Welcome
back to Underrated Trek, where I take a special look at Star Trek
episodes that I love…which may not be the most popular or even liked by
most. Comedies on Trek can be hit or miss, for one “Trouble with
Tribbles” we have the dreadful “Profit and Lace”. There’s nothing wrong
with doing a light episode once in while, but man when they’re bad they
are soooo bad. Today I want to single out one light episode for specific
reasons. This is:
I got the idea to do this after reading Pretty Boy’s great article on this episode, and he commented that he didn’t like it. That’s fine I totally respect that and he made some good points. The episode does become a farce by the end. But I always liked this episode. Why? Let’s take a closer look:
Plot Synopsis:
A new crewman named Norman takes over the Enterprise and send the ship to an unknown destination. Turns out he is an android and is not only strong, but has sabotaged the ship so there is nothing the crew can do.
On the planet Kirk and co discover the culprit, Harry Mudd! Mudd explains how he ended up there, and the fact the androids won’t let him go. So he had Norman bring a ship so more people can be studied buy the androids, and Mudd can leave. A fine plane until the androids refuse to let Mudd leave and announce they have no choice but to take care of every human in the universe.
Kirk protests this since human freedom is a right for everyone, and decides there is only one way to defeat these logical androids. That’s to throw total illogic onto them and overload their circuits. After doing silly things which make no sense, the androids are overcome and the crew is free to go. (wow that was an easy synopsis!)
(I flipped the categories a bit….)
What I Hated:
When I did my list of favorite villains one glaring omission was Harry Mudd, who is one Trek’s most poplar villains. He was supposed to return in the 3rd season but instead he came back in an animated episode. Of course, his first appearance was “Mudd’s Women” and to be honest..I hated that episode. Besides being slow and boring, it’s seems like it’s saying all men like to do is stare at pretty girls with their tongue’s hanging out. Gag me. I get why people like Roger Carmel, he was kind of fun and goofy. But he isn’t much of a villain. True it’s nice to see a villain who is a normal person and not some alien or monster, but at the same time he isn’t really a villain either. In this episode the androids are really the villains, and Mudd is just along for the ride. In Mudd’s Women the conflict comes about from events Mudd sets into motion, but again he is more part of the solution than the problem, People like him because he’s charming and goofy but for me, not one of the best villains by a long shot. By the way I watched the animated episode and it’s, ok.
The first half of the episode is basically exploring the problem. The solution is where the comedy comes in. So what is the comedy? It comes when Kirk decides the way to defeat the androids is giving them a ton of illogical images to make them so confused they blow a circuit. The first trick involved making Harry looks sick and isn’t bad. But then it gets silly as the tricks include a lot of pointless dancing (which is so silly I can’t give it justice here), Spock telling an identical twin he loves one but hates the other, and the big set piece when then try to convince Norman (the central android or something) that they are miserable there, so miserable that Scotty pretends to be killed and then Spock and Harry Mudd toss a fake bomb which causes an imaginary explosion….yeah maybe all of this is a bit too silly. Mudd finally defeats Norman by telling him everything he says is a lie, including the fact he lies, and Norman blow a fuse trying to figure out if that means he is lying or telling the truth. I do like Kirk parroting the androids line through the episode, “I am not programmed to respond in this area”. You know he enjoyed that.
A lot of unanswered questions in this one. How did Norman get assigned to The Enterprise? How did the androids function while Norman was gone? If Norman was the central control how did the crew reactivate and reprogram the androids? Or fix his sabotage? How in the world did the crew get back on the Enterprise with the androids out of commission and no one on board? And what was the backstory of these androids, we get a little bit from Norman but it’s mostly glanced over.
What I Liked:
This is a comedy like “Trouble with Tribbles” and “Piece of the Action” but why is Tribbles beloved and this not so much? Actually it’s pretty simple, the comedy in Tribbles comes from the situation and our characters reacting to it. And “Piece of the Action” works because while Kirk and Spock are being silly, the episode does a great job setting up why they have to be so over the top. In I, Mudd the comedy comes from the characters being silly and illogical…for almost no reason. And to be fair, the silliness is a little over the top even bringing some characters out of character here and there. Especially Spock. By the way that opening teaser is pretty good. You’d never guess going by that the way the episode would turn out. Norman takes over the Enterprise very effectively setting up a nice mystery.
The performances are good, including the actress’s who play the androids. We get told there are dozens but we only see a few. The best is the one Mudd has made to duplicate of his wife that he can yell at whenever he want. At the end, Kirk and crew have created over 500 androids just like..who can’t be shut up! It’s a funny ending to an off beat episode.
So if the humor is lame and I am not fan of Mudd, just what is it that I like about this episode? It’s one of the few Trek classic episodes that truly feels like a real ensemble episode for once. Most episodes the other characters get a line or two (if that) and then they’re gone. Here everyone participates through the episode (except Sulu but even he gets some lines in the first act). If this was TNG it wouldn’t be unusual but for TOS it was and it’s nice to see. Scotty drools over the tech on the planet, McCoy brags about the lab, Chekov flirts with two androids while Uhura fakes them out by pretending she wants an android body (in one of her better scenes in the series imho). Spock and McCoy almost take a backseat, which is a nice change of pace for once. Even if the characters are acting stupid in parts, they all get their moments to shine and that last shot of them all at the end of the episode is a nice cast photo (er, minus Sulu, since Takei was off making a movie. Anyone know if The Green Beret’s was even any good?)
Fast Forward Moment:Not really one but if I had to pick then it would Chekov’s scene with the android female’s which doesn’t really ad much, except be a cute scene. There was supposed to be a scene showing more of the crew enjoying the luxury on the planet but it was deleted.
Final Thoughts:Ok so it isn’t the greatest but if you love these characters you’ll enjoy watching them interact and play off of each other.
I got the idea to do this after reading Pretty Boy’s great article on this episode, and he commented that he didn’t like it. That’s fine I totally respect that and he made some good points. The episode does become a farce by the end. But I always liked this episode. Why? Let’s take a closer look:
Plot Synopsis:
A new crewman named Norman takes over the Enterprise and send the ship to an unknown destination. Turns out he is an android and is not only strong, but has sabotaged the ship so there is nothing the crew can do.
On the planet Kirk and co discover the culprit, Harry Mudd! Mudd explains how he ended up there, and the fact the androids won’t let him go. So he had Norman bring a ship so more people can be studied buy the androids, and Mudd can leave. A fine plane until the androids refuse to let Mudd leave and announce they have no choice but to take care of every human in the universe.
Kirk protests this since human freedom is a right for everyone, and decides there is only one way to defeat these logical androids. That’s to throw total illogic onto them and overload their circuits. After doing silly things which make no sense, the androids are overcome and the crew is free to go. (wow that was an easy synopsis!)
(I flipped the categories a bit….)
What I Hated:
When I did my list of favorite villains one glaring omission was Harry Mudd, who is one Trek’s most poplar villains. He was supposed to return in the 3rd season but instead he came back in an animated episode. Of course, his first appearance was “Mudd’s Women” and to be honest..I hated that episode. Besides being slow and boring, it’s seems like it’s saying all men like to do is stare at pretty girls with their tongue’s hanging out. Gag me. I get why people like Roger Carmel, he was kind of fun and goofy. But he isn’t much of a villain. True it’s nice to see a villain who is a normal person and not some alien or monster, but at the same time he isn’t really a villain either. In this episode the androids are really the villains, and Mudd is just along for the ride. In Mudd’s Women the conflict comes about from events Mudd sets into motion, but again he is more part of the solution than the problem, People like him because he’s charming and goofy but for me, not one of the best villains by a long shot. By the way I watched the animated episode and it’s, ok.
The first half of the episode is basically exploring the problem. The solution is where the comedy comes in. So what is the comedy? It comes when Kirk decides the way to defeat the androids is giving them a ton of illogical images to make them so confused they blow a circuit. The first trick involved making Harry looks sick and isn’t bad. But then it gets silly as the tricks include a lot of pointless dancing (which is so silly I can’t give it justice here), Spock telling an identical twin he loves one but hates the other, and the big set piece when then try to convince Norman (the central android or something) that they are miserable there, so miserable that Scotty pretends to be killed and then Spock and Harry Mudd toss a fake bomb which causes an imaginary explosion….yeah maybe all of this is a bit too silly. Mudd finally defeats Norman by telling him everything he says is a lie, including the fact he lies, and Norman blow a fuse trying to figure out if that means he is lying or telling the truth. I do like Kirk parroting the androids line through the episode, “I am not programmed to respond in this area”. You know he enjoyed that.
A lot of unanswered questions in this one. How did Norman get assigned to The Enterprise? How did the androids function while Norman was gone? If Norman was the central control how did the crew reactivate and reprogram the androids? Or fix his sabotage? How in the world did the crew get back on the Enterprise with the androids out of commission and no one on board? And what was the backstory of these androids, we get a little bit from Norman but it’s mostly glanced over.
What I Liked:
This is a comedy like “Trouble with Tribbles” and “Piece of the Action” but why is Tribbles beloved and this not so much? Actually it’s pretty simple, the comedy in Tribbles comes from the situation and our characters reacting to it. And “Piece of the Action” works because while Kirk and Spock are being silly, the episode does a great job setting up why they have to be so over the top. In I, Mudd the comedy comes from the characters being silly and illogical…for almost no reason. And to be fair, the silliness is a little over the top even bringing some characters out of character here and there. Especially Spock. By the way that opening teaser is pretty good. You’d never guess going by that the way the episode would turn out. Norman takes over the Enterprise very effectively setting up a nice mystery.
The performances are good, including the actress’s who play the androids. We get told there are dozens but we only see a few. The best is the one Mudd has made to duplicate of his wife that he can yell at whenever he want. At the end, Kirk and crew have created over 500 androids just like..who can’t be shut up! It’s a funny ending to an off beat episode.
So if the humor is lame and I am not fan of Mudd, just what is it that I like about this episode? It’s one of the few Trek classic episodes that truly feels like a real ensemble episode for once. Most episodes the other characters get a line or two (if that) and then they’re gone. Here everyone participates through the episode (except Sulu but even he gets some lines in the first act). If this was TNG it wouldn’t be unusual but for TOS it was and it’s nice to see. Scotty drools over the tech on the planet, McCoy brags about the lab, Chekov flirts with two androids while Uhura fakes them out by pretending she wants an android body (in one of her better scenes in the series imho). Spock and McCoy almost take a backseat, which is a nice change of pace for once. Even if the characters are acting stupid in parts, they all get their moments to shine and that last shot of them all at the end of the episode is a nice cast photo (er, minus Sulu, since Takei was off making a movie. Anyone know if The Green Beret’s was even any good?)
Fast Forward Moment:Not really one but if I had to pick then it would Chekov’s scene with the android female’s which doesn’t really ad much, except be a cute scene. There was supposed to be a scene showing more of the crew enjoying the luxury on the planet but it was deleted.
Final Thoughts:Ok so it isn’t the greatest but if you love these characters you’ll enjoy watching them interact and play off of each other.
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