is almost 23 inches tall, from the bottom of the hoverskirt to the top cap of the globe. This is Josh Weinstein's last season with the show, and with BBI. From Season 2 onward, Servo is puppeted and voiced by Kevin Murphy. |
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Gypsy, Crow, Joel, and Servo (head extended), Season 2
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Season 2 (1990-1991), Episodes 201-213
Bot construction is in the hands of "Toolmaster" Jef Maynard. Joel Hodgson: Yeah, they changed, you know. We went in and fixed them up, you know, we upgraded them so they looked a little crisper. Puppeted and voiced by the multi-talented Kevin Murphy.
In episode 205, Servo gets a haircut; he wears this new head (another
Carousel snack dispenser, unpainted red) for several
episodes. Trace Beaulieu called this Servo's 'sport head'. Says Kevin Murphy, "There was no reason. It was pure
experimentation. Since we could fuck with Servo's head, we did."
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Crow and Servo, Season 3
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Season 3 (1991-1992), Episodes 301-324
Until this season, BBI has only one production version of each bot — the originals. Concerned with having at least two of each, during this season they have an outside party create rubber molds of parts they have found impossible to locate (most notably Crow's shoulders, and Servo's barrel and engine). With these molds they can (and do) cast as many resin replicas as needed. In mid-season, Servo's head construction is modified. The head can no longer be extended – it's mounted on a lazy-susan turntable bearing. The control rod now runs up into the center of the head, joining a CPVC "Tee" connector hot-glued there. The control string for the beak runs from the beak up through an eye-screw attached to the inside top of the head, and then down through a hole cut in the cross bar of the "Tee" and down through the hollow control rod without rubbing against it. This reduces friction on the string, so it breaks less often.
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Crow, Joel, and Servo, Season 4 |
Season 4 (1992-1993), Episodes 401-424
This season onward sees the use of a white lumikey method (instead of chromakey) in the theater, resulting in a considerable improvement in the
appearance of the silhouettes against the movies.
Bill Corbett: For awhile, Tom had flesh-colored hands... very disturbing. |
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Crow, Joel, and Servo, Season 5 |
Season 5 (1993-1994), Episodes 501-524
Joel Hodgson left the show mid-season (episode 512), to be replaced as on-screen host by head writer
Michael Nelson.
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Crow, Mike Nelson, and Servo, Season 6 |
Season 6 (1994-1995), Episodes 601-624
Jef Maynard leaves BBI at the end of this season to form his own company, "Blue Thumb Scenic", initially taking Patrick Brantseg with him. No changes to Servo from Season 5. |
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MST3K: The
Movie Silver Screen Servo | |||||||
Production still from MST3K: The Movie |
Filmed during Season 6 (1994-1995), in theaters April 1996 Robert Lane is credited as "Puppet Builder" for the movie.
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...Comedy Central | |||||||
Crow, Mike, and Servo, Season 7 |
Season 7 (1995-1996), Episodes 701-706
Bot construction is in the hands of Prop Master
Helena Espinosa and Prop Builder
Dean Trisko.
Servo from the MST3K: The Movie is used on the show during this season. |
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SciFi Channel: Bigger Budget, Bluer Lights | |||||||
Crow, Mike, Servo, and Gypsy, Season 8 |
Season 8 (1997), Episodes 801-822
Bot design and construction is in the hands of
Patrick Brantseg (Art Director) and
Beth 'Beez' McKeever (Prop Diva).
No changes to Servo from Season 7. |
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Crow, Mike, and Servo, Season 9 |
Season 9 (1998), Episodes 901-913
No changes to Servo from Season 8. |
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Crow, Mike, and Servo, Season 10 |
Season 10 (1999), Episodes 1001-1013: Final Season
No changes to Servo from Season 9. |