| Tom Servo | |
|---|---|
| Mystery Science Theater 3000 character | |
| First appearance | K01 - Invaders from the Deep |
| Last appearance | 1013 - Diabolik |
| Created by | Joel Hodgson |
| Portrayed by | J. Elvis Weinstein (KTMA season - season 1) Kevin Murphy (seasons 2 - 10) James Moore (webisodes) Frank Conniff (Rhino DVD reunion sketch) |
| Information | |
| Species | Robot |
| Gender | Male |
Tom Servo is a fictional character from the American science fiction comedy television show Mystery Science Theater 3000 (MST3K). Tom is one of two wise-cracking, robotic main characters of the show, built by Joel Robinson to act as a companion and help stave off space madness as Joel was forced to watch low-quality films. Servo, along with the other bots, is actually made of the parts that would have otherwise allowed Joel to control the film. At least during the Comedy Central era, he was somewhat more mature and cynical than his companion Crow T. Robot. Servo, more often than the others, signals the need to exit the theater to perform host segments, as he has to be carried in and out of the theater; an air grate near the entrance limits his ability to hover. Initially performed by J. Elvis Weinstein, Kevin Murphy took over puppetry and voice duties for Servo beginning with the second nationally-broadcast season. In the online cartoon series, the voice of Tom Servo was provided by James Moore.
Tom Servo is a red puppet that has a gumball machine (Carousel Executive Snack Dispenser) for a head, a body composed of a toy "Money Lover Barrel" coin bank and a toy car engine block, and a bowl-shaped hovercraft skirt (a Halloween 'Boo Bowl') instead of legs. Except in Episodes 101 (The Crawling Eye) and 904 (Werewolf), he must be carried into the theater by Joel or Mike, ostensibly because there is a grate near the door that he cannot hover over (as explained in episode 513). As a purely practical problem, it's simply more convenient for the host to hand Servo to the puppeteer than it would be to have the puppet pulled in by a more complicated rig. Servo can enter the theater's left-side door unaided, as seen in "I Was a Teenage Werewolf." His arms are a pair of small white ventriloquist's dummy hands on the ends of springs that are not really functional as arms, a point that is commented on occasionally throughout the series. Some episodes feature Tom with objects already in his hands, raising the unanswered question of how they got there; possibly Servo's arms are only functional on a sporadic basis. However, in the television series' official episode guide it is comically stated that the reason both his and companion Crow T. Robot's arms only work intermittently is because they are "run by lazy, shiftless puppeteers who just don't care." His shoulders are made from the front of an Eveready Floating Lantern. Because Servo's head is transparent, chromakeyed images appear projected through it, and thus a second puppet was built for use in the theater segments, entirely spray-painted black. Servo's appearance has changed over time. In the pilot for MST3K, the robot who would become Servo was named "Beeper," who just spoke in beeps that only Crow could understand. He was an all-silver robot vaguely shaped like the ultimate Servo, with funnel-shaped shoulders, silver rubber tube arms, and a clear plastic candy container for a head. The puppet used for "Beeper" was built by series creator Joel Hodgson the night before the taping of the pilot. As early as K02: Revenge of the Mysterons from Mars, the character was renamed 'Servo' (after a vending machine called the Servotron) and Servo's head was replaced with the now-familiar gumball machine for most of the series. As of July 2009, it was confirmed that the name for Servo was first used in the 2nd KTMA episode (because the name "Beeper" was still used in K01), but it is still currently unknown if the gumball machine was first used in K01 or K02. In Season 1 on the Comedy Channel, the puppets were redesigned by Hodgson and writer/cast member Trace Beaulieu. Servo was now given a dark red color, longer black tube arms, squared white shoulders, a different hoverskirt, and the Carousel Snack Dispenser gumball machine head with a white beak. Beginning with episode 104 and for the remainder of season 1, Servo's head was changed to a different model Dispenser head. The base or "neck" featured less contour and was slightly wider and taller which made his beak (now painted silver) appear smaller. For Season 2, the black tubing used for his arms was replaced with a pair of Mr. C. More Bunz arms with small white spray-painted springs attached (left bare silver from season 3 onward. Originally the bladder from the C More Bunz doll was used to make Servo's spring arms expand and contract. Another physical change was that Servo's original model of Carousel Dispenser head (KTMA era/ episode 101-103 version) returned. In episode 201 and as shown in the season 2-5.5 opening robot roll call, Servo's head could retract up and down (this was done with a black painted dryer cord). Tom Servo's season 2 physical form would pretty much remain the same throughout the remainder of the series, save for a brief flirtations and minor changes (during episodes #205: Rocket Attack USA and #206: Ring of Terror) Servo's head was replaced again this time with a cylindrical model Carousel Dispenser head. It was introduced as a "robot haircut" that Joel gave Servo, but was quickly abandoned as it was never intended to be a permanent change. In early season 3, the cap from Servo's season 2 "haircut" head was reused as a Fez hat worn by Servo in a couple of episodes and later used as a tee ball base. Another modification was the removal of the dryer cord below Servo's head (replaced with a swivel bearing platform to make his head turn 360 degrees) and the C-More Bunz bladders for his arms were removed. By the middle of season 3, Servo's head was modified one last time. An extra cap from another Carousel Dispenser was permanently affixed just below the "bubble" making Servo's head appear slightly taller and slimmer. Briefly in early season 4, Servo's white resin hands were left unpainted beige/flesh colored before returning to white after only a few episodes. During season 5 the black tyco train molds used on Servo's hover skirt were more widely spaced apart. By season 6, Servo's season 1-4 hover skirt turbo train configuration was restored.
Servo's voice and personality also changed during the show's early years. While Josh Weinstein operated Servo during the KTMA season, Servo spoke rather slowly with a squeaky voice like that of Pee-wee Herman, and was somewhat immobile during host segments but oddly very active in the theater. In episode K06, Weinstein switched to a lower voice that Servo repeatedly proclaimed as his new "MIGHTY VOICE!" which in reality is Weinstein's actual speaking voice. He used a higher pitched voice for Dr. Erhardt. Weinstein's Servo had a more sarcastic and acerbic personality with a hint of a superiority complex. When Weinstein left at the end of Season 1, Kevin Murphy took over Servo's operation and tried to match Weinstein's Servo voice and personality very early on, but quickly developed his own signature Servo sound and character (though Murphy has a fairly deep voice himself). By season 5 Kevin Murphy had "relaxed" his Servo voice to sound much like his own speaking voice (As Trace Beaulieu had done with Crow T. Robot) The change from Weinstein to Murphy was explained as tinkering by Joel in episode 201. (One fan was famously displeased with Murphy's voice and sent a large banner on computer paper: "I HATE TOM SERVO'S NEW VOICE!", which was quickly dismissed and laughed off.)[1] During Murphy's tenure, Servo took many opportunities to showcase his excellent Irish tenor-voiced singing. He also has an extensive underwear collection (as seen in Mystery Science Theater 3000: The Movie and enumerated in episode #810, The Giant Spider Invasion), as well as a large number of duplicates of himself that he made in episode #420: The Human Duplicators (also seen in episode #1004: Future War, and episode #1013: Diabolik). In the new Internet-only series of animated shorts, Servo is voiced by James Moore. Whenever a member of the cast is required to dress in drag for a sketch, Servo usually does the honors. This is both because of the dichotomy of women's clothes amusingly contrasted with puppeteer Murphy's strong baritone voice and because, in Murphy's words, "Servo looks better in a dress than Crow." Also, Servo is the only robot whose entire body can be seen on the show, since Crow's legs are behind the desk and Gypsy's body is several yards long. Servo normally has a condescending personality and at times can make literary and technical references that are above his companions' heads. Just as Trace Beaulieu gives Crow regular Monty Python references, Kevin Murphy, a self-confessed Tolkien fanboy, gives Servo occasional Lord Of The Rings references. Servo frequently attempts to seem physically imposing to others, once acquiring "lifts" for his hover skirt to increase his size (accused by Mike of suffering "short man's disease") and on another occasion showing off a small arsenal he had acquired while drifting through space. Almost invariably, however, any attempts at confronting danger or displaying his intellectual skill cause him such frustration that he ends up crying.
At Dragon Con in 2010, Weinstein and Murphy made a joint appearance for a "Servo vs. Servo" panel discussion, in which they discussed their respective work with the character. The discussion appears as a bonus feature on the Mystery Science Theater 3000: Vol. XX DVD set from Shout! Factory.
Tom Servo appeared in the COPS-style Star Wars spoof Troops as a droid purloined by Jawas. He, along with Crow and Gypsy, make an appearance in the Star Wars parody comic Tag and Bink: Revenge of the Clone Menace. In the webcomic Commander Kitty Nin Wah gets a Tom Servo arm when her real prosthetic is confiscated by the jail staff. A ROM hack of Mega Man 3 has Tom Servo taking the place of the main character.
In October 2011, the season 10 premiere of the TV horror hosted show Cinema Insomnia has "Larry Servo", Tom Servo's twin brother, help Mr. Lobo try to get through a lost Ed Wood film "Venus Fly Trap". In this MST3K parody episode, Larry Servo refused to riff on the movie, leaving Mr. Lobo to try to riff on his own in the theater (unsuccessfully).
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