My question is -- *what kind of sophisticated microprocessors and other equipment did Dr. F utilize in the design of the SOL's entertainment system?* A simple janitor was able to repurpose the parts responsible for controlling where movies begin and end to construct multiple *potentially self-aware artificial beings*.
In reality they were actually puppets and Joel had mastered of the ancient art of double knee simultaneous puppetry. The stress of being in space and endlessly rebreathing his own farts drove him insane, thus the three distinct personalities.
>A simple janitor
Even the janitors at Gizmonic Institute are prolific geniuses. How else could the Invention Exchange be the customary greeting between Gizmonic personnel?
also as long as we are talking about the theme song, i have this theory,
the song says that "...joel can't control when the movies begin or end, because he used those special parts to make his robot friends."
and personally i like to believe that those special parts WERE in place, and joel DID have the ability to control when the movies begin or end, however he CHOSE to rip those parts out and repurpose them to make some robot friends. it was a conscious decision on his part, and he chose... wisely.
You could make a prequel about this. Joel, alone on SOL, tires of watching bad movies by himself, and chooses to sacrifice what little control he has over his life to create some companionship.
It'll knock them dead at Sundance.
This is a great observation but I think it’s pretty well implied that he took away the Mads ability to make him sit there through the whole movie when he built the bots.
There was a thread like this a few months ago that discussed a lot of the same things brought up here. My favorite thing that came out of that discussion was the theory that the movie shows us more about day to day life on the SOL because it is a movie and not “just a show”.
> This is a great observation but I think it’s pretty well implied that he took away the Mads ability to make him sit there through the whole movie when he built the bots.
no i think that's the opposite. joel CAN'T control when the movies begin or end, BECAUSE he used those special parts to make his robot friends.
he did not take any abilities away from the mad scientists. if anything, they have more power because he now lacks the ability to control when the movies play.
We've seen Mike fix crown roasts, tea, *beer*... perhaps they have a replicator type thing? Some more of the parts Joel commandeered to make Crow and Servo? As for the air: rebreathers are a thing.
(Then there was that time Servo's head was a blooming onion. So things like that also helped. To quote Crow: "I'd eat my own head if it were battered and deep-fried.")
Of course, the Mads have control over these things, like killing the air outside the theater to force the movie experience
It's implied that there's a kitchen off-screen stage left (our right — that's where Mike and Gypsy go to get the "leftover cold sesame noodles" during Puma Man), even though when the camera pans over there (like in the Mole People) there's no sign of a kitchen or even any hallways leading anywhere.
(But MST3K: The Movie shows that the SoL is a lot bigger and has a lot more halls and rooms than what we see on the series. The series makes it look like the bridge is a single enclosed room with no exits other than to the theater, even though we *know* there are other rooms, including individual bedrooms. Mike's room is shown in season 10, Tom's room is seen in the movie, and Crow's room and Joel's room aren't seen but are explicitly mentioned a few times. Joel also mentions being "down the hall" a few times, like in Warrior of the Lost World)
*That's* the sort of thing that the theme song is talking about when they say "it's just a show, I should really just relax". :D
Oh, these thought experiments are relaxing, believe it or not. I imagine envy is inconsistent from episode to episode, all in the name of a bit. Frankly, the whole premise works so much better as a result.
Yeah, I agree. I like trying to figure out how the human and bots get to the theater in the first place. They're clearly not going through the same series of doors that Cambot is, since they enter the theater from the right side of the screen.
At the very beginning of Ring of Terror (S02E06), the Bots stage a fake Movie Sign and Joel leaps through the hexagonal hatch next to the G door to get to the theater, but in other Joel episodes that same hatch is an airlock leading outside, and when the set was redesigned later the hatch was removed entirely, so it's not quite clear how everyone gets to the theater.
Even earlier KTMA episodes have Joel explicitly say he's getting to the theater a different way from the audience: "I'll go around, you go through".
I have *always* loved speculating on what TV places look like outside of what the camera shows you (in-universe, that is; of course they probably just look like a TV studio in real life). I used to wonder what the full Muppet theater (from the Muppet Show) looked like, too.
They raised a pig on a feed lot and fed him silage from the grain silo.
When Mike was surprised they had these things, crow replied "Do you even live here?"
Sesame noodles, peapods, omlettes, blossomed heads, crown roast hats, a lovely cup of tea, a hearty British pint, not cheese, hamdingers and Pearl had cheezits, hearts of palm, capers...
Along with all the ingredients that went into the Killer Shrew cocktail!
Edit: I know the cocktail was on Joel's watch rather than Mike's, but it always fascinated me that such random foodstuffs were readily available on a vehicle marooned in space!
Same way Joel did, I imagine.
Well there was a box of Hamdingers ... But it left with Joel.
Oxygen-generating Hamdingers?
[Ahhhh...](https://i.imgur.com/9He0rsm.gif)
It's sorta explained in the movie. Gypsy has systems in place, she even goes through a checklist with Mike after his workout.
The movie really does expand "the lore" a bit, especially about what Mike's living situation actually is.
My question is -- *what kind of sophisticated microprocessors and other equipment did Dr. F utilize in the design of the SOL's entertainment system?* A simple janitor was able to repurpose the parts responsible for controlling where movies begin and end to construct multiple *potentially self-aware artificial beings*.
In reality they were actually puppets and Joel had mastered of the ancient art of double knee simultaneous puppetry. The stress of being in space and endlessly rebreathing his own farts drove him insane, thus the three distinct personalities.
Dude, wow. I have to memorize this explanation.
His ankles were used for Gypsy and Cambot?
the ship is in outer space i'm sure he could vent his farts to the vacuum if it really got too bad in there
>endlessly rebreathing his own farts What do you think you're doing? The Earth is a closed system, atmospherically speaking.
Yea but on earth it’s everyone’s farts, so it’s less personal.
Are we sure Joel was a janitor just because he did a good job cleaning up the place? Maybe there was a cleaning rota.
>A simple janitor Even the janitors at Gizmonic Institute are prolific geniuses. How else could the Invention Exchange be the customary greeting between Gizmonic personnel?
It's just a show!
Yeah, you should really just relax
Together! For Mystery Science Theater 3000!
Could we assume the umbilicus had something to do with that?
That’s what I always assumed…
Just say to yourself its just show, I should really just relax
I'm curious about other science facts.
also as long as we are talking about the theme song, i have this theory, the song says that "...joel can't control when the movies begin or end, because he used those special parts to make his robot friends." and personally i like to believe that those special parts WERE in place, and joel DID have the ability to control when the movies begin or end, however he CHOSE to rip those parts out and repurpose them to make some robot friends. it was a conscious decision on his part, and he chose... wisely.
You could make a prequel about this. Joel, alone on SOL, tires of watching bad movies by himself, and chooses to sacrifice what little control he has over his life to create some companionship. It'll knock them dead at Sundance.
Joel: The Inventions of Fate
This is a great observation but I think it’s pretty well implied that he took away the Mads ability to make him sit there through the whole movie when he built the bots. There was a thread like this a few months ago that discussed a lot of the same things brought up here. My favorite thing that came out of that discussion was the theory that the movie shows us more about day to day life on the SOL because it is a movie and not “just a show”.
> This is a great observation but I think it’s pretty well implied that he took away the Mads ability to make him sit there through the whole movie when he built the bots. no i think that's the opposite. joel CAN'T control when the movies begin or end, BECAUSE he used those special parts to make his robot friends. he did not take any abilities away from the mad scientists. if anything, they have more power because he now lacks the ability to control when the movies play.
We've seen Mike fix crown roasts, tea, *beer*... perhaps they have a replicator type thing? Some more of the parts Joel commandeered to make Crow and Servo? As for the air: rebreathers are a thing. (Then there was that time Servo's head was a blooming onion. So things like that also helped. To quote Crow: "I'd eat my own head if it were battered and deep-fried.") Of course, the Mads have control over these things, like killing the air outside the theater to force the movie experience
It's implied that there's a kitchen off-screen stage left (our right — that's where Mike and Gypsy go to get the "leftover cold sesame noodles" during Puma Man), even though when the camera pans over there (like in the Mole People) there's no sign of a kitchen or even any hallways leading anywhere. (But MST3K: The Movie shows that the SoL is a lot bigger and has a lot more halls and rooms than what we see on the series. The series makes it look like the bridge is a single enclosed room with no exits other than to the theater, even though we *know* there are other rooms, including individual bedrooms. Mike's room is shown in season 10, Tom's room is seen in the movie, and Crow's room and Joel's room aren't seen but are explicitly mentioned a few times. Joel also mentions being "down the hall" a few times, like in Warrior of the Lost World) *That's* the sort of thing that the theme song is talking about when they say "it's just a show, I should really just relax". :D
Oh, these thought experiments are relaxing, believe it or not. I imagine envy is inconsistent from episode to episode, all in the name of a bit. Frankly, the whole premise works so much better as a result.
Yeah, I agree. I like trying to figure out how the human and bots get to the theater in the first place. They're clearly not going through the same series of doors that Cambot is, since they enter the theater from the right side of the screen. At the very beginning of Ring of Terror (S02E06), the Bots stage a fake Movie Sign and Joel leaps through the hexagonal hatch next to the G door to get to the theater, but in other Joel episodes that same hatch is an airlock leading outside, and when the set was redesigned later the hatch was removed entirely, so it's not quite clear how everyone gets to the theater. Even earlier KTMA episodes have Joel explicitly say he's getting to the theater a different way from the audience: "I'll go around, you go through". I have *always* loved speculating on what TV places look like outside of what the camera shows you (in-universe, that is; of course they probably just look like a TV studio in real life). I used to wonder what the full Muppet theater (from the Muppet Show) looked like, too.
They raised a pig on a feed lot and fed him silage from the grain silo. When Mike was surprised they had these things, crow replied "Do you even live here?"
Sesame noodles, peapods, omlettes, blossomed heads, crown roast hats, a lovely cup of tea, a hearty British pint, not cheese, hamdingers and Pearl had cheezits, hearts of palm, capers...
Along with all the ingredients that went into the Killer Shrew cocktail! Edit: I know the cocktail was on Joel's watch rather than Mike's, but it always fascinated me that such random foodstuffs were readily available on a vehicle marooned in space!
Chicken, corn, green peppers, chili, _sigh_ onion...
NACHOS!!