Tom Servo

**Tom Servo** is one of two robot cohosts built by Joel Robinson to act as a companion and help stave off madness as he was forced to watch low-quality movies by the Mads on *Mystery Science Theater 3000*. He is somewhat more mature and cynical than his companion Crow T. Robot. He was at first somewhat arrogant, and yet comes off as highly sensitive.

Servo is often carried into the theater by Joel or Mike, but there are some episodes where he is shown entering the theater on his own. In *The Brain That Wouldn't Die,*Mike learns through Crow that there is an air vent that Servo finds difficult to hover over, and thus needs assistance. In Season 11, however, this handicap is removed, as Tom can now fly in the theater.

## Appearence

In Season 1 on the Comedy Channel, he was given a red color, longer black air tube arms, squared white shoulders, and a gumball machine with a large, white beak. The beak was changed back to silver later in the season, and by Season 2, the black tubing used for his arms was replaced by a pair of small silver springs and shoulders from the aforementioned C'more Bunz novelty doll.

* This physical form was kept throughout the remainder of the series, except for a brief flirtation (during episodes #205: *Rocket Attack U.S.A.* and #206: *Ring of Terror*) with a slim cylindrical Termotox Candy/Nut Dispenser head was introduced as a "haircut" that Joel gave Servo, but was quickly abandoned.

In Season 4, Servo sported flesh-colored hands from episodes 403 *City Limits* to episode 406 *Attack Of The Giant Leeches*, a change that was never acknowledged in the show. In episode 407 they returned to flat white. Supposedly, the reason behind it was that Joel Hodgson had found them "disturbing". Kevin Murphy later said

"*Joel brought me these hands and said, "Kevin, paint these. It's just far too disturbing."*

In the 2017 Netflix revival, Tom went through minor changes in appearance. The "springs" that make up his arms are longer and appear to be one solid piece. They also move at the shoulders, enabling him to gesture. Of the robots on the SOL (Cambot, Gypsy, Tom, and Crow), Tom seems to have undergone the fewest alterations.

## Personality

Servo's personality changed slightly through the series. In the early years, Servo was somewhat pompous and even arrogant towards the other characters. Gradually, these traits softened, and although Tom let his pride get the better of him on several occasions, he also showed more thoughtfulness towards others, though not necessarily tact.

Tom was also easily rattled on several occasions, often letting his temper get the better of him or showing little patience, especially after being teased by Crow. He is highly intellectual and often shows deeper and a more complex level of thought than the other Satellite residents. This is demonstrated most overtly in the episode *The Undead*, when he scored the highest on the Observers' I.Q. test, even scoring higher than one of the Observers themselves (specifically Brain Guy). In an uncommon display of humility, Tom downplays the achievement saying that he just "tests well." This is shown to be true when Tom is taken to the Observers' planet since he can't read any mind but his own, the "brain" he carries is actually an olive, and he steals the Observers' silverware.

More than that, Tom Servo seems to be an autodidact and polymath, knowledgeable in such diverse areas as the Greek classics (Homer) and mythology, philosophy (he has described himself as a "Humist", or follower of David Hume, an 18th century Scottish philosopher known for his philosophy of empiricism, amongst other areas), physics ("Mom, is space curved?" he has one on-screen character ask, referring, perhaps, to the works of Minkowski and his one-time student, Albert Einstein), and he seems not unacquainted with the works of Steven Hawking and Roger Penrose, and higher mathematics ("Are Gaussian equations flawed due to their strictly Euclidian view of the universe?") he has an another character query in "*Terror from the Year 5,000*)". It's debatable whether some or all of this is just a pretense, subject to the whims of his extreme emotional lability and moment-by-moment egoic needs. At the end of *Master Ninja II*, Tom identified the motorcycle racing movie *Big Fauss and Little Halsy* as his favorite film, but he got the title wrong (it's actually *Little Fauss and Big Halsy*).

When Gypsy tried to understand Tom in *Monster A-Go Go*, he simply said, 'Nobody does. I'm the wind, baby!'

However, Servo also has an inferiority complex about his size and shape, being insulted when called "stout" and often altering his form in attempts to improve his body or make him seem more imposing such as in *The* *Pumaman*he's tired of being short and adds height-enhancing extensions to his hoverskirt. He also in *The Giant Gila Monster* finds his butt "cute". Oddly, he did not have a complex about appearing in drag, which happened often when a female role was required for a sketch role and Gypsy was not available. On one occasion, he even declared, "In this outfit, I feel like a total fem. You know what? I don't have a problem with it." [1] Even with this fact, Servo considered himself to be quite a ladies' man; his past loves included a blender, Tibby the turtle, The Creepy Girl, and even his "sister" Gypsy.

He can also come across highly sensitive at times when pushed too far, and so can come off as the more emotionally vulnerable, often needing consolation from Joel or Mike. It is often due to his inferiority complex, his own impulsiveness or his frustration caused by his intelligence or his nerve being challenged.

Though he likely wouldn't admit it, one of Servo's biggest sensitive subjects was his head. As was mentioned in a fan letter read in Episode 302, *The Unearthly*, Servo's head (while transparent) could not be seen through when he was in the theater and he also had no physical eyes to watch the movies with. Servo denied hiding anything despite Joel's and Crow's insessant nagging. The empty space inside Servo's head often allowed Crow and Mike/Joel ample opportunities to fill it with stuff, such as the M&Ms seen in the early theme song and Mike's brother Eddie's cigarette ashes towards the end of the eighth. It was seen as a plastic tube when Servo got a haircut in Episode 205 *Rocket Attack U.S.A.*, full of Ken doll heads to emphasize light-headedness in Episode 506, *Eegah*, and slimmed to a disk like the "*Lost in Space*" robot in Episode 821 *Time Chasers*.

His sensitivity came up especially hard when Mike broke it while playing a prank on Crow in Episode 805 *The Thing That Couldn't Die* and when Mike and Crow blossomed and deep fried his head in Episode 1007 *Track of the Moon Beast*. Servo's attempt to make it a big deal fails when he realized just how good it smelled. His biggest sign of insecurity came when he completely swapped his old head out for a new ventriloquist dummy's head in Episode 610 *The Violent Years* (which may be a possible reference to Kevin Murphy's own Danny O'Day ventriloquist dummy). This new head made Gypsy feel ill and traumatized Crow, but the situation got worse when Mike tried to pull it off.

Servo also enjoyed singing, especially after Kevin Murphy took over as puppeteer. He frequently sang songs to objects of affection, such as Tibby and the The Creepy Girl, and on one occasion even tamed an enraged gorilla with his fine baritone voice. His singing voice helped to emphasize his ego, which is seen in *The Violent Years* when he sings is own Richard Wagner-esque theme song for the Mads'.

In addition, Servo has red-green colorblindness,and is the owner of a red toy car which he has used to run Crow over on several occasions,an extensive underwear collection,and a large number of duplicates of himself.

In season 11, Tom received several upgrades including gaining the ability of flying in the theater (but not on the Bridge) and being able to move his arms. In episode 1101, *Reptilicus*, he mistakenly goes into "sheep mode" and marches into a disintegrator. However, one of his "clones" resists doing so and replaces him, and is subsequently treated interchangeably with the original Servo.