I, Mudd: TOS Episode 37 Production 41 Original Air Date 11/3/1967 Stardate 4513.3

I, Mudd - Star Trek TV Episode [ Synopsis | Editorial Reviews ]
Production # 41 Episode # 37
Air Date: 11/3/1967
Stardate: 4513.3

Norman, an android pretending to be a member of the U.S.S. Enterprise crew, takes control of the starship and her crew, taking them to an unnamed planet where Kirk discovers an old nemesis ... Harry Mudd.

Fleeing from his most recent criminal exploit, Harry crash-landed on the planet, which is inhabited by androids designed by a long-extinct race. At first their desire to fulfill his every need seemed like paradise, but Harry soon realized that precluded him ever leaving the planet. So, sending Norman to capture the U.S.S. Enterprise, Mudd hoped to trade the starship's crew for his own freedom.

The androids, however, want to use the U.S.S. Enterprise as a vehicle to populate the universe, serving mankind and protecting them from themselves. Unwilling to spend their lives on the strange planet, waited on by machines, Kirk and company set about finding a way out. It is not without temptation, however.

Spock is shown what is supposedly the control center for all the androids ... a veritable electronics dream come true. McCoy is given an extensive lab, set up to do all the research he's ever wanted to do, while Scotty is shown the technical machine shop of his dreams. The androids offer Uhura eternal youth and beauty while Chekov contemplates a planet filled with beautiful young women.

In the end, however, the crew bands together in an attempt to thoroughly confuse and, ultimately, short-circuit them. Through a series of illogical and very funny antics, the U.S.S. Enterprise crew and Mudd cause Norman, the central control for all the androids, to have an electronic "nervous breakdown."

Instead of granting Harry Mudd his freedom, Kirk leaves him on the planet with the remaining androids ... including many fashioned in the image of his shrewish wife, Stella, until he mends his ways.

"I, Mudd"
Lovable scoundrel Harry Mudd (Roger C. Carmel) returns following his debut appearance in the first-season episode "Mudd's Women," this time as the leader of a race of helpful (and leggy) androids. Mudd tries to take control of the Enterprise, but soon finds that the androids have plans of their own. This is one of Trek's few purely comic episodes, and it hits a nice level of whimsy as Kirk and the crew fight android efficiency with good old human illogic. "I, Mudd" also sets a benchmark achievement for the Star Trek design crew: It called not just for beautiful women in revealing costumes, but for beautiful twins in revealing costumes. Truly a tough one to top, cheesily foreshadowing the "Fembots" of Austin Powers infamy. --Ali Davis

Also on this DVD

"The Trouble with Tribbles"
It's time to face one of the great questions of the television age: Is "The Trouble with Tribbles" really as good as everyone thinks it is? You bet. While the story might be a little slower than many of us remember, the episode is deservedly beloved for writer David Gerrold's witty, mildly acerbic script, and the way the cast took to heightened comic possibilities against network resistance. (Heavens! Comedy on a science fiction show?) Stanley Adams is delightful as the huckster Cyrano Jones, who gives a trilling furball called a tribble to Uhura (Nichelle Nichols), who brings it aboard the Enterprise and watches it reproduce... and reproduce... and reproduce. Soon, hundreds of tribbles are in every part of the ship, making Captain Kirk (William Shatner), already grouchy about guarding a mere grain shipment from Klingons, even grouchier. There's no question that Gerrold made a major contribution to Trek culture with this show, setting a tone that Star Trek has visited again and again, including the feature film Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home and sundry episodes of The Next Generation, Deep Space Nine, and Voyager. --Tom Keogh