I, Mudd may be the single worst episode of TOS

[VOODOOXI]

I just finished watching "I, Mudd" for the first time in a long time... Words cannot explain how bad this episode is. I actually found myself being annoyed at the entire experience.

This episode is a totally unwatchable attempt at slapstick that insults the audience at every turn. It is not funny in the least and stetches even sci-fi credibility to it's absolute breaking point... Is it that easy to take over the Enterprise? Would Kirk and Spock care so little that it was taken over?

This is the first time I can remember Shatner playing Shatner during TOS. As a matter of fact the entire cast mailed it in for this ultra silly/stupid episode. When the crew started to dance towards the end it nearly made me sick to my stomach.

How could a series produce the great "Amok Time" and "Mirror Mirror" and then turn around a couple of weeks latter and produce trash like this?

I know it is popular to say that "Spock's Brain", "The Way to Eden" and "The Children Shall Lead" are among the worst TOS episodes ever, but I think that "I' Mudd" may have them all beat.

I would give this episode 1 out of 5 stars.

Any thoughts?

 

[Kegg]

I like it. Never cared for "Mudd's Women", but I found "I, Mudd" amusingly goofy and solid camp.

"Stella, dear..."

 

[DevilEyes]

I just finished watching "I, Mudd" for the first time in a long time... Words cannot explain how bad this episode is. I actually found myself being annoyed at the entire experience.

This episode is a totally unwatchable attempt at slapstick that insults the audience at every turn. It is not funny in the least and stetches even sci-fi credibility to it's absolute breaking point... Is it that easy to take over the Enterprise? Would Kirk and Spock care so little that it was taken over?

This is the first time I can remember Shatner playing Shatner during TOS. As a matter of fact the entire cast mailed it in for this ultra silly/stupid episode. When the crew started to dance towards the end it nearly made me sick to my stomach.

How could a series produce the great "Amok Time" and "Mirror Mirror" and then turn around a couple of weeks latter and produce trash like this?

I know it is popular to say that "Spock's Brain", "The Way to Eden" and "The Children Shall Lead" are among the worst TOS episodes ever, but I think that "I' Mudd" may have them all beat.

I would give this episode 1 out of 5 stars.

Any thoughts?

I agree, except that I think 1 star is too generous. I would give it a 0. It was horrible on every level. I couldn't stand Harry Mudd, the actor was overacting ridiculously, and besides, the character just did not work due to the very fact that someone who was doing what we would now call sex trafficking was being presented as a sort of comic lovable rogue. Yes, I know it was the 1960s (which I also had to remind myself afterthat horrible last scene of "The Enemy Within" that mars an otherwise very good episode), but still, did the writers have to be that clueless?

Surprisingly, Mudd was almost tolerable in "I, Mudd", but that was a better and funnier episode.

 

[Kegg]

I agree, except that I think 1 star is too generous. I would give it a 0. It was horrible on every level. I couldn't stand Harry Mudd, the actor was overacting ridiculously, and besides, the character just did not work due to the very fact that someone who was doing what we would now call sex trafficking was being presented as a sort of comic lovable rogue. Yes, I know it was the 1960s (which I also had to remind myself afterthat horrible last scene of "The Enemy Within" that mars an otherwise very good episode), but still, did the writers have to be that clueless?

Surprisingly, Mudd was almost tolerable in "I, Mudd", but that was a better and funnier episode.

You've got them mixed up. The OP is saying "I, Mudd" is one of TOS's worst episodes. "Mudd's Women" is the one with, well, the Wild West sex trade in space.

 

[JustKate]

Um, I love "I, Mudd." It's one of my favorite light-hearted episodes. I'm not saying it's great art, and I'm not saying it's terribly believable. But I don't care. It's a lot of fun, and frankly, Trek doesn't do fun all that well.

Then again, I like "Spock's Brain," too - I love that retro cheesiness (retro even in the late 1960s) - so perhaps I'm not a typical viewer. The episodes I tend to like the least are those in which Trek sort of explores a serious theme, but does so shallowly and pretentiously and badly. This is why I dislike, for example, "The Paradise Syndrome" far more than a fun bit of fluff like "I, Mudd."

"Stella, dear..."

Exactly!

 

[Yeoman Randi]

^ I'm with you Kate. I love this episode. It is just fun! Not every episode has to be great (um, ok, good?) science or have some great meaning. This one is just cheesy fun.

I suppose it could be an age thing.....

 

[DevilEyes]

I agree, except that I think 1 star is too generous. I would give it a 0. It was horrible on every level. I couldn't stand Harry Mudd, the actor was overacting ridiculously, and besides, the character just did not work due to the very fact that someone who was doing what we would now call sex trafficking was being presented as a sort of comic lovable rogue. Yes, I know it was the 1960s (which I also had to remind myself afterthat horrible last scene of "The Enemy Within" that mars an otherwise very good episode), but still, did the writers have to be that clueless?

Surprisingly, Mudd was almost tolerable in "I, Mudd", but that was a better and funnier episode.

You've got them mixed up. The OP is saying "I, Mudd" is one of TOS's worst episodes. "Mudd's Women" is the one with, well, the Wild West sex trade in space.

I know which episode is which, but I didn't pay attention to the title - it's an understandable mistake, I think. I guess the moment I saw a title with the words "Mudd" and "worst episode", I naturally assumed it was about "Mudd's Women" so everything else went over my head.

As I said, I like "I, Mudd" with its wacky surrealistic scenes. That's something you don't often see on TV.

"Mudd's Women", OTOH, is probably the worst TOS episode.

 

[Hambone]

I don't think either of the "Mudd" episodes even comes close to being the worst TOS episode. They're both built around a goofy space con-man character and his misguided adventures. I'm not a big fan of "Mudd's Women" but it does have some interesting bits, and the danger to the ship is real.

"I, Mudd", on the other hand, is broad comedy. You never really get the idea they they're in any sort of danger, because we already know Mudd isn't smart enough to be dangerous.

If you really want to see a bad Mudd episode, the TAS "Mudd's Passion" is bottom-of-the-barrel.

 

[KITT 1013]

I do like how the crew comes together to short circuit the androids. Furthermore, the "song and dance" number is one of most delightfully surreal sequence of the franchise.

 

[seigezunt]

I liked it. It's not fantastic, but it has some fun. There are much worse episodes than this in my book (like Alternative Factor or Requiem for Methuselah).

 

[Piper]

I really like the character of Mudd, and greatly enjoy Carmel's performance, but dislike both episodes he appears in. Mudd's Women is boring and sexist, and I don't find I, Mudd nearly as funny as some.

 

[Yeoman Randi]

I do like how the crew comes together to short circuit the androids. Furthermore, the "song and dance" number is one of most delightfully surreal sequence of the franchise.

It certainly is the closest i've gotten to an acid trip in 30 years....

 

[JustKate]

And Randi gives us hints of her wild and crazy past...



I looooove that dance thing.

 

[Grant]

Single worst ? No.

Top ten worst ? Absolutely !!

It means that another actual sci-fi Star trek script went unmade so the crew could act like idiots to drive insane a computor for what, the fifth time?

Total waste.

Check out some of the unfilmed trek scripts and then say this was worth being filmed.

 

[JustKate]

When they taped "I, Mudd," surely they didn't say to themselves, "We're only going to be on the air for three years, so we need to carefully pick and choose scripts so that only the finest are broadcast, and this is clearly the absolute finest." They picked and chose scripts, I assume, for various criteria such as having a mix of heavy and light episodes.

So, I'm sorry, but to me the quality of unfilmed scripts is not one of the criteria I use in judging what we actually got. If I like it, great, if I don't, that's the breaks. What else didn't make it on the air has no bearing on the quality, or lack of it, of what did.

Edit: I'm sure there are better scripts that were left unfilmed. Well, you know, I'm also pretty dang sure there are worse unfilmed scripts, too.

 

[Grant]

Hmm, very thoughtful.....


I will chnage my statement about it to simply---it's a crap episode.

whether or not they had a 'non-crap' script available is beside the point.

 

[Vonstadt]

The worse? Nah!

I always took it as it was intended, a light hearted humorous script, a bit campy and hilarious when they short out the girls and Norman.

Mudd has always been amusing for me to watch as a character. I still love his response when Kirk refusing to set him free merely offered in "Mudd's Women" to be a character wittness at his trial.

Mudd moaning "They'll throw away the key!"


Vons

 

[Grant]

^^

He said that in Mudd's Women---not this one, but hey you like the episode so why should that matter.

Hilarious ???

If this was enough to please fans----why bother to aspire for anything more?

 

[Kegg]

If this was enough to please fans----why bother to aspire for anything more?

It doesn't have to be, at least from the perspective of those of us that like it. It's a fun, silly, campy comedy - what 'more' does it need to be?

 

[Shatmandu]

I think it's a hoot. Fun to see the cast and guest cut loose.

Joe, #121