According to the show's storyline, as part of an experiment to see how bad movies affected a person's mind, mad scientists Dr. Clayton Forrester and Dr. Laurence Erhardt (aka "The Mads") kidnapped Robinson, placed him on the Satellite of Love, and shot him into space. In order to keep from going mad himself, Robinson built his robot friends from parts of the spacecraft — namely the controls used to begin and end the movie. Eventually, Gypsy found an escape pod in a box of hamdingers and propelled Joel into it, returning him to Earth. In response, the Mads kidnapped Mike Nelson and sent him up to the Satellite of Love to take Robinson's place.