#41 (2-8): I, Mudd

THE PLOT

The Enterprise is hijacked by Crewman Norman (Richard Tatro), a new member of the crew who turns out to be an android! Norman takes the ship to a planet ruled over by none other than Kirk's old enemy, Harry Mudd (Roger C. Carmel). The world is filled with androids, all but Norman modeled into beautiful young women. A paradise for Mudd... except he's gotten bored with it. The androids will only let him leave if he provides them with a replacement. With a score to settle with Kirk, the choice was obvious. So Mudd will leave in command of Kirk's ship, its crew replaced by androids, while Kirk and his crew will get to stay on the Android Paradise (I can think of several future redshirts, at the very least, who would find this to be a pretty good deal).

But Mudd hasn't counted on the androids having plans of their own. Soon, Kirk and Mudd will find themselves reluctant allies, working together to stop the androids from taking over the galaxy and smothering all life with happiness!


CHARACTERS

Capt. Kirk: On a planet of beautiful, subservient women who want only to please him in any way that does not involve actually leaving the planet, you would think Kirk would be happy to enjoy himself for a while. Perhaps he doesn't enjoy it as much when he doesn't actually have to do any seducing? In any case, Kirk's absolute devotion to his ship shows itself again. All of the other crew members are at least tempted by the pleasures of the planet. Kirk simply wants his ship back, and snaps the others out of their enchantment with the available diversions to focus on an escape.

Spock: Opens the episode suffering from a bout of idiot plotting. Spock enjoys sparring with McCoy as much as McCoy does with him. But when McCoy mentions that Crewman Norman has failed to show up for required medical exams, that should absolutely not be something that Spock dismisses. There's a time to bait McCoy.  That time is not when McCoy is raising legitimate issues, and if Spock were being written as he is in almost any other episode, he would know that.

Chekov: He seems to rather enjoy himself on Android World. Surrounded by beautiful android models, who are entirely eager to please, he has a rather entertaining interrogation scene with them. Walter Koenig throws himself into the entire episode with enthusiasm, particularly at the episode's climax, and makes Chekov feel more central to this episode than he truly is through one funny scene and sheer acting enthusiasm.

Uhura: Gets a very good scene, in which she appears to betray Kirk's escape attempt in return for the promise of an android body that would allow her to remain young and beautiful forever. Nichelle Nichols sets up the scene well, in showing Uhura's interest in such an idea, and she sells the "betrayal" well enough that a viewer who had rarely seen the series before might actually be fooled for a second into thinking that the betrayal was genuine. As it stands, there is no chance of a regular viewer being fooled (for this one scene, perhaps an "anonymous yeoman" would have been better?), but it does give Nichols one of her stronger moments in the series.

Hot Android Space Babe(s) of the Week: Twins Alyce and Rhae Andrece portray the Alice series of robots, gorgeous androids who have been happily providing Mudd with "anything" he wants (shudders at the visual) - an offer that intrigues Chekov, at the very least. The Andrece twins are convincingly flat and unemotional for the robotic scenes, and are definitely beautiful enough to convince in their "robotic sex kitten" roles. There are a couple of other fetching android "series," though they don't get nearly as much to do as the Alices.

Villain of the Week: Roger C. Carmel returns as Harcourt Fenton Mudd, intergalactic space rogue and all-around bad guy. In his first appearance, he was a thoroughly nasty piece of work - abusive to the women he had duped into being his accomplices, and entirely willing to kill (or at least have deaths be a side effect of his profiteering) in the pursuit of his goals. Here, he's reinvented as a lovable rogue. The characterization works within the confines of this episode, and Carmel is obviously having a grand time with the vain, extravagant, and lascivious Mudd. It's an altogether more entertaining version of Mudd... though probably best watched as it was aired, quite some distance away from a viewing of Mudd's first, altogether nastier persona. Carmel and Shatner retain excellent screen rapport, and their scenes together are among the highlights of a highly entertaining fifty minutes.


THOUGHTS

Glorious nonsense, of a kind that probably could only have come from the 1960's. Season Two has been mostly lighter in tone than Season One.  Neither season has exactly shied away from humor.  The Naked Time and Shore Leave were both Season One episodes with substantial amounts of comedy.  But I, Mudd is the first Star Trek episode that is intended almost entirely as comedy. Since it hasn't happened before at this point, and since most of the humor works, it's a refreshing change of pace.

Critically, the humor is sustained by a story that works. Later Trek series would often forget that it's at least as important for the plot of a comedy episode to hold together as it is for a serious episode. Mudd's plan makes sense to us. It's over-the-top, but it has internal logic.  We know what he hopes to accomplish, and how. He even appears to have won, with Kirk only granted a reprieve thanks to the androids' double-cross - which also makes sense, both in motivation and in their plan.

Even Kirk's final plan, to defeat the androids through sheer absurdity, makes sense within the confines of the story.  We understand why the Enterprise crew behave as they do, and we understand why it works. Other than Spock's brief bout with Idiot Plotting in the teaser, this is a well-plotted episode, and writer Stephen Kandel deserves credit.


Rating: 8/10.  Not exactly deep stuff, but a lot of fun to watch.

Previous Episode: The Deadly Years
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#4 (1-6): Mudd's Women

Harry Mudd (Roger C. Carmel), with his human cargo.

Original Air Date: Oct. 13, 1966. Teleplay by: Stephen Kandel. Story by: Gene Roddenberry. Directed by: Harvey Hart.


THE PLOT

The Enterprise intercepts an unregistered ship, whose attempt to evade the starship leads to its destruction. The transporters are barely able to rescue the captain and his "cargo" in time... said cargo being three beautiful women, wives being transported to a colony world. The captain is a man of large figure and personality named Leo Walsh - though he is, in reality, a con man named Harry Mudd (Roger C. Carmel).

When the Enterprise must divert to a mining colony in order to replenish its supply of dilithium crystals - the last of which were worn out by the rescue of Mudd - the con man sees an opportunity not only for profit, but to evade the charges Kirk is preparing against him. He makes a deal with the miners: the women in return for payment and protection from Kirk. Kirk is forced to agree to Mudd's terms. If he refuses, his ship's orbit will ultimately decay, his ship and crew destroyed!


CHARACTERS

Capt. Kirk: Not much new in this installment, though he is - against expectations, and perhaps even later character development - shown as an absolute stickler for regulations here, reluctant to deal with Mudd even when his ship is in direct jeopardy. Though suitably entranced by Eve, the most sympathetic of Mudd's women, his prime loyalty remains to his ship and his crew. As Mudd himself observes, Kirk is "married to (his) ship."

Dr. McCoy: Unlike Spock, he is far from immune to feminine charms, absolutely mesmerized any time any of the women stray near him. He is observant, however, and is the first to notice clues that not everything about these women is as it seems.

Hot Space Babe of the Week: Of the three women, two are barely characterized at all beyond "eye candy." However, Eve (Karen Steele) develops an immediate rapport with Kirk, and shows a degree of reluctance to go along with Mudd, whom she despises. At the mining colony, she ends up with the only miner to get any characterization, making her likely the only of the three women who will find a happy ending in this situation.

Villain of the Week: The first appearance of Roger Carmel as space rogue Harry Mudd. I almost typed "loveable rogue," except Mudd isn't very loveable in his first appearance. In fact, he's a downright nasty piece of work, happy to see hundreds die as long as he can escape responsibility for his actions. Still, he's a memorable figure: larger than life (in more ways than one), selfish but shrewdly intelligent, and possessed with a certain wit and charm, even when he's behaving as the scum of the galaxy. Carmel is wonderful throughout, though this is almost certainly the lesser of his appearances.


THOUGHTS

Unfortunately, Carmel or no Carmel, this episode is not good. The interplay between Shatner and Carmel - who spark off each other wonderfully from their first screen encounter to their brief, reluctant partnership at the end - is beautiful to behold. These two actors have real rapport, and they do much to carry the episode. For its first half, Mudd's Women is thin stuff at best, but it works passably well on the strength of the performances.

Then we reach the mining colony, where things grind to a complete halt. The miners are shown to be, if anything, an even nastier lot than Mudd. Eve correctly observes that they aren't really interested in wives. In fact, Mudd could probably make more money - and leave his customers ultimately happier - by running whores back and forth to them, instead of delivering wives. It's pretty clear where their real interests lie, ahd I almost felt sorry for Eve to be left with even the least cretinous of this lot at the end.

I say "almost," because the arrival at the mining colony coincides with Eve's apparent lobotomy. Upset when the men are avoiding her in favor of the shallower, more fun-loving girls, she runs out into a sandstorm. The words, "too stupid to live," spring to mind. A good ten interminable minutes pass with Eve and Slightly Less Cretinous Miner finding each other in the storm, then Eve cooking for him. Then the climax arrives, to tell us all that looks really do matter, but a good girl should be able to automatically transform herself into a Playboy Bunny with just a little self confidence and a sugar cube. It's not only mind-bogglingly stupid, but more than a little insulting toward women - even by 1960's gender standards.

The remastered version sees some nice enhancements to the effects at the mining colony. That's not all good, though, since the strong establishing effects now jar considerably with the very obvious studio shots. Still, a bit of eye candy makes the last (worst) part of this episode go down a bit easier, I suppose, and that's something.


Rating: 4/10. Not quite awful, but far from good.

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