In 1997, the Sci-fi channel began showing a new season of MST3K. the Sci-fi network saw some possibilities for the show, and bought it.
Mike and the crew were drawn back to the S.O.L.
by some mysterious force for some strange reason. They find Crow already
there, who got bored of being pure energy after about 5 minutes. Crow has
completely redecorated the S.O.L., and has been living there the last 500
years. He had a case of amnesia, and didn't remember who Mike was. He also
introduces the Nanites.
Small, microscopic little robots that infested the ship[ while they were
gone. They called deep 13, but were answered by a group of Monkeys- Professor
Bobo, Dr. Peanut, and other apes in Deep Ape. They send them a movie- as
it is ape law. The ape's "lawgiver" turns out to be none other than Pearl
Forrester- who holds Mike responsible for her son's death. She had been
frozen for the past 500 years, and the apes thawed her out and named her
"The Lawgiver." She chases them all across the universe in her jet-powered
hippie van, The Widowmaker. Later, mike destroys the observer's homeworld,
and Pearl gets a new sidekick. In season 9, pearl and the crew move into
Castle Forrester, and Pearl sends them movies.
Pearl, observer, and Bobo.