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I, Mudd (TOS episode)
Encyclopedia
"I, Mudd" is a second season episode of Star Trek: The Original Series
first broadcast November 3, 1967, and repeated April 5, 1968. It is episode #37, production #41, and was written by Stephen Kandel, based on a story by Gene Roddenberry
and directed by Marc Daniels
. David Gerrold
performed an uncredited rewrite, but little of his material was used.
Overview: Captain Kirk
has a second run-in with the conman, Harry Mudd. Harry is now the supreme ruler of a planet of androids who cater to his every whim.
4513.3, the USS Enterprise
, under the command of Captain James T. Kirk, is hijacked by an android who has been posing as Mr. Norman, a recently assigned crewman. The android seals off engineering and redirects the ship to an unknown planet at Warp 7. The planet is discovered to be populated with other androids built to serve humans.
When the crew arrives at the planet, Captain Kirk discovers Harcourt Fenton Mudd, an outlaw whom Kirk has encountered previously, is the apparent "leader" of the androids. Having previously escaped incarceration for his crimes, Mudd explains that he crashed his (stolen) spaceship on the planet, and the androids took him in. He says that they are very accommodating, but refuse to let him go. During his stay on the world, Mudd has acquired thousands of android women as servants (in groups of 500 identical units), and an android version of his wife Stella, although the difference is that the robot Stella does not constantly nag him, and shuts up when she is told.
The androids tell Kirk they were built by a people from the Andromeda Galaxy
, but their creators were destroyed by a supernova
, and the robots were left to fend for themselves. They have also been studying Mr. Mudd for an unrevealed purpose. Mr. Spock
makes inquiries and discovers there are over 200,000 of these androids, and that they may be controlled by some as yet unseen central operator.
Mudd orders the androids to beam up to the Enterprise to fetch the rest of the crew. The crew are rounded up and brought down; Mr. Chekov
finds a pampered existence by the service of hundreds of beautiful android women (who are "fully functional" at physical pleasure), to be not such a bad idea. Even Lt. Uhura
is impressed when she finds that she can live immortally here. In the meantime, Mudd secretly plots to escape by taking over the now deserted Enterprise, but is stopped from carrying out his plans by the androids, who will do anything for their master except allow him to leave.
The androids finally reveal their plan. They tell the crew that they believe humans are too destructive and should be kept under control. The androids plan to leave their planet by means of the Enterprise, and will expand outward and take over the galaxy. Not only will they police mankind forever, but will also be loyal servants who will take care of their masters' every need. How they intended to deal with the various neighbouring other intelligent species was unrevealed.
Spock notices that almost all of the androids have been issued in numbered sets. There many "Alices", "Oscars", etc., but only one Norman. Spock speculates Norman is the central coordinator, and that the crew should concentrate their efforts of escape on him. They manage to tranquilize Mudd, who plays along with the escape plan, and explain to the androids that they must return to the Enterprise in order to revive him. The androids are about to authorize the request, but Lt. Uhura pretends to reveal that this is just a ploy to escape. She claims her motivation at betrayal is the promise to make her immortal. This is a ruse to provide the androids with the "escape attempt" they presumably expect.
The crew then engage in a series of illogical and clownishly silly activities in an attempt to confuse and overload the Norman android. The finishing blow comes when Mudd and Kirk pose Norman the Liar paradox
, where Mudd claims he is lying and Kirk claims everything Mudd says is a lie. Short circuiting at this imponderable logical contradiction, Norman finally shuts down. Without a controlling leader, the other androids freeze up and stop working. This allows them to be reprogrammed to return to their original task of making the planet habitable. Mudd is officially and indefinitely paroled to the android population, which he finds acceptable until he realizes, to Kirk and his crew's amusement, that not only has the nagging android Stella been reprogrammed not to respond to the command "Shut up!" but there are now at least 500 copies of her.
" a week later. Aside from remastered video and audio, and the all-CGI animation of the USS Enterprise that is standard among the revisions, specific changes to this episode also include:
Star Trek: The Original Series
Star Trek is an American science fiction television series created by Gene Roddenberry, produced by Desilu Productions . Star Trek was telecast on NBC from September 8, 1966, through June 3, 1969...
first broadcast November 3, 1967, and repeated April 5, 1968. It is episode #37, production #41, and was written by Stephen Kandel, based on a story by Gene Roddenberry
Gene Roddenberry
Eugene Wesley "Gene" Roddenberry was an American television screenwriter, producer and futurist, best known for creating the American science fiction series Star Trek. Born in El Paso, Texas, Roddenberry grew up in Los Angeles, California where his father worked as a police officer...
and directed by Marc Daniels
Marc Daniels
Marc Daniels , born Danny Marcus, was an American television director.-Life and Career:After serving in World War II, Daniels was hired by CBS to direct its first dramatic anthology program, Ford Theater. He mastered live television directing, and was hired to direct the first 38 episodes of I...
. David Gerrold
David Gerrold
Jerrold David Friedman , better known by his pen name David Gerrold, is an American science fiction author who started his career in 1966 while a college student by submitting an unsolicited story outline for the television series Star Trek. He was invited to submit several premises, and the one...
performed an uncredited rewrite, but little of his material was used.
Overview: Captain Kirk
James T. Kirk
James Tiberius "Jim" Kirk is a character in the Star Trek media franchise. Kirk was first played by William Shatner as the principal lead character in the original Star Trek series. Shatner voiced Kirk in the animated Star Trek series and appeared in the first seven Star Trek movies...
has a second run-in with the conman, Harry Mudd. Harry is now the supreme ruler of a planet of androids who cater to his every whim.
Plot
On stardateStardate
A stardate is a date in the fictional system of time measurement developed for Star Trek, commonly heard at the beginning of a voiceover log entry such as "Captain's log, stardate 41153.7...
4513.3, the USS Enterprise
Starship Enterprise
The Enterprise or USS Enterprise is the name of several fictional starships, some of which are the focal point for various television series and films in the Star Trek franchise created by Gene Roddenberry. It is considered a name of legacy in the fleet...
, under the command of Captain James T. Kirk, is hijacked by an android who has been posing as Mr. Norman, a recently assigned crewman. The android seals off engineering and redirects the ship to an unknown planet at Warp 7. The planet is discovered to be populated with other androids built to serve humans.
When the crew arrives at the planet, Captain Kirk discovers Harcourt Fenton Mudd, an outlaw whom Kirk has encountered previously, is the apparent "leader" of the androids. Having previously escaped incarceration for his crimes, Mudd explains that he crashed his (stolen) spaceship on the planet, and the androids took him in. He says that they are very accommodating, but refuse to let him go. During his stay on the world, Mudd has acquired thousands of android women as servants (in groups of 500 identical units), and an android version of his wife Stella, although the difference is that the robot Stella does not constantly nag him, and shuts up when she is told.
The androids tell Kirk they were built by a people from the Andromeda Galaxy
Andromeda Galaxy
The Andromeda Galaxy is a spiral galaxy approximately 2.5 million light-years from Earth in the constellation Andromeda. It is also known as Messier 31, M31, or NGC 224, and is often referred to as the Great Andromeda Nebula in older texts. Andromeda is the nearest spiral galaxy to the...
, but their creators were destroyed by a supernova
Supernova
A supernova is a stellar explosion that is more energetic than a nova. It is pronounced with the plural supernovae or supernovas. Supernovae are extremely luminous and cause a burst of radiation that often briefly outshines an entire galaxy, before fading from view over several weeks or months...
, and the robots were left to fend for themselves. They have also been studying Mr. Mudd for an unrevealed purpose. Mr. Spock
Spock
Spock is a fictional character in the Star Trek media franchise. First portrayed by Leonard Nimoy in the original Star Trek series, Spock also appears in the animated Star Trek series, two episodes of Star Trek: The Next Generation, seven of the Star Trek feature films, and numerous Star Trek...
makes inquiries and discovers there are over 200,000 of these androids, and that they may be controlled by some as yet unseen central operator.
Mudd orders the androids to beam up to the Enterprise to fetch the rest of the crew. The crew are rounded up and brought down; Mr. Chekov
Pavel Chekov
Pavel Andreievich Chekov is a Russian Starfleet officer in the Star Trek fictional universe. Walter Koenig portrayed Chekov in the original Star Trek series and first seven Star Trek films; Anton Yelchin portrayed the character in the 2009 film Star Trek.-Origin:Star Trek creator Gene Roddenberry...
finds a pampered existence by the service of hundreds of beautiful android women (who are "fully functional" at physical pleasure), to be not such a bad idea. Even Lt. Uhura
Uhura
Nyota Uhura is a character in Star Trek: The Original Series, Star Trek: The Animated Series, the first six Star Trek films, and the 2009 film Star Trek...
is impressed when she finds that she can live immortally here. In the meantime, Mudd secretly plots to escape by taking over the now deserted Enterprise, but is stopped from carrying out his plans by the androids, who will do anything for their master except allow him to leave.
The androids finally reveal their plan. They tell the crew that they believe humans are too destructive and should be kept under control. The androids plan to leave their planet by means of the Enterprise, and will expand outward and take over the galaxy. Not only will they police mankind forever, but will also be loyal servants who will take care of their masters' every need. How they intended to deal with the various neighbouring other intelligent species was unrevealed.
Spock notices that almost all of the androids have been issued in numbered sets. There many "Alices", "Oscars", etc., but only one Norman. Spock speculates Norman is the central coordinator, and that the crew should concentrate their efforts of escape on him. They manage to tranquilize Mudd, who plays along with the escape plan, and explain to the androids that they must return to the Enterprise in order to revive him. The androids are about to authorize the request, but Lt. Uhura pretends to reveal that this is just a ploy to escape. She claims her motivation at betrayal is the promise to make her immortal. This is a ruse to provide the androids with the "escape attempt" they presumably expect.
The crew then engage in a series of illogical and clownishly silly activities in an attempt to confuse and overload the Norman android. The finishing blow comes when Mudd and Kirk pose Norman the Liar paradox
Liar paradox
In philosophy and logic, the liar paradox or liar's paradox , is the statement "this sentence is false"...
, where Mudd claims he is lying and Kirk claims everything Mudd says is a lie. Short circuiting at this imponderable logical contradiction, Norman finally shuts down. Without a controlling leader, the other androids freeze up and stop working. This allows them to be reprogrammed to return to their original task of making the planet habitable. Mudd is officially and indefinitely paroled to the android population, which he finds acceptable until he realizes, to Kirk and his crew's amusement, that not only has the nagging android Stella been reprogrammed not to respond to the command "Shut up!" but there are now at least 500 copies of her.
Cut scenes
The episode had some scenes cut, including one showing almost two dozen extras as Enterprise crewmen all being waited on by Muddian Androids, and another showing Norman's viewpoint approaching delirium as his logic circuits begin to short-circuit toward the end of the episode.40th Anniversary remastering
This episode was remastered in 2006, and aired October 14, 2006, as part of the remastered Original Series. It was preceded a week earlier by "The City on the Edge of Forever" and followed by "ArenaArena (TOS episode)
"Arena" is an episode of Star Trek: The Original Series. It is a first season episode, #18, production #19, first broadcast January 19, 1967 and repeated on July 6, 1967. It was written by Gene L. Coon, based on a short story of the same name by Fredric Brown, and directed by Joseph Pevney. The...
" a week later. Aside from remastered video and audio, and the all-CGI animation of the USS Enterprise that is standard among the revisions, specific changes to this episode also include:
- When Mr. Norman lifts up his shirt to reveal his sub-dermal android parts, the old static circuit board was replaced with a CGI rendered mechanical interior, with a similar appearance to the anatomy of Lt. Cdr. DataData (Star Trek)Lieutenant Commander Data is a character in the fictional Star Trek universe portrayed by actor Brent Spiner. He appears in the television series Star Trek: The Next Generation and the feature films Star Trek Generations, Star Trek: First Contact, Star Trek: Insurrection, and Star Trek...
from Star Trek: The Next GenerationStar Trek: The Next GenerationStar Trek: The Next Generation is an American science fiction television series created by Gene Roddenberry as part of the Star Trek franchise. Roddenberry, Rick Berman, and Michael Piller served as executive producers at different times throughout the production...
, with animated switches and flashing lights. - Mudd's planet is given a CGI update including the addition of a ring system similar to SaturnSaturnSaturn is the sixth planet from the Sun and the second largest planet in the Solar System, after Jupiter. Saturn is named after the Roman god Saturn, equated to the Greek Cronus , the Babylonian Ninurta and the Hindu Shani. Saturn's astronomical symbol represents the Roman god's sickle.Saturn,...
.