Star Trek: The Original Series/I, Mudd

I, Mudd
Season 2, Episode 8
Airdate	November 3, 1967
Production Number	603-41
Written by	Stephen Kandel
Directed by	Marc Daniels
Produced by	Gene L. Coon
← 2x07 Catspaw	2x09 → Metamorphosis
Star Trek — Season Two

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I, Mudd is the eighth episode of the second season of Star Trek, and the thirty-seventh episode overall.

Starring: William Shatner (Capt. James T. Kirk)

Also Starring: Leonard Nimoy (Mr. Spock)

and DeForest Kelley (Dr. McCoy)

Guest Star: Roger C. Carmel (Harry Mudd),

Co-Starring: Richard Tatro (Norman), Alyce Andrece (Alice #1 Through 250), Rhae Andrece (Alice #251 Through 500)

Featuring: James Doohan (Scott), Nichelle Nichols (Uhura), George Takei (Sulu), Walter Koenig (Chekov), Kay Elliot (Stella Mudd), Mike Howden (Lt. Rowe), Michael Zaslow (Jordan)

Plot Overview

The Enterprise crew once again encounters flamboyant interstellar con man Harry Mudd when, thanks to the ship being hijacked and directed to an unknown planet by an android named Norman who came aboard disguised as a crewman, he has them beam over to the planet, populated entirely by servile androids and gynoids, where he serves as its ruler. Kirk learns that Mudd recently escaped from custody and stole a spaceship, only for the ship to get damaged and crash-land on the planet during his escape attempt, followed by his being found and taken in by the humanoid robots. Mudd then reveals that he drew the Enterprise to the planet so that its crew could take his place because the androids, while being very accommodating to his needs and wishes, refused to let him leave unless other humans took his place for them to serve.

When McCoy spots a dark glass panel, Mudd explains that it contains a "shrine" to his wife Stella, who he had long left behind because of her being a nagging harridan to him. Contained behind the panel is a gynoid version of Stella, who nags at Mudd as the real Stella did, but shuts down when he tells her to shut up. While Spock finds out that there are over 200,000 androids populating the planet and tries to locate their control mechanism, the androids - notably including a series of 500 identical gynoids all named Alice - explain that they were built by aliens from the Andromeda Galaxy to be their servants, but they were left to fend for themselves after the aliens were wiped out by a supernova.

The rest of the Enterprise crew then beam down to the planet and are replaced aboard the ship by an android crew. While Scotty learns about the androids' advanced engineering skills and Chekov is delighted to be among the Alice series and the other beautiful gynoids, Uhura is offered the opportunity to become virtually immortal by having her brain transplanted into a gynoid body. Realizing what his crew is being lured into, Kirk reminds them about their duty. After getting the last word against the Stella gynoid, Mudd demands that he be beamed aboard the Enterprise to make his getaway, but the androids refuse, as they plan to leave the planet and offer their services to mankind as a means of bringing the human race under their eventual control.

While Kirk and his crew discuss what to do about their situation, Spock points out that like the Alice series, each of the androids belong to different named series - all except for Norman, who the other androids rely on for guidance. When Spock concludes that Norman is the center point of a collective android mind, Kirk devises a plan to derail the androids by targeting Norman using illogical behavior to confuse them. After the crew tests Kirk's plan on some of the Alices by using contradicting statements and bizarre pantomimes to confuse those Alices into shutting down, Kirk and company, joined by Mudd, then go after Norman with over-the-top speeches, pantomimed deaths and explosions and other behavior designed to confuse the androids. When Kirk and Mudd conclude by using the Liar's Paradox on Norman, the confused android overloads and shuts down, causing all the other androids on the planet to shut down as well.

After the Enterprise crew revive the androids and reprogram them to return to their original functions, Kirk tells Mudd that he will be paroled to the androids for an indefinite time, to serve to them as an example of a human failure. Mudd appears not to mind his sentence because the androids can provide him with whatever he needs, but he is quickly horrified to learn that a series of 500 Stella gynoids have been created to deal with him - and none of them are programmed to shut down on Mudd's command as he had done with the original Stella gynoid. Kirk and the Enterprise crew leave Mudd to his parole as they return to the ship and leave the planet to continue their mission.