Mudd's Passion

Nitcentral's Bulletin Brash Reflections: The Trek Animated Series: Season One: Mudd's Passion
PLOT SUMMARY: That lovable rogue Harcourt Fenton Mudd is found selling a passion potion on the mining planet of Motherlode. It's a fake and the miners are ready to lynch him, but Kirk steps in to save Harry, who, once aboard the Enterprise, persuades Nurse Chapel to buy the potion for use on Spock. She too discovers it's a fake, but Harry takes her hostage and steals a shuttlecraft. Only it's not a fake... Spock just had a delayed reaction, and the amorous Vulcan enthusiastically hunts down Mudd. Then it's discovered that when the potion wears off, several hours of hatred result. Mudd confesses to numerous crimes and is sent away for rehabilitation.
By Johnny Veitch on Friday, March 05, 1999 - 12:41 pm:

Arex says that the Enterprise is in orbit (of the second planet) but the exterior scene suggests they aren`t.

When Chapel walks up to Spock her collar changes from black to blue. Also, near the end of the episode M`Ress has a black collar instead of her usual red.


By Roland Khorshidianzadeh on Sunday, May 23, 1999 - 5:40 pm:

This episode was a terrible disappointment for me. I was hoping that an episode involving Harry Mudd would have been much more fun.


By Chris Thomas on Sunday, July 11, 1999 - 9:01 am:

My girlfriend and I found this rather fun, especially the first two-thirds - more of the Chapel/Spock thing. And I thought Mudd was quite well illustrated for the time. The climax was a little disappointing. What happened to Uhura?


By Kail on Saturday, February 05, 2000 - 6:24 am:

You can hear this entire episode in RealAudio on the featured episode page of my
TAS website. Along with many pictures, a RealVideo, and several avi's. Thank you.

www.mainengineering.simplenet.com/tas_main.html


By Kail on Saturday, February 15, 2003 - 5:54 am:

My website has a new domain all it's own.

http://www.startrekanimated.com

Please stop by!!


By Adam Bomb on Tuesday, July 18, 2006 - 9:18 am:

Why did they make Harry Mudd look like he just stepped off the cover of The Beatles' "Sgt. Pepper" album?
You can see this, and all the other 21 episodes, when TAS finally makes it onto DVD this Nov. 21. Try this.


By Adam Bomb on Tuesday, July 18, 2006 - 2:02 pm:

Albert from The Agony Booth has reviewed this episode. Check it out.


By Benn (Benn) on Sunday, January 07, 2007 - 9:03 pm:

Spock fires his phaser at the Rigellian hypnoid. It changes from a beautiful blonde human into something resembling an iguana. Then it crawls away. What setting did Spock have his weapon set on that it would cause the Rigellian to revert to its true form and retain consciousness? Personally, I'd've expected the Vulcan to have set his phaser on stun and then, while it was unconscious, the hypnoid would revert to its real form.

Either those miners have very bad aim or there's a shield of some kind in front of Mudd. Not one of those rocks seem to hit Harry. Moreover, whatever they're hitting makes a metallic clang. Hey! Maybe that wasn't the real Harcourt Fenton Mudd in this ep. Maybe it was one of the robots from Mudd's Planet made to look like Harry!

Shortly after beaming aboard the Enterprise, Harry, Kirk and Spock interrogate Mudd. During the conversation, Mudd's comb-over flips from going to the right to going to left in different shots.

Why does Harry keep calling it a "love potion"? They are clearly crystals.

Why does Nurse Chapel have a phaser while she's conversing with Harry? And why wasn't a security guard stationed in front of Mudd's cell?

You know, Christine should have had Mudd set the crystal down in front of the force field of his cell and then back away. Then she could have shut off the field long enough to grab the crystal and reactivate the force field. Instead, she shuts it off and leaves it off, letting Harry grab her phaser so he could escape.

And why was Christine down in the Brig anyway? Did they need a medical checkup done on Mudd? If so, why didn't Dr. McCoy handle that? And why wasn't it done in Sickbay? (I know. If McCoy did it, then how does Christine get the love crystal?)

In STAR TREK VI The Undiscovered Country, we learn that the Enterprise is equipped with an alarm that will sound if a phaser is fired. Apparently, at the time of this ep, that alarm hadn't been installed yet. Still, you would think that there'd be some sort of alarm that would go off if a phaser is fired in the Brig of all places.

Nurse Chapel had her ID card on her? Why would she be carrying it around on the Enterprise. In case some idiot thought she was an unauthorized person on board? She's the Head Nurse. Just about everyone should know who she is. Moreover, where is carrying that card? The uniforms have no pockets. That might mean it was either in her bra or panties. And I don't wanna think about Harcourt retreiving it from either location. Though I wouldn't put it past him.

Does Harry really think anyone's gonna believe his name is "Christine Chapel"? And would a Starfleet identification card really be that easy to tamper with?

This episode contains our first view of an animated three dimensional chess set. It's behind Spock in the scene where Christine turns in her medical summary and touches Spock to activate the love potion.

How long does that love potion last on the skin? I would think that it would evaporate fairly quickly off the skin and one should be very close to one's intended victim to use it. Yet, Christine travels several decks after putting it on her skin to infect Spock.

Okay, why is McCoy sitting at Spock's science station on the Bridge?

While Christine has her phaser trained on Mudd, she facing to her right. Behind Harry is a shuttlecraft with the construction number "NCC-1701/12". However, when Mudd first entered the shuttle bay, that shuttle was on the left side of the Hangar Deck.

Best line: Lt. Arex's whistle after Spock refers to Nurse Chapel as "My love". That cracked me up.

Why didn't Kirk order the door to the Hangar Deck shut? Instead of doing that, he lets Harry fly the shuttle right out the door. Brilliant.

According to Harry, the love crystals work by physical contact. You break open a crystal, rub it on your skin and then touch your intended. Yet, when trying to detain Mudd, Christine hits a bunch of the crystals with her phaser. The gas within them is sucked into a conveniently (for the plot) airvent where it is dispersed throughout the ship. First of all, is it a liquid or a gas? It can't be both, can it? And second of all, if it requires skin contact to work, then why would inhaling it work?

Once the shuttle has left the Enterprise, why didn't Kirk use the ship's tractor beam to restrain it? For that matter, why doesn't he order the transporter room to beam Mudd and Nurse Chapel out of the shuttle? Up til now, I've been thinking Christine was the idiot in this ep. Kirk's now giving her a run for her money.

M'Ress says she relayed Mudd's coordinates to Transporter Room 4. This is the first reference in the series to there being more than one transporter room on the Enterprise. Up til now, it's always been "the Transporter Room".

The platform of Transporter Room 4 has an odd design to it. It has a vent built into it. Why would a transporter platform need a vent? Other than the script required it? (This script requires a lot of things to make it work, it seems.)

Either Sulu abandoned his post at the Helm or it's the Mirror Universe Sulu there. Because Hikaru is suddenly sporting a red shirt, rather a yellow one.

At one point, while hiding from the rock creatures*, there's a shot of Kirk with his communicator open. Behind him is Nurse Chapel and behind her is Spock. Looking into the gap between Christine's side and left arm it's a grey-brown in color. It should be blue, though, 'cos Mr. Spock should be visible in that gap.

You know, it's just occured to me, but those love crystals look like Dungeons and Dragons dice.

Boy the Bridge crew sure got over the effect of the love drug fast. Even faster than Mr. Spock. And he was the first one affected by it. (Then again, he was double-dosed...)

Mudd said he only had two crystals left. That's all we saw for that matter. Yet Kirk tosses about ten of them at the rock creatures.

There's a shot of Kirk, Spock, Christine and Harry reacting in horror as the rock creatures fight (or about to mate. I'm not sure what's happening at this point.) Kirk has suddenly acquired a red shirt.

Christine contacted the Enterprise and requested an "emergency beam up". Some emergency. It takes the ship about a minute to beam them out of there. Long enough that the landing party could have been killed. It's an emergency, folks. It shouldn't take but a couple of seconds to get their asses off that planet.

My god. Why are they allowing Christine to record Mudd's confessions? I mean, she's the idiot that helped him escape. She'd be the last person I'd trust with that job. Assuming it's even in the Head Nurse's job description. Realistically, if it wasn't Kirk or Spock recording it, it should the Chief of Security recording Mudd's confession.

Elements of this ep are too similiar to "Mudd's Women", "The Naked Time" and "Elaan of Troyius" for my taste.

Just for the record, I have yet to read the review from The Agony Booth, so excuse me if I've repeated anything said in that article.

"Live long and prosper."

*Wonder if this is what influenced Shatner to want a rock creature for The Final Frontier?


By John A. Lang (Johnalang) on Monday, January 15, 2007 - 6:16 pm:

GREAT SCENE: Scotty & M'Ress in love. GO FOR IT, SCOTTY!


By John A. Lang (Johnalang) on Tuesday, January 16, 2007 - 8:08 pm:

SPECIAL VOICE: Roger C. Carmel as Harry Mudd


By Keith Alan Morgan (Kmorgan) on Saturday, January 09, 2010 - 2:59 am:

I found it interesting that Mudd is selling a love potion on a planet, that as far as we can tell, has only men on it.
He'd probably have had more luck if he had just imported some women like in Mudd's Women.

Why is Spock using his phaser to dig a trench instead of just stunning the miners? (And what setting is the "Dig a trench" setting anyway?)

Spock says that a Class M planet around a binary star is rare.
Given the number of Class M planets that we see around stars that are part of multiple star systems that seems unlikely.

Mudd refers to the 'crystal' as a capsule.
Not usually the shape I think of when the word capsule is used.

Does Arex normally keep a musical instrument on the bridge?

Spock is stronger, but Kirk is the one to throw the love potion way up into the rock creature's mouth.


By Mike on Saturday, October 09, 2010 - 7:42 am:

One scene shows a close up of M'Ress's paw operating a console on the Bridge.She has 3 very large "fingers" which look like they would be most inefficient working such technology.Why have Kirk & Spock go down to the planet's surface in the beginning to arrest Harry? He's an outlaw,simply beam him up directly to the Enterprise.While it was nifty to see the various styles of shuttlecrafts stored in the Hanger Deck,why were they all there?I assumed that they were all stored beneath the Hanger Deck when not in operation.Though not a great episode by any means,I am glad that they were able to have the late,great Roger C.Carmel reprise his Harry Mudd role from the original series.


By Benn (Benn) on Saturday, October 09, 2010 - 1:34 pm:

Why have Kirk & Spock go down to the planet's surface in the beginning to arrest Harry? He's an outlaw,simply beam him up directly to the Enterprise. - Mike

Simply beaming Mudd up to the Enterprise would probably leave, Kirk, the Enterprise, Starfleet and the Federation open to charges of kidnapping. I doubt you can simply beam any criminals up to a ship without first informing them they are under arrest. Due process, y'know. The real question is why did just Kirk and Spock beam down? Why weren't there any security officers with them if they were going to arrest Harcourt Fenton Mudd?

Live long and prosper.


By Mike on Friday, October 15, 2010 - 7:33 am:

I don't Benn.Mudd is a wanted felon on numerous charges & has an extensive history of criminal activity.While he is by no means a vicious & brutal criminal,his illegal activities can cause serious problems even if its inadvertent on Harry's part. Transport him up to the Enterprise & then read him his rights.There's your due process.I doubt anyone in the Federation is going to be upset at such a procedure with the possible exception of Harry's lawyer.We have sting operations now that lure felons into police traps.The criminals obviously cannot be warned beforehand of their rights,only after the police have sprung the trap.


By Benn (Benn) on Friday, October 15, 2010 - 2:30 pm:

A sting operation is not the same as kidnapping, Mike. Kirk (and by extension Starfleet) could easily be found guilty of kidnapping Mudd. I suspect that there are several restrictions regarding transporter usage. One such would be that someone cannot be forcibly be beamed up against their will unless there is a clear and present danger. Even if Mudd's activities can "cause serious problems" (remember, Captain Kirk once described Harry Mudd as "nuisance"), unless there is actual danger involved (or the threat thereof), I doubt Starfleet allows its agents to beam anyone up. Even if they are criminals. It would be a civil rights issue, along with a matter of due process. The police cannot just throw you into a squad car without informing you are under arrest, y'know.

Live long and prosper.


By Keith Alan Morgan (Kmorgan) on Saturday, October 16, 2010 - 2:41 am:

On the other hand, what about jurisdictional issues?

I mean the people of this planet had a legitimate issue with Mudd's activities, but rather than going through the proper channels Spock just destroys the ground and Kirk & Spock take Mudd out of there. (Which the planet could interpret as aiding & abetting a fugitive.)

Now had Kirk & Spock gone through the proper channels I'm sure the planet would have allowed them to take Mudd's body, after the hangin', all nice & legal like. ;-)


By Benn (Benn) on Saturday, October 16, 2010 - 11:51 am:

I'd imagine, Keith, that it'd be a situation similar to what happens here - who gets jurisdiction and who takes precedent? IIUC, the U.S. federal government's cases often takes precedent over local/state government's. Starfleet's case(s) against Harry Mudd would probably take precedent over Motherlode's case against Harry.

Live long and prosper.


By Mike on Monday, October 25, 2010 - 11:03 am:

True Benn,a sting operation is not the same as kidnapping a criminal.My point was that in either case it isn't practical to warn the criminal of the intentions of the legal authorities.Given Mudd's history of illegal activities,there's always a chance of him causing serious problems.Therefore,he loses certain rights regarding apprehension,including via transporter.As for the people of the planet he was on & their legitimate grievances.I'm sure that the legal branch of the Federation would contact them to hear their side of the case & keep them apprised of the case.If they do indeed have one it would be added to the list against Harry,& I sure some of them would be witnesses against Harry.So they won't be left out of the process by any means.


By Nove Rockhoomer (Noverockhoomer) on Thursday, February 12, 2015 - 9:38 pm:

"Kirk has suddenly acquired a red shirt." - Benn

A new face, too.

In the shuttlebay, when Mudd tells Chapel that the crystal he gave her might be defective, he holds up three fingers for no reason....except that they reused a drawing from earlier in the episode when he told the miners he was selling the crystals for 300 credits.


By John A. Lang (Johnalang) on Friday, January 13, 2017 - 9:07 pm:

Money Saving Scene:

The people dancing in the transporter Room.

The entire time their legs are blocked by the Transporter Console...that way the animators didn't have to draw the legs


By Francois Lacombe (Franc0is) on Saturday, December 01, 2018 - 8:17 am:

I find it hard to believe that Mudd could have escaped so easily from the android planet. Those androids are most efficient, they are very familiar with Mudd's behavior and tricks, and had recieved instructions to keep him there.


By Judibug (Judibug) on Sunday, December 02, 2018 - 1:47 am:

Be glad we didn't get the Mudd TNG episode.

Fortunately (and to borrow a term from Quantum Leap fandom) God/Fate/Time/Whatever solved that for us.


By Francois Lacombe (Franc0is) on Sunday, December 02, 2018 - 8:36 am:

I don't know, it might have been more interesting than the episode that replaced it.


By Judibug (Judibug) on Sunday, December 02, 2018 - 4:30 pm:

To get the TNG Mudd episode, Roger C. Carmel has to not snort Colombian nose powder for years which wrecked his heart and killed him.


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