Mystery Science Theater 3000/Characters

Everything About Fiction You Never Wanted to Know.


Joel Robinson

Played by Joel Hodgson

The original "guy shot up in space" and the creator of the robots. Joel was an employee at Gizmonic Institute, both a janitor and inventor. As part of Dr. Forrester's experiement, he was launched into space aboard the Satellite of Love and is forced to watch horrible movies. Joel has a rather laid-back personality, and as their creator, often acts as a father figure to the Bots.

Joel says, "When you got lemons, you make lemonade."

    • When he does lose his cool, it's startling. During Attack of the The Eye Creatures, Joel ends up apologizing for the the rest of the the male sex, and later, actually loses his cool, berating one character:

Joel: (angry) You know what? You are one sick mamma-jamma.

    • And then his infamous rare outburst in Manos: The Hands of Fate, after twenty seconds go by with nothing of any appreciable importance happening on screen.

Joel: ...DO SOMETHING!!! God!

Crow: "You're not my real father!"

Mike Nelson

Played by Michael J. Nelson

The second "guy shot up in space" after Joel escaped from the Satellite of Love halfway through Season 5. Mike Nelson is a lifelong temp-worker, bouncing from job to job. Only the coincidence of him being temped out to Deep 13 for their audit at the time of Joel's escape led to him being employed long-term by Dr. Forrester. He's described by Dr. Forrester as a "disgustingly mild-mannered dope", which is pretty apt. To the bots, he's seen as a big brother, college roommate type, or amicable coworker, depending on the situation.

The Bots

Crow T. Robot

Played by Trace Beaulieu (seasons 1-7), Bill Corbett (seasons 8-10)

TV's wise-cracking Crow is a gold-colored hominid. His most obvious features are his pronounced beak made out of a bowling pin, and a hockey mask he wears as a head crest of sorts. He tends to be the most immature of the trio, generally acting out the most or getting into various types of trouble. He also fancies himself a bit of an amateur screenwriter, and a Running Gag on the program is him routinely pitching new scripts at the other two. He sits to Joel/Mike's right in the theater.

Tom Servo

Played by Josh Weinstein (season 1), Kevin Murphy (seasons 2-10)

Tom Servo is a red robot. His most obvious feature is the fact that his head is a gumball machine. He also has inoperable arms on springs, and travels by floating on his hover-skirt. Despite these shortcomings, he's the most cultured of the crew and has a lovely singing voice. His jokes tend to be of the more intellectual type. He sits to Joel/Mike's left in the theater.

Gypsy

Played by Jim Mallon (seasons 1-8), Patrick Brantseg (seasons 8-10)

Gypsy was a robot built by Joel to service the higher functions of the ship. As such, she doesn't (typically) go into the theater with everyone else. She's basically a snake form, with a long black tube as a body, and her head is a baby's car seat attached so she kinda looks like a vacuum cleaner with a flashlight that serves as her eye. She has a huge crush on Richard Basehart.

Cambot

Played by Kevin Murphy (original KTMA and seasons 1-5), although he is only heard during Robot Roll Call in the official seasons.

Cambot serves as the camera on the Satellite of Love, projecting to the Mads in Deep 13. As such, he's never seen, never heard, and it's easy to forget he's even there, but he's obviously an essential member of the crew, without whom we wouldn't see all the wacky hijinx on the Satellite.

The Mads

Doctor Clayton Forrester

Played by Trace Beaulieu

Dr. Forrester is the green-coated head scientist down in Deep 13 who oversees the experiment on the Satellite of Love. While he's evil with a capital E, he's also not particularly effective, given how after several years, he still has yet to find that perfect movie that will drive people insane. Oftentimes, the relationship between Dr. F and the folks on the Satellite tends to be strangely amicable.

Doctor Larry Erhardt

Played by Josh Weinstein

Dr. F's first assistant, who didn't get much characterization at all, since he was only around for one season. He pretty much aped Dr. F's tendencies towards loving evil and played the part of the sniveling aide.

TV's Frank

Played by Frank Conniff

Dr. Erhardt's replacement after Season 1, TV's Frank was, in the end, far more fleshed out than his predecessor. More laid back, goofy, and ineffectual than even Dr. F himself, Frank often found himself the butt of jokes, or just plain dead. He departed the show at the end of Season 6, where he was assumed into Second Banana Heaven.

Pearl Forrester

Played by Mary Jo Pehl

Dr. F's beloved mother, who showed up a few times in Season 6, but became Dr. F's foil in Season 7 when she moves back in. Starting Season 8, after Trace Beaulieu leaves the show, she becomes the head scientist showing the movies. The story is that after Clayton died (again, it's a bit complicated), she was put in cyrogenic freezing, thawed by the future apes, and became the Lawgiver. Doesn't make much sense, but you know how it is.

Professor Bobo

Played by Kevin Murphy

An evolved gorilla from the year 2525, from a future where apes evolved from men?. Yes, it's a madhouse. He's heard it all. First appearing in the beginning of Season 8, he's a professor of anthropology, but soon becomes little more than The Ditz often foiling Pearl's machinations.

  • The Ditz
  • Extreme Omnivore: He is constantly either eating or looking for food, and on top of that, is occasionally shown to eat things that aren't food.

Bobo: Well, you see, the fact of the matter is I've swallowed so darned many things over the years that there must be a key in there somewhere that'll work.

Observer ("Brain Guy")

Played by Bill Corbett

A member of an allegedly advanced species, the Observers. He and his kind first appear in Season 8 to observe the experiment, but Mike ends up blowing up their planet, leaving only the one behind to hang around with Pearl and Bobo. Allegedly, his species is just the brain, which his "host body" carries around in a salad bowl, but this show being what it is, the concept is only tangentially ever alluded to, and you may as well assume the guy in pale face with the robe is "Brain Guy".

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