42 I, Mudd

[@mikemikebonomo7542]

Another excellent podcast!

[@enterpriseincidents]

Thanks MIke

[@Vulcanerd]

At least for me, excellent podcasts is my default assumption for Steve and Scott 🖖🏻

[@waynefrench1562]

My dad who is a much bigger star trek fan than me loved Harry Mudd. He was disappointed that they used a different actor to play Mudd on Discovery despite my mom telling him that Carmel died a long time ago.

[@johngraves6878]

I'm currently soaking up your awesome new podcast. Scott points out that this is the longest teaser of any of the 72. YES. And I've always LOVED the teaser -- it's action packed, it moves quickly, it's great, Norman is invincible. By the same token, Act 4 sucks and is one of the silliest and least credible. But there's something else. Granted, By Any Other Name and Spock's Brain come close, but I Mudd is the one and ONLY teaser in the entire series where the Enterprise falls totally and completely under the control of an invader before we even get to the open titles. Sure, Kara (Spock's Brain) knocked out everybody on the Enterprise, but she didn't seize control of it. She stole that brain and was outta there.

[@PikeBishop65]

This episode lives on with my friends and I. For over 30 years we have played some form of "Bar trivia." When a question comes up that we have no clue on, one of us will say "Death by phaser......death by hanging.......death by electrocution............"

[@enterpriseincidents]

nice

[@melenatorr]

I remember that poem! Haven't heard it in ages. Of course Lewis Carroll was a master at this, and I loved discombobulating my nephew with the start of "The Walrus and the Carpenter": The sun was shining on the sea, Shining with all his might: He did his very best to make The billows smooth and bright- And this was odd, because it was The middle of the night. The moon was shining sulkily, Because she thought the sun Had got no business to be there After the day was done- “It’s very rude of him,” she said, “To come and spoil the fun!” I absolutely love this episode ... I'll go so far as to say I may find it more enjoyable than "Tribbles": most of it belongs to the late great Roger C. Carmel. Steve, I will contradict you (a rare occurrence): I love every bombastic, overblown syllable and expression that he give Harry Mudd - I feel it's part of Harry's basic equipment to overcome his marks with the sheer energy of his presentation of whatever he's trying to sell. Not only that, but there's an undercurrent of desperation in the vibrato of "Possibly for the rest of your lives" that may explain that initial first-act rush of over-enthusiasm. Mudd is bored, frustrated, and little afraid he's in over his head with these accommodating androids. This flow of energy may be a mask for that. Oh, but I think Mudd is always acting: he is almost never off his game. He is a conman both born and made: he trusts no one, and reveals himself to no one. He wouldn't be "himself" to anyone, not even Kirk. This was my first hearing of The Liar's Paradox and I loved it.

[@enterpriseincidents]

How dare you contradict me! (well I guess a contradiction is episode appropriate)

[@melenatorr]

@@enterpriseincidents I guess it is! In which case, is it a contradiction?

[@DocCivil]

I thought of the planet in "Spocks Brain" when asked about K-type planets.

[@kerryrwalton7791]

How did Norman get through the transporter without anyone knowing he is an android or better yet why didn't McCoy's medical devices pick up on this or why didn't Spock realize this as well?

[@enterpriseincidents]

Yeah, there are some definite plot holes here.

[@Vulcanerd]

Yes! It’s back!!

[@sarahfullerton6894]

My mother's short version of that poem: "I see, said the blind man, as the dead mule kicked him in the eye!" (I don't know the source. ) I think it was the F.V.N.P., as well.

[@enterpriseincidents]

Interesting

[@CaptChrispy]

Music sounds like Peter and the Wolf. I don't know if that corresponds with anything.

[@DesslockTX]

Interestingly, of all the Enterprise Incidents podcasts, this is the episode where I was genuinely surprised with your opinions of the episode. I have loved I Mudd since I was a kid. It's never occurred to me that this would be "controversial" at all. In fact I always found I Mudd to be the "good" Harry Mudd episode, as opposed to Mudd's Women, which I always thought was a drag.

[@DocCivil]

I think the problem we had with Sulu is that when Chekov was introduced, it highlighted just how much Sulu is like Kirk. So much so that Sulu goes from being a unique character to almost being redundant to Kirk. Basically, he's an Asian Kirk.

[@enterpriseincidents]

That's a good point but I also think there was a great relationship to be mined their. Giving Kirk someone to train an disciple with great potential could have been super cool.

[@lddcavalry]

They used Mudd’s ship.

[@enterpriseincidents]

Ha! great point. now i feel dumb. Steve

[@Vandervecken]

@@enterpriseincidents It would have to have been by way of a star base--ie the ship didn't directly rendezvous with the Enterrpise, as the Enterpise would have had Mudd's ship's registry and specs. I can see/hear Sulu saying "I've seen THAT before." It would have been nothing for the androids to forge transfer orders though, and Norman didn't have to fool the crew for very long, just long enough to get "his" hijacking done. My issue with this ep is that the crew (Spock I think right?) said that the pedestal-like control/coordination unit wasn't nearly big enough to "control" so many androids. But adding something the small mass of Norman DOES make it enough? Sketchy. I am also assuming that Norman came aboard by a shuttle (unless the Enterprise was actually docked at a star base, which seems unlikely), because wouldn't the transporter have shown the transporter chief that he was beaming inorganic material?

[@davidlessenberry8736]

@@Vandervecken There are SO MANY issues that the transporter should be able to solve. Do you have a virus? Run through the transporter and load an older pattern from the buffer. This isn't really established in TOS, but TNG rules make all sorts of things possible. In one of John Byrne's mini-series McCoy discovers a planet that uses transporter technology to remain eternally young and healthy. To be fair, they eventually develop a genetic mutation from doing this.

[@davidlessenberry8736]

@@Vandervecken There are SO MANY issues that the transporter should be able to solve. Do you have a virus? Run through the transporter and load an older pattern from the buffer. This isn't really established in TOS, but TNG rules make all sorts of things possible. In one of John Byrne's mini-series McCoy discovers a planet that uses transporter technology to remain eternally young and healthy. To be fair, they eventually develop a genetic mutation from doing this.

[@johncipolla8335]

He was there for Alvarez Kelly