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Post by zetastrike on Jul 7, 2014 19:18:25 GMT -5
Does anyone else get that vibe from them? It seems like sometimes they're intentionally mean to him, or something bad happens to him as a result of their antics and they don't care.
In Space Mutiny when Brain Guy says Mike is stupid and no one likes him, he "brings Mike down" and Crow and Servo don't say anything, as if to agree.
Am I reading too much into this? In some episodes, it's the opposite and it appears that they care about him. I guess it just depends on what the writers thought was funny at that moment? This is something that bothered me as a kid.
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Post by Triple_sSs on Jul 7, 2014 20:19:49 GMT -5
Am I reading too much into this? It's just a puppet show. Repeat this to yourself. But anyway... I think that's actually why. They were probably just writing things they thought would be funny for the characters. Though IMO I think in the Sci-Fi era this kind of "meanness" was a bit more frequent. (Something I didn't always care for but that's just me)
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Post by Afgncaap5 on Jul 7, 2014 23:47:08 GMT -5
That's one of the problems with TV writing, honestly. In most Sitcoms, you have people saying things to each other that they'd *never* say to each other in real life for the sake of a few laughs. (While I dislike certain aspects of the show Roseanne, I always appreciated the fact that moments like that would actually impact the characters and visibly hurt their feelings, usually prompting them to storm off, where in other shows they'd just shrug the moment off.)
I also think there are elements of "80s frat house laughs" at work here, where the characters insult each other, but it's fine because they're "one of the guys." It's not one of my favorite tropes.
Honestly, though, I think that Mike and the Bots are really good friends. They might've gotten on each other's nerves sometimes, and might've said things that were hurtful (which happens with roommates sometimes) but I like to think that after it was all said and done they'd patch things up. That's my headcanon, at least.
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Post by TheNewMads on Jul 8, 2014 7:42:17 GMT -5
I always thought of it as a combination of stockholm syndrome (in the sense that they're all captives), a bit of bitterness that the bots' creator abandoned them and mike's a pale imitation (from the bots' point of view), it's very love/hate.
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Post by nondescript spice on Jul 8, 2014 9:30:55 GMT -5
yes, joel was more like a father figure to the bots and mike was like a brother. by the time he came around, the bots were seniors and mike was a lowly freshman. they never completely got over hazing him. but they could be pretty mean to joel, as well.
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Post by zetastrike on Jul 8, 2014 11:38:56 GMT -5
Yeah, I guess they're room mates at the end of the day. I've lived with guys and some days we're best friends and other days I don't want to look at them. It's just part of the stress of sharing your living space with someone you don't know all that well.
I see the "meanness" in Servo a lot more than Crow though.
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Post by mrsphyllistorgo on Jul 8, 2014 16:13:33 GMT -5
Definitely think it's the "you're in my space and we're all IN space" cabin fever more than anything else.
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Post by Who Let Servo Drive on Jul 8, 2014 16:50:35 GMT -5
They are funny little monkeys that were created by someone else whom they saw as their father but still made fun of, so they are definitely going to be twice as impish with some guy who didn't create them! But no of course they don't hate Mike. They love him! There's no one they'd rather be with than him. Remember how the show ended. Who was all together chillin, eatin cereal, and catchin a bad movie, even though they were no longer trapped in space?
zetastrike, you see this show as way darker than it is, I have to say. It's just a bit of fun.
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Post by milospinstripe on Jul 15, 2014 15:01:05 GMT -5
They could be unreasonable and somewhat cruel to Joel as well. Like the time in Eegah when they hooked him up to that machine to make him look like Arch Hall Jr. You are correct, it is much more commonplace and apparent with Mike though.
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Post by TheNewMads on Jul 15, 2014 16:01:09 GMT -5
that was a friggin' riot.
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Post by silentseason on Jul 16, 2014 14:35:17 GMT -5
To me I always turn to the segment on The Projected Man when the Bots were taking Mike's personal mementos and "projecting" them. Really kind of cruel, but in the end everyone had a good laugh, which is why the show is what it is. RIP Shirley Jones autographed photo.
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Post by Bix Dugan on Jul 28, 2014 12:58:07 GMT -5
What kind of "friend" bulk-erases your home-movies videotapes, like they did to Joel? I think it's just guys being guys, but with some added "punch", because it didn't really happen.
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Post by Ford Prefect on Jul 28, 2014 16:56:52 GMT -5
I see the "meanness" in Servo a lot more than Crow though. Really? I thought Servo opened up to Mike a lot more quickly than Crow did. In "The Brain That Wouldn't Die", Servo seems rather overtly positive about things like Mike and his invention. Crow seems a little more grumpy and points out a possible flaw in the invention and Servo quickly chastises him for doing so. Servo also whispers helpful things to Mike. Crow gets mad when Mike gets his name wrong, whereas Servo quickly whispers "I'm Tom." Crow gets Mike's name wrong later and I always wondered if he truly forgot his name or if he was trying to get back at Mike for getting his wrong. Also, after the host segment where the bots make fun of Mike for the embarrassing story he told them, Mike walks back in and Crow sort of apologizes but Tom warmly says, "Welcome aboard."
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Torgo
Moderator Emeritus
-segment with Crow?
Posts: 15,420
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Post by Torgo on Jul 28, 2014 18:42:41 GMT -5
Super nerdy answer: The sarcasm programing Joel installed in both Tom and Crow to riff movies has a side effect of indifference to the reactions to who they might offend or hurt with their words or action. The bots are capable of affection, and are quite fond of both Joel and Mike (the former as a father figure and the latter as a friend) but their apathetic attitude toward both at times is just the way they're hardwired.
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Post by zetastrike on Jul 29, 2014 9:23:04 GMT -5
Super nerdy answer: The sarcasm programing Joel installed in both Tom and Crow to riff movies has a side effect of indifference to the reactions to who they might offend or hurt with their words or action. The bots are capable of affection, and are quite fond of both Joel and Mike (the former as a father figure and the latter as a friend) but their apathetic attitude toward both at times is just the way they're hardwired. I've thought that their programming prevents them from fully empathizing with human emotions. Kind of like Bender, but much less evil.
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