(Larger Image)
|
Star Trek - The Original Series, Episode 41: I, Mudd
Product Group: Video
Studio: CBS Paramount International Television
ISBN: 6300213455
EAN: 9786300213456
UPC: 097360004137
VHS Tape
Running Time: 46 minutes
Original Release Date: 1966-09-08
Theatrical Release Date: 1966-09-08
Release Date: 1991-07-29
SKU: V1472
Condition: New
|
Editorial Reviews
|
Amazon.com
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
|
Customer Reviews
|
Not Logical, Not Logical, Analyze!!!
Rating  (5)
Date: 2007-08-13
This episode is a wonderful comedy, utilizing self-satire more than the popular "Tribbles" yet doing so far less clumsily than "Spock's Brain" -- the latter being unintentionally funny and therefore painful. "I, Mudd" is a knowing satire of science fiction in general and of Star Trek in particular.
Basically, the crew of the Enterprise is captured by a race of well-meaning but tyranical androids. Up until now, the androids' only experience with Earthlings has been a chance meeting with Harry Mudd -- the comic villain from the first season, a colorful liar, slob, schemer and con man. The joke here is that with Mudd as the example of homo sapiens, they conclude that they must serve humanity by traveling throughout the galaxy and enslaving Earthlings for their own good. They start by taking away the freedom of Mudd as well as the crew of the Enterprise. They will use the ship to go enslave Earth.
Anyone who's familiar with Isaac Asimov's three laws of robotics may recognize the philosophical point being made. Robots must serve humanity, it's part of their programming. Yet there is one robot law that is even higher: a robot must not fail to save human life, even if this means disobeying an order. Even today, would this ethical programming direct robots to rule over us for our own good, to save us from ourselves?
This theme, though not dwelt over in an academic way, is implicit in the writing of almost every scene. Human welfare depends on happiness, and happiness is ultimately impossible without freedom, even though freedom allows us to choose a path that often leads to misery. The old argument about free will justifying pain.
In the end, Kirk and company form an alliance with Mudd. That's always amusing, to see the relatively duty-bound Kirk allying temporarily with the slimy-but-happy-go-lucky Mudd -- something that happened in the first Mudd episode as well. They're quite a pair, like a fussy Prince Hal and a considerably taller (and wider) Falstaff.
Their solution is to drive the androids crazy with illogic, a campaign that even Spock takes part in. (Nimoy does this with relish, which is perhaps why by-the-book Trekkies dislike this episode.) They use the classic Liar's Paradox ("Everything I say is a lie") as well as just acting silly. If you think about it, this "drive the robots crazy with illogic" tactic is a large dose of self-satire, as Kirk often resorts to this technique -- albeit with more of a straight face -- in episodes such as "Return of the Archons" and "The Changeling." Illogical! Illogical! Analyze! Analyze! This does not compute! Help, help, I'm melting!!!!
|
|
I am programmed to respond in this area
Rating  (4)
Date: 2005-02-12
This was the first episode of the original series meant to be a comedy, and while it has some moments, in general, it comes in far behind "The Trouble With Tribbles" and "A Piece of the Action." The intergalactic con man Harcourt (Harry) Fenton Mudd reappears as the ruler of a planet inhabited by androids. Mudd had been arrested, but broke jail and when he was fleeing in a stolen ship, it was fired on and disabled. He had drifted for some time until finally arriving at the planet. The androids had been sent by another civilization to prepare the planet for colonization, but for some reason, the makers never arrived.
Since the androids were created to serve living creatures, they adjusted quickly to serving Mudd. However, after a short time, he grew bored and asked for the androids to bring him a ship. The leader of the androids, whose name is Norman, does just that, and the ship he brings, complete with crew, is the Enterprise. Once the Enterprise crew is on the surface, they are shown an environment that could only be described as paradise. The androids serve their every whim, including the implication of sexual activity. McCoy and Scotty are also tempted by the presence of very sophisticated labs that would allow them to do significant work in science and engineering. Uhuru is offered an android body that would make her immortal and eternally beautiful.
Once the entire crew of the Enterprise is down on the planet, the androids plan on taking it out into the galaxy and begin to incorporate themselves into Federation society. They will then serve humans and begin to solve some of the social problems that still exist. Kirk objects to this, and by acting out wild, absurd scenes, the Enterprise crew is able to overload the androids and burn out their circuits. The final act that does it is when Norman is told; "This statement is a lie." He then goes into an infinite mode of trying to determine the truth-value of the statement.
While the classic line, "I am not programmed to respond in that area" is introduced in this episode; it has two major logical holes. The first is that supposedly all of the Enterprise crew has beamed down to the surface with only androids left aboard. If those androids have been rendered ineffective, then there would be no one on board the Enterprise to beam the crew back up. In other episodes, it is stated that once everyone leaves the ship, there is no automated way to beam back. Therefore, the crew would have been marooned on the planet, unable to return to the Enterprise.
The second is the weak programming that was done on the androids. They have been designed to function as humans and as Spock is fond of saying, they are wildly illogical. Therefore, their programming would have had to be robust enough to handle illogical or unusual situations. Their response, " I am not programmed to respond in that area" is an example of a response designed to cover situations that cannot be resolved. The self-referential statement "This statement is a lie" is very old and was logically resolved centuries ago. A well-programmed android would recognize that it is an undecidable statement and simply ignore it or identify that it cannot be resolved.
The android of Harry's shrewish and nagging wife was funny then, but now it is one of the aspects of a Star Trek episode that has not aged well. However, Roger Carmel is once again delightful as Harry Mudd and his dialog is some of the best given to Kirk protagonists in the series. For that reason, I give it four stars.
|
|
Mudding the waters of justice
Rating  (2)
Date: 2004-11-05
10 out of 12 customers found this reveiw helpful
A new officer aboard the enterprise ends up crippling the Enterprise and forces it to fly at high warp toward an unknown planet. The crew is unable to stop their arrival as the officer has set a booby-trap that will make the Enterprise explode if they try to stop the ship. The rogue officer reveals that in addition to being a hottie, he is an android, a remarkably realistic android named Norman.
Norman beams Kirk, Bones, Spock, Uhura, & Chekov down to the planet where they meet the interstellar rogue and thief, Harcort "Harry" Mudd. There are over 200,000 androids on the planet, and all call Mudd their "Lord." Although they meet his every need, they will not let him leave the planet because they love to study human behavior. Being a poor example of human behavior, he gives a really poor first impression. They worship him (sort of) and serve his every need, everything but his freedom.
Mudd uses his knowledge to help the androids steal the Enterprise and get the whole ship's compliment to study - in exchange for his freedom. The androids, however, are lying bastards and intend to keep everyone trapped on the planet forever.
If keeping the crew trapped on the planet forever wasn't bad enough, they intend to use the Enterprise to roam the galaxy and enslave humankind to "protect" them from their own self-destructive behavior.
Being logical beings, they see things in black and white, not shades of grey - so there is no reasoning with them. Being androids, however, means they cannot cope with illogical input. When the crew figures this behavior out, they are able to confuse the crap out of the crew by doing an embarrassing dance and something akin to a Laurie Anderson performance to make them smoke up and become useless.
The entire crew is on the planet. They disable all the androids, but they never explain how they are able to beam back aboard the Enterprise with no one at the controls. Considering how many times the ship and bridge has been boarded by various naughty aliens, one has to wonder why the crew doesn't have phasers on them at all times. Morons.
After reprogramming the androids to till the land, they leave Mudd in a virtual torture chamber, meant to be a comedic element. They make 500 identical androids that emulate his cantankerous, belittling, evil wife to chastise him. He will no longer serve, but have to live on the planet forever under the whip of his loveless wife... uh, wives.
The crew laughs at Mudd and leaves. Is this how an advanced culture lives? Isn't this vigilantism? Kirk makes himself judge, jury and executioner of his perverted method of justice. Ptooey - not funny. Mudd does deserve prison for what he has done, but to deprive him of human contact for the rest of his life is beyond cruel and unusual punishment. For shame, Federation, for shame!
|
|
Not my bag, but some people love it
Rating (2)
Date: 2003-09-22
3 out of 3 customers found this reveiw helpful
This episode, which features Harry Mudd and a group of androids, must be one of the toughest to review if only because it is such a bizarre episode. This is one of the few episodes that undeniably means to be campy. None of the actors play this one seriously, and that's for the best given the material. Unfortunately, most of the humor falls completely flat. Nevertheless, I respect the episode for trying something different. This show certainly helped set the carefree tone that would extend FAR more successfully into the next episode.
|
|
The best of the Mudd episodes
Rating (4)
Date: 2001-02-13
7 out of 7 customers found this reveiw helpful
Harry Mudd (Roger Carmel) is one of Captain Kirk's most troublesome and noted rivalries. Mudd returns in this episode as the ruler of an android (robot) civilization. Mudd has a plan in mind to take Captain Kirk and his crew as hostages, and then to take over the Enterprise by use of his androids. As powerful as the androids are, and as mischievous and sneaky as Mudd is, will Kirk and the crew have a chance to get the ship back?For about the first 30 minutes of "I,Mudd," I didn't think I was going to like the episode because it was mostly just a lot of talking and arguing among the cast crew. However, the last half of "I, Mudd" more than makes up for the first half. It was very entertaining to watch Captain Kirk and the crew try and outwit the androids by confusing them with what is logical and what is illogical. What happens at the end of the episode is one of the most hilarious parts of any of the Star Trek episodes. I recommend anybody who likes episodes of Star Trek - The Original Series with a lot of wits and humor mixed in to get "I, Mudd."
|
|
|