| "I, Mudd" | |
|---|---|
| Star Trek: The Original Series episode | |
| Episode no. | Season 2 Episode 8 |
| Directed by | Marc Daniels |
| Written by |
|
| Featured music | Samuel Matlovsky |
| Cinematography by | Jerry Finnerman |
| Production code | 041 |
| Original air date | November 3, 1967 |
| Guest appearances | |
| |
"I, Mudd" is the eighth episode of the second season of the American science fiction television series Star Trek . Written by Stephen Kandel and directed by Marc Daniels, it was first broadcast on November 3, 1967.
The crew of the Enterprise has a second encounter with the conman Harry Mudd (Roger C. Carmel), first seen in the season one episode "Mudd's Women". Mudd is now the supreme ruler of a planet of androids who cater to his every whim.
An alien android posing as a Starfleet lieutenant and identifying himself as Norman, hijacks the Enterprise by sealing off engineering and setting a booby trap which would cause any attempt to restore control to destroy the ship. Captain Kirk finds his ship and crew taken to an unknown planet populated by androids, and meets an old nemesis, the outlaw Harry Mudd. Calling himself "Mudd the First" and ostensibly ruling the androids, Mudd displays a darkened glass panel, which he calls a "shrine" to his wife Stella. It contains an android version of his wife which nags him as she did, but he is able to silence her instantly by ordering her to "shut up".
Mudd explains that he broke out of prison, stole a spaceship, crashed on this planet, and was taken in by the androids. He says they are accommodating, but refuse to let him go unless he provides them other humans to serve and study. Mudd informs Kirk that he and his crew are to serve this purpose and can expect to spend the rest of their lives there.
Kirk questions the androids and discovers they were built by travelers from the Andromeda Galaxy whose planet was destroyed by a supernova, leaving the androids to fend for themselves. First Officer Spock discovers the androids number over 200,000, and concludes that there must be some central control mechanism.
The Enterprise crew is beamed to the surface and replaced with an android crew. They find much appealing about the androids' world: Scotty is fascinated by their engineering knowledge; Ensign Chekov likes the idea of living on a planet full of compliant female androids; and Uhura is tempted by the offer of immortality in an android body. Kirk will have none of this, however, and reminds them of their duty.
After a final farewell to Stella, Mudd plans to depart aboard Enterprise, but the androids refuse his order to beam him aboard. They have their own agenda: to leave the planet and offer their "services" to humanity, with the goal of bringing the greedy and aggressive human race under their control.
As the Enterprise crew discuss their predicament, Spock notes that all of the androids belong to various named series, except for the one named Norman. Kirk recalls that an android called on Norman to "coordinate" the analysis of an "illogical" statement. Spock concludes that Norman is the central locus of the composite android mind, and Kirk suggests that "wild, irrational illogic aimed right at Norman" could be a potent weapon against that mind.
The crew then attempt to confuse the androids by means of contradictory statements and a series of bizarre theatrics, culminating with Mudd and Kirk posing the liar paradox to Norman: Kirk claims everything Mudd says is a lie; and Mudd says to Norman, "I am lying." Unable to resolve the contradiction, Norman's mind burns out, which immediately causes the other androids to shut down.
The crew reprogram Norman and the other androids to return to their original tasks of making the planet productive. Kirk informs Mudd that he has been paroled to the android population as an example of a human failure, and that a special android has been programmed to see to his needs as an incentive to work with the androids and not exploit them. Mudd is grateful until he discovers that this android is Stella, and there are now at least 500 copies of her – none of whom responds to his command to "shut up".
The producers liked the script resulting from Gerrold's work on The Trouble with Tribbles so much that Gerrold was later tasked with re-writing the script for this episode. [2]
Although Kandel is the credited writer on the episode, David Gerrold performed an uncredited rewrite. The final script was heavily revised by the staff, and Gerrold admits that only one original idea of his made it into the final episode. [3] He also claims producer Gene L. Coon offered to put the matter of credit up for Writers Guild arbitration but that he declined. [4]
In 2009, the AV Club called it "goofy, but charmingly surreal", "infectiously silly" and "a treat," giving it an A− grade.
In 2014, Charlie Jane Anders at io9 ranked "I, Mudd" as the 79th best episode of Star Trek in a list of the top 100 Star Trek episodes. [5]
In 2016, Syfy noted this episode for actress Nichelle Nichols presentation of Uhura, as having her fifth best scene in Star Trek. [6]
In 2024 Hollywood.com ranked I, Mudd at number 39 out of the 79 original series episodes. [7]
Other encounters with Harcourt Fenton Mudd:
Star Trek: The Animated Series (TAS) is an American animated science fiction television series created by Gene Roddenberry. It originally aired simply under the title Star Trek, subtitled Created by Gene Roddenberry, on Saturday mornings from September 8, 1973 to October 12, 1974 on NBC, spanning 22 episodes over two seasons. The second series in the Star Trek franchise, it features mostly the same characters as Star Trek: The Original Series. Set in the 23rd century, the series follows the further adventures of the Starship USS Enterprise as it explores the galaxy.
Spock is a fictional character in the Star Trek media franchise. He first appeared in the original Star Trek series serving aboard the starship USS Enterprise as science officer and first officer and later as commanding officer of the vessel. Spock's mixed human–Vulcan heritage serves as an important plot element in many of the character's appearances. Along with Captain James T. Kirk and Dr. Leonard "Bones" McCoy, he is one of the three central characters in the original Star Trek series and its films. After retiring from active duty in Starfleet, Spock served as a Federation ambassador, and later became involved in the ill-fated attempt to save Romulus from a supernova, leading him to live out the rest of his life in a parallel universe.
David Gerrold is an American science fiction screenwriter and novelist. He wrote the script for the original Star Trek episode "The Trouble with Tribbles", created the Sleestak race on the TV series Land of the Lost, and wrote the novelette "The Martian Child", which won both Hugo and Nebula Awards, and was adapted into a 2007 film starring John Cusack.
"Mirror, Mirror" is the fourth episode of the second season of the American science fiction television series Star Trek. Written by Jerome Bixby and directed by Marc Daniels, it was first broadcast on October 6, 1967.
"The Trouble with Tribbles" is the fifteenth episode of the second season of the American science fiction television series Star Trek. Written by David Gerrold and directed by Joseph Pevney, it was first broadcast on December 29, 1967. In this comic episode, the starship Enterprise visits a space station that soon becomes overwhelmed by rapidly reproducing small furry creatures called "tribbles."
"Where No Man Has Gone Before" is the third episode of the first season of the American science-fiction television series Star Trek. Written by Samuel A. Peeples and directed by James Goldstone, it first aired on September 22, 1966.
Christine Chapel is a fictional character who appears in all three seasons of the American science fiction television series Star Trek: The Original Series, as well as Star Trek: The Animated Series and the films Star Trek: The Motion Picture and Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home. Portrayed by Majel Barrett, she was the ship's nurse on board the Starfleet starship USS Enterprise. A younger version of Chapel appears in the 2022 series Star Trek: Strange New Worlds, portrayed by Jess Bush.
"More Tribbles, More Troubles" is the fifth episode of the first season of the animated American science fiction television series Star Trek. It first aired in the NBC Saturday morning lineup on October 6, 1973, and was written by David Gerrold as a sequel to his Original Series episode "The Trouble with Tribbles". It features actor Stanley Adams reprising his role of trader Cyrano Jones, and the return of the fuzzy, rapidly reproducing creatures called tribbles.
"Charlie X" is the second episode of the first season of the American science fiction television series Star Trek. Written by Dorothy C. Fontana from a story by Gene Roddenberry, and directed by Lawrence Dobkin, it first aired on September 15, 1966.
"The Changeling" is the third episode of the second season of the American science fiction television series Star Trek. Written by John Meredyth Lucas and directed by Marc Daniels, it was first broadcast on September 29, 1967.
"The Naked Time" is the fourth episode of the first season of the American science fiction television series Star Trek. Written by John D. F. Black and directed by Marc Daniels, it first aired on September 29, 1966.
"Mudd's Women" is the sixth episode of the first season of the American science fiction television series Star Trek. Written by Stephen Kandel, based on a story by Gene Roddenberry, and directed by Harvey Hart, it first aired on October 13, 1966.
"The Return of the Archons" is the twenty-first episode of the first season of the American science fiction television series Star Trek. Written by Boris Sobelman, and directed by Joseph Pevney, it first aired on February 9, 1967.
"Plato's Stepchildren" is the tenth episode of the third season of the American science fiction television series Star Trek. Written by Meyer Dolinsky and directed by David Alexander, it was first broadcast on November 22, 1968.
"The Jihad" is the sixteenth and final episode of the first season of the American animated science fiction television series Star Trek. It first aired in the NBC Saturday morning lineup on January 12, 1974, and was written by Stephen Kandel who also wrote the earlier story "Mudd's Passion" and worked on the two Original Series "Mudd" episodes.
"Bem" is the second episode of the second season of the American animated science fiction television series Star Trek, the 18th episode overall. It first aired in the NBC Saturday morning lineup on 14 September 1974, and was written by David Gerrold, who wrote the earlier episode "More Tribbles, More Troubles" and worked on several Original Series episodes.
"Once Upon a Planet" is the ninth episode of the first season of the American animated science fiction television series Star Trek. It first aired in the NBC Saturday morning lineup on November 3, 1973, and was written by American television writers Chuck Menville and Len Janson.
"Mudd's Passion" is the tenth episode of the first season of the American animated science fiction television series Star Trek: The Animated Series. It first aired in the NBC Saturday morning lineup on November 10, 1973, and was written by Stephen Kandel who had written the previous "Mudd" episode, The Original Series's "I, Mudd", as well as the teleplay for Gene Roddenberry's first "Mudd" episode, "Mudd's Women".
Several characters within the Star Trek franchise, primary and secondary, often made crossover appearances between one series and another. This included appearances of established characters on premiere episodes of new series, a few long-term transfers from one series to another, and even crossovers between Trek films and television. A few crossover appearances, such as that of Spock on The Next Generation and the time-travel of the crew of Deep Space Nine to the era of The Original Series were especially lauded by both fans and critics.
"Pilgrim of Eternity" is a fan-produced Star Trek episode released in 2013, the first in the web series Star Trek Continues, which aims to continue the episodes of Star Trek: The Original Series replicating their visual and storytelling style. An unofficial sequel to the original 1967 TOS episode "Who Mourns for Adonais?", it was written by Steve Frattarola and Jack Treviño, from a story by Jack Marshall and Vic Mignogna and directed by Mignogna.
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